EDITH SAYLOR STYLE

VINTAGE POST: MASTER AND MUSE

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Thu, 24 May 2012 06:05:00 +0000

Vintage Post: Today we revisit a story from Vogue's November 2009 issue. I remember reading it in my grandmother's bedroom over Thanksgiving break and being so touched by the complicated love of a master painter and his forever muse.

I loved this piece in this month's Vogue on the torrid love between artist Arshile Gorky and his wife and muse, Mougouch. Written by Hayden Herrera, it poignantly tells a tale of beauty, glamour, and passion. Enjoy the excerpt below:

The painter Arshile Gorky’s relationship with his wife, “Mougouch,” was passionate, turbulent—and misunderstood.

By Hayden Herrera.

I grew up surrounded by the paintings of Arshile Gorky, one of the greatest American artists of the twentieth century and the subject of a current retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The paintings belonged to my stepmother, Agnes (nicknamed Mougouch), and they gave me hints not only about Gorky but about who Mougouch was and had been in the past. Full of searing colors, peculiarly animate shapes, and energy-driven lines, they moved me in ways I did not understand. Since then, I have looked and looked at Gorky’s work. I even wrote a biography of Gorky in order to try to figure out why he painted the way he did. Still, his work remains a mystery. That was the way he wanted it.

The specter of Gorky came into my life in the summer of 1948, when my father, a painter named John C. Phillips, met Agnes Gorky at a party in New York City. The host took my father aside and said, “Be nice to Mougouch. Her husband, Arshile Gorky, just died.” My father was happy to comply, for Mougouch was a beautiful and vibrant 27-year-old with long brown hair, a sensuous mouth, and large eyes that held a hint of mischief. Her responsiveness and her blend of boldness and femininity made her a magnet to men.

In the months that followed their meeting, my father and Mougouch fell in love. In December, together with her two young daughters, Maro and Natasha, they sailed for Naples and finally settled in France. My older sister and I learned about our father’s new family from photographs he sent us at our boarding school. During summers on Cape Cod we came to know our stepmother and our new sisters, who called our father “Daddy.” Compared with our previous stepmother, Mougouch was astonishing in her affection and her sense of fun. She called us “darling,” and I was entranced by her swift, graceful walk and her melodious voice.

When to my delight my father returned with his family to the United States and bought a house on Beacon Hill in Boston, my mother, who lived in Mexico, sent me to live with them. Mougouch was so motherly that when my baby sisters Antonia and Susannah were christened at Boston’s Trinity Church, I decided to be christened with them so that she could be my godmother. Our house in Boston was full of Gorky’s art books and, even better, his art. His presence was alive there, for Gorky remained a powerful figure in Mougouch’s world. Ten-year-old Maro, who herself became a painter, talked about her father incessantly, holding on to the image of his genius. She insisted that with his Armenian background, he was a much more compelling figure than my proper Bostonian father. We would try to decode Gorky’s imagery. Some works had almost cartoon-like lines that nearly coalesced into recognizable creatures. In one, we definitely discovered Bugs Bunny.

Mougouch was born Agnes Magruder in 1921, the eldest daughter of a naval officer and a mother who was descended from the renowned neoclassical sculptor Harriet Hosmer. Agnes’s childhood was full of travel—school in Washington, D.C., then the Hague, Virginia, and finally Boston, where she was sent to live with her dying grandmother and where she fell in love with painting. “My mission,” she explains, “was to cheer up my grandfather and his gloomy house overlooking the Charles River.” Her mother thought college unnecessary, so Agnes finished school in Switzerland. When her father was posted to Shanghai in 1940, she was so rebellious—she spent the night with a young diplomat and broadcast her fascination with Chinese Communism—that her parents packed her off to college, after all, in Iowa City. From there, she took a bus to Manhattan and enrolled at the Art Students League, only to quit for a typing job at a magazine called China Today. What she remembers about this period was her extreme loneliness. Every day on the way to work she said hello to the man behind the newsstand just to have a human exchange.

