Written Inspiration: Writing Over at Glass

I mentioned it on facebook and twitter last week, but I'm incredibly excited to share that I've started writing for a stunning UK-based magazine called Glass. I'm honored that they're including me as a contributor, and am very much looking forward to more.

My first piece went up last week, on one of my favorite topics: punk and fashion. If you don't believe me that it's a favorite topic, check out my other posts tagged with "punk" here. I still remember seeing that gaggle of punk teens in 2006 that made me stop in my tracks. And then there's my Rocker Chic(k) board. If I stopped to explain who I was in high school, you'd see me surrounded by early-90s punks (and hippies, just to round it out).

But nevertheless, keep reading Glass. There's some amazing writing, some amazing design, and a whole lot of perspectives worth reading.

John Lydon, 1976. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph by Richard Young/Rex USA

Winter Style: Brights in the Grey

I love winter. I think I might have mentioned that before. Nevertheless, it's really hard to rejoice in the brisk cold air when you're dragging with what seems to be the 537th cold, a stack o' DayJob deadlines, and a crankypants attitude that may or may not be well received at home.

So I don't have energy for much reading, but trolling - ahem - scrolling through Pinterest when I'm waiting in line at my morning Starbucks stop, or at Target picking up yet another glamorous package of toilet paper or paper towels seems to give me some short & sweet reminders that life is not only not that bad, but under control, manageable, and even gloriously bright. Oh yeah, and I'm steering the ship.

So here are some of my recent pins and how they spoke to me. Hope they brighten your already-sunny-but-crazy-windy-cold day.

We'll start with the night when I was feeling crazy overwhelmed and sick. Pinterest said this to me, which TrainerJen had emailed me, in not so many words, just minutes prior, changing my workout plan for the next morning to, literally: sleep.

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And then Pinterest said this. So I figured I'd better listen and go to bed. I did.

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Earlier, Pinterest had tossed this image my way. The coat, in its gloriously wrecked and punk sensibility, was in, and was the cover art for the catalog of, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2006 Anglomania exhibit. Later in the day, The Museum at FIT (one of my favorite places on earth, and one that gets far too little notice, in my opinion) posted an article from The Observer on their facebook page (like it now, please, for all of the amazing current and historical fashion they post). As the discussion around The Met's newest take on punk shows, punk is funny stuff, both musically and culturally. The sheer chaos that shows there is apparently bubbling up in the provenance of the fashion, too.

Once again, the Pinterest universe was speaking to me. Ok, the online universe. Quibbles.



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We're renovating our kitchen this spring, and are in final debates. We have a tiny, but not terribly tiny kitchen, so the "galley kitchen" stuff isn't quite right, but neither is the sweeping expanse of some things I find. I pin them nevertheless. I couldn't be more excited about finally getting a handle on our culinary world by taming our insanity known as our cabinets. I'm in love with a modern + rustic combo like this one.

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Once that's done, creating culinary masterpieces will be a cinch, right? Isn't that how it works? In the meantime, H's orthodox Christian tradition of an essentially vegan fast is coming up, so I'm grateful to Pinterest for helping to maintain the trendiness of veganism. I cook vegetarian often (but LURV a brilliant steak), but am lining up new tastes for the 40 days, like this mushroom ragu. You can bet I'll serve it over some soft polenta...or...

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And while I'm a Winter Girl at heart, still pinning away from the Autumn/Winter 2013 runways to get my fix of fur, coats, and scarves, and, well, fur coats and scarves (comma placement, anyone?),

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I've also started pinning and planning for #DownthaShore2013. Cannot wait to get a new bikini and maybe a retro suit (last year's don't fit!). Also can't wait to rock my best schlumpy Jersey Shore looks. Or, if I'm feeling ambitious, a crisp, clean (ha!) summer look like this one. (And gee, Bloomingdale's *just* pinned their version of the shorts, here)

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What's getting you through?

Museum Style: Iris Apfel+Tavi Gevinson+Judith Thurman on Schiaparelli and Prada

We'll be in New Jersey. Which is closer to The Met than DC. Think I can talk H into letting me take the day in Manhattan on our anniversary (or is it the day after our anniversary? I can never remember)? Oh, wait! We honeymooned in Manhattan. And went to The Met (and saw Anglomania). It's the perfect way to celebrate 6 years, right?

Now. For a babysitter.

Image via It Girls Don't Cry

What: Sunday at the Met: A Conversation on the Evolution of Chic with Iris Apfel, Tavi Gevinson, and Judith Thurman

When: Sunday, June 17, 2:00–3:30 p.m.

Why: Good Taste/Bad Taste: The Evolution of Contemporary Chic. style icon Iris Apfel (age 90) and fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson (age 16) for a conversation across generations on what it means to be chic in the 21st century, moderated by New Yorker writer Judith Thurman, who wrote the introduction to the exhibition catalogue Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.

