Stylification

THE Swan, the Sublime Lee Radziwill

2013-02-19T14:00:00.002-08:00

Click HERE for story & photos~

One of the most elegant people on earth: Lee Radziwill. Her spunk and charismatic personality has always been part of her charms, but her subtle beauty and ultra chic style, while still remaining effortless and carefree has made her the ultimate icon for decades. Here is an article written by Nicky Haslam, accompanied with an interview video by Sofia Coppola.

The Real Lee Radziwill

By NICKY HASLAM

Photograph by François Halard. Styled by Carolina Irving.Lee Radziwill in the living room of her apartment in Paris, which she designed herself. See the interactive slideshow

While she has long captivated the public as one of Truman Capote’s swans, the sister of Jackie Kennedy and a European princess, with romantic liaisons from Peter Beard to Aristotle Onassis, not one of those labels begins to capture the true woman. The inimitable Radziwill — direct, free spirited and true to her own ideals — offers a rare, personal glimpse into her remarkable world.

“Oo—h. You’re here already!” The voice, lively, with its unmistakable husky drop, comes in to the living room. I turn from the balcony that looks out onto the Avenue Montaigne.

“Oo—h” — again, that low last note — “how did you get here so quickly?”

Talking About Lee

Sofia Coppola, Giambattista Valli and Peter Beard share their favorite moments with Lee Bouvier Radziwill. More…

Framed in the evening light, between double doors, is a figure slight as swan’s-down, a silhouette in dark, skinny Armani pants and a silk T-shirt. The hair, cut for over half a century by the experts on two, at least, continents, is now a sleek chignon, blond, perhaps, with the light around it, darker as she moves toward me. I explain that the Eurostar now has a service where you order a taxi on the train and, hey, presto! At the Gare du Nord, there is a driver, bearing your name.

“Really? I didn’t know that. I must go to London more often. I know, I should, but I am so, so happy in this apartment . . . if I can wade through the scores of Japanese kids fighting their way into Chanel.”

The haunting voice and the almost ethereal figure are Lee Radziwill’s, and they have been a lifelong part of her enduring identity. But those characteristics are not nearly the whole picture. I am confronted by a subtly strong presence and personality, part wreathed in the glamour of the past, part intensely modern in outlook and awareness. Not for her any all-too-easy reminiscences of “those days.” She is, quite clearly, herself.

Video: Lee Radziwill by Sofia Coppola
The filmmaker captured an intimate conversation with T’s cover subject, Lee Radziwill, in her New York City apartment. On camera, Radziwill recalls going on tour with the Rolling Stones and Truman Capote, a splendid summer spent with Peter Beard at Andy Warhol’s house in Montauk, N.Y., and a childhood so lonely she tried to adopt an orphan.

In a world of passing celebrity, Lee Radziwill, 79, possesses a timeless aura that radiates nowness. Her bang up-to-date personal style, her laid-back — to say pared down would be to demean its ordered luxury — apartment in Paris (“the favorite of any home I’ve ever had”), in this, her favored city, shows how subtly she has lived, lives now, without the attendant glare of past pomp and present self-glorification that others crave. She is utterly content, and it shows. What she is not is casual. She regulates her life by standards inbuilt by experience, by nurturing her friendships, by staying true, by her irony, by her humor — all qualities that show she is the real deal. That past sorrows and joys have merged into an elegance that permeates her presence, that “something in the air” that indicates class and courage and composure. Though she now rigorously guards her privacy, her free spirit surfaces easily, and her thoughts come crystal clear. A figure of her time, our history, Lee is her own harbinger for an iconic future. Ours, and hers.

One sees why Lee is happy. The apartment, just high up enough to encompass most of the most famous Parisian landmarks, low enough to allow her to sometimes use the stairs to walk Zinnia, a wriggling bundle of snow-white fur, is tailor-made for her lifestyle. The living room, a symphony of light and white and the deep pink of falling rose petals. Around the fireplace, a banquette and armless chairs, covered with crisp white linen printed with tumbling Asian figures (“they go everywhere with me, every house, my apartment in New York, my little men”) and against the far wall, a sofa of luscious rose silk, thick and ribbed, its back a relaxed baroque scroll. The art on the walls is mostly contemporary, mostly monochrome, most signed, all highly personal. The flowers, two low glass cylinders, a massed spectrum of pinks and reds (“the man who does them for Dior brings them”) fill the Parisian dusk with their heady scent.

“Come sit,” Lee says, folding her legs into the sofa’s cushioned recesses. “Some vodka?” “Sure!” Over her shoulder to an unseen presence, “Seulement de l’eau plate pour moi.”Near her is a photograph, recently discovered, sent to her: Lee in a column of brilliant red taffeta couture, at the height of her astonishing beauty. She has no recollection of where it was taken or when.

“Were you always aware of your beauty?”

“From the word go,” she answers simply and honestly. “But no one else was, then. My mother endlessly told me I was too fat, that I wasn’t a patch on my sister. It wasn’t much fun growing up with her and her almost irrational social climbing in that huge house of my dull stepfather Hughdie Auchincloss in Washington. I longed to be back in East Hampton, running along the beaches, through the dunes and the miles of potato fields my father’s family had owned. And even in summer, when we’d go to to Hammersmith Farm . . . the Auchincloss place in Newport, a house more Victorian or stranger you can’t imagine . . . it wasn’t much better. Well, at least there was the ocean, but naturally my sister claimed the room overlooking Narragansett Bay, where all the boats passed out. All I could see from my window was the cows named Caroline and Jacqueline. (My real first name is Caroline.) Oh, I longed to go back, to be with my father. He was a wonderful man, you’d have loved him. He had such funny idiosyncrasies, like always wearing his black patent evening shoes with his swimming trunks. One thing which infuriates me is how he’s always labeled the drunk black prince. He was never drunk with me, though I’m sure he sometimes drank, due to my mother’s constant nagging. You would, and I would. The only time I ever saw him really drunk was at Jackie’s wedding. He was to give her away, but my mother refused to let him come to the family dinner the night before. So he went to his hotel and drank from misery and loneliness. It was clear in the morning that he was in no state to do anything, and I remember my mother screaming with joy, ‘Hughdie, Hughdie, now you can give Jackie away.’ During the wedding party I had to get him onto a plane back to New York. Accompanied by my first husband, also drunk. It was a nightmare.

“But we were talking about the Hamptons. It was so empty then, houses miles apart. We lived fairly near my aunt Edie Beale and I’d play with her daughter, Little Edie, even though she was quite a bit older. Grey Gardens was a beautiful house, but I lost touch when I married and lived in England. Later, I had my own house in East Hampton, and went to visit them, with Peter Beard. My God, you should have seen the place! And them! But they were sweet and funny and happily living in their own world. The original idea for the film was about my return to East Hampton after 30 years and to have my aunt Edith narrate my nostalgia and hers. So we phoned the Maysles brothers. Initially the Edies were against it, but the Maysles charmed them as they only worked with 16-millimeter cameras, and were finally allowed in. . . . The remake is good. Have you seen it? . . . Listen, I booked a table at Voltaire. We should leave at . . . what? . . . 8:15. Is that O.K.?”

