For millennia gardens have been inspiring creative minds, including those of designers across multiple mediums like fashion and interiors. The new book Gardens of Style: Private Hideaways of the Design World by Janelle McCulloch ($55, Rizzoli) takes readers inside a number of both historic and contemporary designers’ gardens. From the Normandy gardens of Christian Dior to the greenery at Celerie Kemble’s Dominican Republic home, the salons verts of the book fall into one of four categories: formal gardens, flower gardens, kitchen gardens, and whimsical gardens—each serving its own purpose, all providing plenty of inspiration.
“Fashion and flowers have always made for graceful collaborations. It’s a natural partnership, a delightful kind of cross-pollination,” writes McCulloch in the introduction. “The passion for gardens also affects architects and interior designers, who are influenced by nature’s delicate and dramatic forms.” Herewith, we pick six of our favorite gardens from the book.
Though de Vésian was one of the most talented textile designers at Hermès, she was also a passionate gardener, revitalizing a rundown spot in the French village of Bonnieux during the later years of her life. The garden, La Louve, is pictured here.
Moschino, who runs the posh Nicholas Haslam store and design studio in London, lives in the city with his partner Vergeylen during the week, but on the weekends, the duo retreats to this charming country home in West Sussex.
“Like many designers, Bilhuber is passionate about plants, flowers, and foliage,” writes McCulloch. “But he goes one step further than most in interpreting and adopting nature’s fertile hues by bringing them inside, to show their glorious shades in equally glorious rooms.” Shown here is the designer’s tulips outside his country home in Locust Valley, New York.
Grandson of Pietro and son of Piero of the Fornasetti empire, Barnaba not only leads the design house, but also maintains a Milanese villa with a spectacular garden, passed down through the generations. He’s often inspired by the flora here—his first design memory is picking a hydrangea, which his father then incorporated as a motif in a tray.
When Kemble discovered a 2,000-acre plot of land in the northern Dominican Republic, she seized the chance to create a pastel-hued resort there, which is now open to the public. Aside from her marvelous designs for the rooms, there’s the lush tropical landscaping, which reflects Kemble's love of color.
“While David Hicks was renowned as a master of interior design, it was his garden at his family’s Oxfordshire home, The Grove, which really showed his talent for design in his later years,” writes McCulloch. “It is still meticulously maintained under the watchful eye of his son, designer Ashley Hicks, and features geometric Hicksian lines, squares, and squares within squares.”
Gardens of Style: Private Hideaways of the Design World by Janelle McCulloch © Rizzoli New York, 2018.
