Harper's Bazaar did that round-up in 2014, and Diana Vreeland worked there from 1936 until 1962 and then at Vogue from 1962 to 1971. I got sidetracked into the topic of Diana Vreeland after blogging about the Vogue editorship passing from Anna Wintour to Chloe Malle. As I noted in the comments section to that earlier post, I had a job in the early 1970s that required me to read Vogue (among many other magazines) ever month. I was intensely aware that there had been an earlier era that was so much wilder and crazier.
But the pink bulletin board with thumbtacks seems within anyone's reach. I assume "pin with colored thumb-tacks all your various enthusiasms" means use colored thumb-tacks to pin up slips of paper upon which you've written words representing whatever you're currently feeling enthusiastic about.
The board and the tacks are so concrete, unlike "your various enthusiasms." And "your various enthusiasms as your life varies" seems to contain a careless repetition. But no matter. It's not for me to edit the editor, especially after so many years."Why Don't You" sounds like the beginning of a nasty remark, like "Why don't you go jump in a lake?" or worse, but Vreeland used it to begin lists of inspiring prompts. Here's another: "Why Don't You... Have every room done up in every color green? This will take months, years, to collect, but it be delightful—a melange of plants, green glass, green porcelains, and furniture covered in sad greens, gay greens, clear, faded and poison greens?"
Makes me think of that Green Lady....
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Me? Why don't YOU!
There's an internet meme that uses a photo of a guy with board a lot like that. Not pink, but it definitely involves his "enthusiasms." Or should we say his various enthusiasms so you know it's not just a lot of, uh, duplicate pins and papers.
"every month," never "ever month."
Heterosexual men, please ignore this advice, it is not for you. A sheet of graph paper on a clipboard will do nicely for you to jot down plans, notes, and "enthusiasms".
She sounds like a student or faculty in Roethke's "Last Class." "Try, just try, to imagine you're a tree." Young girl idiocy carried into advanced age.
This is about the good idea fairy. The good idea fairy has lots of things for other people to do.
This sort of thinking is more attractive to women. It is parallel to nagging just with a smile and happier tone.
goggles they do nothing,
ot Vreelands son, Frederick, was a CIA official in Morocco in the 60s, and an Ambassador in the 80s,
Looked for and read "The Last Class" in a Reddit post of badly scanned pages from a bound book. He must be talking about his time at Bennington.
They should collect a lot more of those.
We have a room called the Orange Room because the walls are orange. At night, under the artificial light of lamps, the walls also sparkle gold. I added the gold sparkles because I thought it would be fun and unexpected, and it was the kind of thing no one would expect me to do because I don't seem the type. Ha! Wrong! I love that room.
“Why Don't You... Cover a big cork bulletin board in bright pink felt banded with bamboo, and pin with colored thumb-tacks all your various enthusiasms as your life varies from week to week?"
Maybe because we have better things to do, such as the week-to-week living of those actual lives with those varying enthusiasms.
In today’s parlance it’s called a vision board. Pinterest is full of vision boards.
I asked Google if Vreeland was the originator of the vision board:
The concept of a "mood board" was a key tool in her [Vreeland’s] creative process and is still used widely in creative industries like fashion, interiors, and event planning.
Mood boards are a way for professionals to collect visual inspiration and communicate a theme or aesthetic to clients or a team.
The origin and history of vision boards
The practice of using visual aids for manifestation and goal-setting long predates Vreeland's career and was developed independently of her work.
Ancient roots: The concept of visualizing one's goals is ancient, with some sources linking it to Egyptian hieroglyphics used to represent goals and desires.
Early 20th century: The concept of the Law of Attraction, which is closely tied to vision boards, was explored by authors like Wallace Wattles in his 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich.
Creative visualization: The modern concept was further developed in the 1960s with the work of Shakti Gawain and her book Creative Visualization.
So now I’m not sure if what she was talking about was a vision board or a visual representation of a diary.
“Life goes on. A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms. What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?”
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