The taxi swings into the Place de la Concorde. “You know, Paris — well, at least this part of it — has hardly changed since Jackie and I first came here in 1951. We were so young! It was the first time we felt really close, carefree together, high on the sheer joy of getting away from our mother; the deadly dinner parties of political bores, the Sunday lunches for the same people that lasted hours, Jackie and I not allowed to say a word. Not that we wanted to, except to a lovely man called James Forrestal, our secretary of defense, who had a bit of the culture we craved. Jackie’s dream was France, but mine was really art and Italy, as that was all I cared about through school. My history of art teacher, who saved my life at Farmington, was obsessed with Bernard Berenson and I succumbed as well. My first discovery of him was when we were taken to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, better known then as Fenway Court. Berenson had chosen all the most important paintings Isabella should buy. I had another life open.

“I wrote to Berenson at I Tatti, several letters; then out of the blue he replied, asking me to come and see him if I ever came to Italy. Well, that was it. I thought of nothing else. So after we were here, I went to Florence. Florence and Berenson and I Tatti! Imagine! Any artistic intellect I possess is due to that time. He took me under his wing, read to me, encouraged me to write. In fact he published a letter I wrote him. That was my proudest moment. I went back to I Tatti last summer. Though there was no B.B., and no Nicky Mariano, the atmosphere is still the same, though now there are maybe a hundred people there, great scholars-to-be of Renaissance art studying, learning, in those almost monklike surroundings, eating at a beautiful long oak table. He was one of the most fascinating men I ever knew.”

The doorman opens the taxi door. “Bonsoir, Princesse.” We go inside.

“Madame!”
“Madame la Princesse!”
“Princesse Radziwill, je suis ravi de vous voir!”

This fabulous ancien régime politeness to Lee, who has booked the table, and the taxi, and my hotel room, as Mme. Radziwill. One sees why she likes Paris.

“Believe me, when I used to come here with Nureyev or Lenny Bernstein, there was none of that. I was a pimple beside their stature and genius. When I was young, I used to think that everyone should die at 70 . . . but my closest friends, like Rudolf and Andy [Warhol] and to an extent Capote, let alone most of my close family . . . didn’t even reach that age. There is something to be said for being older, and memories. How could I ever forget Rudolf’s funeral, here, at the Opera . . . the whole place swathed with deep red roses, and draped in black, as well as the dancers and les petits rats descending the stairs. I’ve seen some extraordinary funerals in my life, Jack’s of course. That had a different kind of sadness, a bleak, brutal, tragic end to hopes for a greater future and the buoyant few years of his presidency . . . the opening up of the White House to artists and musicians; I can’t deny those few years were glamorous, being on the presidential yacht for the America’s Cup races, the parties with the White House en fête. It was so ravishing. People think it was decorated by Sister Parish . . . well, a bit was . . . but really it was Stéphane Boudin of Jansen, who Jackie had met here in Paris; and, as well, Jack’s charismatic charm and enthusiasm for life. I remember the first time Jackie asked Jack to Merrywood, to pick her up for some dinner. You couldn’t mention the word ‘Democrat’ in my stepfather’s house or even presence — nor in my father’s for that matter — and I felt Jack was in for a rough ride. But he was a senator, so he already had a kind of authority as well as a dazzling personality. He won them over pretty quickly.

“My life could certainly have been different. Not so much because Jackie married a Kennedy, but because he became president. If he’d lost the election, I’d have probably spent most of my life in England with Stas, whom I adored, as did anyone who knew him, and our children, Anthony and Tina. We had this divine house on Buckingham Place behind the palace, and the prettiest country place in Oxfordshire . . . Turville Grange . . . that Mongiardino decorated. He glued the walls of the dining room with Sicilian scarves, and asked Lila di Nobili to paint each child with their favorite animals crisscrossed by bands of flowers. It was enchanting. Sadly Lila lacquered over them, so I couldn’t take them when we left. To me, that’s the essence of great design. It was a perfect Turgenev room . . . something simple and original that stays in the mind forever. Like I Tatti, and Nancy Lancaster’s Ditchley Park. Or Peter Beard’s house in Montauk. But I wasn’t always so pure in my taste. As a child, the person I admired most in the world was Lana Turner! She seemed the epitome of glamour, and her glitzy surroundings so enviable, the opposite of my mother’s extremely banal taste. And of course no one had as much taste as Rudolf, vast 19th-century paintings of naked men on glowing velvet walls, Russian-Oriental fabrics and furs, all on a huge scale. He was so impressed with what Mongiardino did for me that he took him for himself and some of his ballets.

“We weren’t taught anything like that as children. In fact, my childhood taught me nothing . . . zero. I never saw a play with my mother until I was 14 and then it was ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ My father, naturally, spoiled me when I was allowed to see him — flying to New York from Washington, alone, in those terrifying planes. He’d take me to Danny Kaye movies and rent a dog for me to walk in the park on Sunday — a different dog every Sunday — and then to have butterscotch sundaes with almonds at Schrafft’s. My mother simply had me, sticking me with a series of horrible governesses. There was one particular beast called Aggie, who I remember well. I hadn’t a clue how to be a parent myself, and I expect I put Tina and Anthony through tough times. I find it hard to read people’s minds, my own children’s minds even harder. But it all worked out and I was blessed with two wonderful children. Anthony and I were wonderfully close in the years before he died, and my daughter, Tina, who leads the most original life, is coming to stay with me in Italy soon for four weeks. . . . I say, it’s awfully late, you must be exhausted and I know I am.”

It’s late in the evening and the apartment is dark now, with only a pool of silvery-pink light on the sofa as Lee walks me to the door, Zinnia bouncing between our feet.

“No, Zinny! Tomorrow!! And you, too, tomorrow . . . let’s have breakfast at L’Avenue in the sunshine. Good night!” The door gently shuts, the elevator opens. All so easy, so civilized.

One can see why she likes Paris.

Half awake, I lie collecting thoughts, the bare facts, of the near-legend I have just left . . . Caroline Lee Bouvier . . . born in 1933 to John V. Bouvier III and Janet Lee, four years after her sister Jacqueline. Becomes stepdaughter of Hugh D. Auchincloss Jr.

Married:
1) 1953, Michael Canfield.
2) 1959, Prince Stanislas “Stas” Radziwill; two children, Anthony and Christina (“Tina”).
3) 1988, Herbert Ross, film director.

Lives in the United States and France.

