Glamorous Lives and stylish Places

I mentioned previously that I love to read men's magazines. They always seem to have very intelligent and interesting articles, especially about art and architecture. So of course I had to pick up the fabulous 50th Anniversary issue of GQ this week. They have a few different covers featuring stylish men so I chose the Paul Newman cover, that was only because they didn't have a Steve McQueen cover. I'd like to know what's up with that!

Anyway, in the feature on the 50 Most Stylish Men of the Past 50 Years, I found the most handsome photo of rocker Bryan Ferry standing in front of the prettiest handpainted Chinoiserie wallpaper. He also happened to have been quoted as saying the following, "Other bands wanted to wreck hotel rooms, Roxy Music wanted to redecorate them." How chic is that!

I have no doubt now that Jerry Hall should never have left Bryan Ferry for Mick Jagger. If she hadn't, she would probably still be married and living in the most beautifully decorated homes ever! Sigh. I think I'm going to go fill out an application for Soho House right now so I can go meet some potentially non-gay British rock stars/decorators! Cheers!

Photo by Mick Rock

Just in case there is anyone out there who didn't get the lovely announcement email from Domino today regarding their upcoming book release, I'm posting the press release here. I'd say it's pretty exciting news and I know I look forward to it's publication! I just wonder who will make the cover!

There are two different types of restaurants in New York, there is the one kind where you don't care where it is or what it looks like because the food is unbelievably good and the other is where you go to see and be seen. The Waverly Inn is of the latter type. I usually don't care about all that stuff but this winter I made an exception and it was worth it.

There is no listed phone number for The Waverly Inn (they dropped the Ye when Graydon Carter bought it) but lucky for me, I have friends in the know, so it was no problem finding the number and securing a reservation. Of course, once there we were seated in Siberia but who cares when you can still name drop that you've been there which is what my friend Matt has enjoyed doing on many occasions. Gotta love it. On the night we were there, we saw Calvin Klein, which was even funnier since we had seen him at a restaurant in Prague over Thanksgiving. Anne Hathaway also stopped in with her cute boyfriend. Even Spencer Morgan from The New York Observer was there that night scoping out the place for a story he was writing for his column.

The food sadly to say was just okay. They were out of a lot of dishes but luckily the amazing melt in your mouth biscuits made up for it! We raved about them for days so I was excited to see the recipe for them published in the May 2007 issue of GQ. Notice how it was a men's magazine that printed it, women don't eat carbs you know, but if you are going to break your diet, these are definitely worth it! Bon appétit!

I wasn't going to mention the Domino Bazaar since Style Court already did a great job posting about it but then this past Tuesday night after a reception at Phillips du Pury, I met a wonderful gentleman who happens to be a fundraiser for ACRIA, the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America. The opening night of the Domino Bazaar benefits ACRIA. It is a very worthwhile cause so I promised him I would also write about it in order to persuade you all to buy a ticket to the event and tell you about all the original artwork donated by major artist for sale at special prices! It will definitely be a fun night and it's tax deductible so what could be better than that?!

I thought you might all get a kick out of this photo I took the other day to send to Patricia Gray, the fabulous Canadian interior designer who has a major crush on Albert Hadley. I've joked with her in the past about how I see him standing outside his office every morning smoking his signature Camel cigarettes and that I was going to take a photo of him for her and this week, I finally did it. My only advice to other would-be stalkers out there is that you should never wear your most wildly patterned and colorful dress while you are trying to covertly take someone's photo. If you look really closely, I definitely think Mr. Hadley has spotted the crazy girl across the street taking his photo. Should make for an interesting story when I do finally interview him. But it was worth it to make Patricia smile and I hope it makes you smile today too!

I love books! As does everyone in the blog world it seems, which is why I thought I'd take a moment to profile one of the chicest luxury publishers ever, Assouline. It's surprising that the company was only created by Proper Assouline about ten years ago. For some reason, it seems like they have been around forever! As one person said it best, "As Cartier is to watches, Assouline is to books."

Not only are their books chic, but so is their Paris boutique on the rue Bonaparte seen below. I could spend hours there checking out their finely illustrated books, including some of their newest titles for Fall 2007, American Fashion, Dior, and Inspired Styles. I know they will be on everyone's wish list soon, including mine!

