This fascinating story of an American style icon Bunny Mellon, an art collector and philanthropist with her husband Paul Mellon, reveals how her style developed and how she became a self-confident, hands-on designer of homes and gardens in a privileged world.

Bunny Mellon Style is the intimate story of one of the most unintentionally influential women of twentieth-century design. Learn how her style developed, take a look inside the family homes she designed, get the flavor of her collaborations with French designers of fashion and jewelry, and begin to understand her vast and lasting influence on the world of design.

Original research by the authors uncovered Mrs. Mellon's personal writings and correspondences. They talked with people who knew her, who were employed by her, and who spent time in her home and gardens. From published works, they extracted information about personal relationships between Mrs. Mellon and Jackie Kennedy Onasis, designers Billy Baldwin, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and more. Blending stories and accounts from such a wide variety of viewpoints results in a unique perspective of this extraordinary woman who moved in the upper echelon of society but preferred not to be noticed in the public eye. This book reveals Mrs. Mellon's style in furnishings, art, and collectibles; her dietary habits and penchant for picnics; her personal investment in designing every aspect of her homes, secondary buildings, and gardens. Come away with the highest regard for a woman who was disciplined and self-taught, who loved learning from historic texts, who was accomplished in myriad ways, and who was as utterly unpretentious and down-to-earth.

A foreword by her grandson Thomas Lloyd is both surprising and warm.

An abundance of imagery is used, including professional and archival photography, watercolors, whimsical hand drawings, and sketches.

About the Authors:

Linda Jane Holden is the author of The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, first published in October 2018 and now in its 4th printing. Thomas Lloyd, grandson of Bunny Mellon is President of the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, which was established by Bunny Mellon to honor her father. Bryan Huffman is an interior designer based in Charlotte, NC with a client base that spans the East Coast and extends into Texas.

The first study of the gardens and landscapes of Bunny Mellon, written by a leading specialist, illustrated with both new and archival photography.

Throughout her long and storied life, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon’s greatest passion was garden design. She and her husband, Paul Mellon, one of the wealthiest men in America, maintained homes in New York, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Antigua, and Upperville, Virginia, and she designed the gardens at all of them. She also designed gardens for some of her dearest friends, including the Rose Garden and the East Garden at the White House, at the request of President Kennedy, and the gardens at both the Paris home and the château of couturier Hubert de Givenchy.

All of these gardens are featured in The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, illustrated with Mellon’s own garden plans, sketches, and watercolors. Much like one of Mellon’s landscapes, The Gardens of Bunny Mellon slowly matured over several years, allowing the gifted landscape photographer Roger Foley to record Oak Spring, her cherished Virginia home, in all four seasons. The book also features vintage photographs by Horst, Aarons, and others of Mellon’s gardens for her homes in Cape Cod, Antigua, and New York. Author Linda Jane Holden’s text is based on extensive interviews with Mellon before Mellon’s death at age 103 in 2014.

About the Authors:

Linda Holden is the author of Presidents' Gardens. Roger Foley is an award-winning garden and landscape photographer. Sir Peter Crane is the inaugural president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

A treasure trove of Bunny Mellon's garden design philosophy and advice from her personal archive.

Garden Secrets of Bunny Mellon is for anyone who has enjoyed time spent in a garden, from aspiring garden makers to those who manage large estates. This collection is comprised of extracts from Bunny's own writings and garden notes, as well as photographs and drawings from her archive.

Chapters are organized by Atmosphere (sky, horizon, shadows), Climate, Light, Space, Shape, Maintenance, and more--readers will feel as if Bunny Mellon has come alongside as a gardening guide and friend.

Bunny Mellon was of the affluent class and mingled along with her husband, Paul Mellon, in the circles of the East Coast gentry of the Kennedy and Reagan eras. But Mrs. Mellon, as she was respectfully called by those professional gardeners who worked with her most, wasn't snooty about social position or afraid to get her hands dirty in the rich soil of her family's Virginia farm. Beyond this, Bunny Mellon was known nationally and internationally as a style icon of her time, enjoying friendships with Givenchy, the Kennedys, and the like. Her personal passion was for design, and that was exhibited in her fashion and her garden.

A late acquaintance, Linda Holden learned that Bunny wanted to write a gardening book but never found the time. Searching the family's archive after Mrs. Mellon's death, the editors -- whom all shared personal relationships with Bunny -- discovered a trove of photographs, illustrations, and writings and have now turned it into the how-to gardening book Bunny had hoped to write.

About the Authors:

Linda Jane Holden is the author of The Gardens of Bunny Mellon, published October 2018.

Thomas Lloyd, grandson of Bunny Mellon, is president of the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation which was established by Bunny Mellon to honor her father.