The lesser-known facts are the fodder of tabloids. Her duplicitous treatment by the whims of Aristotle Onassis. Her great friend Truman Capote, insisting Lee should act, adapts “Laura” as a vehicle for her, but stage fright prevents her from pursuing a theatrical career. Her romances with the most attractive men of the time — the photographer Peter Beard and Richard Meier, the architect, possibly even Mick Jagger, among them. The last-minute calling off of her wedding to the San Francisco hotelier Newton Cope. Unfulfilling years, exacerbated by her sister’s escalating ill health, their difficult relationship and a certain amount of friction with her children, led Lee to bouts of deep depression and occasional dips into alcoholism, both bravely, the latter publicly, divulged and eradicated. Indeed, so much so that she was able to cope, resiliently, with the death of her nephew John F. Kennedy Jr., to whom she was extremely close, followed, shockingly soon after, by that of her son, Anthony, from a rare form of cancer.

These tragedies, compounded by earlier, unforgettably tragic memories, convinced Lee to make, if not a new life, a different one: one where the press is gentler; where her past, good or infamous, is not daily revisited; and where she can be surrounded by so many of the things she grew up with and learned to love about Europe. In 1974 she and Jackie published “One Special Summer,” a memoir of their European trip, written originally as a gift to their parents, and in 2001 Lee wrote a second memoir, “Happy Times,” published by her friends, the Assoulines. It’s an engaging picture of some of the most glorious moments in her vivid life. She says the best part was being hands-on in its production, discussing the layout, the typefaces, selecting photographs from among myriad images.

Radziwill’s Anglo-Indian botanicals in the living room. François Halard
A book from the I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar next to a group of Line Vautrin boxes. François Halard
A picture of Radziwill on the cover of Life magazine from 1967 sits on her desk. François Halard
A view of the Eiffel Tower, from her balcony. François Halard
Her bedroom. François Halard
A drawing of Radziwill by René Bouché above a bronze wolfhound in her Paris apartment. François Halard
The cover of Nicholas Foulkes’s ‘‘Bals: Legendary Costume Balls of the Twentieth Century,’’ showing Radziwill getting ready for Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball in 1966. François Halard
A cozy seating arrangement with chairs covered in her beloved Le Manach fabric. François Halard

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We meet, as she said we would, in the sunshine, at the chic cafe spitting distance from her building. Chairs are arranged for her, water, espresso and an ashtray brought without a word said.

“Well?” she says, “what’s next?”

“Tell me about your marriages.”

“Oh.” Short now, taken aback, no low note and a long pause. “O.K., where shall we start?” I say, “The first?” Another pause. “Michael Canfield? O.K. . . . I was very young when we met, and he was so good-looking and clever. I wanted so badly to get away from my mother, and he seemed to offer everything . . . looks, privilege, friends, fun. His father was chairman of Harper & Brothers, so he led a very literary life and was a brilliant editor. I was deliriously happy for a while, moving to London, our house in Chester Square . . . but . . . he drank seriously. He was very fragile. One day I couldn’t open the front door, he was slumped, out cold, inside. He tried to stop, but nothing worked for any time. He said I was so in tune with life and he wasn’t any longer. And besides, I had met Stas . . . Stas was divorcing at the time, and we fell in love and eventually we married. . . . Those were glorious years. Being married to Stas was certainly the happiest part of my life, so he must have been the love of my life: there were other infatuations, other loves even, but never the joy or knowledge of life and living that I experienced with Stas. . . . Jack and my sister would come over, staying in Buckingham Place rather than the embassy, and I’d be included in all the great events, dinners at Buckingham Palace, you know. And the trip to India. The best part of that was meeting

Nehru, he was seductive, mentally rather than physically, not unlike Berenson, and so beautiful, and with the most exquisite soft golden skin. We stayed in his house and he showed us to our rooms every night, showing us the books we should read, which made one feel completely at home.

“Stas and I went to Washington often . . . and then. . . .” Her voice trails off as she stares into the sun, perhaps considering the end of her marriage to Stas. “More coffee? Well, there was Jack’s death and . . . and . . . Ari. Listen, I think the world knows more about all that than I do. He was dynamic, irrational, cruel I suppose, but fascinating. He also had the most beautiful skin, and smelled wonderful. Naturally, I mean. Fascinating . . . as my sister discovered!”

“And Herbert Ross?”

“Oh no, do we have to talk about that? O.K., he was certainly different from anybody else I’d been involved with, and the film world sounded exciting. Well, it wasn’t. I hated Hollywood, and the provincialism of the industry. . . . Herbert had been married to the ballerina Nora Kaye until she died, and unbeknownst to me was still obsessed by her. It was ‘Nora said this, Nora did it like that, Nora liked brown and orange.’ . . . If anybody even breathed her name, Herbert would burst into tears. I had to clench my fists every time and was deeply hurt as I thought I had created a wonderful life for him. Thank God we never really settled in Los Angeles. My New York was difficult for Herbert, so we parted. . . . Now, no more on husbands!”

“Then let’s go back to the president’s assassination,” I say. “Do you remember where you were?”

Lee pauses. “As if yesterday. It was in the evening, in London. Stas came running up the stairs, his voice and face in shock. I started crying . . . uncontrollably. For hours. Finally he said, ‘Lee, you have to get ahold of yourself, and I stopped, suddenly. It was the last time I have ever cried. I’ve never cried since, never. Anthony’s death was equally soul destroying, but with an illness it’s so distressing . . . coupled with his bravery throughout it. I could only cry inner tears. When he died, I was already cried out. And I certainly wouldn’t cry about myself, or my life. In some funny way I’m lucky that there was so much more interest in my sister. Which, of course, I understand. I enjoy reading about real celebrities even now, and Jackie certainly qualified in that league. Of course, when you are closely related to someone so in the public eye, you tend to think the interest is dumb or trivial because you know the person, and the truth. But I certainly understand people’s fascination. After all, as the young wife of the youngest elected president, she was fascinating.

“As to that interest in her spilling over into my life? Well, at times it was annoying, at times funny. Perhaps the most depressing part was that whatever I did, or tried to do, got disproportionate coverage purely because of Jackie being my sister. But you learn to deal with the scrutiny, even the lies, as long as it’s not malicious.

“Regrets? I think everyone has regrets, and people who say they haven’t are either liars . . . or narcissists. There have been many things in my life to have regrets about, in the sense I wish I could have changed them, or somehow made them not happen. What I don’t have is envy. I’m perfectly content at this time of my life. I’ve done so many fascinating things and the greatest joy is that I continue to do interesting things and meet fascinating people. Working for Diana Vreeland at Harper’s Bazaar was a great learning curve. Working in P.R. for Giorgio Armani taught me a lot about that particular — I almost said ‘peculiar’ — industry. And I met my dearest friend, Hamilton South, while there.

“Really, the most fulfilling roles have been my friendships — Berenson, Nureyev, Peter, even Andy Warhol because he was so wildly different — then, and now Bernard-Henri Lévy and his wife, Arielle Dombasle, and Giambattista Valli, and Diego Della Valle, who are all angelic to me.

