All is Still. February. Indian Snow Moon. Valentine’s Day. In our igloo cocoons, our lives may seem like snow globes, we swim in bubbles of crystalized emotions, new-earnestly patterned seeds, or emerge into the bright sun for spots of bubble globe tropical island vacations, to be starkly burst into the bitter cold airport coming home. (kooky dreamlike music here) The plays of our lives and the players of our emotions, dreams, hopes and wishes do get crystalized in the cold for this Dreamtime. With the promise of Spring just teasing, “Master Love” is in a million disguises like snowflakes.
I felt like Dorothy waking up from her Oz dream or Alice in The Middle of Wonderland recently one wintry evening, when I caught myself pondering the swirling Court of Charactors in my life. The Jester, The Trickster, The Beauty, The Helpful Teacher, The Wolf, The Queen, The King, The Lovers, The Prince, The Princess, The Suiter, The Warrior, The Mystic. In this sudden bubble of illumination like a LSD flash, I saw how characters in my life seemed to echo giant myths and iconic public figures.”And you were there, and you and you and you….” (more kooky music)
On another day as I mind-tousled with one particular charactor’s ridiculousness, I heard these words clearly:
“You Taught me, I Love you, Thank you.”
I wanted to suddenly scream it out to everyone in my Life from a stranger on the street to Twitterworld. “And you were there, and you and you and you….” This “friendliness” towards all of life is known as Maitri, in Eastern traditions. No matter what is, who is or is not…on the Yellow Brick Road to be The Big Kahuna, Oz or The Grand Tao itself, it’s clear this life is a continued dance to cultivate this attitude of friendliness and ease towards oneself and the stages and Plays in which one finds oneself. Welcome to Earth, The Maitri Matrix. The root of the word Maitri, is Ma, and a bit like the urban legend that every Eskimo has 1000 words for snow, the basic sound and the word, Ma, actually means simultaneously, “Mother, Illusion, To Measure, To Make, Create and The Grand Play.”
In honor of just a fraction of the many inspiring, snowflake-original Matrixsters in my life and their funny disguises, I hereby humbly thank and celebrate my gurus of Love, my friends, foes and luminaries (they are really the same) and their lasting influence on the style and craft of my life. (warning: yes my list is sprinkled with yoga people, but also some decidedly not.)
C’mon! We cannot hide our sprouting Love under the snow. It wants to bounce and play. Here, a toast to My Players! Who are yours?
The Lovers:
Mr. and Mrs. Riley, Mr. and Mrs. Jivamukti and…
You Taught Me: Mr. and Mrs. Riley were “married but separated” French teachers both teaching at our high school. (this was pre-80’s, we had big Arts budgets, 3 French teachers and 6 art teachers!) Mr. Riley looked like a modern day Vampire biding his time as a high-school teacher with his tight little everything…mustache, turtleneck sweaters and the slimest, tightest pantaloons I ever saw. You got a sense why they preferred to live separately as she was soft, pristinely and naturally chic and beautiful, with a Gallic, strong and hilarious nature smoldering underneath her measured, neat sweep of side-parted hair, sweater twin sets and plain wool pleated skirts and sensible shoes. They taught me that European intellectuals may have better ideas about co-habitating and why.
On another stage set to the “high-school” and “co-habitation” frequency years later, amid flowing saris and bulky dhotis, I crouched around the Ananda yoga ashram hoti fire with the other Mr. and Mrs.Jivamukti followers bussed in from Manhattan, (omg, really!) Christy Turlington to my left and to my right, my world-weary and totally hilariously perfect, “I-want-to-be-stuck-at-an-Ashram-with-them” bunkmates, Jane magazine writers, Suzan Colon and Christina Kelly. Christina has been called “Jane Pratt’s right-hand weapon, and an arbiter of cool. She was the Oprah of the alternative teen magazine world.” Christina steered Sassy, ElleGirl and YM and her latest sass, her Fallen Princess blog is here. Suzan Colon is now an author and arbiter of cooking with kindness and Catwoman, having bestowed her genius upon Cosmo Radio and Oprah magazines. Suzan’s blog is here.
What does all this have to do with Mr. and Mrs. Jivamukti and The Lovers? Well, we were gurus of the single, hard working, stressed, sarcastic and sincerely seeking, aka The “Young Miss Tribe,” the first to voluntarily crowd our wine-soaked-from-the-night-before-bodies into a closet in the East Village to dress for yoga with Mr. and Mrs. Jiva, two Euro-dance world artistes, somersaulting through yoga in a radical way at 108 miles an hour. In the early days of the Sharon and David show, Yoga’s first couple, you could still be one of the 50 people in the world who knew what Jivamukti hot and fast yoga was. The Jivas were cooler than cool, wise, sexy and on top of the speed of it all…supremely and calmly in Love.
To the present day, with Kelly, Suzan and Christy all calmly in Love, and Mr. and Mrs Jivamukti’s fast yoga style bringing more people to yoga perhaps than any other guru, ever… I am hoping all that tapas (heat) love-mojo generated by rubbing sweaty ashram-shoulders with them might land me a man-boy Yogi to man-love so I can be The Lover too. Still supremely not so sure about co-habitation. (((or the word Yogi, have never been;-0 )))
For Your Lover’s Dose via Christina and Suzan, read their blogs, for Christy, read US Weekly. For Sharon and David, go sit in front of them.
I Love you, thank you: Because I see you and I believe in love.
Quote: “OM, Oui.” (none of these people said that, I just made that up for this post)
Style Tips: One can smolder in a swatch of fabric or a cashmere twin set.
The Slickly-Styled Court Jester:
Malik Rice, Andre 3000 and Bill Graham.
You Made me Laugh and Cry: Malik Rice was an ex-boyfriend from Atlanta, the same town as Andre 3000, and could have been his double in looks and style. A music genius and world class runner, he traveled the world with Puma but suffered an early injury. His style basics included 10 of each item: big, bold Alain Mikli specs, crazy hats, suede Gucci’s, a Mercedes equipped with a TV and the best sound system and custom motorcycle jackets from Italy. My favorite was black with lemon yellow accents and had a huge neon orange star on the back. He was a tiny thing (at 5’4 plus stilettos, I had a brief career as the super-model girlfriend) but he rocked massive attitude ranging from an adorable Dough-boy giggle to big ploppy tears to braggadocio swagger.
Another fan of motorcycle jacket Jester swagger was famed promoter, Bill Graham. Nearly all of Bill Graham’s family perished at the hands of the Nazis and Bill was sent overseas to grow up in foster homes in NYC. Before he became the famous super-promoter, Graham worked in the upstate resorts of the New York Catskills as a waiter where he met a relative of mine. Becoming fast friends, they made an Easy Rider cross-country motorcycle trip one summer. For many years, I wore Bill’s black leather jacket worn from that ride, which was passed on to me as a whiff of his visionary spirit, that which brought Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Alan Ginsburg, Santana, Rolling Stones, Eddie Money and Phil Collins to the world’s stage and began what became Live Aid.
Bill Taught Me: “Get up Early.” Many of Bill’s “wins” came simply because he got there first. I get up at 5 am, precisely because of Bill.
Malik Quote: “Yes, Wear it.” I recall having a suit on for an interview and vacillating between wearing a very notable coat on top or not, was it too much? Malik emphatically pointed out that wearing the coat is exactly what would seal the deal.
I Love you: I love you both for being loud, charming, visionary and bull-headed and coloring my world with music and style.
Thank you: Malik, you were the worst and the best boyfriend ever. Mostly the worst, but thank you for that.
Style Tips: Life goes better and bigger with a Bit of Bold.
The Exalted Red Queens:
Kirin Mishra, Diana Vreeland and Michelle Obama.
In Looking Glass Land, the Queen tells Alice, “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
You taught Me: Kirin Misha. For just about one minute when I first saw you, your sexy, suburban Mom status nicely hid your intense and deep knowledge passed down in the Kashmir Shree Vidya Tantric tradition. I watched your destined transition from the Mrs. to the Mysterious, with your taking of new name, Parvathi Nanda Nath Saraswati, and teaching around the world. You inspired me to rocket-launch from my solar house co-habitation in a backwoods country clearing to clearly hearing the universe shout to me: “Get Thee back to NYC.” Your giggle combined with knowledge (such that The Lovers, Sharon and David said within one minute of meeting you that they had nothing to teach you.) All this kept me pinned, keeping to my “same place” meditation cushion while the antics of a country yoga community ran past — the laughing yogis, the stawkers in saris, a memorable elder yogi’s karaoke to Madonna’s “Ray of Light” and even ten tons of sticky watermelon juice all over your kitchen at the insistance of a juice-dieting kirtan background singer when we hosted the groupies of the suddenly touring Krishna Das band we found hidden at that Ananda Ashram. I miss you, it was grandly fun.
and…by the way, be gone the Guru bashings and gossip. Divas exist everywhere in many forms, in stories, myths, movies, books even Ashrams, balking at kitchen duty serving the hummus. If you cannot laugh at it all then you are taking it too seriously. I was there. I know real teachings, we all live them, the particulars are not important, the Truth of Love is.
As Chogyam Trungpa once said, “The most powerful mantra? …Om, Grow Up Svaha.”
I love you, Diana Vreeland. A beacon Red Queen issuing proclamations and demanding beauty. She was My Poster Girl. The pic of her in her red floral drawing room sat fiercely in place among the cultural train and running mix of posters of the moment in my bedroom… the navy Krishna in a sea of hot pink, the Joe Eula and Antonio’s illustrations of YSL from W magazine. And yes, I admit Farrah Fawcett preceeded her and the classic “Saturday Night Fever” poster with Tony in his white 3-piece hung nearby, both of which I think Diana might have liked.
Thank you, Michelle Obama for being a smart, full of heart, elegant and intelligent Woman in Love with and loved by her equally powerful Man. Now that my friends, is a queen. She chose McQueen, Alexander McQueen, for the red history-making dress to honor President Hu Jintao of China and for all its symbolic and international fashion waves. Mrs. O, the blog following her every sweater set, media and fashion pundits weighed in on the choice from all angles. Cathy Horyn and Robin Givhan voted yes, Oscar de la Renta, WWD‘s Bridget Foley, Oscar de la Renta and the CFDA voted no. New York Magazine‘s Amy Odell called it “Michelle Obama’s McQueengate Slogs On.” Maybe she just wore it because she liked it admired McQueen, who died recently. His talent was global and spoke to all of humanity and I personally think she is that tapped in to wear it for that reason and message alone.
You Taught Me: Red Queens, you are often misunderstood but I hardly think you care.
I Love you Michelle O: for your $200. Alice Waters organic garden and your borrowed (we hope) McQueen.
Thank you: for strength beyond beauty, scorn, jealousy, fear and simple minds.
Diana Quote: “The only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it.”
Style Tips: Color Therapy is not just for graduates of Mary Kay cosmetics sales training. Red will always be the happy elephant in the room, conveying the color of Life, energy, authority, power and a second chakra properly juiced up upon its wearer.
The Wise and Simple Kings:
Mr. Munyan, Isaiah Zagar and Baba Neem Karoli.