I'm sure you've all read over at Style Court that it's Asia Week. All the serious collector's are in town this week for the auctions, gallery shows and other events. Christie's was hopping on Sunday when I stopped by to check out what was up for auction, as was Sotheby's. Another great place for fans of Asian art to visit in the city that is often overlooked, is the Japan Society Gallery.

So that got me thinking about writing an Asia Week related post when I ran across the beautiful apartment of fashion designer Josie Natori in the October 2007 issue of ELLE Decor. I think it a wonderful example of how one can mix contemporary furnishings and modern art with Asian artifacts to create a soothing zen interior.


Josie and her husband Ken worked with architect Calvin Tsao of Tsao & McKown who not only designed the interior but the majority of the furnishings. "This is the Natori sensibility" is how Josie Natori described her recently redesigned apartment.

Fall is the best time of year for many reasons, one of them being all the new museum exhibitions that are opening. I hope to write about many of them in the coming weeks but I thought I would begin with one spectacular exhibition first, The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947 - 1957, which just opening this past weekend at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and runs through January 6, 2008.

"The launch of Christian Dior's New Look in 1947 marked the beginning of a momentous decade in fashion history, one that Dior himself called the 'golden age'. Celebrating the end of war and the birth of a new era, it set a standard for dressmaking and high fashion that has rarely been surpassed."

"In Paris, couture houses such as Balenciaga, Balmain and Fath attracted worldwide attention for elegance and glamour. London was renowned for formal state gowns by court dressmakers and impeccable tailoring by designers like Hardy Amies."

"The production of couture was important to the prestige and economy of both France and Britain. While traditionally catering for wealthy private clients, the couture houses also sought new markets. As the decade progressed, they created perfumes, opened boutiques and licensed their designs to foreign manufacturers. By the late 1950s, the leading couture houses had become global brands."

For those of you who can't make it to the exhibit, the V&A has a great catalog and the website has some wonderful highlights from the show including the 'Bar" suit from Christian Dior seen above, one of Dior's most important designs from his first collection, and also a page from his notebook below. You can also enter a shoe design contest and create your own couture inspired creation from a pattern provided. Pretty exciting stuff! The V&A is definitely giving the Met's Costume Institute a run for it's money!

Everyone at work knows how much I love Domino, so I was excited to see editor Deborah Needleman's loft profiled in New York Magazine this past spring.

The funny thing was that I knew I had seen her bedroom somewhere else and I was right! They used it in a photo spread in the magazine below and as part of the "great bed makeover" video online! Sneaky! Very sneaky! Personally, I love the yellow look best.

Who else but Lisa Perry could envision a pop art paradise in a former monastery on Long Island. Originally published in Hamptons Cottages and Gardens, her family's home has been transformed with "bright, primary colors, glossy surfaces and playful minimalism". The LOVE pillows can be found at Calypso home in New York.

To me, celebrity hairdresser to the stars, Sally Hershberger, epitomizes hip downtown New York style so I was surprised to find out she has a Beverly Hills home and even more surprised that I love it!



Above a 70's Warhol hangs proudly in the hall, while an Italian Chandelier hangs above a vintage photo of Marilyn Monroe below. I love how the colors compliment each other so subtly.

This is one of my favorite images from the Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer profile in Vogue Living from Fall/Winter 2006. It was shot by Eric Bowman at the Hamptons house that once belonged to her grandmother, Estee Lauder.

I live in New York City and rarely drive, but if I did, this is exactly the car I would buy!

When I first saw Cordelia de Castellane in her Paris apartment in the April 2009 issue of Elle Decor, I thought she looked familiar. She was featured in her old apartment in the March 2007 issue of House & Garden magazine. I remembered her because I posted some of the photos from that feature shortly after I started my blog in 2007! I have to say that I love her new apartment with it's "Louis XV Revival architecture." It looks a little more grown up than her last one but I guess a lot of has happened since 2007. She's gotten married again and her children's wear company, C de C, has expanded to include stores in Paris and other countries!


Photos by Roger Davies for Elle Decor and Pascal Chevallier for House & Garden