“Am I melancholy by nature? Less so, now, and I certainly don’t bounce out to parties and talk all night. One can’t help but be a bit melancholy when you see how the world has changed, and I don’t mean that nostalgically. Every day one is confronted by words and visions of human misery. You would have to have a heart of ice not to be a bit melancholy. I’ve been happy, and am happy now. My life has been exciting, active, changeable. At my age, one is lucky to have old friends, and, fortunately, most of them, like me, can’t seriously work a computer and the phone is our link. So I’m not lonely. I have this apartment, this view, my bursting-with-light New York apartment . . . yes, and you, Zinny . . . this ‘douceur de vivre,’ this city.”

One can see why Paris loves Lee.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2013 Ready-To-Wear

2013-02-12T21:27:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, a collection speaks to me. It seems for Fall several are screaming at me. Simply, sumptuous fabrics, lovely classic lines, preppy but not too straight. Marc Jacobs seems to never let you down when it comes to a youthful intelligent look a true chic girl evolves.

"FEBRUARY 11, 2013
NEW YORK
By Tim Blanks

For better or worse, Marc Jacobs bestrides New York's fashion week like a colossus. This week, it's been worse—at least in one sense. With scant warning, he moved his signature show from its traditional Monday-night slot to Thursday, screwing with the best-laid plans of a small army of fashion professionals who need to be—or at least need to be en route to—somewhere else at that particular moment. Then he decided to fill that Monday-night gap by moving up his Marc by Marc presentation from Tuesday afternoon. It felt like an obvious effort to sate the sense of occasion that has become irremediably attached to his Monday moment, and in that, at least, Jacobs wasn't wrong. The anticipation was certainly in full effect. The packed house positively simmered with it. It was the perfectly receptive hothouse for a Jacobs tour de force.

But that has never been what MxM is about. It's always been Marc's vehicle for a kind of low-key collegiate funk, and on that level, it's usually been a sterling success. Tonight felt different, a bit more wattage in the hair and makeup, a bit more sex in the clothes. Hey, it's in the air. So if Marc's girls felt like Antonio's girls (as in the late, great Lopez), that was timely. And if the prints, proportions, and satiny sheen echoed Roxy Music fans refracting the forties through a seventies glam lens, that too felt just about right. The boys were, as usual, the ever-hopeful wing-pieces of the MxM woman."
Style.com

Exquisitely DELPOZO RTW Fall 2013

2013-02-12T10:46:00.001-08:00

It happens often, but I really did flip when I saw this collection from DELPOZO emerge. The perfect combination of modern chic and classic Victorian. This collection embodies what vintage shoppers search for, the old elegance that somehow feels lost with most new designs. While I was envying this new collection for Delpozo RTW Fall 2013, I could not help but be reminded of the beautiful poplin orange-red dress of my grandmothers from Louis Feraud circa 65 that I hold dear in my closet.
"Madrid-based label Delpozo held its first show Stateside, bringing with it a fresh design sensibility. Creative director Josep Font merged two disparate ideas — organic architecture and the femininity of the Victorian era — into a lineup of beautiful dresses, jackets and tops with a focus on volume and sculpting around the shoulders and hips, while still maintaining waist definition. Font employed unexpected and delightful color combinations of fuchsia, emerald green, burgundy and cinnamon, sprinkling in some nature-themed embroidery. A white floral appliquéd dress was lovely. Other highlights included a two-toned nude and vermilion dress and a handful of beautiful round-shouldered jackets over pants and dresses."

By WWD

Dior Noël au Printemps

2012-12-27T00:26:00.002-08:00

Click to view the magic~
After Karl Lagerfeld amazed us with the most beautiful window displays for Printemps last year during Christmas in Paris, this year House of Dior with Marion Cotillard in toe, wanted to get one up on Chanel who had Vanessa Paradis representing. You choose which you love best:

Chanel 2012

Dior 2011

CHANEL №5...Marilyn Monroe. Two Desirable Icons.

2012-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

For all of us Marilyn Monroe & Chanel fans out there, this is fantastic. It was never a secret that Chanel №5 was her favorite fragrance and the only thing she wore to bed, though, the fabulous thing about this video is that there is an excerpt of an interview that Marilyn gave- discovered only recently. She states the fact that she had said in an interview boldly that she only wears Chanel №5 to bed, being coy to refer that she sleeps nude.

Chanel Recreates Versailles in Beverly Hills Garden

2012-10-24T22:33:00.001-07:00

Below off my own blog from Huffington Post: Check it out, click for VIDEO & PHOTOS

Earlier on Tuesday, the same day as the disappointing and yawn-inspiring second presidential debate, I joined my lovely girlfriend Shiva Rose to view Chanel's cruise 2013 collection at a replicate of the original fashion show in Versailles this past summer.

Eye-popping, pastel-colored wigs on punk-rock Marie Antoinettes marched down a sandy gravel garden which was a "mini-me" version show of Karl Lagerfeld's vision he mastered last May.

Bringing Versailles to Los Angeles for one day and recreating that runway show was no easy task. Saks Fifth Avenue partnered with Chanel and all the proceeds from this exquisite fashion event and lunch, which was generously hosted by Susan Casden in her grand home, were to benefit AVIVA. The models looked flawless, even in the heat that seemed to be at its worst when the show started at noon. The cinched waists and structured shapes of the 1780s were met with a 1980s retro, punky fly-girl-who-wears-metallic-platform-sneakers with a splash of 1930s cool-elegance. The chiffon dresses were a favorite of mine, they looked to be a timeless investment that would be perfect for many occasions. The mini-dresses with exaggerated width in the hip area made me gasp with delight. Can it be true that we are going back that far? Fashion has repeated these past, recent decades so exhaustingly often that Karl is pushing us way back... like about three hundred years. I say, let's go with him on that adventure. After all, he will most likely be followed by the rest of his peers.

There was wearable ensembles that went beyond resort to day and evening fineries for the daring woman. Rock and roll-infused with sophistication, knickers and tweed jackets, swimsuits with mesh, lacy details on poofy skirts, macaron colors so enticing to look at I did not know whether I'd be more satisfied to wear them or to eat them. The oo la la fabulous wide-cut slacks in blue tweeds and denim were particularly strong, but feminine.

The long feather-light dresses with heavy décolleté embellishment especially reminded me of Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette. Sofia's story of a modern, young queen frolicking in her personal retreat near the palace, played beautifully by Kirsten Dunst, was filmed mostly on location at Versailles.

While watching the show, and using my Instagram app, I felt I was in a sort of fairyland since any theme with Marie Antoinette or Karl Lagerfeld makes me feel so joyful -- and so it was twice as magnifique.

