Perfect! Inspired by the designer's Swedish memories of crocheted tableclothes during tea with grandma. $54.00. Buy it at Relish.com.
Look at This Bike Basket!
Perfect! Inspired by the designer's Swedish memories of crocheted tableclothes during tea with grandma. $54.00. Buy it at Relish.com.
The Trench Coat.
I was dabbling in my Stylehive, and saw some trench coats. Then I saw some more. Then I couldn't stop hiving them. Ruffles. Ruffles on low hems. Puffy shoulder pull overs. Black, khaki, bows. Just watch this little slide show aka widget of my favorite trench coats.
Keisha Whitaker
From The Oprah Show - Keisha Whitaker's Favorite Things
Slim Jims
Schwepp's Ginger Ale
Hanes T-Shirts (5 pack)
Neiman Marcus Shoe Sales
Le Creuset Cookware (@ Marshall's)
B. Ella Cashmere Socks (@ Marshall's)
Shabby Chic Bedding (@ Target)
Dominique Cohen Jewelry (@ Target)
Altoids Tangerine Sours
Pond's Exfoliating Cucumber Clean Sweep Towels
Neutrogena Microdermabrasion System
Nyakio Products
Banana Republic Trench Coat
Kissable Couture Lip Gloss in "Forest"
Keri Moisturizing Lotion
Garrett's Popcorn
Ritz Crackers
Victoria's Secret Shapers
Victoria's Secret "Secret Embrace" bra
Hanes T-Shirts (5 pack)
Neiman Marcus Shoe Sales
Le Creuset Cookware (@ Marshall's)
B. Ella Cashmere Socks (@ Marshall's)
Shabby Chic Bedding (@ Target)
Dominique Cohen Jewelry (@ Target)
Altoids Tangerine Sours
Pond's Exfoliating Cucumber Clean Sweep Towels
Neutrogena Microdermabrasion System
Nyakio Products
Banana Republic Trench Coat
Kissable Couture Lip Gloss in "Forest"
Keri Moisturizing Lotion
Garrett's Popcorn
Ritz Crackers
Victoria's Secret Shapers
Victoria's Secret "Secret Embrace" bra
Kai Milla
Kai Milla and her husband, superstar Stevie Wonder, were featured on The Oprah Show yesterday along with Heidi Klum and Seal. The topic was "supercouples" and how they make it work. Heidi and Seal were, of course, adorable together but it was nice to see Kai and Stevie on the show too. I don't really know much about her aside from the fact that she may have surpassed Tracey Reese and Rachel Roy as my favorite designer. Her stuff is so elegant and wearable. She's one of those rare designers that can put on a show and make me covet every item in the collection. Some of these, including the beautiful parsley green chiffon dress were feature on the show. I wonder if any of this is available at my neighborhood Nordstrom. Not that I can afford to buy anything else right now but a girl can dream, can't she?
Sources: Elle and Oprah.com
BFF: Jennifer Hudson and Andre Leon Talley
By now everyone knows that Andre Leon Talley, the editor-at-large for Vogue has taken Jennifer Hudson under his wing and serves as her primary stylist for her red carpet events. Now, I like Jennifer and Andre's column in Vogue is usually the first thing I turn to when, in a moment of weakness, I break down and buy that magazine. Looking at JHud's red carpet photos over the last year sometimes leaves me scratching my head. His personal taste aside, Andre is without a doubt talented. The frocks that he has picked for Renee Zellweger have been flawless. Dressing Jennifer presents more of a challenge. She' is after all full figured and it's no secret that most high fashion designers don't seem to know that anything over size 6 is an option when designing their wares. Setting aside JHud's Oscar dress disaster, I haven't seen her many show stopping clothes, at best I'd say that she's looking great in about half of the photos I've seen her in. She's pretty and talented enough but on more than one occasion it seems that the fit of her garments has been off or downright unflattering. So, what do you think? Is it time for her to thank ALT for the help and move on, or should she stick with the man who put her on the cover of Vogue?
Photo Sources: Lipstick Alley and The Fashion Spot
Physics Question on Road Trip on Velocity and Trucks
David asked me this question as we r driving to Maine: if we were driving behind a truck that carries cars, and if the ramp went down and we rode up it, maintaining oyrour speed of 80mph, would we catapult up the ramp? imI'm thinking no, just like when u r on a plane, and you jump inrointo the air, u do not smack the back of the plane that just flew under u. davidDavid says that if iI was on top of the plane, or train, and not inside of it, that it would indeed move without me, and i'dI'd kandland in a sifderentdifferent spotthis was typed from my iphoneiPhone while standistands g in line at wendy's, so please excuse the typose. nut please give your thoughts on this physics question!