You Really Taught me, Mr. Munyan. You look like a Frog, everyone agrees. I have never met a more engaging frog or man in my Life. Munyan was our 8th grade Social Studies teacher, leaping around the class, making jokes, asking serious questions, gesturing wildly and taking everyone on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. From the seed of an idea like: let’s all actually wear tunics and wimples and make a real Medieval marketplace to let’s actually re-enact the entire trial of Lt. Calley and the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, I aimed higher because of the Frog and remember major smiles even through my teenage angst. A posse of about 5 boys and I used to hang at his house, he was the coolest and most creative ever and I’m thrilled to know he eventually became Principal.
King Isaiah’s Magic Gardens on South Street in Philadelphia is haven of mosaic happiness that has been spreading through the neighborhood since the late 1960s, when a gentle man moved to the area with his wife Julia to open a folk art store, the Eyes Gallery at 402 South Street. I met Isaiah when we did a fashion shoot on his roof and his joy was contagious. Like many naive artists he just started one day and has not stopped since.
I love you, Baba. One day deep in the library shelves, age 12, the proverbial book fell off the library shelf onto my head. The “Twilight” series wasn’t invented just yet, my teenish desires and dreams were already actually attuned to Indian mystics, or rather they conked me on the head for said attuning. Ram Dass’s “Be Here Now,” the blue book detailing his visits to Baba Neem Karoli, the famous guru in India, was suddenly in my hands and I stared and stared at the image of the blue Guru. Years later in California, I stood by Ram Das’s side on a boat trip and many times sat beside Krishna Das, the kirtan singer, both whom sat by the Great Guru’s side and there have been plenty of miracles in my life connected to this Guru. The Joy is there beyond words.
Kings!…
You Taught Me: Improbable questions are answered by trust.
I Love you my Kings: Your wise kingdoms of silly deep love feel so gooood.
Thank you: For giving your All.
Often Quoted about Baba: “He is a wonderful teacher, and will play with you if you get to know him.”
Style Tips: Wrap Thy Self in wildly colored mosaics, Play or plaid Slankets, for a humble womb of instant enlightenment.
The White Rabbit Mystic at The Gate with The Rock:
Peggy Guggenheim, Gene London and Tina Fey.
The White Rabbit is a nerd who confuses time, faces and places and just like The Mystic, injects fantasy, fun, obscure facts and ridiculous behavior into “Reality.” On top of it, the scurrying rabbit repeatedly and annoyingly knocks at the Gate to be let in.
You taught me, Gene. When I was little, Gene London was my first tall, dark and handsome geeky, gangly man-crush. He was my favorite, ecstatic story-telling camp counselour who went on to host his own local Saturday morning kids’ TV show, “The Gene London Show.” He played himself, a dreamy, artistic shopkeeper who would make a sketch and stop time, inviting wide-eyed Brownie and Boy Scout troops into worlds of romance and fantasy, most often morphing into a Disney movie and endless repeats of “The Wizard of Oz.” Gene was a very real and simple Enchanter empowering the everyday with story. Thank you also, for perhaps being one of the first “wildly creative homosexuals” I encountered as a kid. Thankfully, now many knock at my Gate. Come in, Come in!
At age 21 I came upon the iron gate holding colored stones at Peggy Guggenheim‘s Venice Palace designed by Clare Falkenstein and was enchanted for life by this gate, to me symbolizing the gems within the web of life. Guggenheim attained instant Guru Goddess status with me. You have a horseback rider with an erection in the center of your Courtyard? You got all the gondola gigolos to do your bidding? At 21, you inherited 21 million and exhibited and collected the art of your major artist friends and lovers? A list which included Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy,Constantin Brancusi,Man Ray,Antoine Pevsner, Henry Moore, Henri Laurens, Alexander Calder, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, George Braque,Wassily Kandinsky and Kurt Schwitters? A collector of men, art and a bequeather to the history of modern art, yep, you taught me. I am the nerd with love in my eyes at your Gate.
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon is an effulgent fountain of Nerd Heaven relentlessly slamming into the Gate of Reason. Everyone knows my big nerd secret that I do not ever, ever watch TV, the neat, big 3 exceptions being red carpet Award shows, Obama speeches and Tina in “30 Rock.”
You All Taught Me: To Elevate The Nerd, Listen to it and act upon it.
I Love you: for steering your own gondolas, general stores, genius-yes’s of Love and genitalias. (forgive all annoying alliterations, so nerdy;-)
Thank you: (what? was not the above enough?)
Quote: “I am constantly amazed by Tina Fey. And I am Tina Fey.”
Style Tips: Every nerd and white rabbit likes props, bold sunglasses, monocles, pooches and men as accessories. Gene had an apron like Erkel had his overalls. Tina has those glasses and that one pair of “Brooklyn Without Limits” green jeans…
The Peaceful Warrior is Called To The Mission:
Leslie Holzman, Bob Geldof, Alice in Wonderland and Elena Brower.
Leslie Holzman was one of the first women bike messengers in New York City, a top clothing designer, a fierce Vegan, a roommate of Debbie Harry, my best friend and one very magical person. When we met, she lived in a huge house on the Delaware River with 20 dogs, 15 white geese, mind-boggling and beautiful collections of rare medals, art books, antiques, jewels, boxes, notes and husband Benji, a feisty Sean Penn look-alike, Jewish auto mechanic from Las Vegas who specialized in Mercedes and hilarious fake porn phone messages. Like a child to ward off the finality of death, he kept the ashes of all the dogs from all his life in a huge field, a kind of Mercedes/Dead Dog Homage Museum, with black tank 1950’s specimens to slick white Gere era, Gigolo styles in all stages of sculptural decline or post-modern assemblage. (just the cars, the dogs were thankfully all in ash state.) Leslie would drive her Mercedes of the day at only 5-10 miles per hour, even on the highway for fear of hitting an animal or insect. She was an outspoken peaceful warrior for animals and the sacredness of all life with an infectious, dirty joke kind of laugh that literally lit up a room. Although caring and sensitive, she proudly proclaimed that she never cried. Never. I sat with her the day before she died, as she cried, letting go peacefully and finally.
Prior to being a Nobel Peace prize nominee, in 1984, Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats was surrounded by a series of flop hits when he was stunned by television images of starving Africans. He described it as “sitting in my comfortable living room surrounded by the fripperies of modern living which we were pleased to regard as necessities. Their eyes looked into mine.” From that moment, his life took a radical turn. When Bob first suggested doing a record to his musician friends to raise money, immediately a friend asked for his help to get clearance for a supply delivery truck in Africa, as if the two activities had never been aligned in the Universe except for Bob, for Africa, for the world in that moment. His peaceful war on starvation created Band Aid and Live Aid changed forever the face of philanthropy.
It’s kind of a little something, something when your favorite yoga teacher, maybe ever, is called to teach 10,000 people on The Great Lawn of Central Park. Elena Brower is not trying to be a Yoga Teacher and that is what landed her on that stage. The fact that the event was rained out 15 minutes in is even better yoga.
I Love you: For your Love Trains, happy to be on them.
You Taught Me: Surround me with your Love.
Thank you, Bob: For your Scrappy, Resourceful, Very Large Vision.
Leslie’s Quote: (depending upon the day) “Buy, Sell, Trade.” …or… “Nothing at All.”
Style Tips: This is not a chapter in the Color Me Beautiful book, just my own observations: Purple and orange are high-vibration spiritual colors, but are also classic leaders of severe style mistakes unless in the hands of couture. Bob dressed like a tacky 80’s sorta-punk, Boomtown Rat and Leslie went overboard, but who cares when you are this close to Emerald City?
“You Taught me, I Love you, Thank you.”
Taught reminds me of the word taut. Like a tightrope, all relationships are yoga, the word which means “yoke.” To be tethered to something or someone is to be tamed, as The Little Prince’s fox taught us. We choose to be taunted or to be taught. I thank and love my teachers, the fascinating and the horrid ones. You, and you and you and you reading, thank you because the Matrix of Love has us tethered, it cannot be denied and I am happy to romp with you. (ya hearing that kooky music now?)
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Who Do You Love?
IMAGE and otherwise CREDITS:
Thanks to Marilyn Minter, David LaChapelle and of course, my Mom, as the biggest fan of this blog and a big character in my life, yes, Mom, to you too. Thank you, you taught me and I love you!
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Filed under: LIVES, LOVERS, STYLE | 3 Comments
Tags: Alain Mikli, Alan Ginsburg, Alexander McQueen, Alice in Wonderland, Ananda, ananda Ashram, Andre 3000, Antonio illustrater, Ashram, Baba Neem Karoli, Band Aid, Bill Graham, Bob Geldof, Boomtown Rats, Bridget Foley, Call me, Cathy Horyn, Christina Kelly, Christy Turlington, Clare Falkenstein, Cosmo Radio, David LaChapelle, Debbie Harry, Debbie Harry NYC, Diana Vreelend, Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's dream, Each one teach one, Eddie Money, Elena Brower, Emerald City, Every person is your teacher, Farrah Fawcett, Gene London, George Munyan, Gere's Mercedes, Gratitude for teachers, I love you, Indian Snow Moon, Isaiah Zagar, jade dressler, Jan Pratt, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Jivamukti, Joe Eula, Kirin Mishra, Krishna Das, Leslie Holzman, Live Aid, Long Chen Pa, LOVERS, Madonna's ray of Light, Magic Gardens on South Street, Maharaji, Maitri, Malik Rice, Marilyn Minter, Michelle Obama, Mr. Munyan, Mrs. O, Oscar de la Renta, Peggy Guggenheim, Peggy Guggenheim's Venice Palace, Phil Collins, President Hu Jintao of China, Ram Dass, Ram Dass's "Be Here Now, Richard Gere's mercedes, Robin Givhan, Rolling Stones, Santana, Sharon and David, Suzan Colon, teach me to love, teachers come in many ways, Thank you, Thank you for teaching me to love, Thank you to tough people, The Beauty, The Elder Kings, The Exalted Red Queens, the Eyes Gallery, The Grateful Dead, The Helpful Teacher, The Jester, The King, the lovers, The Mystic, The Peaceful Warrior, The Prince, The Princess, The Queen, The Red Queen, The Slickly-Styled Court Jester, The Suiter, The Trickster, The Warrior, The White Rabbit, The Wizard of Oz, The Wolf, Tina Fey, Tought people are your teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, Venice Palace Guggenheim, W magazine, Yellow Brick Road, You Taught me, You taught me how to love
Just off the gaggly tourist train of Fifth Avenue, chestnut roasting circuit and red-double decker glimpses of The Chelsea Hotel, do Audrey or Edie proud…
…immersed in art, architecture, antiquing, style, luscious eating and relaxing and take in the full contrast treasure that is this American City. Surf the dichotomies that are Audrey in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Edie Sedgwick in “Ciao! Manhattan,” the winter literary chill of Gogol’s Overcoat or the hotness of Gogol Bordello or contemplate the purchase of pedigrees via Pulled Pork Crepinettes downtown or the contents of a Pulled Park Ave pad of collectibles uptown…
I literally cut my baby teeth on The Big Apple. My uptown/downtown New York Stendhal syndrome began early on nibbling and savoring little, cold-from-the-suitcase, semi-sweet, dark chocolate candy slices of the “Big Apple” my Father always brought home from his NYC business trips. At age 7, when my needlepointing aunt took image requests for a pillow, I closed my W magazine, (for which I already had a subscription and could name all the habitues of Studio 54) paused only a second before putting in my order for Warhol’s red and white tomato soup can on a Factory-esque field of downtown prescient-Stephen Sprouse-ish lime green.
