The fabulous Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Image via the Smithsonian.
More on Gertrude here.

Editor’s Note:  I’m very pleased to introduce our third guest speaker!  Christine Mitchell is an amazingly talented artist and the founder of the blog N’East Style, where she explores an aesthetic that is modern, yet rustic, with a deep admiration of all things New England, independent and handmade.  I came to know Christine initially through her artwork — it’s everywhere!  Her drawings and logo work appears all over the interwebs, recently graced a lovely set of stationery for Tory Burch and even the handmade card she sent me for Christmas.

But aside from all the cool stuff Christine introduces me to on her blog, and her amazing talent as an artist, the main reason I asked her to participate is because she is honestly one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.  I knew whatever she chose to share would be heartfelt and charming, just like her, and I was right.  If you are not yet familiar with Christine or N’East Style, it is my pleasure to introduce you.

Without any further ado, Christine’s tip for a charmed life.

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Day 8: Your Family Jewels
In general, I’m not a huge accessorizer. It’s very likely that is due to the fact that in the mornings before work, instead of contemplating what I’m going to wear I find myself cleaning, writing note cards, catching up on emails, or sleeping past my alarm. As my work land personal lives continued to get more frenzied (and exciting!) in the past years, I decided to ditch the heaps of slightly chintzy jewelry options in exchange for a finely edited selection of beautiful pieces that are very dear to me and that I wear day in and day out. For me, it was akin to one of the final stages of becoming a woman. Now, I wear jewelry with history; a few turquoise and silvers Navajo pieces given to me by my mother, a necklace and pair of earrings made by a dear friend and talented jewelry designer Kate Jones (both of which my wonderful boyfriend gave me), a necklace my sister brought back from Bali, and a couple simple silver and gold pieces made by local designers that were the first big presents I ever gave to myself. I feel sophisticated and completely myself when I wear these pieces, every single day. And even better still, I look forward to the day that I’ll be able to pass some of these pieces down to my daughter(s) and share with them the stories of each treasured piece.

by Christine Mitchell, of N’East Style.

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

Maaaaaaaaaybe.

Images of the old New York Penn Station (1910 – 1963), designed by the architectural powerhouse McKim, Mead & White.  Every time I have to pass through the wretch that is the new Penn Station — dark, subterranean and horribly bland — I catch myself wishing earnestly that it had survived the 1960s.  Wishing that what is now the busiest train station in North America was something beautiful to look at.  Wishing that it rivaled the glory that is my beloved Grand Central.  But alas, it is not…

Henry Crane had the right idea.
(Sidenote: Mad Men! March 24! Finally!)

For more pictures of Penn, be sure to check out my earlier post Farewell at Penn Station, poignant moments captured by LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt of WWII soldiers shipping out.

Images via the Library of Congress and the NYPL

Photo via the National Archives of Norway.

Day 7: The Hostess Gift
The first time I ever formally encountered the topic of a hostess gift was upon the occasion of my first visit to my high school boyfriend’s home, to meet his family.  As I breezed toward the door, my mother casually asked what I had gotten his mother, by way of a hostess gift.  A hostess gift? My uncharming 16 year-old self asked. What on earth for?  And when she explained that when visiting someone in their home, it was customary to bring the lady of the house a small token, I found myself caught unawares.  Luckily, my mother was prepared — as mothers often are — and I presented my new boyfriend’s mother with a small crystal vase my mother had on reserve.  Crisis averted.

Fast-forward to present day, and you’ll find that the hostess gift is a social custom that I still religiously follow.  If I am invited to your home I will first ask what I can bring, and even if you admonish me to bring only myself, I will still appear bearing a gift.  It truly is the classy thing to do and today I humbly suggest you observe it as well.  When someone opens their home to you, it is the gracious thing to acknowledge the gesture.

**Also** please do not be put off by the name of this gift – if a host happens to extend the invite, he definitely deserves acknowledgment.  I’ve decided, and do so declare, that hostess can mean host, just like mankind includes us ladies.  Done!