Going Wedding Scouting in Maine
David has been officially charged with Location Manager for this wedding. That's his real life job, after all, so when we need someone to 'go into the living room,' like in Jerry McGuire, we send David. He's going to start on another movie soon, though, so we need to go up to Maine this week and scout out good hotels, back up ceremony locations, a spot for a clam/lobsta bake for the rehearsal dinner, and just get a move on. Because I didn't want to do this RIGHT after we got engaged (like, that weekend), we opted for this later time, and as a result, half of the places we want have closed for the season! We have to email them all. Oh dear.
Here are pics of our dream wedding ceremony location. This is the side yard of the house that has been in the family for 5 generations. David wants to get married on the ocean. Not a cove, not a river, but the ocean.
This is the back of the house from lower down on the rocks. The back yard is basically a cliff.
Gerdy pre-scouting the exact spot where we might be married. I think she just got promoted to ring-dog.
This area of water is called The Thread of Life. It's in front of our house. I'm not sure why it's called that.
Here are pics of our dream wedding ceremony location. This is the side yard of the house that has been in the family for 5 generations. David wants to get married on the ocean. Not a cove, not a river, but the ocean.
This is the back of the house from lower down on the rocks. The back yard is basically a cliff.
Gerdy pre-scouting the exact spot where we might be married. I think she just got promoted to ring-dog.
This area of water is called The Thread of Life. It's in front of our house. I'm not sure why it's called that.
Helpful Horoscope or a Lament on Newspaper Subscriptions
Before I left for my Paris trip, I leafed through AMNY to read my horoscope, which is usually very telling and is the only horoscope I follow anymore. A common enough activity, but now that I work from my apartment, I regretfully don't venture out to get the free daily paper anymore, so I know much less of what is truly going on in the city, and instead have turned into one of those people I wondered about who watch the anchorman read headlines on NY1, the local New York station. I canceled the New York Times a few years ago when it switched publishers and turned its front page into war porn. I should at least get the weekend and Thursday Style sections. And on my always forgotten to-do list, is to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, because I always get ideas from that paper, especially the Marketplace section.
So what did my horoscope say? Which was the point of this post? It said: "Big dreams can come true in the next two weeks, with your active participation. First, you must actually dream something you want to have come true. Second, write it down."
Ah. Two things I have fallen out of the habit of since I started my business. My priorities have become such things like getting my QuickBooks under control before the end of the year so that I can submit the numbers before taxes are due, like I usually do. This priority indicates that I'm in a good spot, but a number of little dreams I'd nurtured had grown gray. The Paris trip was good for plucking me out of my daily life that had become wrought with tiny details, and reminding me of other colors in my pallet. Lets hope I stick with the visions.
So what did my horoscope say? Which was the point of this post? It said: "Big dreams can come true in the next two weeks, with your active participation. First, you must actually dream something you want to have come true. Second, write it down."
Ah. Two things I have fallen out of the habit of since I started my business. My priorities have become such things like getting my QuickBooks under control before the end of the year so that I can submit the numbers before taxes are due, like I usually do. This priority indicates that I'm in a good spot, but a number of little dreams I'd nurtured had grown gray. The Paris trip was good for plucking me out of my daily life that had become wrought with tiny details, and reminding me of other colors in my pallet. Lets hope I stick with the visions.
Bonjour!!
We're back! The afternoon I landed back in NYC, I refused to get on the computer, relishing in my internet-free bubble from Paris. Plus I was so engrossed in The Other Boleyn Girl, which I started on the trip, I called in sick to myself (I'm the boss, remember?) to read and catch up on my Paris journal which was hard to update because we were moving so fast.I don't know where to begin for this post, or future Paris posts, so I've included some pictures that tell a short story of our trip. There will be more Paris posts to come. The weather could not have been nicer to us - dazzling sunshine and cool breezes prompting purchases of new scarves. I survived with my French-English dictionary, but realized that I really should have at least learned numbers, so that when I asked "Combien?" ("how much?"), I could understand what the heck they said. Also would have helped for bartering at flea markets! Landing back in New York - language-wise - was not that drastic, since everyone around me was still speaking different languages, so I could easily still keep my Parisian habits of greeting someone with a "Bonjour" and not looked at twice.