In February 1941, Willem de Kooning and his future wife, Elaine Fried, told Agnes that she ought to meet de Kooning’s great friend Arshile Gorky. Elaine described Gorky as a “terrible show-off who sings and dances and makes everyone dance in a circle waving a handkerchief.” A few days later Gorky stopped by de Kooning’s studio and said he wished he had a strong American girlfriend like Elaine. Elaine persuaded him to come with them to a party where they would introduce him to a nice blonde American girl. At the party, Agnes remembers, she sat on a bench between de Kooning and “a man with a mustache who was very quiet and rather pokey.” She was still waiting for the exotic stranger to appear when most of the guests had departed. On her way out, the man with the mustache stopped her and said in his accented English, ” ‘Miss Maguiger?’ And I said, ‘Oh, Gorky!’ ” He had expected a blonde, and she had expected an extrovert. They went to a coffee shop, and Gorky asked her so many questions that she finally emptied her handbag onto the table to give him a picture of her identity.

The following evening he took her to an Armenian restaurant. Soon they saw each other daily, and he gave her the name Mougouch, which he said meant “little mighty one.” When Gorky identified the welts on her stomach as bedbug bites, he moved her to a new apartment, whose skylight he scrubbed so thoroughly that the putty collapsed and rain poured in. The upshot was that she moved into his studio on Union Square.

That summer Gorky was to have an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. He and Mougouch drove across the country with Gorky’s good friend the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. When he and Noguchi argued about clouds, in which Gorky was absolutely certain he saw peasant women, Mougouch sided with Noguchi, and Gorky was furious. Crossing a bridge over the Mississippi, he became so angry that he ordered Noguchi to stop the car. He was going to walk back to New York. “I went after him,” Mougouch recalls. “He almost threw me into the Mississippi River!”

Upon their arrival in Los Angeles, Gorky was in a pique because the hotel was too expensive. Exhausted, Mougouch went to bed. Noguchi came in to say good night, and Gorky, in a fit of jealousy, burst into the room and dumped a bagful of lawn clippings on top of her. Mougouch insists that “there was not a murmur of electricity between me and Isamu,” but the critic Katharine Kuh suspected “a flirtation on Noguchi’s part.” In fact, both Mougouch and Noguchi were extremely seductive. Mougouch was brought up to be amusing and articulate and to make whomever she talked to happy. Gorky, reared in the Armenian province of Van in Ottoman Turkey, was highly puritanical. He did not understand that for Mougouch, flirtation was simply part of good manners. To this day, as a great-grandmother, she is an irrepressible flirt with men, women, children, and animals.

In September Mougouch and Gorky were married in Virginia City, Nevada, scandalizing her patrician family. She was 20. Gorky, who lied about his age, was probably about 41. They bought a curtain ring at Woolworth’s, found a justice of the peace, and said their vows. After drinking champagne in a bar, they camped in the Sierra Nevada in a double sleeping bag. During these early years, Mougouch and Gorky struggled to make ends meet. She worked for United China Relief, and Gorky made a few sales and did some teaching. He had not had a New York show in years, and his reputation was at a low ebb. Mougouch tells me that even Noguchi had warned her not to marry Gorky, because he was “stuck in a rut” and kept scraping and repainting the same canvas.

With the captivating Mougouch at his side, Gorky’s circle of friends expanded. Over the years, Léger, Mondrian, and Miró all had occasion to visit. The couple met Surrealists Roberto Matta, Yves Tanguy, and André Masson, who had come to the United States to escape the war. At a dinner specially organized for them to meet the Surrealist poet André Breton, Mougouch served as translator, and the friendship took off. She remembers dancing down the street with Gorky because Breton had promised to visit the studio. Later, she was apprehensive: “What does one give a poet for dinner?” The menu—artichokes, pilaf, and Brie cheese—was a success, and Breton was full of admiration for Gorky’s paintings.

Mougouch had a deep understanding of Gorky’s work and was also a brilliant facilitator of his career, charming potential dealers and cooking delicious meals for museum curators. But during their second Virginia summer, her letters to her best friend, Jeanne Reynal, expressed a feeling of aimlessness. For a woman of Mougouch’s intelligence and energy, cooking, cleaning, and looking after her baby was not enough. She wished she could be a writer, and her letters indicate that she might have excelled in that field. She set up her typewriter in a cabin, wishing “to lay an egg myself and when I get up and look, nothing there…humiliating.” In another letter, she rationalized: “…o well hell there is time and there are more important fishes to fry, how to live and propagate gorkys, paintings and infants though I know it would be better if I did more I don’t so there.” Jeanne told Mougouch to look at Maro and at the transformation in Gorky’s work. “You have had a part in this. These things are not to be sniffed at.” (Mougouch did produce another Gorky—Natasha, born in 1945.)

