A Portait of a Lady

Natalia Vodianova at the Super Luxury conference in Moscow.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Don't Think We Haven't Noticed, Posh

I just found this old Kate Moss cover and realized that Posh Spice has totally been jacking this look. Someone owes someone else damages for sartorial plagiarism.

If The Shoe Fits...

I watched Junebug this week, and I think I'm in love with Amy Adams (even though she broke my heart into smithereens). If you haven't seen the film and her Oscar-nominated performance, you should.

Here she is looking stunning three times over, but note her economical choices of shoe (and pose). If it ain't broke, why fix it?

P.S. The black sheath is by far the most flattering of the outfits. The Dolce & Gabbana earthy jumper isn't doing Ms. Adams justice, nor is the wafty, layered number.

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Las Botas Nuevas

The weather has been idiosyncratically rainy lately. I don't particularly mind it, but I do get tired of being waterlogged. When I came out of my first class today, the rain was beating down, so I tried using a newspaper as an umbrella till it became soggy and useless. I went to the consignment store by campus, determined to buy the cheapest, but hopefully not the ugliest, hat. Once there, I got distracted by a pair of carmelly boots in the window. They're men's, but I seem to be wearing mostly men's clothing lately, so why not shoes, too? They're perfectly standard harness boots, but already broken in... and only $18 (as opposed to like $250 new).
These sort of make up for my morning which I spent being jealous of my older sister who found a pair of Dolce & Gabbana motorcycle boots in her size and marked 85% off.

'Tis the Season

I'm not normally a proponent of dressing for holidays because I think it brings out the worst in people (e.g. flag earrings, reindeer jumpers, candy cane brooches, etc.). But what Beyonce has done here with an emerald slicker and ruby slippers is quite chic and lovely. I condone this green/red ensemble. With vibrant hues like these, I'm thankful I'm not a deuteranope.

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Quote of The Day

"Most people are conditioned to think of a black man looking a certain way. They only think of the ethnic man in XXX jeans and Timberlands, and here Andre J. comes along with a pair of hot shorts and a caftan or maybe flip-flops or cowboy boots or a high, high heel...

I'm just expressing myself and not hurting anyone."

-André J., in today's New York Times

The Times says, "André J. does not consider himself a cross dresser. Except to the extent each of us getting dressed assumes some kind of persona... Think of him as a performance artist who rolls out his own stage every day."

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Buy (Almost) Nothing Day

Today is the day after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday, aka Buy Nothing Day. While millions of people got up at 1am today to get to stores opening at 2am, I was sound asleep, and I hope you were, too.

Although I'm generally not a big spender anyway, and certainly not a mall shopper, I fully intended to comply with the anti-consumerist Buy Nothing Day agenda. However, I did walk to the local American Cancer Society shop. I figure it's not really spending if it's a charity shop. Is it? Or am I a hypocrite?

Anyway, I had amazing success, finding a silk DVF scarf...and a tablecloth/napkin set made of Gabrielle Cie fabric (that completely looks like it should be used in the mise en scéne of a Pedro Almodóvar film)...and for $1 this coffee table book on the innovative architect and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. Did anyone else succumb to consumerism?

Brief retraction, but only for André J

Okay, I know I recently ranted about magazines being underwhelming and just plain awful. But I've been seeing these pictures from French Vogue floating around the "Internets" for awhile and I can't resist posting them.

André J, the strangely attractive bearded "don't call me a drag queen," got a hot layout in French Vogue (with Carolyn Murphy, no less), thanks to Carine Roitfeld's farsighted creativity. He's often seen on the New York scene, but apparently Paris loves him, too.

He really has a model's physique, but Anna Wintour wouldn't dare.
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millinery musings

I see people wearing hats more and more. Whether bowlers or berets or picture hats, they're becoming ubiquitous. Because I always prefer retrospective inspiration to posting a picture of some flash-in-the-pan starlet in Us Weekly who just wears what her stylist gives her, I'd rather post pictures of the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Ewa Aulin. She looks like the Swedish lovechild of Brigitte and Twiggy, and boy does she know how to make a hat look good.

dark days

Sometimes I masochistically peruse the dress section on Net-a-Porter to see what I can't buy. It's a bit like strolling through a pricey art gallery, I suppose.

