Pompadour Pink: A Colour Fit for a King

As the Northern Hemisphere embraces autumn and prepares to bunker down for winter, we here in the Southern Hemisphere are heading into a beautiful spring. The weather has been gorgeous lately too: gentle warm days and long-drawn-out sunsets that linger on until evening. Spring always reminds me of the colour pink. The crab apples, the new season roses, the spring racing fashions at Flemington... It's the time of year when pink really comes into its own. {Above image of the Esther Geldenhuys rose; one of the most glorious pinks there is.}

I'm also pleased that one of the world's biggest proponents of pink, Madame de Pompadour, is enjoying a renaissance. A grand seductress, she deliberately acquired a number of lodges and châteaux in which to entertain the king. (Nothing like a hussy with money!) She then decorated them in a mood that was light and pretty, so he felt at ease away from the more formal rituals of court. I love that. A king who was at home in pink. {Image via the National Gallery}

So here, in tribute to Miss Pompadour herself, is a little ode to spring's most delicious colour. {Above image is an old one of mine from the Carnavalet Museum in Paris}

A design from Dior's 2012 Couture Collection.

Rose Pompadour, a beautiful, elegantly petalled shrub rose from Delbard of France, which has a classic Damask fragrance.

Dior's Pink Pompadour nail polish. {From Dior's current nail polish range}

An exquisite tufted chaise in a very royal shade of pink.

{Still trying to locate source: will credit shortly}

The Salon des Mars at Versailles. More 'rose' than pink, it's still spectacular.

LA designer Windsor Smith's pink salon. Love the Gustavian grey in the kitchen. (I thought her kitchen was navy? Here it looks grey. It might be the light.) {Will also credit this shortly}

A Cindy Sherman-designed porcelain tureen, created for Limoges and inspired by the original design commissioned by Madame de Pompadour in 1756 at the Manufacture Royale de Sevres. (Sherman's image of herself as Madame de Pompadour was transferred onto porcelain through a complex process which required up to 16 photo-silkscreens.)

The gracious restaurant known as The Olde Pink House, in the old part of Savannah. Has anyone else been here too? It's superb. Each room is painted a different colour. We dined in the turquoise room. I couldn't stop looking at the tint. The unusual paints used in the period interior are just extraordinary.

A sweeter-than-sweet, Pompadour-pink beach house on Tybee Island, near Savannah. (One of the prettiest islands in the US.) This house originally belonged to a dear friend of mine, the interior designer Jane Coslick. She bought it as a derelict, run-down dump and worked her (very pink) magic on it.

But then she sold it and bought this one, right next door. She calls it '99 Steps' because it's only a towel-throw from the beach. The original cottage above is now for rent, if you'd like a week away on Tybee. When I was staying in Jane's house, there were Harley Davidson bikies staying in the pink cottage. They loved it!

Another pink house for vacation stays, the delicious Doll's House on Harbour Island in the Bahamas. I peeked inside here one day. (The dodgy photos are mine.) It was as divine as it looks from the outside.

The pink crab apples in the spectacular garden of the delightful blogger, architect and designer Virginia Blue, of the blog Glamour Drops by Blue Fruit – here.

A beautiful, delicate pink camellia in the extraordinarily beautiful family garden of one of the loveliest bloggers I know, Heide from Adelaide Villa – here. (Isn't it wonderful how all the Australian gardens are now starting to bloom?)

One of my favourite roses, Constance Spry, found in the magical Parc de Bagatelle in Paris, where la Roseraie de Bagatelle (or Bagatelle’s Rose Garden) is home to 1100 types of roses. Wandering through here on a summer's day is sheer luxury for the senses.

Pink wisteria, the prettiest shade of wisteria. My mother dislikes this plant. She says it spreads faster than flu germs. But I love it. We're trying to find a pink plant to grow over our front verandah, much to my mother's horror. {This beautiful image is by ChrisAnthemum}

The pink salon in the former Ireland home of the late, and greatly respected designer, John Coote.

A page from Lonny magazine, which is now in its third year – well done Lonny! This room was photographed by Patrick Cline. Patrick always takes a gorgeous shot.