This program is held in conjunction with the Costume Institute exhibition, which is on view at the Met through August 19, 2012. This event is free with museum admission. Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Style Want: Terra Azzura by Guerlain + Pucci, and Why I Want It

I am not a beauty blogger. Heck, I can't even manage to wash my face on a regular basis, and I've been known to once-in-a-while (ok, way more often than that, but let's pretend, shall we) not even bother with makeup in the office.

But I do love a product or 3 (see my Sample Pledge, here).

I'm also a sucker for the old French design houses. And for the mad crazy beauty of an Italian great.

Therefore, my stylish friends, when Bloomingdale's nicely sent me an email this morning (just a regular ol' promotional email, not a blogger-y-please-post-pretty-please email) touting the marriage of two of my style icons in a beauty product, well, let's just say that I'm adding it to my Things I'd Like to Have List. Why, you ask, does Guerlain matter to me? Just think Shalimar + my mommy. Even my mother-in-law knows that I love old fashion things, and gives me lovely old French perfumes bought in Paris flea markets.

Ignore the cream sample in the foreground. The Molyneux box in the background contains a lovily-bottled ancient French perfume that, while it probably smells nothing like it originally did, still holds (lord knows how long after) a stunning, old school scent. It was one of my MIL's first gifts to me, after she went to Paris on a relative whim with 2 girlfriends.

And Pucci? Yeah. I'm a scarf-a-holic. And a print-a-holic. Though I've not worn them much lately (pre-#healthyme, I felt like a scarf around my neck was just too much and made my face quite frankly fatter than it was already), but among my prize possessions are scarves of all varieties from my grandmothers, a Schiaparelli scarf (thanks, Malena, for the amazing gift) in a marvelous blue-green print, and an Ali Ro dress that screams "I copied Pucci" in a way that I think is just marvelous. One day, I'll have the real thing.

Original link is long gone, but here's the post in which I first purchased the dress at the Clarendon South Moon Under (and found my Style Mojo again, for what it's worth)

I have no idea if it's worth trying, but I'm thinking that it might just be my next #healthyme goal reward. Anyone with me?

Thank you, Bloomie's, for the image that I not-so-slyly poached from your Terra Azzurra page.

A couple of additional style notes my brain connected from this post but aren't necessarily related:

1) Crazy, ridiculous excited about the "Impossible Conversations" Schiaparelli/Prada exhibit at the Met. As I've mentioned, I'm planning a trip to NYC with The Bean and my mommy (The 2 Elsas + I). Can't wait.

2) Crazy, ridiculous excited that, as the Schiaparelli website now says, "Rendez-Vous en Juillet 2012."

3) Malena's. Yes, DC people, she's in West Chester, PA. But a) she has a rubylane store, and b) she's phenomenal. She's my dealer, and the woman responsible for The Bag.

My Style To-Do List

Instead of reading a Government draft RFP or preparing something horrendous like a compliance matrix like a responsible adult - or even instead of sleeping, which my body desperately needed to do - I used the 2 flights here to Lawton, OK, to read the entire October issue of American Vogue. Cover to cover. I devoured both the inane (Hamish Bowles does X Factor) and the intelligent (Hamish Bowles does X Factor), marked pages, and then borrowed a pen from a nice gentlemen across the aisle and scribbled a list of everything that had popped into my head while reading.

• Does it count that I "followed" Vogue Germany and British Vogue on twitter? Order multiple Vogue subscriptions
• design and order calling cards
• buy very-nice-but-ok-to-lose pens
• get new, impossibly hip glasses and/or
• get lasik appointment
• change all future vacation references to "holiday"
• figure out how to collaborate on a style post about warheads (Scott, if you've read this far, I'm sure I can find a prize for you of some kind)
• Listen to Robin Givhan NPR archive broadcast (thanks, Wardrobe Oxygen!)
• Check! Headed up August 3-5! Plan trip with Mommy & The Bean (the 2 Elsas) to see Schiaparelli/Prada exhibit at the Met
• Gonna cross this one off, given that I just found some lovely eyes at Bobbi Brown!
• Check! Finally!, a whole year later, I found TWO (Bobbi Brown Old Hollywood and Hollywood Red)find a red lipstick
• Check! started on pinterest - Style Tomes and Style Reading List.
• Uncheck! Never happened. find nail salon in Lawton
• She did it on her own, and did beautifully! Bad friend. plan Old Town Boutique District vintage scour for friend who wants a vintage-y party dress for weddings this fall
• Check! start a Christmas list (for the first time in, oh, 25 years)
• It's just not worth it. Too many good, cheaper things out there. look into La Mer
• Check! On it's way! With the new bug repellent! order Skincando Miracle Cream
• Check! #healthyme is in full swing! Sort-of check. I did it once. Skipped DRESSED viewing Thursday for yoga class - do yoga and/or calissthenics tomorrow (each day will be a new resolution for the next)
• Check! Classic Crane's at The Dandelion Patch - buy new letter-writing (as opposed to card-writing) stationery
• Check! It was part of me "get ready for cool new job" stuff. buy new not-to-lose pen
• Check! Addicted. get pinning - seriously
• Check! December 2-4, with The Bean in tow! plan NYC trip (including Daphne Guinness exhibit)
• Check! Had an amazing weekend just the two of us down tha shore in March. plan girl time with childhood BFF
• Check! Nope. Happy with my Nook (Christmas gift from H) and laptop (PC, people, PC). figure out if i want an iPad
• Check! Russel + Hazel "chicklets" (love, love, love the name!), of course, bought at The Container Store. Now, I have to use them. find pretty little post-it notes for marking up magazines and maybe books
• Check! 678 Colorful Skinny Jean on order from The Limited. investigate skinny jeans
• Check! See above. investigate colored jeans
• Check! Going for my second appointment today! brows with Adrian at Nectar Skin Bar
• Silly me - no massages (hint, hint, add them!) massage at Nectar Skin Bar
• Check! Adrian is a brow and skin god. Put yourself in his hands. anything at Nectar Skin Bar
order Vogue subscription (in multiple languages?)Really, it's sitting in my car in the box. Take it to the store already! return Michael (Kors) turtleneck ponchoRosa and I never made it - visit Michael Reinhardt at Neiman Marcus Chevy Chase to buy new La Metier de Beaute eyesmake list of fahion/style/art books to read