A few gifting guidelines:

• The gift should correspond to the kind of event you will be attending.  A birthday party obviously requires a birthday gift, while a bottle of wine will suffice for dinner party, but a hostess gift for a weekend stay will need a to be a bit more substantial.  Also, keep in mind a hostess gift is generally consumable or related to the home.
• Your entry point into the world of hostess gifts is a simple bouquet of flowers.  High impact and relatively low cost, a pretty arrangement will brighten the home and last for a few days after the party has ended.
• The next level up in the echelon of hostess gifts is a bottle of wine, but do not expect to open this bottle that evening, as your hosts may have already specially chosen wines to accompany the food they are serving.
• Better than wine, try to give something you know they will love: if your hostess has a special interest in a type of liquor, a nice bottle for her bar will be greatly appreciated; if she has a sweet tooth, bring her a finely wrapped box of macarons.
• If you’d like to do something even better than that, let your relationship and budget be your guide — creativity and presentation will go a long way.

And for future reference, I’m quite partial to bourbon…

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

While not necessarily my sartorial cup of tea, the Ports 1961 Spring/Summer 2007 campaign by Geoff Barrenger is still so very captivating — it is quite impossible for me to look at these pictures without remembering the trips I’ve taken by train.  There is something terribly romantic about traveling by train, isn’t there?  The soaring ceilings of the stations, the sound of the train on the tracks, the countryside unfurled, cocktails in the dining car…

And when you consider fact these photos were taken in Buenos Aires, my location of my last international adventure, you can probably understand the hour I just spent pricing tickets on the Orient-Express.

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

New York’s old Pennsylvania Station. Taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt for LIFE.

Editor’s Note: I’m very happy to introduce our second guest speaker! Lizzie Garrett Mettler is a journalist, writer and the founder of the amazing blog Tomboy Style, and this spring she’ll be adding “published author” to the list of her awesomeness, as the book Tomboy Style will be released by Rizzoli on April 10 (pre-order your copy here).  I met Lizzie virtually when she asked me to do a Q&A for her blog back in May of last year and I had the opportunity to hang out with her in LA in the fall.  She is one of the coolest ladies I’ve ever met and I definitely wish we lived closer to each other.

Tomboy Style is one of my absolute favorite places on the internet.  A compendium of all things adventurous, rebellious, fashionable and female, the blog is an expertly researched and magnificently cross-referenced guide to embracing your inner Françoise Hardy or Diane Keaton.  I especially love the old photographs that Lizzie finds, but you probably guessed that already.  If you are not yet familiar with Lizzie and Tomboy Style, it is my pleasure to introduce you.  It is a daily read for me and I bet it will be for you as well.

Without any further ado, Lizzie’s tip for a charmed life.

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Day 6: Be Fashionably Punctual
Arriving twenty minutes late to a party is a given, but when it comes to other appointments, being habitually late is as un-classy as driving a yellow Hummer. It seems lately, everyone has a story about a friend they had to ditch because their flake factor got in the way. Have you noticed the phenomenon of re-conforming meetings, appointments and lunches? The re-confirm has evolved into daily American life, but In England, the re-confirm is barely in the British lexicon—perhaps because by culture, they are punctual, and when they say they will arrive at a certain time, they usually do. The habitual late-arriver may blame himself or herself, but allowing them to repeatedly disregard or hold your time to a lesser value than theirs is something you should do without as well.

Help your friend have (or treat yourself to) a fashionably punctual life with a vintage watch! There are some great online retailers for 1940s-1980s watches like Park & Bond and Matt Singer, but if you want a real deal, do the research and hunt for your timepiece on eBay (online forums are a great way to spot fakes!). Lately I’ve been loving a round face from the 1940s, a time when, just maybe…people were more on time.

Via The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 5 July 1934:

CYCLING.

GIRL’S RECORD ATTEMPT.

Miss Billie Samuels started on her attack on the women’s record from Sydney to Melbourne, held by Miss Valsa Barbour, at 10 o’clock yesterday morning. She will ride to a schedule which will bring her to the Melbourne G.P.O. at 2 p.m. on Saturday, a total time of 3 days 7 hours. This is about three hours faster than the present record. Miss Samuels provides for stoppages of about four hours in Goulburn (132 miles), five hours in Holbrook (333 miles), and five hours in Seymour, Victoria (501 miles), in addition to regular meal stoppages of about 30 to 40 minutes every 40 or 50 miles.

