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| Tice Alexander, photo: Fernando Bengoechea |
My dear late friend and Parish Hadley mentor, Tice Alexander, was a wonderful and charming man, from Kansas City, who made his home and life in New York. While I've posted about Tice before, I failed to show my readers a picture of him, showing what a handsome and stylish devil he was. This portrait is by the late Fernando Bengoechea - another fabulous talent, lost to the tsunami. To explain how important Tice was in my life, I should tell you that we were roughly the same age, and we attended classes together at the renowned Fashion Institute, under the aegis of our chairman, the late Stanley Barrows - and Tice went on to work with Albert Hadley at the famed decorating and design firm, Parish Hadley Associates. If Tice was still living I would still be in New York, working with him, just as our old friend Kelly Graham works with John Barman.
Tice was such a beacon for me, and when I lost him, I too was lost. He never tried to re-invent the wheel, he simply chose the best for his clients, and that was always his hallmark- the finest quality and workmanship, with a classical point of view, very timeless and chic. We did the President of Princeton's house, we did a large apartment on upper Park Avenue, and we did a beautiful house in Houston, Texas in the River Oaks section. There were other Park Avenue jobs, less major, as well, and when Tice and I first met, he was living in a large half-floor on Park in the nineties, with socialite Fred Bricker. Imagine my excitement and pleasure at being invited to dine there, and coming into the marble lobby, and then the black lacquer elevator foyer with a coromandel screen - lit with the lowest possible wattage, and the heavy scent of YSL opium hanging in the air! That apartment seemed so HUGE, as all the floors had been bleached and pickled almost white- with french frames "dancing" everywhere you looked. The library was done in classic upholstered pieces, covered in a trashed out Clarence House print. It all made such an impression on me. The master bedroom had been made from THREE rooms- and the king bed looked like a postage stamp in it. Then Tom Britt would drop in and talk about how exhausted he was, which was totally understandable, since he works like a banshee and loves every minute of it. I'm crazy for Tom, and did work for him one Summer many years ago, an experience I'll always treasure.
Stanley Barrows, the former Parsons School chairman - taught Tom and me, and SB told Tice that I reminded him of Tom when he was at Parsons! Tom and Angelo Donghia shared an apartment while attending Parsons. I just love all of this decorating trivia. It's become an integral part of who I am. Tice, you were a great guy, thanks for the ride, it was fabulous! DF *****