Style in Print: Tomes for the Stylish Nightstand and Coffee Table

My H is the best H ever.

(That sound you hear is his chest puffing out with pride.)

1) He pushes me to go shopping when I need to.

2) He understands style (most of the time - "joke" Christmas gift of jean short shorts excluded, of course).

3) He's got an incredible memory - especially for things I like. (Yes, H, I just said you have an incredible memory. Take that one to the bank & hold on to it for dear life.)

4) He buys me presents just because.

5) Lots of other, non-vapid reasons.

6) He's mine.

The real reason I'm running on about him today, in particular?

He and MIL took a trip to Jersey & NYC this weekend (I was resting quietly at home; The Bean ordered me to). They hit The Met, and took along a wedding gift certificate from a family friend. It arrived just after our honeymoon last year, and we just haven't been back to check things out since.

So what did he get?

A gorgeous blue-swirled handblown bowl;* a replica of ones made in South Jersey (home territory for both of us) in the late 1900s. Its color is exactly the color we had for our wedding, along with the lemons (which, though we never started out having "wedding colors," inadvertedly ended up being so - cobalt and sunny yellow), and which somehow shows up in almost everything we buy for our home. It also pairs well with subtle lines of the Simon Pearce pitcher a dear, dear friend gave us as a wedding gift.**

But the real reason for this post is that H spent part of our gift certificate on the exhibition book from an exhibit we saw when we were on our honeymoon in NYC. The Anglomania book wasn't available when we saw it in July (it's the type of exhibit they have to photograph in place, then produce the book, rather than use photos of paintings or sculpture from previous exhibitions). The book is a paper tour of what we saw in July, with much appreciated detail shots of things we just couldn't catch viewing from behind the railing in person - like the pinup girl embroidered on the cuff of a Paul Smith shirt. The exhibit notes were lovingly detailed and woven with history, philosophy, and whimsy; the book reflects that, as well. I highly recommend going online & buying it. I'd put it in the top of fashion & style tomes.

While we're at it, also atop my list of favorite style tomes is Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli, the record of the roving exhibit's visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Schiaparelli somehow escapes the average style follower's notice, and if she makes it on the radar, it's in comparison to Coco (Chanel, that is). True, she was a contemporary of the woman many consider to be the grande dame of style, but she used architectural in her designs well before Dries van Noten or Donna Karan were even a twinkle in their grandparents' eyes. Her collaborations with some of the greatest fine artists of her time surpass anything we see today, in my estimation. Lastly, she has a color named after her - Schiaparelli pink. Any woman who pioneers a color shade is one to emulate.

True to their nature as exhibition records, Shocking! and Anglomania are lots of pictures accompanying a fair amount of words. If you're up for a little more of a read - something perhaps unexpected, when it comes to modern writings about style & fashion - try one of these:

A Guide to Elegance: For Every Woman Who Wants to Be Well and Properly Dressed on All Occasions. (Geneviere Antoine Dariaux) Olsson's cites the classic as the "orginal what not to wear." It's a delightful read, and looks ever so pretty in a stack of books by your bed (which is, of course, a very good reason to buy a book).

My Mother's Wedding Dress: The Life and Afterlife of Clothes. (Justine Picardie) This gets a little deeper, wondering about what we wear, how our clothes define us (or don't), and how or why we attach so much meaning to them - all through the vehicle of her mother's wedding dress - a black cocktail dress bought in 1960.

The Classic Ten: The True Story of the Little Black Dress and Nine Other Fashion Favorites. (Nancy Macdonell Smith) Every girl should know the history. Need I say more?

*Unfortunately, no pics are available - it's beautiful, though, and you'll just have to trust me.

**I know Simon Pearce is overdone, but I get to like it, as it's made on the banks of the Brandywine River.