Miss Samuels arrived at Moss Vale at 4.39 p.m., almost 2 hours ahead of schedule time. She encountered rain from Camden to Moss Vale, but is looking fit.  Miss Samuels resumed her ride three-quarters of an hour later.

Images via the State Library of New South Wales.

Previous Persons of the Hour: 
Photographer Gerda Taro
Race car enthusiast, sailor and playboy Briggs Swift Cunningham II

Photo taken by George Skadding for LIFE Magazine in 1948.

Day 5: Winterize Your Skin
A charmed life is definitely about feeling your best and putting your best self forward whenever possible, and it is undeniable that when you look your best, you feel at your best.  Today we turn our attention to perfecting your birthday suit in the winter.  While basic skincare is important the entire year, during the winter months your skin requires a bit of extra care  — because really, no one wants to shake hands with an alligator. Between the wind, the rain, the snow, and the drying air from furnaces and heaters, our skin is zapped of all its moisture and sorely in need of renewal.

Luckily, the solution is simple.  Incorporate an exfoliating agent into your cleansing regimen and then follow with a rich conditioner.  For areas that need extra attention like your feet, knees, elbows and lips, use a good balm.

Ladies, I’m guessing this tip might be a no-brainer, but I did want to draw your attention to a few products that I have been loving this winter.  L’Occitane Certified Organic Pure Shea Butter is amazing; it healed a chapped, post-flu nose and is a great addition to my DIY home manicures.  Dairy Association Bag Balm is a familiar canister that my mother has had on her bedside table for as long as I can remember.  Created to prevent cows’ udders from chapping, this balm will soften up just about anything.  And, added bonus, it’s made in the USA.  Kiehl’s Creme de Corps Soy Milk and Honey Body Polish is my very favorite scrub — it is a bit on the coarser side, so some may not want to use it every day.

Gentlemen, I’m still trying to figure out why most of you won’t use lotion.  Is it because it seems feminine?  Or perhaps you don’t care to add one more thing to your morning routine, for brevity’s sake? As a liberal user of the snooze button, I can definitely understand that.  In any event, if you incorporate even a weekly use of a moisturizer, you will definitely feel the difference — as will those who snuggle up against you.  I highly recommend Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture Lotion, which is available in most drugstores, is inexpensive and works wonders.  It is unscented, so you won’t have to worry about smelling like flowers or fruit.  As for cleansing, I love the scent and feel of Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap.  It will slough off the dry bits for you and isn’t as drying as most bar soaps.

Sidenote:  For those with skin that tends toward combination, oily, or acne-prone, you may want to try a blemish-fighting scrub like Peter Thomas Roth Blemish Buffing Beads, but I’ve also found a cheaper alternative: good old St Ives Swiss Formula Apricot Scrub works just as well.

From top left:  Kiehl’s Creme de Corps Soy Milk and Honey Body Polish
Kiehl’s Gently Exfoliating Body Scrub
Aesop Rejuvenate Intensive Body Balm
Peter Thomas Roth Blemish Buffing Beads
St Ives Swiss Formula Apricot Scrub
Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap

From bottom left:  Dairy Association Bag Balm 
L’Occitane Certified Organic Pure Shea Butter 
L’Occitane Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream 
Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture Lotion 
Rosebud Salve

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

JFK, 1961. Taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt for LIFE.

Day 4: A Firm Handshake
A charmed life is spent meeting new and interesting (and not so interesting) people, and this will require shaking hands.  While men are frequently admonished to give “manly” handshakes, this message somehow misses a lot of women.  I can’t tell you how many limp lady wrists I have encountered or how many times a woman has practically offered me the top of her hand – as if I were supposed to kiss it.  I suppose some women think they are feminizing a masculine practice, but I firmly believe a good handshake communicates confidence, no matter if you are a man or a woman.  I got my own crash course when I started working at a law firm and was introduced to every single person on three different floors.  Man, do lawyers love to shake hands.