All I know is, going to Paris is like taking Yoga. It needs to fit into everyone's schedule. Both are good for the mind, both are inspiring. But Paris gets to be visually and audio-ly stimulating. And as my mom said, it's so nice to be amongst people who are well dressed, and creatively dressed, all the time.
The Metro. This is one of the few older stations with the original ironwork.
As of October 18th, the transportation union went on strike, so we got out just in time! Apparently, the French finance minister (a woman), wants to Americanize the French style of working. I'm not so sure this is the greatest idea, since I'm re-evaluating my style of working, and realizing that it needs more creative and relaxing time.
We had many destinations, but only hit a few! We missed the Eiffel Tower, but did b-line to the Mona Lisa. This is a picture of my mom and I completing this goal. However, I was more fascinated with the new fact I learned: the Louve is a Medici mansion. It is huge. And from reading The Other Boleyn Girl, I'm beginning to see how they used all of the rooms with all of the members of court having chambers and studies and such.
We missed some key destinations because we were distracted by beautiful window shopping! We did hit the Hermes store, but on the way, saw the Channel store, which was displaying these wedding dresses from 1994. We did build up the courage to go in, but we went in to basically treat the store as a museum to see the dresses closer. Let me tell you - tulle is in. You may see a tulle wedding dress come out of Katie James for the wedding...sketches hopefully to come.
Antique shopping was included in the mix, and we Metro-ed it to one antique district that was very sketchy around the Metro station, and right away, a tall shady man with a large athletic bag was wondering all around me like a lazy fly. I was carelessly playing with my new purse by placing my wallet in a just-so way, and my godmother quickly dragged me by my hood to hurry up and get out of the way. Here are some of my favorite stalls at the Paul Bert antique market.
And of course, a vintage hat of Sarah Gareghan (sp?).
We out-walked ourselves. My godmother wore her pedometer everywhere, and we walked at least 10,000 steps each day. On our second day, we walked 20,000 steps. This picture is of my mom and godmother, feet propped on our hotel room wall. My mom is reading her new "Eloise in Paris" book, in French, that she bought at the original Shakespeare and Company bookstore.
Excerpt from Alek Wek's Autobiography
Once, I landed at JFK after several modelling jobs in Europe. At immigration the homeland security officer looked me up and down and studied my passport with extra care. Not again, I thought. I’ve been detained so many times. I’ve come to realise that as a successful black woman – and a tall one at that – I represent something that triggers hostility and suspicion in a lot of people.
He sent me off to the little room they have for suspected terrorists, border jumpers and the like. I’d been there before. It’s like a jail in there. You can’t use your phone to call for assistance. They won’t tell you why you’re being detained.
They took my picture. They checked my green card again. They double-checked my fingerprints. They acted really tough, cold and suspicious. They kept me for 2½ hours.
I’d just flown business class from Frankfurt. I was wearing nice clothes, carrying a bag I’d designed, which even had a little brass tag with my name on it. I had all my papers. Yet still they had to detain me for all that time. Was it because I’m a black woman? I can’t prove it, but experience tells me that my skin figured in there somewhere.
A few weeks later the same guy detained me again. This time he grilled me about my travels. Why was I in Africa? Why had I been to Egypt? Why this? Why that?
“I’m a model. I travel for work.” He looked me up and down like he didn’t believe me. I wondered if Cindy Crawford had these kinds of issues. Another hour passed. I went up to him and told him I knew my rights.
“Your rights?” he said with a smirk. Finally, after 2½ hours, he stamped my passport.
“I thought you were Naomi Campbell,” one of the other officials said.
While I was waiting for my luggage a woman came up to me and said: “You know, you look just like this model. She’s from Africa. She’s got really short hair and she looks just like you.”
“Really?” I said.
“Really,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
I got in the car and put all the bad exchanges behind me. It’s the Dinka way.
