Black Like My Heart

I know black nail polish is not earth-shattering to most people but it took me a long time to get used to it. I don't know why that is, watching too many Tim Burton movies? Mental pictures of Frankenstein when thinking of black nails? Whatever, it's grown on me over the years, probably helped by a ton of magazine editorials featuring models wearing it and looking not goth, but elegant. This particular polish, Black Satin by Chanel, which I have posted about before, has shimmer in it, but it's only visible in strong light, otherwise it just reads black and gleaming. What an attention-getter and perfect for October and November.

Chanel Nail Colour in Black Satin, $23.

Happy Halloween!

Fabrics I Have Known and Loved

I've been thinking of fabric lately, specifically repeating patterns in fabric, and I took pictures of a few things in my closet that I love especially because of the fabric.


Thakoon for Target coat



Vintage green tweed coat



Rodarte for Target black lace cardigan (shown over a pale green bedspread)



Missoni cardigan (this may get its own post soon)



J. Crew Sequin Falls cardigan

Shopping My Closet for the Mad Men Look

I know Season 4 of Mad Men just ended (which I will see when it comes out on Netflix, so tell me nothing!) and that started me thinking of a wonderful green tweed coat my husband's grandmother gave to me over ten years ago. The coat reaches to about mid-calf and the tweed is unbelievable, with flecks of other colors woven throughout. Here it is in detail, along with a gorgeous vintage brooch my mother-in-law gave to me this summer. The two together definitely remind me of something you'd see Betty Draper wearing.

The costumes on Mad Men are a big draw for me. I love what costumer Janie Bryant has done for the show and how her work highlights the elegance and glamour of the early 1960's, one of my favorite periods in fashion.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Catherine

I read about this particular polish in W magazine and the purple looked so gorgeous I had to try it. Rescue Beauty Lounge is in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan on Gansevoort Street, the same street where, back in the day, I used to go to a fun gay bar called Hell. The stairwell leading to the salon, which is on the second floor of a nondescript building (and you have to be buzzed in, like you're visiting a friend), was dim and reeked of cigar smoke, but the stair treads were bright red, giving the whole place this great vibe of crappy old New York meets expensive-chic New York.

The polish is named Catherine and is from the "Housewives of Tudor England" collection now available at Rescue Beauty Lounge. Each of the four shades is named for a wife of King Henry VIII. Catherine, named for Henry's first wife, is a gorgeous sophisticated shade of dark purple shot through with steel gray and layered with the most wonderful flecks of shimmer in hot pink and blue. This is the first polish I've tried from Rescue Beauty but it won't be the last. I think I better head back for the marvelous green/gold/pink shade called Anne.

Nail polish colors inspired by English history. Love it!

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polish in Catherine, $18.

www.rescuebeauty.com

Rachel Zoe Pregnant? Hope It's a Boy!

There are rumors that Rachel Zoe, the celebrity stylist, is pregnant with her first child. I haven't read any official statement from her confirming it, but I hope the rumor is true. I did read that she just turned 39, so if she wants to have a baby she better get on it! I think she probably is, judging by how her face looks in the top picture, taken just days ago on October 18. The bottom picture is from September, but her face appears fuller than it normally does. She also looks like she's doing the old Grace Kelly trick of hiding the pregnancy behind a handbag (might it be vintage Chanel?).

I am still catching up on the past two seasons of The Rachel Zoe Project, a show I love, and I did catch her and her husband Rodger joking that they would one day have a baby girl and name her Scarlet Begonia, after the Grateful Dead song "Scarlet Begonias." I am having a terrible time picturing the glamorous Rachel at a Grateful Dead show with all those pot-smoking hippies in their tie-die T-shirts. Rodger laughed that she was the only one wearing Prada pumps at the concerts they attended.

When I was pregnant with my son I'd walk around midtown Manhattan on my lunch break and have construction workers yell at me, "Hope it's a boy!" This happened with surprising frequency and it was always men yelling it and they always hoped I was having a boy.

For Rodger's sake, I hope Rachel too has a boy, a little buddy for Daddy to hang out with while the insanely-busy Mommy is attending Fashion Week and dressing clients for the Oscars. They will have to come up with another name if they have a boy, of course, and I certainly hope it's not Jerry Garcia!

The Well-Accessorized Witch

I didn't realize when I watched Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video earlier this year that I'd actually found my ideal Halloween costume. Here are a few stills of the looks I love. The first is Gaga in jail, with aluminum can hair curlers (so great) while donning designer clothes. The second look features her Wonder Woman-esque costume. The third shows the telephone hat which I deeply love and want for myself. If you haven't seen this video it is hilarious and filthy and was the point at which I decided I liked Lady Gaga (I had been on the fence). She has a great voice, she's a good songwriter, she's deep into fashion and she makes me dance and laugh. What's not to like? I felt the same way about Madonna when I first discovered her at fifteen.