A lifetime of really biting The Big Apple and breathing in all its style, I have found the best way to absorb New York is a deep dive focus, prowling a full day in one neighborhood to feel the lifeblood of the city. For a song on a winter weekend in New York you will emerge to the manner born. Here is just a taste of my secret favorite places, for uptown, the Upper East and Upper West Side and for downtown, Chelsea. Delve with me into each through their style icons, art, architecture, eats, places to relax and where to take home the style via the best spots, stylists or hidden jewel-box antique shops.
UPTOWN . Icon Creds Art Architecture Eat Home Relax Sacred Space Style.
Creds
Living for 10 years uptown, my creds are not to the manor born, they have been bred. I love it all. I’ve dabbled with the socialites, the posh services and poseurs. I’ve heard the babble of the doctors and the pill poppers. I wander the hallowed halls of The Met and The Met and The Bridal Path of Central Park. My soul and soles have many times grazed the red carpets, lobby, halls and inner sanctums of Elaine’s, The Frick, The Carlyle, Studio 54, Daniel, The Pierre and the like. I have designed for the runways of quintessential New York society designers such as Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta and Mary McFadden. I love …
Art
The serene and spacious hush in an uptown gallery is a meditative exercise, clearing the visual palette of the street, everyday cares and inviting a reverent viewer into a timeless space to contemplate the thread of humanity. Marlborough Gallery’s roster of artists uptown at 40 W 57th Street, is solid, ranging from humorous Tom Otterness animal bronzes to the serious spirituality of Art’s Grande Dames, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Michele Oka Doner. A show of Hans Silvester photographs of Ethiopians in “Natural Fashion: Art & the Body,” were perfectly paired with Blackberry-attached and angst-filled businessmen figures in paintings by Stephen Conroy which rung the gallery like Stonehenge figures. Prime human psyche-surfing here.
Meanwhile downtown at Marlborough in Chelsea,
a surprise were folk tale, stone figure groupings by Grisha Bruskin, reminding me of the unearthed solemn Chinese warriors of the Terracotta Army, a sense of the monumental yet vulnerable, poignant perhaps due to the history of Gotham over the past ten years from 9/11 to the recent financial crisis on Wall Street.
Han Silvestri until January 8, 2011 Stephen Conroy until January 15, 2011.
A little Magic Winter, Pre-Spring lore for your uptown creds … Tom Otterness’ Crying Giant and other sculptures lit up Broadway in 2005, the same time as Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude’s orange Gates flew in Central Park. Photo by Gabriel Benitez, here is the map to all the sculptures and a loving tribute unearthed via the recent blizzards by Allan M. Jalon, for the Huffington Post. Tom Otterness’ show, “Animal Spirits” runs from February 23 to March 26, 2011.
Architecture
Lights in the trees and cold light on buildings on the side streets uptown, here at St. Bartholomew’s and…
…the cafe at Alice Tully Hall at 65th and Broadway, which I never tire of. Closed on Mondays, when you can really see the space without the lively crowd, definitely put this on your roster uptown Tuesday through Sunday, for afternoon coffee, filling food and lingering in the vitality that is Lincoln Center. As dusk settles, watch the music, ballet and dance students, the fashion crowd during Fashion Week and tourists via the wide window unto the street.
Eats
I know. Uptown restaurants can be sliced and diced into Tres Cher, Tres Trashy or Tres Bland. Live here for 10 years and you can find the treasures. One of mine is Jacques, on 204-206 E 85th Street. Never mind the gym across the way and the proximity to 86th Street “Mall,” surroundings, once inside, Jacque’s is a respite of a French bistro. Order the moules frite with a choice of six sauces from mild garlic, chardonnay, and parsley to Thai ginger and lemon grass, all best paired with Belgian beer. Nice and grounding after a day of art, shopping and uptown proper, even with the droning TV over the bar, which to me usually grates like needlepoint…even that feels real Sunday night in New York.
I have a feeling Audrey and George or Carolyn and John Jr. would be found here canoodling on a Sunday night…tucked away from paparazzi.
Home
I was steered into John Koch at 201 W 84th Street, by my biz partner, Michelle Barge, who found this spot while appraising ephemerals for Sotheby’s. The mix of pedigree with kitsch was just my style and I saw an endless array of items that any tourist or diehard New Yorker could pop in a suitcase or rent a caravan to bring back to Kalamazoo.
…captivated by the tabletop tableaus of terracotta and crystal and yes, I also captured my black and white fur hat.
Billiard balls and ornate silver together have volumes of stories together.
This lamp. This vase. Whatever it is.Love.
Since seeing all the sculpture at Marlborough, this oxidized warrior lamp base appealed. There were two which is good for raising the chi and energy through a cold winter. Why do I always see this patina metal with bright yellow or purple?
These two! I have been a fan of entire walls of portraits from various eras and materials and have done these in many apartments and homes. I do have an obsession with black hats and I truly love the humor in this guy. The little miss is a little dour, but paired with some bright color and maybe a better frame, we’d include her in our posse to cheer her up.
Forget the imperfections of the photo, we are antiquing here! I would snatch these chairs up in a second, the upolstery was lush and in good condition and the rest could be distressed, repainted, patinaed, restored, glossed or gilded as your color or historic proclivities prompted you.
Relax Sacred Space
If you want to go all the way and relax uptown-style, forget all the little massage spots, the gyms, the fancy spa emporiums or the local table-toting handler your concierge recommends. There is a new on-call, bespoke in-room Thai massage service available in New York. Be a true seeker of the peace within, a real insider, and prepare to be taken away with treatments from one of the superb practitioners with Sacred Space New York.
Style
Audrey’s Givenchy coat is an uptown classic for its orange red color, the simplicity and timelessness. I recently visited friends, Valerie Feigen and Alissa Emerson at their exquisite, townhouse shop, Edit, on 91st and Lexington to see what was new. I spotted a tan, little Cacharel raincoat for Spring with quarter length sleeves and the perfect pert shape. So new, I can’t even get a pic of it, but you should make plans to head to Edit and get the full treatment of attention and the best of the ready-to-wear collections from uptown classics like sheath dresses, for example, a Jason Wu leather bib dress to bright, very downtown hip African bead bracelets from Vanessa Mooney.
Uptown for men it’s all Bergdorf’s third floor at 58th and Fifth, especially now that Lanvin, Prada, Rick Owens and Dries Van Noten have been added to the mix. New to Bergdorfs? Troll around with a stylist. One that caters to best of the best? Barbara Flood. When we designed for the Blass and the de la Renta, Barbara bought our jewelry for her private Upper East townhouse collection catering to rock stars, actors and artists. A former model, society tripper and friend to New York men such as Rudi Gernrich, Stanley Herman, Leo Narducci, Henry Jaglom, Dennis Hopper, Valentino, and Oscar de la Renta, any man desiring a style stamp beyond Bergdorf’s mens department needs to call Barbara Flood. Here is an in-depth interview with Barbara and you can reach Flood’s Closet, at 212.348.7257
Now you two, take that Cacharel coat downtown!
DOWNTOWN . Icon Creds Art Architecture Eat Home Relax Sacred Space Style.
Icon
Edie Sedgewick’s style and expensive taste (lady hipstar tips further on here) were part of the manufacture of timeless signature style of men pals such as Warhol and Bob Dylan. For the best “downtown goes global,” go all black like Andy (and never go back) and go straight to Barney’s Co-op on 18th Street. For classic “downtown artiste” Dylan or today’s “downtown wild child,” Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello, go unfailingly straight to color and pattern accessories like hats, wrap scarves, sunglasses or cigarettes. There is only one place for color, Paul Smith on Fifth Avenue at 16th Street. Cigarettes, around the corner.
Creds
Oh, do things like dancing at Danceteria, The World and Paradise Garage, exhibiting in the Gracie Mansion gallery and the “old” New Museum, parties on the rooftops of friends, back when living in Williamsburg meant squatting, throwing art/film/live music parties pre-Meatpacking at The Cooler with naked girls covered in chocolate as art give me creds as a downtown girl? I sure hope so. I love…
Art
My new double Art Icons: Keith Duncan and Keith Tyson. The Cue Art Foundation recently presented new wall size paintings by Mr.Duncan created in his small apartment in Gretna, Louisiana, a place where neighbors stop by and consider themselves part of the art and the mythologies at once horrific, awkward, spiritual and historical painted in a monumental comic-book style. For me, Keith made visual the incongruities between history, fiction and reality that can only be summed up with the reference to the People cover of Sandra Bullock adoring Baby Louis with all his curls, lifetimes in his glance and graduation hat while American flags of Union and Un-Union point nearby. Canvases entitled “Kings of Nostalgia” and “Rise of The South” respectively. Grand… and the kind of art that can Make-My-Day. At 511 W 25th Street, the show closed January 15, forever collectible.
I love art, color and multiples, it’s my gypsy heritage. Easily amused by one or combos of all three, I adored Keith Tyson’s “52 Variables,” on until February 5th at The Pace Gallery. The cards flip actual imagery from decks collected all over the world on green felt-like walls. Tyson lays out mirror sized images of chance, branding, speculation and symbolic imagery from the Mandelbrot set fractal to a Twitter icon. Like Twitter, the seemingly random ephemera of life reveals deep value only with a complete dive-in to its madness and serendipity. Playing cards originated from Tarot cards, designed to activate the synchronistic divination power of the psyche and even our decks carry this tradition. Consider 52 Cards = 52 weeks, 4 suits = 4 seasons, 13 cards in each suit = the 13 lunar cycles (full and new moons), 364 / 7 days in the week = 52 cards in a deck. Did I take the dive?
The paintings go for $35,000. each but there is a limited edition of playing cards for $15. I bought.
Next was McDermott & McGough: “Of Beauty and Being” at Cheim & Reas Gallery at 547 W 25th Street until February 12, where you can determine if you are a “Sex Snob” or if you are using sex as a Communist weapon. The artist’s libertine weapons here are archetypical women airbrushed and re-touched in the same tri-color carbon photographic process perfected for advertisements back in the day.
Beguiling for their artifice and starkness, I would mix the gloss of these Mad Men women and their plastic, diamond lacquered accessories with Hans Silvester’s Ethiopian beauties and some antique portraits arranged like windows of a building or a blog on a green felt wall gladly, inspired by the dual-windows of Warhol’s film, “Chelsea Girls.” Oh, how New York!