Full excerpt from The Times Online
NYT: Runways Fade to White
IN the days of blithe racial assumptions, flesh crayons were the color of white people. “Invisible” makeup and nude pantyhose were colored in the hues of Caucasian skin. The decision by manufacturers to ignore whole segments of humanity went unchallenged for decades before the civil rights movement came along and nonwhite consumers started demanding their place on the color wheel. Nowadays the cultural landscape is well populated with actors, musicians, media moguls and candidates for the American presidency drawn from the 30 percent of the American population that is not white. Yet, if there is one area where the lessons of chromatic and racial diversity have gone largely unheeded, it is fashion.
...Although black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel each year, according to estimates by TargetMarketNews.com, it was hard to discern an awareness of this fact on the part of designers showing in New York, where black faces were more absent from runways than they have been in years. Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply.
...“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”
...“Modeling is probably the one industry where you have the freedom to refer to people by their color and reject them in their work,” she said. The exclusion is rarely subtle. An agent for the modeling firm Marilyn once told Time magazine of receiving requests from fashion clients that baldly specified “Caucasians only.”
...“Years ago, runways were almost dominated by black girls,” said J. Alexander, a judge on “America’s Next Top Model,” referring to the gorgeous mosaic runway shows staged by Hubert de Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s. “Now some people are not interested in the vision of the black girl unless they’re doing a jungle theme and they can put her in a grass skirt and diamonds and hand her a spear.”
...And some people, said Diane Von Furstenberg, the designer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, “just don’t think about it at all.” Ms. Von Furstenberg herself has always employed models of all ethnicities on her runways. (This September, she hired seven black women, more perhaps than any single label except Baby Phat and Heatherette.) Yet she is increasingly the exception to an unspoken industry rule. “I always want to do that,” she said, referring to the casting of women of color. “I can make a difference. We all can. But so much is about education and to talk about this is an important beginning.” But isn’t it strange, she was asked, that she would have to invoke the rhetoric of racial inclusiveness at a time when Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in media, and Barack Obama is running for president?
...There is something illustrative of the entire issue, and the state of the industry, to be found in this September’s Italian Vogue. Just one image of a black model appears in the issue, midway through a 17-page article photographed by Miles Aldridge and titled the “Vagaries of Fashion.” In it, the glacial blond Anja Rubik portrays an indolent, overdressed Park Avenue princess with a gilded apartment, a couture wardrobe, two towhead children and a collection of heavy rocks. The sole black model in the pictorial is more modestly attired, in an aproned pinafore. She plays the maid.
It's interesting to me how much steam this story seems to be picking up. It reminds me a bit of all the press surrounding the planned NAACP boycott of network television in the early 1990s because of the lack of representation of people of color in prime time.
For awhile everyone was talking about it. The powers that be had their excuses handy but in the end, not much changed. To be fair, CBS offered up City of Angels and quickly canceled it but with very few exceptions TV hasn't changed much.
I suspect the same will happen with this issue. Maybe Anna Wintour will feel some heat and actually give a black model a cover. I wonder if she'll recycle the editorial she wrote when she put Kiara Kabukuru on the cover in July 1997 in which begged readers to accept her and repeated the tired and untrue refrain about black faces not selling issues.
Source: The New York Times
...Although black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel each year, according to estimates by TargetMarketNews.com, it was hard to discern an awareness of this fact on the part of designers showing in New York, where black faces were more absent from runways than they have been in years. Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply.
...“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”
...“Modeling is probably the one industry where you have the freedom to refer to people by their color and reject them in their work,” she said. The exclusion is rarely subtle. An agent for the modeling firm Marilyn once told Time magazine of receiving requests from fashion clients that baldly specified “Caucasians only.”
...“Years ago, runways were almost dominated by black girls,” said J. Alexander, a judge on “America’s Next Top Model,” referring to the gorgeous mosaic runway shows staged by Hubert de Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s. “Now some people are not interested in the vision of the black girl unless they’re doing a jungle theme and they can put her in a grass skirt and diamonds and hand her a spear.”
...And some people, said Diane Von Furstenberg, the designer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, “just don’t think about it at all.” Ms. Von Furstenberg herself has always employed models of all ethnicities on her runways. (This September, she hired seven black women, more perhaps than any single label except Baby Phat and Heatherette.) Yet she is increasingly the exception to an unspoken industry rule. “I always want to do that,” she said, referring to the casting of women of color. “I can make a difference. We all can. But so much is about education and to talk about this is an important beginning.” But isn’t it strange, she was asked, that she would have to invoke the rhetoric of racial inclusiveness at a time when Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in media, and Barack Obama is running for president?