Thanks to the dramatic change in Gorky’s painting, the dealer Julien Levy took him on and gave him a show in 1945. Then came the first of a series of disasters that made Gorky’s last years a calvary. On January 16, 1946, his studio at their house in Connecticut burned down, and many of his paintings were lost. Early in March, disaster struck again. Gorky underwent a colostomy for rectal cancer. He became, Mougouch recalls, “totally paranoid …a tree cut down.” No matter how hard she tried to convince him that his “rearranged body” did not disgust her, he himself, a fiercely fastidious man, was revolted. He sometimes burst out in violence. The miseries that plagued Gorky seemed to rekindle the horrors of his childhood—his experience of the Armenian genocide in 1915 and, four years later, the trauma of his mother dying of starvation in his arms. Mougouch wrote to Jeanne, “Gorky has to do some drawing or he & I will die.”

Soon, “working like a mad man—a happy one,” as Mougouch wrote, Gorky was drawing as though it were a race against mortality. But his total focus on work was distancing. “More and more our marriage was just about my engagement with Gorky’s painting,” she recalls. “But I loved him.” She wrote him letters of encouragement when she took her daughters away for the summer: “Everything that comes from your beautiful hand seems touched with magic that sings in my chest.” Gorky wrote back, “…when you return I want my harvest too [sic] be very big and good…. You are with me my darling without you I could not go on working.”

When Mougouch returned, she was thrilled with Gorky’s “harvest.” Gorky, however, was depleted and unable to work. He talked of suicide. Ever the optimist, Mougouch tried to lift his spirits. At a party for her twenty-seventh birthday, in June 1948, she remembers “whirling around with a lunatic pleasure,” dancing by herself in the vegetable garden. But Gorky’s depression was invasive. “He was wrapped in silence all those last months.” In mid-June she had had enough. She left the house and spent two days with Matta, who, over the years, had made many attempts to seduce her. “I felt a new strength. I felt that somebody had loved me and I could go on forever.”

Gorky found out about the affair but for a while said nothing. Another disaster swiftly followed. Gorky’s neck was broken in a car accident. His right arm was temporarily paralyzed, and he thought he would never be able to paint again. Mougouch did what she could to alleviate his misery, but, she recalls, after the accident “everything just collapsed.” One night in a rage, Gorky broke furniture and tore up drawings Matta had given them. Mougouch tried to soothe him, but he pushed her away, and she fell down the stairs. Later that night, she told him that she loved him and would not leave him. The next day, Gorky’s doctor told her that Gorky was dangerous. He insisted that she take her daughters to her mother’s in Virginia. On the morning of July 21, Gorky called Mougouch and said he was going to commit suicide in order to “free her and free himself.” She said she would come back to him, but it was too late. Having left ropes dangling from various trees and rafters, Gorky hanged himself in a shed. He left a note written in chalk on the box he’d stood on and kicked away: “Goodbye my loveds.”

After Gorky’s death, Mougouch stayed in the city with Jeanne. Matta’s love, she says, “held me up.” In August she went to Maine, and Matta joined her. On their way back, they stopped at my father’s house on Cape Cod. My father was out, but when he returned he discovered Mougouch—with whom he had flirted at the party they’d met at just the month before—dancing with Matta. In the following months, he and Matta vied for Mougouch’s love. Mougouch went to Marcel Duchamp for advice, and he told her that the responsibility of a wife and two children would be too much for Matta. He said, “I think you should go somewhere with the children and paint or write.” Mougouch wept as she saw Matta off on his flight to Chile to see his family.

She and my father were married at the Closerie des Lilas in Paris in 1949. For Mougouch this was a marriage of equals—she was not in my father’s thrall. She kept the myth of Gorky alive and shepherded his legacy, finding dealers to handle his work and encouraging museums to show and buy it. Though the shadow of Gorky’s suicide hung over her life, she was the perfect artist’s widow, just as she had tried to be an ideal artist’s wife. Since then, her life has been rich in friendships with artists, writers, and filmmakers. She is admired as a dazzling hostess, witty, elegant, and subtle. Restless always, she left my father after ten years and eventually married the writer Xan Fielding, with whom she seemed content. While he was dying of cancer, they lived in Paris on the Rue de Rivoli. I remember with various sisters following Mougouch down the Paris street and trying to imitate her proud, sensuous, and graceful stride. I did not love her any less after she was no longer my stepmother. Over the years, I have learned from her how to cook, decorate a house, dress, talk, walk, and look at paintings.