Ghada Amer‘s “100 Words of Love” was the opening of Cheim & Read’s space…
The sphere of Arabic words in splashy color simultaneously felt aggressive and delicate, especially with a spotlight shining a lacy pattern on the wall. The often silenced voices of women in Arab cultures and these words of love whispered in the ear of the current American culture, it felt like a wishing egg of delicate and powerful potential. This steely contrast of steel and shadow gets echo’ed on every corner outside the galleries in Chelsea’s current architecture craze, at every turn there is a masterpiece, often passionately juxtaposing with a remnant of the past, The High Line, the Frank Gehry, The Standard, the pace and boldness is staggering.
Architecture
A new obsession of mine, the Della Valle Bernheimer at 245 Tenth Avenue references abstract steam clouds from the trains that used to travel the High Line, now the elevated park. More on that here in a post on a previous uptown/downtown roam, that time in the flush of Summer.
Neil Denari’s HL23, glimpsed here first between buildings and next in full fishbowl cgi “cultural sustainability” glory will set any jaded city-dweller or bored tourist instantly on their toes. Is it the smaller base and ballooning structure, like a beautiful foot in a stiletto or just really smart small footprint design or the Pompidou done one better? Read more here to get real geeky on it.
Eats
Breakfast or lunch must be Chelsea Market, which never disappoints for a sit-down at Nicole Farhi’s 202 to a whole market stroll and graze.
Trestle on Tenth is a spot for lingering. I was so gallery-tired one Saturday, by the time we settled in for the cheese plate and vino at lovely, unpretentious Trestle my pictures were really blurry so I had to go to seriouseats.com blog, where the above Crepinette du Pork comes from, a favorite of all the reviewers. Take a look at Ed Levine’s review on this blog for all the mouth watering images that only a foodie could conjure. I am a downtown art-groupie who loves my food but I am not a foodie! I will however heartedly vouch for the glass of Vernaccia Montenidoli, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy, 2007 and the award-winning Barely Buzzed cheese, which did me well with its unusual accents of coffee and lavender! Trestle is at 242 Tenth Avenue at 24th Street.
Home
The huge lit elephant skull in the window is how I discovered Mantiques Modern one evening. A city should surprise you like that.
If you’ll pass on the skull but Machine Age barstools from a Parisian Bistro or a rare Jaeger Le Coultre clock would make your wish list, then stop by 146 W. 22nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues to indulge a man-centric collection that is also a favorite of the girls, including uptown interior designer, Celerie Kemble.
Relax Sacred Space
For years, for me, one of the best deals in the city is the Far Eastern oasis and super-relaxing spa at Essential Therapy on 23rd St. between Park and Lexington. Do I love the candle-lit, low ceiling tapestry waiting room where you could sit for an hour to meditate, write in a journal and just think and no one minds? Do I love the full ranges of massage options in soft lit rooms? Do I love the clean,clean changing room with full spacious showers, pristine robes, slippers and towels, private lockers before and after a round of hot tub, Finnish dry heat sauna, steam rooms and five-person Jacuzzi…all for $20? That’s 1/5th of a tip in other places. I love it.
Style
“Tata” met me for a Chelsea gallery crawl one Winter Saturday on her bike from the Lower East Side. Tatjana Tatalovic, aka “Tata,” is a newly arrived to New York, Elle magazine-celebrated designer from Serbia, looking like a twin to Uma Thurman, hand-rolling her cigarettes with industrial strength tobacco and bequeathing hilarious, stoic witticisms. I do believe she is the next Balkan superstar, beyond Eugene, so get her to make you something original and very Downtown. Now! Go to her site and send her a message, before she is discovered here!
Notes: Galleries are open on Saturdays, not Sundays.
Many images photographed by Jade Dressler, others may be claimed and credits duly bestowed.
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Filed under: ARCHITECTURE, ART, FASHION, HOME, NEW YORK, NEW YORK Art, NEW YORK Restaurants, NEW YORK Style, TRAVEL | 3 Comments
Tags: . Tom Otterness' Crying Giant, "Natural Fashion: Art & the Body, 100 words of love, 245 Tenth Avenue, 52 Variables, Alice Tully Hall, Alissa Emerson, Animal Spirits, antiques uptown, art weekend in NYC, Audrey coat, Audrey Givenchy coat, Audrey Hepburn, Audrey in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey orange coat, Audrey stule, Barbara Flood, Barely Buzzed cheese, Barney's 18th street, Barney's Co-op, Bergdorf Goodman Men, Bergdorf's mens, best French bistors upper east side, best French bistros in New York City, best inexpensive spa in NYC, best places for a weekend in NYC, best restaurants in Chelsea, Bill Blass, Bob Dylan, Cacharel coat, cafe at Alice Tully Hall, Cheim & Reas Gallery, Chelsea, Chelsea Girls film, Chelsea Girls poster, Chelsea Market, Chelsea restaurant, Chelsea weekend in NYC, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude's orange Gates, Danceteria, Daniel, Della Valle Bernheimer, Dennis Hopper, downtown galleries, downtown girl, downtown NYC style, downtown style, Edie Sedgwick, Edit New York, Elaine's, Essential Therapy, Eugene Hutz, Flood's Closet, French bistro uptown, Gehry Chelsea, Ghada Amer, Gogol Bordello, Gogol's Overcoat, Gracie Mansion, Grisha Bruskin, Hans Silvester, Henry jaglom, HL23, Holly GoLightly, Holly Golightly style, in hotel massage, insider weekend in New York City, insider weekend in NYC, Jacques, jade dressler, Jason Wu, John Koch antiques, Keith Duncan, Keith Tyson, Leo Narducci, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Manhatta Indians, Mantiques, Mantiques Modern, Marlborough Gallery, Mary McFadden, McDermott & McGough, Michele Oka Doner, Neil Denari, Neil Denari's HL23, NEW YORK, Nicole Farhi 202, NYC, Oscar de la Renta, Paradise Garage, Paul Smith, playing card divination, playing cards from Tarot, Pulled Pork Crepinettes, Rudi Gernrich, Sacred Space New York, secret NYC places, Seneca Village, Serbian designer, Stanley Herman, Stephen Conroy, Studio 54, symbols of playing cards, tabletop, Tata, Tatjana Tatalovic, Terracotta Army, Thai massage in NYC, The Big Apple, The Carlyle, The Cooler, The Cue Art Foundation, The Frick, the highline, the old New Museum, The Pace Gallery, The Pierre, The World, Tom Otterness, Tom Otterness Animal Spirits, Trestle on Tenth, uptown French restaurant, uptown galleries, uptown girl, uptown NYC style, uptown style, uptown/downtown NYC, Valentino, Valerie Feigen, Vanessa mooney, wall of portraits, Warhol's Tomato soup can, weekend in New York City, Winter weekend in NYC, words of love
I can trace 99% of any feminine anxiety and PMS I have ever felt to the first day of nursery school at the Jewish Community Center, when shown my cubby hole for storage with my name on it and a bright red, blazin’ firetruck as its emblem. My first ever “WTF” coursed through my tiny brain and girlie parts. “This image is for a Boy!”
For sure, I liked the color red, the thing had a happy face, yet I was not yet into monster truck-worship and certainly the alarming issue had my artist sensibilities and synapses tranny-temper-tantruming a bird’s nest of gender confusion in my brain. Bravely,I declared myself a Heroic Firefighter and learned to love and embrace the “Otherness” and “Maleness” of it all. All this before I knew I was an Aries and a Fire sign – this was 1964 y’all and Susan Miller had not yet birthed AstrologyZone – I was on my own here in my pinafore and pain. So for me, being one of the boys began early, you’ll not find me ever being “girlie.” My Tomboy does cry massive boredom when trapped into spending hours discussing make-up, cremes, identifying with Sex and The City, shopping for sport or the worst, being called “Ladies” in a group E-mail.
Instead, my inner child Firefighter found L-wordish girl-power in the idea of being a Siren, all-knowing, singing and alluring men. I liked the symbol for the temptation embodied by smart women to delving into the mysteries of life. So what if it was a song to death, aren’t we all on our way anyway? I am happy to sing and conjure fire and maleness as Primal energy, the light and power of Men sparking, like the riddling Rumpelstiltskin of fairy tales, showing up with magic skills of weaving hay into gold. From nursery school to my modern male lovers and friends, let’s hear it for the Boys. The best boy friends are loyal, always funny, they are guaranteed to wake you up in the morning, give you a pet or porn name, share their toys and talismans with you and will move mountains for those they love. I am proud of My Guy Friends, because they are all of the above and in the Great Universe of Gotham, they are supremely successful, creative and have BIG hearts. From ex-world-touring metallic band members to the leader of Uganda’s Hip Hop Movement...it’s a crew of up and coming BIG boys.
The Boys have gathered their Favorites around them for comfort, while I snapped away (non PMS, via camera.) As usual, it is 19th century in its scope and it all interweaves. Get a hoagie or a stogie, settle in and read.
Herewith, some of my Best Friends and their Best Friend BIG boy toys and talismans. (Where To Buy included, no extra charge)
A Big Dog, Woman and Art are Man’s Best Friends
Sebastien aka “Seb” is the Kozy of Sarkozy, the Eye of Banksy and Mack’s Daddy
When French people fall in love with the Big in the US, it can be more than Mickey Mouse and salivating for Abercrombie & Fitch and Obama. With a vision to support global contemporary and street art, Sebastien LePelletier is the owner, curator at gallery Nine 5, so he has to have a Larger than Life, Beautiful Woman and Mack Daddy dog by his side as his Best Friends.
Represented artist, Steve Ellis’ Manifest Destiny painting sprawls at least 12 feet long with pop-culture iconography details appearing as mountains of ripped pages and layers of history revealing the relationship of technology, expansion and the culture of the West.
Seb set his big eye for The West in 2000 coming to America. His big eye for “the ladies” ranges from Jessica Lichenstein’s captured mini-girl sculptures (I’ve written about her here) to his girlfriend Mandy, representing as a former Miss Nebraska, whose big heart puts on really big shows and events for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Together they both are part of our im.material team, a 501(c)(3) foundation working to build strong and sustainable community in developing nations.
Buy the Boy Toy:
Art: Gallery Nine 5, 24 Spring Street, New York, 212.965.9995
Woman and Dog: Priceless and Taken
Mack. Sebastien is here with Patrick, both Big Boys, both a part of im.material.
A Burberry and a Blackberry are a Socialite, Social Activist’s Best Friend
Patrick Simeon aka “Mr. P” is the delightful face of Buddha modeling as Crackberry’s Favorite Poster Child
After Haiti’s earthquake last January, Pat hopped on the BB and plane, wasted no time in gathering up clothing and his surgeon friend, Dr. Guny Gabriel, to head to the country of his birth to help. Pat and “Dr. G” set up a temporary medical clinic in a park to serve the wounded and prevent unnecessary amputations that would alienate citizens in the future. Dr. G went one step further and has donated his land to build permanent homes through im.material.
Back in NYC, a wool Burberry knee-length, wool trench parka from Paris speeds now native-New York son, Pat, through his daily networked circle of friends, clubs, business and charitable partners and modeling agencies (his daughter is the next Naomi Campbell) …all the better to make his Blackberry fatter and make more people smile with the bigness of his heart and eye for beauty.