...There is something illustrative of the entire issue, and the state of the industry, to be found in this September’s Italian Vogue. Just one image of a black model appears in the issue, midway through a 17-page article photographed by Miles Aldridge and titled the “Vagaries of Fashion.” In it, the glacial blond Anja Rubik portrays an indolent, overdressed Park Avenue princess with a gilded apartment, a couture wardrobe, two towhead children and a collection of heavy rocks. The sole black model in the pictorial is more modestly attired, in an aproned pinafore. She plays the maid.
It's interesting to me how much steam this story seems to be picking up. It reminds me a bit of all the press surrounding the planned NAACP boycott of network television in the early 1990s because of the lack of representation of people of color in prime time.For awhile everyone was talking about it. The powers that be had their excuses handy but in the end, not much changed. To be fair, CBS offered up City of Angels and quickly canceled it but with very few exceptions TV hasn't changed much.
I suspect the same will happen with this issue. Maybe Anna Wintour will feel some heat and actually give a black model a cover. I wonder if she'll recycle the editorial she wrote when she put Kiara Kabukuru on the cover in July 1997 in which begged readers to accept her and repeated the tired and untrue refrain about black faces not selling issues.
Source: The New York Times
The Independent: Agencies to Blame for Discrimination in Modelling
Fashion industry insiders have criticised modelling agencies for encouraging a culture of "blatant racism" in the business and announced an emergency summit with race campaigners and politicians to try to tackle the issue.
The meeting, scheduled to take place in London next year, has been organised by Dee Doocey (pictured), a Liberal Democrat spokesperson from the London Assembly. Ms Doocey, a former managing director of an international fashion company, believes the fashion world desperately needs to face underlying racism in the trade.
"I can't remember being sent a model who wasn't white," said the former fashion manager. "I don't know if it's racism, or just the fashion industry languishing in the doldrums, but it needs to change. Agencies only seem interested in leggy white blonde girls."
Designers, model agencies, race campaigners and politicians are among those who will be invited to the event, which has been announced ahead of a national contest in November to find the next British supermodel "of colour".
Sola Oyebade, managing director of Mahogany, the model agency behind next month's Top Model of Colour competition, said: "This event will start the debate. We've been trying to get more ethnic minority models into the industry but if you don't hold the purse strings or the power then no change can happen. Everyone looks at Naomi Campbell as the black model who's made it, but ...isn't it worrying that no-one else has come along?
"There are so many good quality black and mixed race-models that would be great, but the agencies and the clients are not willing to take a gamble.
"Non-white people make up about 30 per cent of the population of London but we don't even make up 1 per cent of the models."
Cassandra Lee, 18, a finalist in the Top Model of Colour competition, said her skin colour had been a problem for her in getting work. "You have to try much harder if you're not white," she said. "You have to be perfect to be looked at the same way as a white model. Sometimes you hear straight up that they're not looking for black models. It's quite blatant. " Another finalist, Stacey McKnight, 21, said it was ridiculous that black models were overlooked. "We're British too, why aren't we represented?"
One third of all Londoners are non-white, according to Greater London Assembly statistics, yet the websites of London's leading agencies show there are hundreds of white faces for every handful of models from other ethnic groups.
Maya Schulz, managing director at Acclaim models, an agency that specialises in choosing models from an ethnically diverse range of backgrounds, said: "I always find it more difficult putting black faces out there. The racism you come across is not underlying, it's blatant. People will say things like 'Don't send any more black models', and one designer even said black people didn't suit his clothes. And we're not talking about small designers here; it's all the big ones."
"The colour debate is far more important than the size-zero debate, but it's hardly had any coverage. The Black Girls Coalition was formed in the Eighties to combat it, but no progress has been made."
Source
Packing for Paris
Packing is going well. Oliver has attempted to come with a few times, while Gerdy jumped up out of her sleep under the couch with an official "I knew it!" while Dinah slept through most of it.
For David, I ironed. He is an ironing maniac, so I knew he wouldn't want me trolloping all over Paris in wrinkles. I unpacked the new Paris clothes from their Liberty House shopping bag, and oh how I love the smell of new clothes. New clothes and new plastic. Reminds me of shopping with my mom in hidden little boutiques when I was like 10, and as for new plastic, it reminds me of Christmas and new gadgets. Like a computer or cabbage patch kids packaging and their plastic heads.
