We are so pleased to introduce (or possibly re-introduce for some of you) to Fifi O’Neill. She is a long time friend of Where Women Create and Wear Women Cook. And as I tell you a little more about her you will see why. Fifi has a style, grace, and class that I would love to bottle. But thankfully I don’t have to bottle it because she shares it with us all through her many works, including Romantic Prairie Style.
Fifi O’Neill
Chez Fifi
Born and raised in Paris, France, Fifi O’ Neil grew up in the midst of all things French and began to develop her trademark style early on. Her formative years, varied skills set, and distinctive style have been the foundation for her multi-faceted career.
Her culinary knowledge first lead to the opening of Deliciously Yours, a successful catering business followed by ownership of 3 hands-on award-winning restaurants in Sarasota, Florida, and a Food editor position for House Home & Living magazine.
Coincidentally, Fifi pursued her writing and styling passions producing feature articles on home decorating, food, and gardening.
As editor, writer and photo stylist, Fifi O’Neill has produced numerous features for national publications, among which The New York Times, Coastal Living, Country Living, Home Companion, Quick & Easy Decorating, Creative Home, Real Life Decorating, and for Italian and Scandinavian magazines such as Casa Romantica and Casa Antichi (Italy), Jeanne d’Arc Living (Denmark) and many more.
Fifi is the author of Romantic Prairie Style, a lifestyle and decorating book, The Romantic Prairie Cookbook (both published by Ryland Peters & Small.) She is also the founder and executive editor of the new national magazine, Romantic Prairie Style.
Romantic Prairie Style
Homes Inspired by Traditional Country Life
Romantic Prairie Style embraces simple pleasures, comfort and the long-cherished ideals of natural beauty, simplicity and harmony with the earth. It’s a style that says ‘home’ wherever you may be because, more than anything else, it’s a mindset: gentle but strong, welcoming and lasting, durable yet sophisticated and, above all, real.
Over the centuries, the humble dwellings built by European immigrants to the US in the 1880s have evolved into sturdier, more comfortable homes, which, depending on their geographic location, took on a variety of designs, be it a ranch, cabin, farmhouse, cottage or adobe. Each of these styles plays a role in prairie style and its enduring aura of romance and nostalgia.
Here, interiors bear the influence of European settlers and the poetry of the heart-warming authenticity of simple, natural textures, hand-hewn beams, bleached wood, weathered planks, woven blankets, cow-hide and Navajo rugs. It’s a style inspired by the honesty of homespun materials of the past wedded to a flair for the present. It’s flower-sprigged brocade, tawny leather, crisp eyelet and soft linen, corduroy with crochet trims, woolen plaids, cosy flannel and wispy organza. It’s history retold and all about the enduring connection between people and places and the nostalgia we feel for a rural country life, a yearning for a simpler life, as embodied in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie.
As you can see from the pages from her book, Fifi has the ability to capture timeless beauty and elegance. We encourage you to bring a bit of that beauty into your home. Fifi’s book, Romantic Prairie Style, is available at all major bookstores and websites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Home Style Books, and even Nordstrom.
what a lovely piece about one of the loveliest people anyone could ever hope to meet. inspiring, generous, hardworking, gifted and talented are words that spring to mind to describe fifi.
xo
elyse