Buy The Boy Toy:
The Red string bracelet with metal plate and two diamond charms of which I have the economy version? I have asked him 10,000 times via text but he is busy helping Haiti. Text me, comment here, make it a social movement and I’m sure he’ll answer!
( of course, Mr. P delivers at the last minute! Erhan Gursen)
The Burberry: make your own statement with a sweet assortment of the best mens’ coats I have seen in a long time here.
Simplicity is a Man’s Best Friend
Paul Clemence aka “Pauly” is the O My! of Omar Sharif, the mind of Mies van der Rohe and the Brazen Fun of his Brazilian Blood.
“Just like your father, you bring the circus with you wherever you go.” a friend of Paul Clemence’s father told him. Super-friendly, funny and one of the most intellectually passionate people I know, Paul and I originally met at Miami’s Brazilian Film Festival watching a mutual friend’s documentary on Oscar Niemeyer and then about a year later, he popped up at the Vanity Fair party during Art Basel and indeed a satellite party swirled around him. The circus came to NYC about a year ago when Paul moved here and in May I invited him to Italy which led to Paul’s circus caravan now spanning from Lake Como to Cologne to Venice. One weekend turned into 6 months and while in Europe, he told me how he coveted his green TD bank pens because they are all over New York these days and reminded him of home. Simple pleasures.
Paul’s other BIG green project, which we are directing together with Andrea Locci of Milan is Green Provocateur, an urban intervention and dialogue between people, buildings and green worlds planned for the Salone della Mobile in April, in partnership with aMAZElab in anticipation of Milan’s 2015 Universal Exhibition.
Paul’s architectural images render famous and not-so-famous architecture until they feel like you could sit and converse with them, as his image of I.M. Pei’s Lombardy Region Administration Building in Milan. The Circus is coming to your city, here is a little tease simulation of Green Provocateur.
Buy the Boy Toy:
TD bank pens: You have ten already, look in the pen jar.
Big Movie Screens Are a Man’s Best Friend
little marvin aka “LM” is the Wild of Oscar Wilde, the little of the Little Prince and the Big heart of Gandhi
little marvin‘s mala beads are his best friend. After we lived together for a year, for 6 months the house still smelled of delicious Sandalwood from his constant rubbing of them. Bought on the streets of Soho, where one can catch His Litheness doing his rounds from Taschen to The Mercer to the loft of someone Famous (the man is a magnet to the Famous…like attracts like.) On our way to celebrate his big screen self Premiere at the AMC in Midtown, we came across these sewing machines on the street being cleaned out from a new space in the Meatpacking district, a perfect symbol for LM’s bigger sewing of Gandhi-ness, im.material, through which he is spearheading our “H3 initiative: Home. Health. Heart” with 4.2 secured acres of land in beautiful Petit-Goâve, Haiti. The big goal is to build sustainable homes and community support systems.
Buy The Boy Toy:
Homes for Haitians: Donate Here.
Help raise funds for homes with a $25. shampoo and blow dry at Platinum Salons on January 9th at 134 West 23rd Street in Chelsea and 105 Rivington Street in Lower East Side, New York.
Buy Malas in person, c’mon Wired One! Not online!
Big Sowing and Big Pollination Are A Man’s Best Friend
Collin Abraham, aka “Call Collin” is the vibe of Marley in an important vase with flowery vision propelled by divine devotion…and he is on the speed dial of Obama and Jay Z.
Ya hear?
How is this for a life path and big leaps of faith and hard work? Collin has gone from directing traffic as a cop in Trinidad to orchestrating the florals of BIG events, like the wedding of Jay Z and Beyonce and the Inauguration of Obama and being on the speed dial for P. Diddy and L.A. Reid,Chairman of Island Def Jam. Collin has sown his creative seeds through millions of flower petals on the runways of Teterboro airport for Beyonce’s Louboutins to alight upon and by pollenating event design through his family business, Pollen Nation with two stores, wife Kelly, sons Tyrique and Myles. Not to mention being a model for J.Crew.
His stores are filled with object d’art from tables made of temple doors from the Far East to the best exotic scent room diffusers and vases which determine his art, yet his favorite object is an amber glass orb he found in a second-hand shop.
Buy The Boy Toy:
BIG: I bought a blue egg with planets in it years ago from Josh Simpson. Find your magic orb here: Josh Simpson’s bubble collection
BIGGER: Salviati Murano glass vases from Babalu
BIGGEST: Get Pollen Nation to do your wedding or Inauguration:
11 East 125th Street, New York, 212.860.2022
Big Celebs, Shades and a Hef-ty Bathrobe are a Man’s Best Friends
Jacob Gitzis aka “Mini-Mogul” is the Cool of Clooney, the Jew of Woody Allen and the Sex of Hef.
He is into BIG. If it is a premiere, a film festival, a Fashion Week or a mountain to snowboard, Mini Mogul will be producing some of the biggest events and working with the biggest names through his new digital and marketing biz, 7 Lion. I sent him a photo in his NY Yankees hat at a club looking cheeky and adorable as usual and he deftly and swifty sent me this Haiku of Him and photos as a replacement.
“Ha!
Sunglasses are the best… Gold & Wood! Tres expensive!
Got them @ Aspen Optical Shop in Miami and then lost them in Atlantic City. was very sad : (
Trying to find a replacement pair. They are tough to locate!
That bathrobe might’ve made it’s way into my suitcase ‘by accident’ at the end of a cruise!
Smuggling bathrobes keeps things exciting on my adventures!
An MM should always have some fun along the way! ; )
Perhaps attached photo of me and Dirt Diggler himself at The Fighter screening tonight is a better pic to post?”
Where to buy The Boy Toy:
(Nature. Editrix note: Now That’s Big.)
Starting a Big Movement of Fun is a Man’s Best Friend.
Abraham Tekya aka “Abramz” is the Heart and Smile of Every Heroic Leader that has walked this planet…Truly.
Uganda just might be Hell on Earth. When your parents both die of AIDS at age 6 and the land you live on is plagued with terrorists kidnapping and killing children, who have no options for school yet plenty for sniffing gasoline or picking trash in bare feet and sewage…for Abramz Tekya to give hope, dance and a future to Ugandan kids is nothing less than Stellar. I was lucky to share his first trip to NYC and Times Square when he came to New York with Red Bull and Lynn Tejada of Green Galactic, our LA partner for the preview of Bouncing Cats, the movie about Abramz’s Breakdance Project Uganda. Narrated by Common and featuring Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew, with interviews with Mos Def, Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, the film is directed by Nabil Elderkin, whose clients include Kanye, Spike Lee, Seal and John Legend, who was in the audience that night…Hey Ya! Tekya! Hell on Earth just inched closer to Heaven.
Talk to Abramz via Facebook and show some Love.
Buy the Boy Toy:
Donate Here to Breakdance Project Uganda.
Man’s Best Friend is A Vision and a Smart Client.
Andreas von Scheele aka “Speechless” is the eye of Awe, the whip smart fool of Fellini and the fluid groove of the Cosmos
“Meditation is something that could change the world if there wasn’t such good TV on all the time.”
Andreas is putting the fluid float to brands such as Issey Mikaye, T magazine, Loeffer Randall, K-Swiss, Hussein Chalayan and Valentino as well as inventing an inviting hipster strip-poker for Cone Denim. Tap into this director’s mind with this interview with Andreas. His latest brand brilliance is for Parisian opera singer turned jewelry designer, Valerie McCarthy, whose voice, song and story crafting are a perfect example of personal branding in her series of narratives and character play, totally compelling because of their originality. Get an absinthe to go, hop on the couch and surf the fluids on Andreas’ site.
Buy The Boy Toy:
Valerie MacCarthy’s jewels and videos
Valerie’s jewelry appears in the video at Debut, 298 Mulberry Street, New York, 212.343.2717, owned by Lisa Weiss, with whom I’ve shared breakfast and heard about her dreams and this gem of a gallery/store showcasing new designers.
Because for a man, buying a woman jewelry is a Big Boy Toy Thrill.
Man’s Best Friend is a BeSpoke Notebook, Suit and Space.
Joey Falsetta aka “Joey” is a dish of Sicilian and Native New Yorker served all tattoo vervy and vexy in the Land of Shangri-La.
Joey does BIG. Ten thousand square feet in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, throwing parties for 500, modeling and touring the world as a former Metallica heart-throb and of late, a photographer working the film like Penn and Newton. He is the Visionary behind Shangri-La Studio, host to film, video and music productions, magazine editorials and soon-to-come, LEGEND at Shangri-La, a full-on fashion photography studio making legends of “everyday beautiful women.”
Buy the Boy Toy:
Italian Bespoke Suits: I like Nedo @ Belluci Napoli, bespoke Italian tailors. I met Nedo one night at Emilio Ballato’s with my friend, Jason Campbell, of JC Report, who knows of Bespoke Peacoats. (thanks Kanye)
Italian Bespoke Big Space: Shangri-La Studio
Man’s Best Friend is a Hot Boyfriend Who Smells Real Good.
Greg Melvin and Paolo Ambu aka “Babalu Miami boys” are Art Smart, Biz Brilliant and A Cool Couple.
Art Basel Knoodlin’ and Kissing and Collabs that smell Goth-darn good. The Babalu Miami Boys have their fingers on the pulse of scents and sensibility of art, books, culture, design, fabulous jewels and shoes in their Miami luxury convenience store in Miami Beach’s 1111 Lincoln Road in the Herzog & de Meuron glory parking lot building and are online for the rest of us. Six Scents introduces a collectable pairing of six celebrated artists and perfumers to create a series of boutique fragrances to raise awareness and funding for charity. One of my favorite designers, Gareth Pugh art directed the Six Scents No. 4 packaging as part of an ongoing collaboration between Seven New York, Symrise and Metaproject. The collection recently won a Cannes Lions Design award and it was an honor to meet the creators in Miami recently.
The Facebook video that Greg took of me breaking my shoes hopping off his Vespa during Art Basel Miami, which in turn lured Gabrielle, a hot Israeli jewelry designer with silicone glue tube, which in turn required a later purchase of goth, vegan stilettos designed by John Paul Gaultier for Melissa shoes, which in turn is another smarty collab with the Fab. It is on our Facebooks. Friend us and say it also wins at Cannes.
Buy the Boy Toy:
Gareth Pugh Six Scents No. 4: at Babalu Miami
Boy Toy Shoes: Buy some Vegan Porn Melissa and J.P. Gaultier shoes for a Big Gal at Babalu Miami here.
New Essential Guidebook: “The Essentials of Fabulous” by Ellen Lubin-Sherman will fill in the rest of your Collab towards Fab: here.
I snapped this happy, colorful Big Man during Art Basel Miami, a Rumpelstlitskin who reminded me of my Father in his favorite talisman, a Ferrari-emblazoned whatever, hats, telephone, golf socks (my Pop was there way before Puma…) all his Siren Song for his second love, his bright red fake-Ferrari, a car-kit car built on the body of a Volkswagon. I dunno, somehow a deeper cool than real Ferrari ownership, maybe just for his devotion alone. For more about loveable red talismans on the life path…from boy toys like Firetrucks to Ferraris…c’mon and forage with the gals for girlie goo-gas like girlie shoes, jewelry, bags n’ things… see my “companion” Lady’s Post here.