I'm making my mental list of things to look for: pants. I'm mending the coolest and most comfortable pair of pants I own, just to wear in Paris. Flats to go with said pants, and a leather purse.
I'm copying my birth certificate, writing down bank cards and phone numbers, and making sure the passport is in a safe place, but not too safe that I don't know where it went.
And thank goodness, I made my mom and godmother special Katie James sleep masks as little thank you presents for surprising me with this trip.
For David, I ironed. He is an ironing maniac, so I knew he wouldn't want me trolloping all over Paris in wrinkles. I unpacked the new Paris clothes from their Liberty House shopping bag, and oh how I love the smell of new clothes. New clothes and new plastic. Reminds me of shopping with my mom in hidden little boutiques when I was like 10, and as for new plastic, it reminds me of Christmas and new gadgets. Like a computer or cabbage patch kids packaging and their plastic heads.
I'm making my mental list of things to look for: pants. I'm mending the coolest and most comfortable pair of pants I own, just to wear in Paris. Flats to go with said pants, and a leather purse.
I'm copying my birth certificate, writing down bank cards and phone numbers, and making sure the passport is in a safe place, but not too safe that I don't know where it went.
And thank goodness, I made my mom and godmother special Katie James sleep masks as little thank you presents for surprising me with this trip.
Snuck to Conan O'Brien!
Just came from the Conan O'Brien show. If you hear the screaming person in the audience saying: "Go Tribe!" it's probably me, after Conan paid respect to the Yankee's loss to the Indians for the national playoffs. If you hear the person screaming "I LOVE YOU CONAAAAN!" that was definitely not me, although I do like Conan. And then it was not me again when she screamed: "I LOVE YOU MAAAAARK!" when Mark Wahlburg walked on the stage. Dream.
Last night, my PR friend from Red Branch PR texted me saying "t me now asap!" I always jump when a PR girl tells me to, and thank goodness. So my friend, her employee/friend and me can now check off Late Night Audience Member from our things-to-do-NYC-while-you-live-here list.
Late Night Highlights:
And as we ate our little caramel chocolate squares like they were popcorn, we wandered outside to the newly frozen ice-skating rink at Rock Plaza (it was 80 degrees today), and we could have sworn the skating rink production was calling Batman because of omnipresent Lord of the Rings music was coming from somewhere, and the huge white lights traveling up and down Rockefeller Center and other buildings.
We stared up at the clouded sky and waited for the sign of the bat. The night was so warm with a light breeze, we could have stayed there for a few more hours in our hookie-ness from our own businesses. But dinner called, and we parted.
Last night, my PR friend from Red Branch PR texted me saying "t me now asap!" I always jump when a PR girl tells me to, and thank goodness. So my friend, her employee/friend and me can now check off Late Night Audience Member from our things-to-do-NYC-while-you-live-here list.
Late Night Highlights:
- The Conan O'Brien show has a great looking staff. Meaning, almost all of the crew were sort of really cute. Not to mention the audience members (ourselves included!).
- Mark Walburg was also his usual hottie self, but there was someone else there with a hottie body - it was a random professor guy planing in a skit with a Vomiting Kermit puppet (who vomited on him of course). This professor guy and had to change his shirt after the skit. He was doing this behind curtains on the side stage, but then the curtains blew open for a second while we were analyzing who all of the crew were, and there was the professor guy - shirtless! We thought he was Marky Mark!
- We sensed some...weird something between Conan and Mark. We didn't know what it was, but Conan seemed to be explaining something to Mark, to which Mark nodded, and it just continued like that. For each segment, a writer or producer or PA guy would come out to give Conan notes of or about questions he was to ask his guests. The contact for the Mark segment was very tense. I want to say I've found the source: if you're a research nut, fact-checker type, you'll love this blog post explaining what could not happen for Mark on the Conan blog.
- The Black Lips were the band. One of the funniest lines I heard all night was what my PR friend's friend said when the band came on stage: "They are so little!" because they were. Like, high school little. We had never heard of the Black Lips, even though they were just in Rolling Stone, and we sadly have no plans of listening to them again. Unless you like a psychedelic Jack White influence with a screaming voice. Or, at least for the song we heard.
- There were big body guards. Thanks to the screaming girl behind us, who was probably a screaming stalker who went to a show once a week, the body guard in near the stage kept his eye on us the whole time.