Since I have no time this month to make my own telephone hat for Halloween I am instead going for the Stylish Witch look and my costume will consist of the above items. It will also include a gorgeous dramatic full length black velvet coat, given to me by my husband's grandmother from her personal fashion collection.

Witch hat--CVS
Glasses--Party City
Necklace--J. Crew
Pink disco wig--Revlon
Black silk rose--M&J Trimming
Black nail polish--Chanel
Leopard cuff--La Crasia

Glitter Pumpkins

A few years ago I watched Martha Stewart make glitter pumpkins on TV and I've been making them myself ever since. I know pumpkins are beautiful without adornment and I keep the bigger ones bare, but let's face it, I can't resist something with a little sparkle. I use the glitter Martha recommended, Barbara Trombley's Art Glitter, specifically the Ultrafine Opaque so no pumpkin shows through. The colors featured here are (72) Pink Champagne, (59) Teak, and (56) Pumpkin. I have 1/2 oz. jars and only make mini pumpkins so the jars have lasted me a long time. They are $5.90 each.

Here are the instructions for making your own glitter pumpkins:

1) Paint Elmer's Glue all over the pumpkin, except the stem.
2) Gently sprinkle the glitter over the glue. Shake off excess. (I recommend a shoebox for this step, since it's a little messy and the box will keep the extra glitter from flying all over the place.)
3) Allow time to dry. I let it sit overnight.
4) Paint stem with brown acrylic paint.

Once finished, show them off! You might want to include a tiny cardboard circle for them to sit on so no glitter is left behind.

www.artglitter.com

A Tale of Two Necklaces

The August 2008 issue of Vogue featured Kate Moss looking quite ladylike in a cream-colored Louis Vuitton dress and a Balenciaga by Nicholas Ghesquiere strass necklace. The necklace particularly caught my eye and I wondered if something similar could be had for less than the original, $795. In February of this year J. Crew brought out their Martha necklace which retails for $165. It's named after Martha Stewart, on whose show J. Crew's creative director Jenna Lyons debuted it during the 2009 holiday season. After wanting it for most of this year, I finally broke down and bought it a couple of weeks ago, along with the crystal chain necklace, which looked good and was on sale.

Well.

The Martha necklace I had pined for is an exact replica of the Balenciaga necklace. It is so sparkly--made with blindingly white Swarovski crystals--you cannot take your eyes off it. My face can't compete with it. No one's face can compete with it. Seriously, imagine the most beautiful woman in the world wearing the necklace. You would look at her and say, Huh, nice, but not as nice as that necklace! The sparkle! The shine!

The crystal chain necklace, meanwhile, is composed of three linked necklaces--a strand of small glittery rhinestones, a link chain strand, and one braided chain. It is long and in gunmetal gray and it catches the eye but doesn't overpower the wearer. It's a great necklace. I would wish it for you, Dear Reader, but it is now sold out.

Because I only paid $29.99 for it and like it so much I feel like I stole it from J. Crew, like they're going to write me a letter saying they mislabeled the price, that I actually owe them fifty more dollars for it.

I love the irony of the impulse buy being the one I went crazy for but the one I thought I wanted turned out not to be for me.

The crystal chain necklace is getting a lot of wear with a long black open-front cardigan from Anthropologie.

The Martha necklace went back to J. Crew for a refund.

Fashion Forward

From L to R: David Neville and Marcus Wainwright (Rag & Bone), Naeem Khan, Phillip Lim, Maria Cornejo


Zero + Maria Cornejo



3.1 Phillip Lim (the jacket is all of a piece, although it
looks like it's composed of layers)



Rag & Bone (featuring Harris tweed)


Rag & Bone



Naeem Khan


Naeem Khan


200-300 hours to make, all done by hand!


Naeem Khan-designed dress for Michelle Obama

On October 2 I attended The New Yorker Festival event called "Fashion Forward," featuring the designers Maria Cornejo, Naeem Khan, Phillip Lim, and David Neville and Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone in conversation with Judith Thurman, one of the writers for the magazine. It also featured a mini fashion show of the designers' Fall 2010 collections, which was a wonderful opportunity to see the clothes at close range. I didn't bring my camera so the clothes you see are from when they were shown on the runway back in February of this year.

It was a packed house and a fascinating panel. Some highlights:

None of these designers were born in the United States--Maria Cornejo was born in Chile and partly raised in England. Naeem Khan is from India. Phillip Lim was born in Thailand to Chinese parents and came to Southern California at an early age. David Neville and Marcus Wainwright were both born in England.