After the show, the elegant guests, mostly wearing Chanel, of course, were escorted to a lunch buffet in a tented rectangular-shaped area in the garden. In the tent were several chandeliers, white curtains, perfectly manicured trees, red bouquets and white furniture.

Lovely Robin Provart-Kelly, brand ambassador for Chanel at Saks Fifth Avenue, graciously asked me how I felt about the fashion show. I told her it was, of course, as to be expected, perfect, and I told her of when I met Karl in Paris next to his book store a few years ago -- and the circumstances which led me to know him as absolutely humble and genius at same time. He ultimately directs the Chanel brand himself entirely, not just as a designer but like a conductor of many hats. Karl Lagerfeld, even when he is not present, was present at the show.

All photos taken with my iPhone.

Follow Golriz Moeini on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Gol_

YSL's Hedi Slimane Paying Homage... Makes Yves Proud in his Grave

2012-10-02T20:12:00.002-07:00

A splashy cool show in Paris yesterday. Hedi Slimane for the resurrected Saint Laurent definitely knows how to make a splash, staying true to his own good marks, yet paying strict homage to Yves Saint Laurent by weaving a spectacular collection with all of Yves favorite advances in turning a girl into a true sexy woman with confidence. Dozens of my personal favorite touches included Le Smoking jackets, long flowing dresses with sleeves, with a big felt androgynous hats. Sleek and chic.

This was by far my favorite show for Spring 2013 Ready-To-Wear.

Sensational Dolce & Gabbana: Opulent Ad Campaign for 2013

2012-08-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

CLICK TO VIEW CAMPAIGN PHOTOS/ VIDEO
Opulent, sensational, sophisticated, Italian, perfection, embellished, baroque, elegance, etc etc Dolce and Gabbana brilliance, eleven minutes of sheer heavenly designs to knock your lacy socks off! It is quite a show! Brava, bellisima !

Les Adieux à la Reine ~ Farewell My Queen ~ with Diane Kruger

2012-07-24T10:12:00.001-07:00

Marie Antoinette of France life story has always overwhelmed me, I've had a sort of longtime fascination with her. There is a brand new film out about Marie Antoinette on limited release and it's tantalizing. Sofia Coppola's version of Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst had a modern fun youthful twist, I really loved that version that shed a fresh light on the young ill fated queen. This latest version directed by Benoit Jacquot is based on the speculations or accusations and subsequently limited proof that Marie Antoinette was bisexual during her reign and fall. It is written off gossip by staff and long time residents or guests at Versailles during that time. Marie Antoinette was certainly fond of one of her "favorites" but there is no real evidence of her bisexual behavior other than showing her affections toward Gabrielle de Polignac, she did not hide her admiration for her, in fact she was very publicly generous to Gabrielle de Polignac and her family, but with that said, Marie Antoinette was extremely generous with all those around her. She collected friends, but perhaps this behavior of hers made her feel less of a prisoner inside Versailles by making her own community, felt less lonely? This brought rage to the outsiders, the commoners saw this generousity as a flaunt of extravagance and ignorance rather than seeing ultimately this was initially not a choice but a duty to live in this way inside her own shell. This version is sort of a heartbreaking love story between the two women. I think if it was true it adds another very interesting dimension to this amazing queen who all of France was brought to hate because of the economics and poverty at it's high in those days. She was just a beautiful young girl brought over from Austria to be Queen of France to make Austria an ally to France. Misconceptions are very likely when history cannot be transcribed in the factual moments and become third party hearsay.
Diane Kruger is a real beauty, she shines as Marie Antoinette. Diane has stated in interviews that Marie Antoinette was a role she ever thought she would play nor desired to play, yet when it was suggested to her she could not help to see many similarities between herself and the queen. Diane said that she may have been destined for this role because of those subtle similarities that they share.
Virginie Ledoyen (The Beach) is always breathtaking and an onscreen siren, she plays Gabrielle de Polignac, and Lea Seydoux (last year in Woody Allens Midnight in Paris, shopkeeper Gabrielle) is Marie Antoinette's first maid which the story is told through her observations. French with English subtitles on limited release. Who doesn't love lavish costume dramas?! and one in Versailles for that matter!
Go see this film!
There are thousands of books on Marie Antoinette but one popular recent one that I have by biographer and novelist Antonia Frazer wrote (Marie Antoinette~The Journey, 2001) :
"...Marie Antoinette would be far more likely to bestow her own cake (or brioche) impulsively upon the starving people before her." Antonia Frazer
Watch the TRAILER below.
Film: Les Adieux à la Reine (Farewell My Queen)
Cast: Lea Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Virginie Ledoyen
Director: Benoit Jacquot
Genre: Drama
Location Versailles

More Bardot appreciation...photo's from 50's, 60's and 70's

2012-07-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

CLICK TO VIEW PHOTO's~

It's no surprise that I have so many blogs dedicated to Brigitte Bardot. For me, she embodies real beauty, brilliance, naivety, stylishness, sexiness, genuine-ness, playfulness, comedy, tragedy, empathy, and love. On my blog, you will see more of Bardot from time to time, and I do have many great, some rare photo's of her in past blogs. I hope you love them as I do.

Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau

Bardot relaxing with a drink

1970's

Bardot in St.Tropez

Bardot driving in St.Tropez

Salvador Dali, Brigitte Bardot, and Gunter Sachs

Muse & Artist, Bardot with Picasso

2012-07-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

CLICK TO SEE PHOTO'S

These beautiful photo's of Brigitte Bardot visiting Picasso at his studio at Vallauris, near Cannes, during the film festival in 1956 really moved me.

Brigitte Bardot was from a strict Catholic family but her mother encouraged her and her sister to have interest in the arts. Brigitte's upbringing was upper middle class in Paris 16th & 17th Arr. districts. Her dream was to be a great ballerina, and she studied under the best instruction in Paris. At this point, when she met Pablo Picasso she was already on her way to be one of the most sought after actresses in French cinema. Here she was not yet known as a sex-symbol but rather known as the true beauty and darling she was, and the camera loved her with her very French kitten-ish full pouty lips and her flirtatious trot, her trademark thick beautiful hair, attributed to her fame and put her on the map, set her apart. These photo's exude her sweet innocence and her interest in art, particularly modern art , also shows that she was an intelligent young lady.

Iconic Nudes & Muscles Galore: Revisiting Herb Ritts

2012-07-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE, PHOTO'S & STORY
Through hard work and a distinctive vision, Herb Ritts (1952–2002) fashioned himself into one of the top photographers to emerge from the 1980s. Ritts's aesthetic incorporated facets of life in and around Los Angeles. He often made use of the bright California sunlight to produce bold contrasts, and his preference for outdoor locations such as the desert and the beach helped to separate his work from that of his New York-based peers. Ritts's intimate portraiture, his modern yet classical treatment of the nude, and his innovative approach to fashion brought him international acclaim and placed him securely within an American tradition of portrait and magazine photography that includes Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Irving Penn.