- "There are no trash cans outside of the studio because of terrorism." As told to us by a very-into-her-job PA in a suit (production assistant) or house manager of some kind.
And as we ate our little caramel chocolate squares like they were popcorn, we wandered outside to the newly frozen ice-skating rink at Rock Plaza (it was 80 degrees today), and we could have sworn the skating rink production was calling Batman because of omnipresent Lord of the Rings music was coming from somewhere, and the huge white lights traveling up and down Rockefeller Center and other buildings.
We stared up at the clouded sky and waited for the sign of the bat. The night was so warm with a light breeze, we could have stayed there for a few more hours in our hookie-ness from our own businesses. But dinner called, and we parted.
Project Runway Canada
I have nothing but love for Heidi Klum but I need to see this show. Episodes are available on the Slice website but US viewers are blocked. I'm hoping that I can watch it tonight on my husband's work PC (if he's able to log onto a Canadian server.) If not, I'll have to wait for some Good Samaritan to upload it onto Youtube. Isn't it funny how the Canadian version of this show has more people of color than any season of the US and UK versions?
Placeholder Engagement Bling
The placeholder ring has arrived. David opened it while we were looking at mail and riding up the elevator. He got on his knee again. :) It's a big hunk'a aquamarine, which is his birthstone. We got it from here.
New Harido :: Brown Coloring Won
The poll on my hair color was very interesting. There was almost a tie for black highlights or brown coloring with blond highlights, and slightly less than a third voted for no change at all. Well, that wasn't really an option. I just put it there, because when a girl wants to bring some drama to her hair, she wants to bring drama to her hair. I couldn't go too crazy, though, because I remembered that I was having a wedding in a year...and dark hair is damaging to bleach up.
So, David, the new fiance (ee!) is filling his roll quite nicely as Accommodating Fiance and agreed to drive me all the way to New Haven to get my hair cut at my new favorite, Laura Ouellette Salon on State Street (CitySearch backs me up on this). They have the funnest coloring system, not to mention the decorating is in mainly antiques. But they also have Gina, the expert and very creative colorist who just won 3rd in a national competition, actually. We talked, and agreed on a brown hair swatch #6 nuetral with a little #6 gold mixed in. And, voila!
Which turned into this (note my bling: that's my placeholder ring of aquamarine from etsy.com!):
Which looks like this from the back (my only instructions are: leave no hair the same length. when I say layer, the whole thing is a layer)
We basically colored 40% of my hair brown, which consisted of the back of my hair, and in the front, we put strips of brown in between the blond highlights (that was all the foil) to create some sweet looking brown streaks. To show this all off, I finally got a flat iron. No more curls and messy layers with summer ending. Even though it was 80 degrees today, fall is coming and that means that hair can take some straightening without getting too frizzy. So I bypassed Duanne Read and went to Ricky's and got a medium priced BaBliss Pro flat iron, with the help of a very helpful girl who had used them. Check out the wall of flat and curling irons at Ricky's:
I did no homework on this brand, so I will be blogging on how good or how bad it is in weeks or months to come...
So, David, the new fiance (ee!) is filling his roll quite nicely as Accommodating Fiance and agreed to drive me all the way to New Haven to get my hair cut at my new favorite, Laura Ouellette Salon on State Street (CitySearch backs me up on this). They have the funnest coloring system, not to mention the decorating is in mainly antiques. But they also have Gina, the expert and very creative colorist who just won 3rd in a national competition, actually. We talked, and agreed on a brown hair swatch #6 nuetral with a little #6 gold mixed in. And, voila!
Which turned into this (note my bling: that's my placeholder ring of aquamarine from etsy.com!):
Which looks like this from the back (my only instructions are: leave no hair the same length. when I say layer, the whole thing is a layer)
We basically colored 40% of my hair brown, which consisted of the back of my hair, and in the front, we put strips of brown in between the blond highlights (that was all the foil) to create some sweet looking brown streaks. To show this all off, I finally got a flat iron. No more curls and messy layers with summer ending. Even though it was 80 degrees today, fall is coming and that means that hair can take some straightening without getting too frizzy. So I bypassed Duanne Read and went to Ricky's and got a medium priced BaBliss Pro flat iron, with the help of a very helpful girl who had used them. Check out the wall of flat and curling irons at Ricky's:
I did no homework on this brand, so I will be blogging on how good or how bad it is in weeks or months to come...
