D.V. SPEAKS...

Some very juicy questions for D.V.! Bloody hell: recession, pre-mid-life crisis, boy trouble, work/life balance...let’s consult The Oracle and see what she comes up with.

{All quotes in the answers are not the result of a candlelit seance but are from the book D.V. by Diana Vreeland, published by Da Capo Press - and well worth buying by the way}


Bombay Beauty said...

Dear DV,

I think I'm in the midst of a pre-mid-life crisis. To wit, I feel generally anxious at most times, don't want to get out of bed, and none of my usual remedies seems to work. How do I cure it?

BB

D.V. says: “All my life I’ve never gone out before lunch.[...]"This started as a form of laziness, but now I believe totally in metabolism." And; “A good massage - that’s what I believe in! It’s all we need. We’d live forever! My dear, it’s the ABC’s.”


Anonymous said...

Dear DV,

Sorry to bother you with such a huge question, but how do I manage my anxiety about impending recession?

Mia

D.V. describes the thirties - the period between the start of the Depression and the outbreak of WWII: “Everything was weakening...I knew that we were heading towards rien.” Funnily enough that period also seems to have been the most exciting for her. She talks about loving her clothes from Chanel and Schiaparelli, travelling all over Europe, and in the US going out to illicit speakeasies every night, where you’d find everyone from high society to gangsters and their molls downing pints and pints of gin.
D.V. says, of The Abbaye, a favourite speakeasy she frequented in 1931, during the Great Depression and before prohibition was repealed; “It was after the Crash, but it was still a very opulent time in New York.” But since boozing isn’t your thing:

She also says; “Fashion must be the most intoxicating release from the banality of the world.”


Anonymous said...

Dear DV,

I am absolutely smitten by this one boy...but sometimes it takes him forever to reply to my sms's...and then I panic...
How do I stop myself from panicking??

nb

Oh dear, D.V. has taken quite a while to respond - don’t take it the wrong way! Hmm. I think D.V. would find “social lying” perfectly acceptable - and not responding to texts for ages is a subtle manipulative form of that. Or a sign of laziness, which also gets the D.V. seal of approval I’m afraid. But she did have her own made up form of yoga. Try it when panic sets in:
“Relax your arms and your legs. [Ed note: switch off your phone!] Close one nostril with your hand and breathe in. Release it. Now close the other nostril and breathe in...and repeat about 20 times....What you’re getting is circulation in your head...One minute can change the whole body.”


mes petits secrets said...

Dear DV,

How do you balance your personal life and work? I fear becoming one of those ageing bitter magazine editors who always put her job first and now has no friends or companions, just a bitchy reputation.

MC

D.V. says: “I think people forget that I have a family.” [D.V. had two sons - Timmy and Frecky.] “In London people never thought of me as having any children. They thought I was only involved with clothes - and I was. But the family was very close. On lunchtimes at Vogue: “I had a bridge table brought in with my lunch on it - a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich. And a shot of scotch. Never took anyone out to lunch. Never, ever. The business lunch destroys the work of the day. It’s got to go.” Then, "I have wonderful friends of my generation, but I've never made a fetish of it."

Oh, D.V.'s transcriber is feeling very tired now and hopes that wasn't all an insanely confusing muddle. Please leave any further questions for D.V. in the comments...