From the late 1970s until Ritts's untimely death from AIDS-related complications in 2002, his ability to create images that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce was not only a testament to the power of his imagination and technical skill but also marked the synergistic union between art, popular culture, and business that followed in the wake of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Forward by Getty Museum

This past weekend I went for lunch with my mother and a friend to Getty Center to view Klimt on display and Herb Ritts exhibit. The weather was perfect, and Getty was tolerable as there was not many tourists- surprisingly, although beware the parking is being renovated so it's a bit of healthy amounts of walk to tram. Klimt was sensational, I will report later on that one. Herb Ritts was no surprise, it was actually revisiting already famous photography that I have admired over the past three decades in fashion magazines. He has been one of the most popular and innovative photographers of our time. Why innovative? because he made skin and muscles and black and white photos very mainstream by making it his trademark. He also loved the desert, it separated him from all the East Coast peers. He had a keen eye for true beauty, not the perfect beauty but the beauty that nature intended. He really understood the body and muscle like an anatomy student. His admiration for the male body is evident, just as he knew how to snap a beautiful photo of a woman. Athletes, dancers and models were his favorite subjects, though he loved working with actors. Particularly, my favorite was a photo of actor and model Djimon with an octopus on his head. It was shocking at first glance, then very sensual and almost beautiful in an unearthly way. The lighting he used was mostly natural sunlight, and the shadows, the reflections off the sand and sea was true brilliance. He had his models all oiled up to have more reflections, this is something he almost always did, and there was a pearlized look to every photo. Gorgeous. There have been many photographers that would say they learned a trick or two from the astounding American photographer Herb Ritts.

Stylishly Bohemian Nuptials, Heiress Margherita Missoni Weds in Brunello, Italy

2012-07-02T11:13:00.001-07:00

“With a gipsy band strumming, traveling players dangling as acrobats from ethereal lengths of fabric and striped awnings protecting groaning food tables from the light rain, the bucolic party in the Varese countryside looked like a chic remake of Frederico Fellini’s ‘La Strada’.” Admired Journalist Suzy Menkes, who was a wedding guest.

The sweetheart shaped berry cake was an Italian deluctible masterpiece.

Gorgeous and utterly stylish Margherita Missoni said "Si!" to her dashing race car driver fiancé Eugenio Amos this past weekend in Italy. The wedding was like a fantasy.

Missoni tableware and cushions to add heritage to the comfortable wedding setting, a reminder that it is a great family indeed. This was like a princess of Italy tying the knot after all!

Country wedding for the fashion-jet set !!

A Missoni FEAST for the eyes!

The dress is to die for, ethereal perfection, more details to come, there is some controversy as to who actually designed it, Giambatissta Valli or Margherita herself. Several sources at the wedding contradicting each other as to who made the dress. I think it may have been a collaboration. (UPDATE) Margherita and her friend Giambatissta Valli designed collabortively but with Missoni lace and embroidery ! But the greatest part is there was not one but two beautiful wedding dresses! One creamy dream earlier in the day, and another with a pastel violet tone later in the evening! So genius both of them. Reminiscent of a true princess.

Gypsy yet so regal. It's always been Margherita's style sensibility. A true colorful heiress always representing the family design company with such ease and tastefulness.

A garden wedding to remember. It's so chic yet so understated. All the guests arrived in a 70's Bohemian feel in dress code to match the free spirit of the bride.

Outdoor weddings are magical. My wedding was a thrown together garden wedding at my mothers. It was planned in less than three weeks. I love a laid back vibe where guests can feel at home. Margherita's dress reminds me of my mother's wedding dress she wore when she and my father married in 1972 in Tehran. Absolutely bohemian beauty.

The guest list featured a bunch of Fashion World darlings including Anna Della Russo (below wearing Oscar De La Renta), photographer Mario Testino, stylist Carine Roitfeld, fashion journalist Suzy Menkes and Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani as well as music star Marc Ronson.

Guest, Vogue's Anna Della Russo

(Photo's do not belong to me, taken off Grazia, The Independent, and wedding guests Tumblr pages)

Disseminating Rough Luxe Design, Tête à Tête with Kahi Lee

2012-06-23T02:12:00.000-07:00

(PHOTOS & STORY) Interior design is an art of expression clearly transplants itself into our lives everyday. We cannot help but be a part of interior design in our own environments. When you hire an expert to do it, you see that it is a lot more technical than it looks. There is a lot to consider. There is hundreds of styles you can design your environment. A brand new style term in world of design is born that is basically an appreciation for the old. We are not discussing just elevated shabby chic here, or antique treasures and vintage. This is a much more sophisticated style in design that requires a lot of technique at the same time it looks incredibly organic. Consider Rough Luxe Design. Here we are having a conversation with an innovator and expert, Kahi Lee, a perfectionist and artist in her field. She has interior design in her blood. Literally.

RougH LuxE DEsIgn

The New Love of oLd

CuRAtED By KAHI LEE

The worn, vintage and unfinished look of ‘rough luxe’ is more than just the masculine side of shabby chic. It creates the kind of authenticity that is unscripted history in physical form. It reinvents the past by redefining luxury today. Here design rejects minimalism and extravagance and celebrates imperfection. It is the embodiment of real at a time when the unexpected and the surprising is valued higher than pristine and probable. Design elements are washed and worn with history, reminding us of bygone times with an industrial look into the future. Fabrics are distressed over immaculate furnishings, painted walls are faded like expressionist fine art, and perfectly torn wallpaper shows the multiple years of its story. ROUGH LUXE DESIGN features the most exclusive list of interior designers, furniture purveyors, industrial designers, and trend-setting entrepreneurs responsible for bringing “rough luxury” into the cultural consciousness. This beautifully illustrated book showcases the best examples of how the masterful staging of raw imperfection can fulfill the desire for a luxury design.

KAHI LEE has appeared as a host and expert on numerous design programs such as the Style Network and HGTV and as a regular on-air contributor for The Rachael Ray Show as well as making guest appearances on The Early Show (CBS), among others, and is fast becoming one of the most recognizable faces in lifestyle television programming. She also owns and operates a 6,000 square foot home furnishings and drapery manufacturer in Los Angeles where she produces custom pieces for high profile clients that include actors, rock stars, professional athletes and luxury high-rise residential developments. Kahi is a major proponent of “rough luxury” in her own aesthetic as well as having been immersed in the interior design industry long enough over the past decade to witness the trend’s ascending popularity first-hand.

Golriz: Kahi, Huge congratulations on your book! Humans are visual creatures, beauty and architecture in our surroundings such a vital force in our lives...Kahi, you're quite young and an accomplished sought after interior designer! You brilliantly mix feminine and masculine. How do you describe your style?