Momentary gasp for air
Hi, ok, so I was going to do this fabulous follow-up-engagement post on how I need to get Thank You note stationery for all of the nice things that happen, like flowers, bribes to neighbors of where we want to have the wedding in Maine (the neighbor's yard goes into our yard, or vice versa, and we need to take it over if we want to get married there), and things like that, but the truth is, I woke up this Friday morning after dreaming that I was leaving for Paris on Thursday, and that Thursday is now less than a week away, and that I actually dreamed a true fact. And what's worse, is that when I get panicky like this, I talk and type in very long run-on sentences.
I'm canceling on friends right and left because I think that I can't do anything except remember to pack, call a taxi, and get onto the plane. For big trips, I have this odd fear of forgetting to go. It's really not a fun sensation. We're still waiting for the placeholder ring, and David has requested more drawings for the engagement ring design. I'm thinking tulip inspired now (scroll way down). Very pretty designs out there.
So anyway, here's some pretty bird letterpress stationery from ilee that I'm going to get. Isn't it pretty? This could be the first of many stationeries that I buy...
I'm canceling on friends right and left because I think that I can't do anything except remember to pack, call a taxi, and get onto the plane. For big trips, I have this odd fear of forgetting to go. It's really not a fun sensation. We're still waiting for the placeholder ring, and David has requested more drawings for the engagement ring design. I'm thinking tulip inspired now (scroll way down). Very pretty designs out there.
So anyway, here's some pretty bird letterpress stationery from ilee that I'm going to get. Isn't it pretty? This could be the first of many stationeries that I buy...
Today on Tyra...
Thursday, October 4th"Model Blackouts"
Has black become unfashionable? Tyra addresses the “Model Blackout,” a recent controversy surrounding the lack of African-American models at this year’s Fashion Week in New York and in the modeling industry overall. Traver Rains and Richie Rich, designers of the Heatherette fashion line, discuss why they like to use black models and why other designers do not. They opened and closed their show with Chanel Iman, a 16-year-old model Tyra mentors. Chanel then joins Tyra to discuss the challenges she faces and what she did to get the editor in chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour’s, attention. Then, supermodel Alek Wek speaks openly about the roadblocks she faced in the industry as a black model and lets cameras follow her to see what a day in the life of a supermodel is really like. Tyra and Alek also share behind-the-scenes footage from their recent Ebony cover with fellow models and entrepreneurs Iman and Kimora Lee Simmons. Alek then talks about her new book that chronicles her struggle as a Sudanese refugee and how she escaped the country to become a fashion model. Plus, Alek shows her new handbag line and surprises one of her biggest fans, a woman who also lived through the civil war in Sudan.I'm not a big fan of Tyra's show (I think she's a little too egocentric) but this was a pretty good show. Chanel Iman was adorable and it was nice seeing her on the show with her mom (who is Black and Korean) on the show.I always love seeing Alek Wek. It was also interesting to see Trevor Rains & Richie Rich of Heatherette talk about their decision to use 10 (!) Black models on their runway this season.
ETA: Clip of Chanel Iman from the show
What's His Name?
From Fashion Week Daily
(MILAN) ARMANI'S NO. 1 FAN: André Leon Talley couldn't stop raving about the intro to the Emporio Armani show, which featured the EA Diamonds fragrance commercial starring Beyoncé in its entirety. "The beginning of the Emporio Armani show with Beyoncé was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen in my life. Beyoncé as Marilyn Monroe interpreted by Mr. Armani was an original; so very few black people are in fashion doing these things, projecting such energy, that to see these two titans collaborating on something with the diamond metaphor is brilliant. Only Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein with, what's his name? (Djimon Hounsou). Oh yes, him, using a black man."
Shame on you Andre. Isn't Djimon still dating Andre's supposed BFF Kimora Lee Simmons? The man have been nominated for two Oscars, surely he's risen above being a "what's his name?"
DRESS-UP DOLCE: A stunning Naomi Campbell arrived relatively on time for the Dolce & Gabbana show Thursday--on time, if you're on her schedule, that is--and promptly took her front row seat as she was surrounded by bodyguards.
That's just Naomi being Naomi. No harm, no foul. Here is more of Naomi on the Italian version of "Dancing With the Stars"
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