Here’s to the Men and the Fire of Love in our Lives.
Now Go Back up and Donate some Love;-)
Thank you.
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Filed under: MEN, NEW YORK | 6 Comments
Tags: 7 Lion, Abraham Tekya, Abramz, Abramz Tekya, aMAZElab, amazelab.it, Andreas von Scheele, Art, art in NYC, babalu Miami, banksy, best boy friends, best camera for a safari, Bouncing Cats, boy symbols for girls, boy toys, Breakdance Project Uganda, Burberry, Collin Abraham, Common, Cone Denim, contemporary art in NYC, Crazy Legs, Debut, Dirk Digler, Dr Guny Gabriel, Ellen Lubin-Sherman, Essentials of Fabulous, flowers for Beyonce, Gallery Nine 5, Gold & Wood sunglasses, Goldfinger, Green Galactic, Green Provocateur, Greg Melvin, Hussein Chalayan, I.M Pei's Lombardy Region Building, im.material, jade dressler, Jason Campbell, Jay Z and Beyonce wedding, jc report, Joey Falsetta, John Legend, JOhn Paul Gaultier, Josh Simpson, K-Swiss, Kelly Abraham, LEGEND at Shangri-La, Lisa Weiss, Little Marvin, Loeffer Randall, Lynn Tejada, Mandy Groff, Melissa shoes, men and their toys, Metaproject, Milan green, Milan's 2015 Universal Exhibition, Mos Def, Nabil Elderkin, NYC men, Obama inauguration flowers, Paolo Ambu, Patrick Simeon, Paul Clemence, Platinum Salons, PollenNation, Red Bull, red string bracelets, Rock Steady Crew, Salviati, Sebastien Pellitier, Seven New York, Shangri-La in Brooklyn, Shangri-la Studio, Six Scents, Spike lee, ssey Mikaye, street art in NYC, Symrise, T magazine, talismans, TD bank pens, The Fighter, Valentino, Valerie MacCarthy, Will.I.Am
Hand to Mouth. Mouth to Hand. Mouth to Universe. Universe to Hand. Hello!
While Mars Candy Man was out hunting, Venus Wildcrafting Woman was gathering. Man hungrily lurching out for his needs, high on sugars, waving a spear and a prayer while his woman was wiggling her conjuring fingers aligning with the forces of Natura, whistling among the weeds to weave in what she needed to herself. We all know women are obscenely supreme in the game of procuring exactly that what is required at any moment, usually at hand and close. The Modern Day, Double Days stress of our Mars and Venus-mixed Cosmos cocktail life may induce amnesia of this Secret fact and so we all choose talismans to keep close at hand as reminders to manifest and become our dreams. This kind of attention, communication and conversation with ourselves and world is also known as the Tibetan concept of Drala, translated in part as being connected to the essential and trancendant powers of Nature. (more about Drala here..)
Hands. Became fascinated by them recently.
Hands reach out and back in and out again…swimming like sewing needles and thread upon the fabrics surrounding, they are key to the heart’s desire, choosing, pointing, grasping and getting at the end of our extended arms. In and Out. Over and Over again. Over the course of several weeks, I was fascinated by the new “things” my friends reached out to comfort, identify and express themselves with this Fall and was moved to mobile snap them. At the time, I also was foraging for the just-beneath the surface nature patterns I found around New York that expressed my own personal attraction to color, pattern and weather surprises as the season changed.
For me, the people around me and Nature speak to me in a chorus, closely echoing my dreams and I loved to be inspired as I attend events, enjoy dinners and the company of fascinating New Yorkers…each with their trademark Essential Musts…both in accessories and Life…already within their grasp!
PS…it’s all Venus this time, eight women. Les Mens Next. I am in here too thus, eight women. Voila, I am my own Best Friend;-)
Enjoy the forage, as how to get your hands on these are sprinkled in the text.
ONE. Shelley Lewis. Wrap yourself in Sacred Space aka Missoni.
vines in a New York park
Shelley Lewis is a tall glass of fresh water. Originally from London-town, she is a publisher of spiritual children’s books at Chocolate Sauce, the creator of Sacred Space New York, the bespoke Thai Massage Therapy service for high-end hotels (and on-call…super for out-of-town guests) and an interior designer, who at the time of this photo was color-obsessed with “mouse and raspberry.” Shelley is a humanitarian visionary, whose brands are about Wellness for those requiring a high dose of color -coordination, sensitivity and beauty. Sacred.
(also….here is a new post on advancedstyle, one of my favorite blogs which seemed to photograph among the same vines! Divine!)
Get your hot hands on a Missoni here.
TWO. Veronique Gautier-Vencat. A little Paris,
a lot Sustainable.
watery “trees” on a Park’s path
Veronique through her accessories…she is the US rep for luxury skin jewels from Marbella Paris. So Parisian!
Veronique’s response to being a part of this post…”Hi Madame, What an Honor!”…sums her up. A Parisian native, Veronique lives in a rotating, cedar, solar spaceship home in the woods of New Paltz, New York and also just moved back into the city with her son and her environmentalist husband, Shiva, who has a knack for discovering innovations. As an executive coach and brand building whiz to top executives, her high-tech mobile connection came encased in a soft grey, friendly felt and loamy thing from West Elm and her ring is from a tiny shop called Eden in New Paltz, New York.
This is my kind of “It Girl”…from the top of her bronzy grey curls, big smile, generous sense of humor and staunch passion for solar homes, cars that run on air and the purest water on Earth…to her “only a French woman can make this work” strappy sandals …
THREE. Tracy Stern. Express and Share Goodness.
The cuff is also worn to attract one’s Soul Mate. Which by now, everyone has heard my own new proclamations of desire for That Accessory!!!
New York City zinnias remind me of Tracy, you pay attention because she is Bright
FOUR. Kristen “Kitten” Paladino. Spin Carefully and with Passion.
“Kitten,” aka Kristen Paladino, heads up Paladino Casting, where she casts for commercials, film and TV and is one half of PLANT., our creative representation agency. A Downtown Darlin’ and an Ad World Ace…Kristen can be as buttoned up and precise a businesswoman you will ever meet and balances a quirky, curious, kind and whip smart sense about people, situations and possibility.
Her accessory when not DJing? Her gorgeous head of thick curls can be seen on no one else on the planet. Her perennial black nail polish worn with accessories that operate just like her, from her man-sized copper gold watch from Bloomingdale’s to her tiny seed bead fabric bracelet, she might have found in her travels to China. Nothing of beauty or importance escapes this girl…especially her just desserts.
FIVE. Celerie Kemble. “Relaxed Whimsy”…Invest in Art, Have Baby,
Strap On Louboutins Immediately.
The highlight for me of The Manhattan House‘s recent Open House, the white expansive, landmarked Modernist 1950’s era by the Lever House architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, were the rooms designed by Celerie Kemble, who literally just had her child …slid on the Louboutins and opened the doors to her sample rooms. Celerie’s whimsy wove Nature patterns and classic lush, like the pale pink Shagreen deco coffee table, rooms covered in tree patterns and surprising fun takes on mystical art. Her royal blue tree patterned dress and star-spangled sweater echo’d all.
“With clothing, I avoid the overtly sexy—but when it comes to shoes, just strap me in.” (more on Celerie here in ontheinside.info, a great blog….)
SIX. Stella Metzner. Tattoo Your Spacecraft.
raindrops from inside a cab
The necklace was named “Roots.” How beautiful, that as I prepare to design more, the roots of one of my collection’s designs link up with a meeting with the “mysterious” child with the soulful dark eyes. I always wondered who she was. The magic of New York and this Earth…reveals our Path. Always.
SEVEN. Jade Dressler. Become your dream.
C’est moi. At the tail end of my image foraging for this blog, (of course!) a friend showed me Slim Paley’s beautiful blog where she often rapsodises over a color, and for me this Fall, juicy, rich red is my color orgasm. This top is from Andrea Crews in Paris, an adaptive re-use of a 1980’s Sonia Rykiel velour sweatsuit top, and I did my usual Jade-thing with it…some kind of Juicy Couture, Elizabethan ruff topped with a little roughed-up, red-light district, Pigalle-ian absinthe flavor for the neighborhood from which it cometh. Then I reigned in the blossoming and bosoming up with my very tight Moschino black denim jumper with its little leather Peace sign on the back and some very tight slim jeans and black 1950’s style Edmundo Castillo pumps. (the link is from the shebreathes blog…and yes…I could.)
The past weekend, this dark grey accented with red, authentic leather motorcycle jacket literally stopped me in my path at a Housing Works shop, (the best thrift shops in NYC, after City Opera Thrift Shop, of course!) Jacket did a lil Taylor Dayne on me…”Take Me Home!” As the girl who always coveted and wore her boyfriend’s hot, hot custom Italian motorcycle jackets…I did.
and so…in honor of Slim…tiny, tiny tomato red berries in a Manhattan Park, hidden in the foliage, but bursting with the power of red!
James de la Vega‘s art always gives the love vibe when found on the street. I have a thing about street art and red couches and so this brought a big smile. It amuses me to see both Vogue and American’s airline pub doing pieces on foraging, the art of walking about and finding herbs, berries and mushrooms good enought to eat. And ye though I have walked in the shadow of frogs legs and meats at $500. per person French restaurants…I fear no meat or weed, I have walked gingerly in the valleys of Woodstock to learn foraging as a proud graduate of Susan Weed‘s Wise Woman wildcrafting workshops back about 20 years ago. I’ve been chewing on grass since I was a kid and I love that we are more engaged with our surroundings to find magic in spontaneous street art on a city street or a handy dose of daily vitamins via juicy, soft and bright green salad of chickweed leaves foraged right nearby (even in the winter!)
My mouth to the Universe’s ears. When I wasn’t eating grass, as a child, I was endlessly making art in my bedroom, which later catapulted me to foraging for meaning out in the deserts of New Mexico with author, Julia Cameron and her book The Artist’s Way to alternating being a Full-time Artist to running companies with global clients. I think I finally am understanding the Balance of Art and Commerce. For me, as a curator, Jason Horowitz‘s close-up body photos express the new Clarity, pervasive in my breathing and Life…Finally!
Red for me is also a favorite creative lovers unit, Waris of House of Waris, jewelry designer and filmmaker, Chiara Clemente. I once followed them out of an evening fashion show into the glimmering streets, where her gold shoes, much like these, captivated me as much as the electric couple vibe between them. Oh, did I mention that I am also in the market for this kind of Soul Mate thingy between Creative Forces? I am. (Wildcrafting Woman Seeks Candy Man…again)
The Doyenne of Red on her famous Red Couch. My famous living room Dream Couch, where I contemplate my own Diana-inspired Doyenne-ness, is covered in a plush velvet, tacky yet idyllic scene carpet from the Middle East with swans gliding in the Caribbean-turquoise blue waters in front of a red and white Shangri La pad surrounded by forest under a royal blue sky. Still Most Magical!