Kahi Lee: I describe my design style as a mix of laid-back California with a healthy dose of drama and romance. I love creating comfortable livable spaces that have dramatic elements whether that be bold colors or unconventional architectural elements or eccentric furnishings….I like being a little off-beat but always with comfort and livability in mind.

A Rough Luxe design

Golriz: My favorite era in interior design is 20's and 30's. I see some of that influenced in your work, although you are incredibly modern and very much a designer of our time. What is your favorite era, and how much do you feel that plays into part when you are designing?

Kahi Lee: I think we are all influenced by the past to some degree in everything we do and I am certainly no exception. I'm a hopeless romantic and suffer from extreme nostalgia. I love Paris and Shanghai in the 20's and 30's, Hollywood in the 40's and 50's, London in the 60's and New York City in the 70's and 80's. I often catch myself ,consciously and subconsciously, borrowing from the past.

Golriz: You've taken on some very important projects including brand new hotels, huge building projects. Is that exciting or stressful when you are in beginning stage of it?

Kahi Lee: Big projects are exciting and stressful at the same time. The emotions come in waves. Within the course of a single project I can go from feeling absolute terror to exuberant joy, miserable self-doubt to obnoxious confidence. It comes with the territory and I think I actually thrive on the stress…as unhealthy as that is.

Golriz: Internationally, where is your favorite places that you have designed, and why?

Kahi Lee: My favorite place I have designed to date has to be the penthouse at the W Hollywood Hotel and Residences. Rarely does a client let you do whatever you want on a project of that scale. I literally had the run of the place. I could be as dramatic as I wanted. Dream come true! So what's the first thing I did? I painted all the walls and ceilings black. The finished product was my version of a 'bachelor pad' that ,although had definite masculine undertones, as a woman I totally felt at home in.

W (Hotel) Residences Penthouse, Hollywood, Kahi's project

Golriz: Actually I remember the dramatic black walls when I attended to your launch party at W in Hollywood. I thought, "wow! this girl's got guts, this takes a lot of confidence and spunk..." since then I became a fan of your work. Where do you find most of your inspiration? Books, movies, landscape, photography, fashion, streets, traveling, etc…

Kahi Lee: I find the most inspiration from travel. When you leave the comfort of your own city behind, you tend to study and examine things more closely. Los Angeles has lots to offer in terms of fashion and design but ,perhaps it's because I live here, I just don't "see" as much in my day-to-day. But just because I don't "see" it, doesn't mean it's not here. When I'm in a new city, my senses are heightened and I want to take everything in and I tend to absorb more.

Kahi taking inspiration in Europe

Golriz: I cannot agree with you more, to travel and see the currents in different city's really opens the mind. What is your dream project...say a client tells you money is no issue...what direction will you go?

Kahi Lee: My dream project would be to redesign LAX. She's been looking a little frumpy lately and could definitely use a makeover. I get airport envy when I travel and see gorgeously designed airports in other cities. Come on LA! This is unacceptable.

Golriz: I love that! LAX is frumpy! Los Angeles needs to hire you for LAX project for sure! I'm from Portland, PDX is pretty cool. One of the things that I find fascinating in design world is how different society and cultures take into account their space issues. For example the Japanese are genius in use of small spaces, the French are brilliant at manipulating it too. As you are an American designer I'm certain that is not as much an issue? since we usually have (in comparison to others) ample space to work with in our smaller homes or even hotel rooms! What do you think about space and how to deal with it?

Kahi Lee: I like space. I like empty space. I think the negative space in a design is just as important as the actual stuff you put in it. I'm not one of these designers that likes to fill a room wall-to-wall and top-to-bottom. I like a little bit of breathing room and space to grow.

Golriz: You are a very stylish & chic! As a designer, does that make it easier in your career or more difficult to keep up in market trends?

Kahi Lee: Oh wow thanks. Um, I am not always stylish. I have my moments but generally I am a jeans and t-shirt girl. I think just as in fashion the smart thing to do in interior design is to invest in the staples…a good sofa, a well-made dining table and have fun with the inexpensive accessories…pillows, lamps etc. Trends come and go so fast. Who can afford to redecorate every season?

Stylish Kahi Lee

Golriz: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not designing. Let's say on your day off…?

Kahi Lee: My favorite thing to do on my day off is to leave town. One of the perks of living in LA is having so many amazing options for weekend (or sometimes mid-week) getaways. I love going to Palm Springs or Big Sur.

Golriz: When will you author more books? Will there be a Kahi series!?

Kahi Lee: I would love to do another book. I am waiting for inspiration to strike. I need the right subject matter to beckon to me.

Gorgeous Kahi Lee holding her book Rough Luxe Design

Golriz: What is your next big project? It's always very exciting to me when I see an amazing set designery in a film. Would you ever do a set design for a period film?

Kahi Lee: Ahhh…to be a set designer on a Baz Luhrmann film. Set design would be a dreambut the reality is that set design is a whole other ballgame with its own set of complex rules and is far beyond my know-how. I'll leave that to the experts and just enjoy as a consumer.

Golriz: Kahi, I love Baz too! thank you so much for letting us peak into your stylish designing head for a few moments. Good luck on your gorgeous book! I just love looking through it for great inspiration, very cool that Diane Keaton treasures your book in her home library!

Kahi Lee (photo by Evi T'Bolt)

Book Information

34.3 x 24.8 cm / 13.5 x 9.75 in 352 pp. hardcover with special box $ 75.00 USD / € 55.00 / £ 50.00 ISBN 978-0-9830831-2-2 September 2011

FARAMEH books are distributed worldwide by: DAAB MEDIA gmbH Tel. +49 221 690 48213

Fax +49 221 690 48229 mail@daab-media.com

www.farameh.com

I love this one!

Foreward for her book, The New Love Of Old

Her hardback book feels rough and smooth at same time

Kahi (& myself) at her book signing party
at The Environment Showroom in Los Angeles

{only last four photo's belong to me, the rest are borrowed, message me for photo credits}

Ladies & Gentlemen, introducing Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina

2012-06-20T14:08:00.003-07:00

(CLICK HERE ~PHOTOS & HD FILM TRAILER)

The story of Anna Karenina beautifully written by Tolstoy is made into film once again. The 2012 version, with Keira Knightley and Jude Law will be the best version told on the big screen. It is directed by Joe Wright, and I cannot think of a better leading actress as electric as Keira (who can do period piece better than her? no one!) for this beautiful story to be told again. I personally love costume dramas, period films, especially a ravishing stunning Russian Tolstoy masterpiece! Goosebumps are cherished while watching this trailer! some great films coming soon! I cannot wait to relish in the tiny details and each scene breath by breath.

Giulietta Masina, Fellini's muse & wife & equal collaborator....