Today, Gorky is seen as a bridge between the School of Paris and Abstract Expressionism, a movement that took off just at the moment when he died. As her best friend put it all those years ago, Mougouch played a part in this artistic transformation. When the Gorky retrospective opened in Philadelphia in October, Mougouch could not be there, but the coming together of so many magnificent Gorky paintings and drawings is testimony to her triumph as well.

Click to see a slideshow of Gorky’s works ›

“Master and Muse” has been edited for Vogue.com; the complete story appears in the December 2009 issue of Vogue.

WESTERN DOLLY

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:47:00 +0000

Not only do I love this spread for the Western Lolita vibe and retro playfulness, I also love it because it is the product of my amazingly talented friend Christian Classen's impeccable styling. As fashion editor of Plaza magazine, Christian dressed Julia Valimaki in designs by Gucci, Chanel, and Derek Lam for the May issue. Shot by Christopher Schmidt, the feature will make you want to grab your boots and cause some trouble.

Photos via FGR

NATURAL GRACE: NICOLE KIDMAN COVERS HARPER'S BAZAAR AUSTRALIA JUNE/JULY 2012

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:31:00 +0000

Nicole Kidman holds her youngest daughter, Faith Margaret, for Will Davidson's lens on the latest cover of Harper's Bazaar Australia. In the feature, styled by Jillian Davison, the Academy Award winner and style icon discusses her latest role portraying Princess Grace of Monaco.

DO THE CANNES CANNES

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:46:00 +0000

The 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival is officially underway, with the Opening Ceremony getting things off to a glamorous start this morning. Diane Kruger was breathtaking in an ethereal blue Giambattista Valli one-shoulder gown, perfectly emoting Grace Kelly in the French Riviera-based To Catch a Thief.

Photos: RCFA and Suicide Blonde

Other appearances thus far include Freida Pinto in Michael Angel, Jane Fonda in Versace Atelier, Jessica Chastain in Alexander McQueen, Tilda Swinton in Haider Ackerman, Lana Del Rey in Alberta Ferretti, Bérénice Béjo in Louis Vuitton, and Eva Longoria in Marchesa.

Who else are you excited to see at this year's festival? Two of the films debuting this year star some of our favorite red carpet stars, including On the Road with Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst, and Terrence Mallick's Lawless with Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara. The line-up also includes a bevy of other films with style icons, including Nicole Kidman (Hemingway & Gellhorn, The Paperboy), Marion Cotillard (Rust & Bone), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Confession of a Child of the Century), Eva Mendes (Holy Motors), and Reese Witherspoon (Mud). Can't wait to see the ladies dazzle!

DANCE NOW

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:41:00 +0000

Malgosia Bela dances for Greg Kadel’s lens in the summer issue of i-D.

Photos via FGR

FOUR QUALITIES

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:52:00 +0000

‎"A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind.

It's the same qualities I require from a man"

- Catherine Deneuve

via Sylelist

YOU SHOULD BE DANCIN'

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:12:00 +0000

My baby moves at midnight

Goes right on till the dawn

My woman takes me higher

My woman keeps me warm

You should be dancin' yeah

-- Bee Gees

Old school Kate, Naomi, and Christy dancing via Fashionista

THE MONDAY BLUES

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Nude lip + nude shoe + cat eye + wavy hair + ladylike silhouettes = editorial inspiration for Monday. Enjoy!

Margaryta Senchylo by Andoni & Arantxa for Yo Dona, styled by Almudena Lopez Calafete via FGR.

SUNDAY

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:39:00 +0000

"The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaieties, and its announced end,

followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Photo: Charlotte Rampling via Tumblr

5 (MORE) LIFE-CHANGING BEAUTY PRODUCTS

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:46:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I confessed that while I am much more of a fashion girl than a beauty maven (Sephora is like a different planet to me... or like a Sports Chalet), there are 5 beauty products that I feel are life-changing. When you find the things that simplify your routine and make you feel refreshed, healthy, and beautiful, your life really can be changed in a small-- but profoundly significant-- way. It got me thinking, there are a few more things that I really appreciate having in my (minimal) beauty routine, so I thought I'd add 5 more products to the list of life-changers. What do you think-- have you found any products that have been life-changing for you?