I notice they're taking a lot of dresses that could easily stand alone or function as summer dresses, and pairing them with dark accessories (belts, booties, tights and bags). It's a good idea if you aren't ready to pack up all your warm weather dresses. (Tear a page out of Kate Bosworth's book by adding big black boots and tights.)

Anna Sui
Mulberry


This Issa mini kimono is too lovely not to post. Although it's stunning as it is, it's a bit too chipper for the darker winter months. It, too, could be made to function by pairing it with black tights and black shoes. (But because I'm not subtle and I like color, I'd also wear it with excessive amounts of gold jewelry, red lipstick and red nails.)

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Style Icon: Michelle Phillips

I'm enamored of sixties fashion, particularly the more rock 'n roll fashion that came in the latter half of the decade. Take, for example, the stunning Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas.

Carsten Höller Slides

This time last year I was living outside of London. I had the opportunity to visit the Tate Modern twice, but never once ventured down the Carsten Höller slides. The lines were long and it seemed like a hassle because you couldn't take your belongings down with you. Besides, I'm not a fan of rides (or slides) because they generally underwhelm me.

Well, now I wish I'd just sucked it up and waited in line and gone on the damn slide. Apparently, Carsten Höller slides are really hip, and I could have been so much hipper for sliding down one.

Miuccia Prada has one installed in her headquarters that shoots her from her office to her parking spot. I kid you not.

In Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, the author, Dana Thomas, says

I was taken to a room I had read about often. It is officially Miuccia Prada’s office, and it is as stark and contrived as her designs: poured concrete, a slew of orange and yellow molded plastic Eames chairs; and, sticking up in the center of the floor, a metal tube slide - by artist Carsten Holler - that runs three floors down to the parking lot and is titled The Slide No. 5. Prada has whizzed down it when asked to by reporters.

Okay, I appreciate a slide for utilitarian purposes. And I suppose it would be fun, while your guests are gawking at your slide, to say, "What, oh that old thing? Why that's just my Höller."

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ridiculously lovely raiment

A while back I said my favorite show for spring was Etro. This photo of Kate Bosworth should explain why.

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Catherine McNeil Sort of Eats

Featured in NY Magazine's "Grub Street" is Catherine McNeil. For those of you unfamiliar with "Grub Street," NY Magazine asks famous and/or glamorous people in New York to keep a food journal for a week. This is what McNeil reported:

Monday, November 5
We were doing Versace. I had some banana bread for breakfast. I went out to lunch at Barolo with my booker because I was working in the morning. I had sea bass with Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes. I had cheesecake for dessert.

Tuesday, November 6
I had Raisin Bran for breakfast. I usually don’t like eating first thing in the morning. For lunch I had a huge plate of green salad and vegetables. For dinner I had chicken noodle soup and a honey-and-oat bar from room service. I don’t like cooking because you cook too much and the food gets wasted.

Wednesday, November 7
I worked from 11 am to 7 p.m., shooting for Another magazine. I had a handful of nuts and some fruit for breakfast on the job. For lunch I had some vegetables and salad. When I got home, I was so tired that I passed out, so I didn’t eat dinner.

Thursday, November 8
I had some scrambled eggs and fruit on the shoot. For lunch I had salad. I worked late and then went home and fell asleep, so I missed dinner again.

Friday, November 9
I woke up starving. I had a toasted egg, ham, and cheese sandwich. For lunch I had salad niçoise — with tuna and carrots and stuff like that. That’s my favorite salad. And I had a chocolate-chip cookie. I try to eat healthy and clean food — not eat bad stuff. You can’t go and eat five chocolate bars every day.

As I read this, I found myself growing increasingly hungry. Then I read on Jezebel that Catherine McNeil is actually only consuming about 1000 calories per day. No wonder my stomach's growling.

Could you survive on this diet, or would you be passing out from "exhaustion" all the time, too?

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Check Out These Bodices

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Cavalli does Lagerfeld

The Morning After

Did you dress up last night? Or were you like me - cramming for a midterm while stealing candy from the trick-or-treaters' stash?