Briefly, a few tips for women and men, alike:

• Always look the other person in the eye as you shake their hand
• Take their hand into yours until the webbing between your thumb and forefinger touches theirs
• Grip their hand firmly — no dead fish or kung fu grips — and shake 2 or 3 times, with a stiff wrist

Perfecting your handshake is a tiny adjustment that will benefit you in your personal life and your professional life.  The people you meet will be left with an impression of your confident personality, and not your clammy, limp hand.  Charmed, I’m sure.

JFK, Jacqueline and Mrs. John Drexel III, 1957.  Taken by Ralph Morse for LIFE.

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

New spectacles maker, RockOptika, caught my eye with a rather well-executed campaign that immediately had me wanting to know more.  I happily discovered that designer Tom Herrington is set to debut 10 designs, 5 for women and 5 for men, that are designed in England, handmade in France by craftsmen and display the kind classic style that I always look for when selecting my own frames.  When you are very good at “conscientiously balancing well proportioned models against bold lines and an indulgent splattering of Great British eccentricity,” you’re assured to have my full attention.  I didn’t see a US stockist on the list, but with a collection this strong, it’s only a matter of time.  I was hoping to make a trip across the pond anyway…

Found here via here.

Audrey Hepburn.

Editor’s Note: Today I am very pleased to introduce our first Charm School guest speaker!  Stephanie Madewell, the writer, designer and brilliant mind behind the exceptionally erudite blog even*cleveland, is a lady I have long admired, so you can imagine how excited I was when she accepted my request to contribute.

It is difficult to describe exactly what kind of blog even*cleveland is, which is probably why I love it so much.  Somewhat thematic in nature, Stephanie explores various topics (e.g., swans, works in miniature, Louisa May Alcott, winter) through the lenses of art, literature, photography, museum collections and fashion, connecting dots I didn’t know existed.  I find I am frequently staggered at the breadth of this lady’s knowledge about…well, pretty much everything!  Aside from that, she’s also a great source for information on cultured happenings and usually posts great music over the weekends.  If you are not yet familiar with Stephanie and even*cleveland, it is my pleasure to introduce you.

Without any further ado, Stephanie’s tip for a charmed life.

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Her reputation for reading a great deal hung about her
like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic.
Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Day 3: Get a Library Card
Since I’ve moved to New York, one of my favorite indulgences is watching people read on the train. New York subway riders are voracious readers – you see everything from tabloid skimmers to book editors correcting proofs. But there are certain readers whose whole presence speaks a story – every detail from the drape of their coat to the knot of their scarf is just right. They sit on the train in attitudes of unstudied elegance, exuding cosmopolitan appeal, and inevitably the grace note is a library book.

I don’t know quite what it is about library books – I love books in general, and the books in my own collection beyond reason – but library books speak straight to desire. They embody both canny frugality and boundless avarice. Library patrons are greedy readers, but smart – they know to try before buying. It’s an admirable quality.

I’ve been lucky to visit a few places in the world – not nearly as many as I would like – but in the absence of unlimited funds and unlimited time, it has been my great good fortune to love to read and to be born into a world with public libraries. I firmly believe no one should go through life without a library card. It is a free passport to places beyond time and imagining – everywhere from the siege-wracked walls of Troy to chill and lonely lunar landscapes. In the past year, I’ve flown with Margarita through the inky Russian sky, bivouacked with Cossacks, hunted blue tigers, watched the ominous shimmer of the desert sun, wandered the moon, and tracked netsuke across two continents.

Stepping into a bookstore is a wonderful thing, and I find owning books a necessity of life, but libraries are living, working monuments to the idea that knowledge should be free and that it belongs to everyone.They let you dip into the seething and magnificent mass of human thought and endeavor – thousands of years of thinking and writing and talking and tale-telling. It’s the easiest way to explore the world, and there’s surefire glamour in that.

by Stephanie Madewell, of even*cleveland

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Find out how to get a library card in New York  here.

Taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt for LIFE, 1944.

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life