Every one of them said they never could have become fashion designers in their home countries, they had to come to the United States, they had to come to New York. It is amazing to me that New York City is STILL the center of opportunity in so many ways! All of them talked about how in New York you can watch your work being made from start to finish and how exciting that was for them as fledgling designers.

They all spoke of the importance of owning your company in the fashion business. Maria Cornejo said the "backing situation is dangerous. You lose your power."

The Rag & Bone guys talked about being frugal when opening new stores, to fuel growth by continuing to do what they do (lots of denim, menswear-inspired clothes for women, and a military influence on both the men's and women's lines).

Phillip Lim said there was "no fat to cut out" of his shows, what you see on the runway he and his staff are on the phone selling to stores the day after the clothes are shown.

Naeem Khan spoke of the downfall of the American designer Halston. As Halston's onetime assistant, who better to make the statement, "Enterprise killed him." Because of witnessing firsthand the decline of a great name in American fashion through too many owners and dilution of the brand name, Mr. Khan wants to keep his own brand small and profitable.

You could feel their passion for what they do in how they all spoke of their clothing lines. I especially loved it when Mr. Wainwright, after admitting that yeah, it was great when someone like Brad Pitt wears one of your jackets, talked about how their clothes aren't cheap and how it actually means more to him to walk down the street and see a stranger wearing his clothes, knowing that person worked hard for the money to pay for them.

A note on some of the clothes.

The Harris tweed featured in the Rag & Bone jackets are made by women in England who weave the fabric at home. Mr. Wainwright said there are even "bits of straw" in the tweed. Love it!

The glittery dress by Naeem Khan featured here takes 200-300 hours to make since it is beaded by hand. He said making a dress like this is "like designing a bridge" because of the intricacies of the fabric, how that has to be taken into account when putting together the dress. This particular geometric pattern was inspired by a broken window near Mr. Khan's desk. He was fascinated by the look of the shattered glass. In case you don't know him, Naeem Khan designed the dress Michelle Obama wore for her first State Dinner, the one that tacky couple crashsed.

Speaking of Michelle Obama, when asked by an audience member if they would rather dress her or her French first lady counterpart Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the panel was unanimous: Michelle Obama. They loved her style and influence and her support of American fashion designers.

Maria Cornejo then said, "I've met Carla before and there's not much up there."

About 400 people (including me) then went, "Ooooooh!"

Ouch! I figured this would get out and sure enough, I saw her comment has been mentioned on Huffingtonpost.com and Stylebistro.com.

I guess Carla (whose style I love) won't be asking Maria Cornejo to design for her any time soon!

Velvet Voyeur

Here is Velvet Voyeur from Essie's Fall 2010 Collection of nail polishes. "Intense chocolate amethyst" is how the company describes it on their website and they meant it. It looks more eggplant-colored in the bottle, but after you apply the second coat, it does get very dark chocolate crossed with purple. It's gleaming and dramatic and without shimmer, and looks great against navy blue, purple (all shades), dark denim and black, all of which I wore last weekend since it finally felt like fall.

Essie polishes are $8 on their website but I found this one for $5.99 at my local beauty supply store on Fulton Street.

And, for those of you who noticed, in the third picture, on the left hand side, is the lovely French actress Catherine Deneuve in a black trench, sitting atop a Louis Vuitton trunk.

I bet she'd wear Velvet Voyeur.

www.essie.com

J'adore Dior

In honor of the masked ball Vogue Paris recently threw to celebrate 90 years, the House of Dior created this unbelievably gorgeous ankle boot. Isn't it divine?

Carine Roitfeld, Je t'aime

In honor of Paris Fashion Week, happening now, I thought I'd express my admiration for the style of Carine Roitfeld, the Editor in Chief of Vogue Paris. I'm not really sure when Carine came on my radar--maybe through Vanity Fair's Best-Dressed List, on which she appeared in 2008--but the more I see, the more I like. She is the epitome of the French fashion editor. She is also 56 and the mother of two which, for me, just adds to the appeal. I think she looks super hot!

What I get from her look: slightly wrecked hair, smoky eyes, super high, faintly S&M heels, trench coats and animal prints. I love her. I hereby name her one of my style icons.

I don't know if she smokes, and I quit years ago, but just looking at these pictures makes me want to smoke cigarettes with her and maybe drink a few dirty martinis.

I need to bust out my black trench, leopard scarf, black high-heeled boots, dark eyeliner and nail polish and channel Carine.

You need to too.

www.vogue.fr/