2012-06-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

Federico Fellini & Giulietta Masina

Giulietta Masina

(PHOTOS)

If you like to watch a great Italian film, and at the end feel somehow awakened of a new sense, see your own heart on the floor...I suggest you view a film with the late Guilietta Masina. She was often referred to as the female Charlie Chaplin, I agree with that. She knew exactly which of our strings to pull and what facial and body language to ensure an audience to melt with empathy, it is a great feeling for both the audience and the actor her/himself when is capable of that just by giving a look. That is why Giulietta is subject of my blog today, because I wanted to dedicate a few photo's of her to my own readers. Just look inside her eyes. There is a sea of feelings in her facial expressions all at once, love, sadness, strength, fear, beauty, joy, anger, confusion, surprise, hope, naiveness, humbleness...

I really understand what Federico Fellini must have seen...a giant in acting.

Just watch La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, both Fellini masterpieces for which she won several awards for and for great reason.

Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, the last French Queen

2012-06-11T21:54:00.001-07:00

Click for photo's ~

Ravishing. An undeniably daring beauty. European royalty. By the age of 25, she was appearing on the lists of best-dressed women, having consistently worn haute couture clothing all her life. She was consistently named to the International Best Dressed List. She has been the muse of many designers such as Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent and Guy Laroche.

Growing up privileged, it was not common for women of her class to work. She always wanted to be like her hero Coco Chanel, and finally in her fifties her dream to own her salon was realized. Her first collection was shown in Paris and New York in 1983, her designs were applauded by high society and she became very successful until 1994 when she quit because of ill health.

With Carla Bruni

Style. Glamour. Class.

This beauty is not the typical perfect face.
She was elegant to the core by being naturally glamourous if there is such a thing.

She was one of the guests who attended Carlos de Beistegui famous "Le Bal oriental" in 1951, Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Rédé famous "Bal des Têtes" in 1957 and the "Oriental bal" in 1969, both at the Hôtel Lambert. She was also invited to Truman Capote's "Black and White Ball" in 1966.

April 2010 the French President Nicolas Sarkozy decorated her as a

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur at the Elysée Palace.

Stylification by Babe Paley

2012-06-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Click here for photo's~

Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer Paley was an American socialite and style icon making the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1958. Known by everyone as "Babe", a popular nickname, for most of her life. She was a stunning beauty but also had an immense knack for style.

"The super dresser of all time." Bazaar Magazine.

"She has only one flaw, that is that she (Babe) is perfect." Truman Capote.

Babe Paley was a goddess, she was flawless.

Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, Stylishly Captivating...

2012-06-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

Click for more photo's~

How did she do it? How did a twice married woman in her thirties captivate the King of England to give up his crown for her?...Wallis Simpson became Duchess of Windsor and spent the rest of her life known as the woman who possessed a man (an attractive, well loved, influential King no less! ) to give it all up for her. Wallis Simpson is a truly fascinating and relevant person of the century for people to be fascinated with for many decades to come still...

It's well documented she was ravishing by way of her innate style and charisma. A true style icon.

There are some love stories that are unexplainable even to the persons involved. She was said to have possessed the Duke. If Wallis Simpson had the tricks to possess a man simply by being herself, it's the man who was the real romantic here. If she bewitched him with tricks and wizardry, bravo to her for putting all the rest of us at a loss for words so many decades later. Believe it that if a King fell for her that hard, anyone of us would have.

In every photo of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor there is a playfulness, and a true sense of love and sincerity.

Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

She had the world at her feet.

A King that gave up a crown by her side.

Living together in exile for 35 years before his death.

You can just feel the love on his forehead here as he leans in for a kiss.

Both ever stylish.

Paris.

Style Inspiration Slim Keith

2012-06-10T23:43:00.001-07:00

Click here for photo's ~

CFDA 2012, Style Award Winner is....(here's some of my favorite looks)

2012-06-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

Click to see all photo's ~

My favorite look of CFDA 2012 was Kate Bosworth wearing Altuzarra “Laal” dress and Gianvito Rossi for Altuzarra black velvet ankle cuff pumps from the Fall 2012 collection.

CFDA Media Award Recipients Garance Doré & Scott Schuman

2012-06-04T19:09:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Garance and Scott! How well deserved, and this is a great day for all bloggers out there, including me! fantastic! Been following their work for a long time, it's fantastic!

Kate Moss~ All of us Dior BEAUTY addicts !

2012-05-31T21:06:00.000-07:00

~Click to watch video. Dior Beauty. Kate Moss.

Lifestyle Writer of The Local Rose, Shiva Rose

2012-05-30T14:32:00.002-07:00

~Click here for full story~

My beautiful friend Shiva Rose is known in many circles as one of the style icons of our time. Although she is much more than these-she is- a mother, an actress, a socialite, a philanthropist, an environmentalist, an advocate of human rights, and a writer. She has always been a favorite choice for major designers to be dressed for parties or award shows because of her beautiful dainty figure and her gorgeous face, iconic long dark locks. Yet, mostly she is known for boldly pulling together a stylish look by adding vintage and wearing them to glamourous events long before everyone else started wearing vintage.
In her popular website The Local Rose she writes regular articles with fierce passion and uninhibited tenderness, and shares her own and others unexplainable human scars without apology. Her website is sectioned and categorized by featuring beauty tips in "Allure", healthy organic choices and recipes in "Nourish", decorative curiosity and creativity in "Nest", inspirational thoughts of the week in "Spirit", and fashion envy in "Adornment", her "Tribe and Health" section acknowledges all the goodness that we should know but we often don't, and it includes the most cutting edge tips about how to be healthy or get healthy by using helpful products in our homes that may not be mainstream.

Shiva is also an amazing playwright. Her writing is so honest and pure. I saw her play about Italian photographer, revolutionary political activist Tina Modotti called Fragile Life, and she played Tina, it was beyond inspiring.

Can't wait to share my interview with Shiva Rose here next week.

Stylish Party: The White Fairy Tails~ The Love Ball

2012-05-13T01:22:00.000-07:00

Click on video to play.
Certainly, this party will go down in history as one of the top best ever for all those who were in attendance. Lucky them! All of fashion super elite were there. All of the major fashion editors, designers, models, everyone in fashion was there. The entire party was like a fairytail, absolutely stunning, immaculate in details. It took place outside of Paris at Valentino's house (chateau really). That one night over 2 million Euros was raised for a place in Russia called Gorky, for Natalia Vodianova's charity for children. How uterly elegant and lavish! It's really like a dream, every detail is brilliant. It's the sort of party that I would love to have one day for my favorite charity. Often I've combined the fashion shows that I produced, incorporated a charity and party all in one. I miss doing the shows. This was really more like a gala, a ball. It was during couture fashion week last year. Wow. Still in awe. Bryan Ferry was the entertainer. Natalia read my mind. But chic is chic, no matter what part of the world you are from. Great minds...
Really thought sharing this would be great for my readers who have not yet seen this. Hope you love it as much as I did.
Also imagination can be unleashed when expense is no issue. That I truly believe in.