…and to finish up my little red rant…(and female Soul Mate narwhale sonar squeaking)…I had my huge navy and red bath towels monogrammed with the light pink name of God so I could wrap up my love in his own personalized towel after the shower. Ready!
EIGHT. Lucy Raubertas. Smell This.
Queen of Indie Perfumes, Expert and Blogger, Lucy…
…always accessorizes with a cache of crazy, heavenly scents with her wherever she goes. We shared a dessert of strawberries and vanilla ice cream crepes recently at Chelsea’s Le Grainne Cafe after seeing FIT’s Japan Fashion Now exhibit and she tossed these tiny delights upon the table:
I love Lucy’s etheric, unpolished fingers which shyly appeared when I asked her to please put them on the white paper table cloth to show the size of the tiny vial of scent. Aftelier is a collection of natural, artisan scents created by Mandy Aftel whom Lucy calls the “Alice Waters of American natural perfume” and Vogue calls “one of the perfumes industry’s most creative thinkers.” I like the simple tag line “Modern Natural Luxury.” I like the frontiers of scent, pure plants growing up from rich, organic soil as well as the well crafted accessory. I like Lucy’s indieperfumes blog, it takes you on that wild and sensual journey. (for more blog about Lucy…)
When I spend time with Lucy and her scents, it is like an opened cerebral experience, such as I used to get when darting into Le Jardin, another of my favorite downtown, white paper tablecloth French restaurants. On a Saturday afternoon, after intense yoga with Elena Brower at Vira Yoga, the back garden was my “un-trendy” spot to read a magazine, text, journal, Facebook, Bouillabaisse and gather Light for my blogs. Open since 1995, and back then a favorite with the likes of another fave couple of lovers, Bowie and Iman, I just learned it has now sadly closed. I hope something wonderful takes its place or I will have to hunt and gather for a new spot by next Spring. Open to suggestions for new Watering Holes, Candy Men, Wildcrafting Women and blogs, too!
My Egads. I’ve Sown All over MeSelf! Methinks a blog is the latest accessory!
btw…have you read my openly-cerebral, accessory blog written by The Alien trapped in the body of an Atlantic City pole-dancer
who writes about celebr-itis to soothe her angst?
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Filed under: THE TOP 8, TRENDS, WOMEN, WORDS | 1 Comment
Tags: 72 names of God, accessories, Aftelier Perfumes, Alice Waters of Scent, Alien blog, andrea crews, architect of Lever House, Become Your Dream, blogger, Bowie and Iman, british vogue, Celerie Kemble, Celery Kemble, Chelsea French restaurant, Chiara Clemente, chickweed salad, Chocolate Sauce, City Opera Thrift Shop, craft classes in NYC, diana vreeland, Divas Shop for Opera, Drala, Eden shop, Edmundo Castillo, Elaine Lewis, Elena Brower, famous women interior decorators, FIT Japan Fashion Now, foraging, hand to mouth, hands, Hermes Birkin bag, hip Brooklyn mom, House of Waris, Housing Works, images of lovers, Indie Perfumes, interior designers, Iti Phone Home, jade dressler, Jason Horowitz, Julia Cameron, Kabbala cuff, Kabbalah, Kemble Interiors, Kristen Paladino, Le Colonial, Le Grainne Cafe, le jardin, leather motorcycle jacket, lips photo, Louboutins, LOVERS, Lucy Raubertas, mandala, mandala painting, Mandy Aftel, Marbella Paris, Mars Man, Missoni, Missoni scarf, modern natural luxury, Modernist, monogrammed towels, Moschino, New Paltz, New York accessories, new york accessories trends, New York City Woman, New York woman, new york women, NYC street artist, NYC Women, NYC women entrepreneurs, open house, owings & merrill, Paladino Casting, Plant, Rachel Brown, red berries, relaxed whimsy, ruff, Sacred Space New York, SalonTea, sample designer rooms, Shagreen coffee table, Shangri La, sheila metzner, Shelley Lewis, Shiva Vencat, skidmore, Slim Paley, Spacecraft, spiritual children's books, Stella Metzner, The Artist's Way, The Manhattan House, thrift in NYC, Tracy Stern, urban street art, urban wall art, Venus Woman, Veronique Gautier-Vencat, Waris, West Elm, wildcrafting, zinnia
Age 6. Dear Japanese drag queens in rainbow-colored, over-the-knee suede boots in the Gay Pride Day parade…I was eye-level with the top of your swagger boots, mesmerized and vowing to grow up just like you.
Age 16. Dear Leigh Bowery, You will always be one of my first Harujaku lovers. Your i-D magazine covers kept my imagination alive after my first trip to London at age 16, whilst I bore my last two years of high school, in 6-inch platforms, Selfridge’s head to toe and lots of attitude.
Age 26. Dear Madame Butterfly. A hello to a Japanese girl in a hot-pink, long and very furry silk suit began our design collaboration through the 80’s and 90’s, which included dresses for the Cannes-bound starlet posse traveling with Chosei of the Plasmatics for his movie, “Tokyo Decadence.”
Age 36. Dear Ex-Boyfriend The Biologist, although I loved our modern Shinto-style solar-house, your big black Ford pick-up truck and our crunchy organic, Led-Zepplin-as-muse life, I missed the colorful people of New York City, but thank you, because I am forever…a Forest Girl at heart.
Ageless Pucks and Lolitas throng in Japan’s urban streets, Masters and Mistresses of trans-culture migration playing grab bag with time-based mythical expressions of style, they invent themselves to become Living Dolls who tell new stories. The Harajuki and Shibuya street-fashion cultures of Japan are one of the world’s most fertile style petri dishes as seen in FIT’s latest juicy and extensive exhibit, Japan Fashion Now, extended until April 2011, in New York City.
Herewith, the latest Street Heroines and Heroes of transformation in Japan and how these same archetypes play in America’s streets, celebrity rags and fashion tribes. The amateur mythologist that I am, is fascinated by the linguistic weaving of the word “anima” for soul and life, the animistic nature worship of Japan’s Shintoism religion’s influence on anime and the dressing in costume on the street like animated characters, called Cosplay. The Japanese word manga, literally translated, means “whimsical pictures.” For the Eastern animated-take, I’ve added the hottest words from manga in bold and anime plot synopsis in Engrish, in color text.
In honor of the Speed Tribes lineage, bikers whose Kamikaze motorcycle suits were at the root of Japan’s expressive street styles and a nod to racy style in the West, I’ve asked my favorite American Original-style, Nature-Worshipping Symbolist and avid motorcyclist, Avia Venefica to give us the Timeless Mythical Roots and Connect for these attitudes and styles. A black-leather clad Goddess with spiky hair dispensing the eternal wisdom of the mystical, who, of course, lives in upstate New York somewhere…she surprised me and went hog-wild, speaking in the original tongue of these myths! (In Italics) (Bonus! Everywhere! Learn Japanese! Emporium and Reign of Sensory Overload About To Begin!)
GALISM bijin- a beautiful woman. In terms of frequency and usage, it’s best likened to “babe.”
Galism is relatively new to the streets and I love it for its right-on pantomime of US girls..seen anyday in Soho or Rodeo Drive or that…whatever it’s called…that blingy LA mall. The name and look is based on the anime story, which is best described in Engrish…Japanese English.
| Galism Plot Summary: Adventurist parents left three Ugajin sisters alone in house and now they are living in freedom paradise! But their parents adventure financer wants the sisters to protect the peace in Manten Academy from the shadows. This is the stormy stage as curtain opens. First volume of Mayumi Yokoyama high-tension school love comedy. |
Put Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton and everyone’s pretty Prom Queens on steroids, into that real or fake Chanel bag called Galism. These gals are always in trouble but always shopping so its OK, smile. Love Supreme Sisters.
In the linage of the Sisters Pleiades…here’s Avia!…
All ears open to us now, as we pour our youthful inspirations into your listening canals until overflowing. We are the Mousai Apollonides; the giggly girls born to Zeus and Mnemosyne of ancient Greece. We three are drawn together for the sake of invigorating you down to your oogety boogety furry Ugg boots. In sisterhood we frolic with abandon. We know no fear in our self-expression because we are united. Our collective force is jump jiving, we got game. Watch us. You get game too.
GRIMOIRE mahou- magic, magic spell.
On a trip last year to Ellis Island, the gateway island welcoming migrating refugees from the World Wars from Eastern Europe, I fell in love with the exhibit of clothing, housewares, embroidered linens and garments, books and ephemera of my Russian, Luxemburgian and Romanian ancestors and the villagers with whom they packed their lives into trunks, crammed unto ships and voyaged to A New Land. The name Grimoire means Storybook or Spellbook, and the look is Folkloric Fantasy with Dolly Kei plus Mori meets Harry Potter. Look here for picture-book images of the namesake headquarters, the Grimoire store, located in Shibuya, began by one costume-history student, which has turned Grimoire into a trend. The Grimoire shop site and blog has in-depth inspirational sources from the travels of the three owners shown above.
The trends become the fodder of commercialism, quickly spawning shops, clothing lines and even TV commercials picking up the elaborate hairstyles, making up new trend names to sell anything…not too different than Western athletes selling car insurance, sneakers or Foreman grills.
Shakugan no Shana S. Plot Summary: While searching through the hunters nest for a particular treasure, Shana and Yuji encounter some unforeseen difficulty when their minds end up being switched into each others’ bodies, due to the effect of Friagne’s treasure device. They try to overcome the situation secretly, but…
Grimoire! Ascend! to my heavens and let me wrap you and your imagination in the timeless vintage of starlight. I am Ishtar of ancient Mesopotamia, and my power pulsates to voluptuous Venusian vibes. Blow off the dust particles, crack the spine of my leather-bound, golden-paged ancient grimoire spell book- you know the one – Ishtar’s Cookbook; replete with recipes for concocting your own vintage vivaciousness. Dance wildly in my veils of colors. Adorn and Pose yourself with my precious planetary gems and shimmery golds.
MORI 森 (mori) means forest.
Kaori Shoji, in the New York Times article from February, “The Cult of the Living Doll in Tokyo,” speaks about the contrast between “Mori,” or Forest Girls, who have their own Manifesto declaring themselves chaste, thoughtful and Self-Realized and the “Ageha,” or swallowtail butterfly girls who look like blow-up dolls. The styles morph with individuals, but the Morigirl blogs, thinks, writes, ponders like their Anthropologie sisters on Western misty shores.
“Forest girls are wary of all forms of aggression or self-assertiveness. They’re just too fragile, or they would like to be that way.”
“They don’t want to live so much as to exist, preferably on a metaphysical level.” adds Midori Yokokawa, an editor at the fashion magazine Forest Girl. Aesthetic Lolita blogger, Sniper Nyan, sums up her style, a morphing of the etheric Mori Girl when she meets Grimoire with her music taste, “One of my favorite bands of all time ever, Аркона, is a Slavic pagan folk metal band. Their lead singer, Masha, routinely poses in the carcasses of slaughtered foxes and sometimes carries these epic ancient swords in snowy forests and yeah, I would probably go gay for her in about five seconds.”
