Barbra Lives Here
March 29, 1966
ANYONE for camp decorating? Not Barbra Streisand. When she gave up dresses from Everybody's Thrift Shop for Galanos and Bergdorf Goodman, she went all the way.
The big duplex apartment on Central Park West that she has finished decorating is a rich, rather discreet blend of 18th century French and 16th century English furniture, with a bit of Victorian and traditional upholstered pieces.
The jazziest touches are a fur-covered bed set on a dais, and the black moire tent over the tub in the black-walled bathroom.
The overall color message is tones of red, from cloud pink through rich dubonnet, with lots of creamy yellow and mauve in the living room, and leaf green in the bedroom.
The apartment isn't quite orthodox, though. The inventiveness lies mainly in the combination of fabrics which are chosen because they actually go well together, not because they are supposed to be compatible.
The burgundy velvet draperies in the library, for example, are lined in pink and white herring- bone wool suiting.
“The roughness and the smoothness seem to balance each other, and l like the combination," Miss Streisand says.
Above: Miss Streisand will wear this orange chiffon costume for the circus segment of her show tomorrow night. She designed it herself and Ray Diffen made it following her sketch, left. The silver sequin leotard under it cost $2,000. Pink feathers and orange leather boots complete the costume.
When she likes a combination, she really likes it, and when she likes a fabric, it doesn't stop with just upholstery for a love seat. The paisley on the Victorian settee in the library, also sees service as an at-home dress:
“l like to wear it, and sit on the sofa. and kind of fade into the scenery," Miss Streisand says. There's a coat lining and a suit of the same fabric.
The yellow-green damask which upholsters the bedroom walls has been put to multiple-use, too, for coat linings and dresses.
Barbra and her husband, EIIiott Gould, worked with decorator Charles F. Murray, AID, for two years on the apartment. They finished just before Barbra completed her run in "Funny Girl" on Christmas night.
Since "Funny Girl,” her time has been centered around taping her television spectacular, “Color Me Barbra," to be shown tomorrow night, and a trip to Paris for the spring and summer fashion collections.
She'll go back to Europe next month to resume "Funny Girl" in London.
London already is reported feeling the effects of Miss Streisand's most famous number, "Second-Hand Rose." Before Barbra hit the big money, she selected her wardrobe at used clothing spots specializing in elegant but quite antiquated cast-offs. Avant-garde Londoners have been foraging their street markets for such prize quarries as a sequinned Chanel model of 1920 or a Lanvin dinner dress circa 1934.
Sotheby's, the famous Bond Street firm of fine-art auctioneers, announced a sale of women's clothing dating from 1890 to 1925. Bidding was brisk and all 20 items, including such offfbeat togs as a housemaid's apron of 1911, were snapped up at prices front $15 to $165.
RIGHT: BARBRA AT HOME wears clothes such as full-length turtleneck sweater she had knitted and "sort of a bathrobe"' of civet cat. The robe has long sleeves that can be attached for wearing on an evening out.
End.
