Inside Job

Dec of the month: Fernanda Niven

Chintz begets glitz" is how one guest summed up the social action the night Fernanda Wetherill Niven launched her first collection of Frenchand English-inhspired chintzes at Mortimer's earlier this season. Tables VFwere removed and Fernanda's chintzes were everywhere.

There was even a canopied bed. Anne Bass huddled with Bill Paley, and Mario Buatta, a.k.a. "The Prince of Chintz," brought a photo of himself and Fernanda with the caption: "Marry me and you will be the 'Princess of Chintz.' "

Perhaps that would have tempted other Gothamites in this year of marital musical chairs, but not Fernanda. She is the wife of British-born Jamie Niven (son of the late actor David) and mother of two daughters, and her ascent into chintz heaven is a fait accompli. Cowtan & Tout is distributing four of her fabulous designs now. Next September there will be six more. Fernanda credits her garden in Southampton for inspiration. "There were certain flowers outside I wanted inside, such as foxgloves and peonies," she explains.

Fernanda's mother was the late, great hostess Fernanda Wanamaker Leas, heiress to the Philadelphia department-store chain. You might say the mercantile mentality is in her blood. "Keep a low overhead" is advice she remembers from early on. On Fernanda Niven's schedule this month:

—Pheasant shoot at Blenheim Park.

—Meet the press in Brussels with chintz collection.

—Design chintz-covered bed to be shipped to sister Scarlett Leas Robertson in Texas.

—Christmas at home in Southampton; New Year's Eve with the Fanjuls at La Romana in the Dominican Republic, where the Nivens are building a house. —William Norwich

William Norwich