Miyori no Mori Plot Summary: After being deserted by her parents, 11-year old Miyori shuts her heart from the rest of the world and denies any form of human relationships. She was entrusted in the care of her grandmother who lives near a forest. Miyori will take a walk in the forest where she felt a strong sense of loneliness in the forest which seems to have nothing. However, she soon encounters unbelievable things and gradually realizes that the forest is more than what it seems.
Intellectual jazzy music may be as sexy as it gets for Morigirl…since most of the animals are fur pieces or hidden deep within Sensitive Mori girl skirts. The closest American girls get is the Boho Chic Goddess look care of the Olsen twins, a wee bit woodsy, all schlumpy and introspectively Starbucks caffienated.
Squint your eyes and peek between my erect arboreal armies. Can you see my soft does eyes? I am nestled thoughtfully amongst my legions – forested trees, attentive blades of grass and softly shifting soil. I am Mari, the great and wild goddess of Basque. My ways are simple. Do you see how I transform with Nature’s visage? Shapeshifting is fashion’s highest attainment. Dive into my Natural realm and find yourself transmogrified – you and I are rivers carving through the face of the world. We are arboreal allies, tap-rooted in solidarity. We are rainbows poised to moistly kiss our Earth.
GOTHIC LOLITA Kowaii! translated as either “Scary thought!” or “I’m scared!,” depending on the context.
Gothic, Rock-it, Punks, Dreads, Gothloli…to rage against the machine is to push its symbols into realms where sacred and scared are re-ordered for fun, shock, schlock, rock and even marketing strategies to sell more Hello Kitty dolls.
Some say the band, Malice Mizer’s operatic gothic tech view from underneath the ground was a launching point for the lifestyle.
The pop singers Hangry and Angry that the Japan Fashion Now exhibit curator, Valerie Steele, chose to represent as an expression of the style, are a total marketer’s fabrication, as the band serves to sell toys and products even with their own namesake store…and yes, they did collaborate with Hello Kitty. Their own plot summary is that they come from the H44 Star Nebula in order to save the world from global warming. They arrived in the present in their time machine dubbed “LOVE MACHINE.”
New York and the international fashion world is full of gothic rock takes from Diane Pernet, with her “Shaded View on Fashion” to a Let’s-Play-Dress-Up downtown culture alive and well, as evidenced by the Paper magazine anniversary party I went to earlier in the year hosted by Lady Fag. Downtown NYC will always breed rare beauties like my friends, The Blonds to Lady Gaga, (who still shows up at the local downtown NY bars where she found her fame) to next-uppers like my friend, designer, Mario Barton…one in a million, but one of millions of underworld Persephones, flinging open their closets, dressing up and turning the Star Light of mobile and video cams onto themselves and the rest of the world.
In gorgeous Goth and the latest expressions of its style, legends rule and a perfect marriage is here as Lady Fag stars as the Russian Imperial daughter Anastasia, (one meaning of her name is “the breaker of chains” or “the prison opener” in this movie.)
Kamikaze Girls Plot Summary: Momoko is a girl who cares for nothing but frilly lace dresses and wishes she was in 18th century rococco France rather than dorky Shimotsuma. It’s a backwater to which her Yakuza father has fled, and populated by small towners with no sense for elegant fashion. What can a girl do but dismiss everybody around her as not worthy and instead indulge her whims in Tokyo’s specialty stores… Then biker girl Ichiko arrives like a barbarian at the gate and does her confused best to turn Momoko’s life upside down. Despite professed indifference both are curious about, even a bit jealous of, the other’s lifestyle. Slowly a bond starts to form between them but when tested it is less than clear if it has grown strong enough to tear down Momoko’s frilly fence.
Hide your apathy and lukewarm nonsense from us. We amputate the trite and uninteresting at the knees. We are Valkyries, goddess governors of both the battlefield and Valhalla. We see righteous fairness within the folds of darkness, where others know only fear. This is a one-time invitation only (and we are exceedingly picky about whom we select) to join us in dark fury. Don the shadowy shroud and fly into the black hearts of men. Obliterate the unworthiness and base boringness from their black, unbeating hearts. Join us, the royal Valkyries as we partake in penetrating pleasures of releasing mankind from all his one-dimensional tripe, and inject electric quickening into his soul.
SWEET LOLITA, DOLLY KEI kawaii- cute. More than a mere adjective, kawaii qualifies as an aesthetic and an obsession in Japan
Growing up, my sister and I had three resplendent and intricate Geisha Doll figurines which always were kept on the highest shelves while we gave bad haircuts to our Barbies before forcing them into sex with Ken on the floor of our bedrooms. As hot and passionate sex with Ken was, the folded newspapers in the inside of the fanny-pack of her kimono and the shellaced hair and hair combs of my Geisha dolls is what really captivated me.
Antique Dolly Kei or Sweet Lolita style, can be a morph of Lolita, Visual, Dolly Kei or Grimoire, but a highlight is to render adults into mythical, forever-a-child status. Peter Pan and Wendy are welcome here. The root is undeniably the Geisha tradition, with its choreography, tea ceremonies, make-up and mystical details which paints-on youth, beauty and life as preciousness and unbreakable. Cute.
Lyn Yaeger, New York journalist, was one of the originators of this style. Seeing her on the street is like a kawaii flash vision of the Yeti, she so exists in her own pool of existence and power.
I took this picture of my friend, Tziporah Salamon, a much-photographed NYC Style Icon, dressed perfectly, about to hop on her bike and take her soiled garments to her Chinese Laundry.
Way back when, when Project Runway was pre-zygote stage, I ripped out a street style image from Time Out magazine of the then-unknown Austin Scarlett, wearing a huge fur bonnet, a Barbie hatbox as a purse and a folkloric sweater posing like Rita Hayworth. A doll-like icon then, his porcelain skin is key to his look and his sweet gentlemanly ways reveal that the outside is not artifice, even now as a recognizable personality. Raise the eyebrow and ditto the sweetness in person for Icon Patrick McDonald, a true warrior of Dandy-style, comparable to Doll-style in Japan, equalling largesse of whimsy, originality, character and grace in New York.
Zhinu is the name, Love is the loom upon which I spin diaphanous threads for the finest garments. I am ü, the immortal Weaver Girl of the Silver River. My fingertips fastidiously weave together fibers of bright adoration. I craft infinite love in every stitch. My weaving is my heart’s passion, second only to the love of my Herdsman. I spin and mix divine threads for clothing while channeling my supreme love as I wait for the seventh day of the seventh month to be reunited with my true lover, Ni Lang. Before and after that sublime moment of union, you can find me winking back at you from the Vega star, cheerfully weaving layers of love into every warp and weft of your robes. My ardor sustains my youth. My craft insures my immortality. My beloved herdsman feeds inspiration to my cloth-creations.
PRINCESS LOLITA hime- princess.
Steel Angel Kurumi Plot Summary: The story follows a young boy named Nakahito Kagura. He is pushed by a group of classmates to go into a house rumored to belong to a mad scientist. Inside, he comes across what seems to be a life-like doll. At the same time, the Japanese Army carries out an attack on the house. During the attack the “doll” falls over and Nakahito accidentally kisses it, causing it to awaken. The doll turns out to be the Steel Angel Kurumi, who is being hunted by the military for mysterious reasons.
Japan’s sugar pop, fluffy yet tightly laced princesses may parade higher hair, a thousand more frothy layers, while their cousins, the Western virgins, oops versions, are more fantasy send-ups of a Degas ballerina. New Yorkers, Tinsley Mortimer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Beyonce and Paris’s Lou Doillon play Princess with sheerness, fur, shine, lots of skin and smiles for the cameras for their You-Can’t-Touch-This doll personas.
Aloha, I am Hina, princess goddess of the Pacific seas. Enter into my Oceanic mysteries for rich illumination. My journeys have revealed the banalities of existence. Men have relentlessly pursued me for a mere moment to taste my skin and enter my holy, feminine gardens. How carnal. How base. Slip off the shabby clothing of carnal trash and cheap gratification. Don the regal garments of Moonlit enlightenment. Ascend with me beyond common ground, Life is meant to tickle from tip to toe. Dip your rouged tootsies in my twilight raiments. Step into my lofty layers. Topple me with your luminous laughter and I shall embrace in luxurious delights.
CEREBRAL CONSTRUCTIVISTS totemo- very, extremely. pronounced tottemo to indicate extra enthusiasm
Perhaps the most commercial of all, Rei Kawakubo’s Comme in the Black Empire, Comme des Garcons, was worth about $4.7 million in 2008. In Japan Fashion Now, FIT’s Valerie Steele put on a historic parade of the Pre and De-Constructivist pillars of Japanese fashion, every piece a wearable classic. The conversation between runway and street may yet be in sync, but for me, I can see myself in Tao Kurihara’s history of costume encompassing statements of flesh and fancy paired with Pumas for a jaunt to the supermarket, my personal best version of Cosplay as a 21st century Geisha.
Women playing with the fashion constraints of men deconstructs beyond a mere gender switch and bequeaths the wearer membership in a style tribe of Intelligensi who extend the conversation of the age. Of Yohji Yamamoto, Julie Gilhart, fashion director of Barneys New York, once said that he is ”probably the only designer you could name who has 60-year-olds who think he’s incredible and 17-year-olds who think he’s way cool.”
Stairway to the Stars in this realm for me includes Reigning Originals such as Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen, who crafted the armor of story and myth to new realms of power and possibility.
Saint Seiya Plot Summary: is series of group of five mystical warriors called ‘Saints’ who have star constellations as totems of power, taking place in the XVIII century, 250 years before original manga. Tenma, the Pegasus Saint and his beloved friend, Alone, who would eventually become his greatest enemy, Hades, are given the task to protect Saori Kido, reincarnation of Athena (the goddess of wisdom and war), and to fight against evil forces. In Saint Seiya, warriors wear different armours fashioned by smiths working for competing Gods, to be used by their own warriors to defend themselves or attempt to conquer the domain of other Gods: Stronger than normal armour made of regular metals, and, if wearer has lucky awakened the cosmic energy, it serves to amplify it several times over.
For those individuals with quiet power and the mythical sensitivities such as Ophelia, Lady Shallot and the Isabella Blows..the armor of the Tottemmo! Designers is a choice that evolves humanity.
Take heed. Only those of keen wit can follow in my stiletto steps. I am the weaver of white-webbed knowledge, lacing every iota of life. Some know me as the Thinker. Others know me as the Creatrix. My children of the Pueblo and Navajo call me Spider Woman, and I rather like that title. Take in my visage – I am both dark and light. Cagey and bright. Replete with both fright and delight. There is no end to the sides I show. If I keep you guessing, it’s your own damn fault, if my intelligence intimidates you… I shall devour you and use your bones for a toothpick. But if you amuse me, I’ll wrap you up in an afternoon of ravishing; seducing you with cerebral brilliance.”
The FIT Japan Fashion Now exhibit guard said, “No pictures allowed”…but please forgive me! Style happens every minute in the real world with personal, tangible expression…and how could I really not preserve this ephemeral, “whimsical picture” moment for myself and for you, my blog readers, Japan Fashion Now…right outside the exhibit? Kawaaiiii!
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Filed under: FASHION, JAPAN, NEW YORK | Closed
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