April 30, 2021 — Natalie Clifford Barney - Celebrating the artistry of Natalie Barney and Her Circle

Deep Blue

What to wear? On this day in 1909, two women rummaged through their wardrobes. On the Left Bank, an old vintage sauternes was on ice. Plover’s eggs were on the menu. Natalie Barney, thirty-two, was preparing her first act as a hostess in this house at 20, rue Jacob. Wisely, perhaps not without hesitation, she decided against the astrologer’s cloak.

The thirty-four year-old marquise, Élisabeth de Gramont, translator of Keats and mother of two daughters, might have just as easily come from a tarot reading in the rue de Rome as from a lecture at the Sorbonne or a political meeting. She decided on a blue dress to deepen her eyes that were the color of oysters. She’d met Natalie earlier in the month and knew their love of beauty, poetry, conversation and laughter would take them far in friendship. But what else was in store?

Dinner was served. Two extraordinary women inspirited one another. Élisabeth discovered a sixth sense for pleasure and stayed the night. Blue eyes blazing in an all-blue bedroom. The love of a lifetime was born.