1. Clarisonic Skin Cleansing Systyem

(Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness!)

Exfoliating is one of the most satisfying beauty rituals ever. It's the equivalent of giving your kitchen a good scrub-down-- and if you're slightly OCD like me, you know how great that feels. The Clarisonic Cleansing System is the best at-home way to get that satisfying scrub-down for your face. The brush has three speeds to clean you face up to six times more effectively than with your hands alone, extracting blackheads and eradicating dead cells.You will not believe the difference in your skin's texture the first time you use it. For me, that first time was three years ago, and I still could not live without my Clarisonic.

2. Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment Advanced Therapy

Although this lip treatment is a little pricey for a lip balm (whatever happened to good old Lipsmackers?), for me it was absolutely worth it. I get very dry lips that are easily irritated by many products (sorry, Bonnie Bell), but this treatment soothes and repairs with natural ingredients like orange extract and plum seed oil. Plus, the added Hyaluronic Filling Sphere "plumps the lips and fills volume". I have no idea what that is, but it does what it says, and my lips feel poutier after using. Plus, it smells, well, fresh!

3. Dove Beauty Bar

I have used this no-frills, classic soap literally my entire life. My mom used it on me as a baby, and I have never given it up. Besides the familiar, clean, subtle smell, I love the way my skin feels after using it. You can even use it on your eyes to gently remove makeup before using cleanser. Other body washes and soaps can be harsh, drying, and too scented, but Dove is always simple and consistent. Plus, it has "one-quarter moisturizing cream"!

4. Moroccanoil Treatment

Moroccanoil is a super versatile argan oil that can be used as a styling product when hair is wet, a finishing product when hair is done, and just about everything else in between. It conditions and repairs with fatty acids, omega-3's, and antioxidants, and the smell is absolutely heavenly. I don't know how, but just a few drops of this luxurious oil will solve any problem causing lackluster locks, from fly-aways to dullness to dryness. I've also tried the brand's hairspray, shampoo, and conditioner, but you can't beat the original oil treatment. It's the only product you'll need.

5. Vitamins

Don't you hate when celebrities claim that the only thing they do to look that good is "eat healthy and take vitamins"? You want to tell them to cut the bs, but they do have a point-- all the Botox and Creme de la Mer in the world won't make you look good if you don't take care of your health (Lindsay Lohan, we're talking to you, girlfriend). I know I look exponentially less haggard when getting the right nutrients and taking vitamins: pores are smaller, skintone is more even, eyes are brighter. Taking advice from expert articles and considering my body's own needs, I try to take a multi-vitamin, calcium + Vitamin D, fish oil, folic acid, B12, a cranberry supplement, and a probiotic daily. Seven pills seems like a lot to swallow (haaa), and I don't always stay on course, but I really do notice a world of difference when doing the right thing for my body. And that is something that is truly life-changing.

CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Photo via our ladies at WhoWhatWear

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR... YOU GET DISNEYLAND PARIS

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:53:00 +0000

Everyone loves Disneyland. There isn't a soul on earth that doesn't feel a little bit of magic when stepping through that gateway to your childhood. This month, Contributor Magazine features Bianca O'Brien frolicking through France's version of Fairy Tale Land, Adventure Land, and Tomorrow Land, shot by Magnus Magnusson. High fashion meets Disneyland Paris? Now that's the Happiest Place on Earth.

Photos: FGR

Love it!! Wish they would have done a shot at Pirates of the Caribbean (my fave, and not only because of Johnny Depp-- it was the best even before they remodeled). They should have recruited some of the princesses to model, too-- ever notice how every girl, even when grown, has the Disney princess that she thinks is "her"? (Ahem, Cinderella... or Belle).

Speaking of Disney princesses, I'm still not over the hilarious Real Housewives of Disney from SNL. Watch it here and have a good Friday morning laugh. Happy (almost) Weekend!

11 WAYS TO BECOME THE PERSON YOU LOVE

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:48:00 +0000

The title of this post sounds a little cheesy, but I think this article from Marc and Angel is an important one to read. In this life, everyone is trying to make it. Everyone, in their own way, is striving, hustling, and just burning with the desire to make their unique mark on the world. Here are 11 ways you can find your path, become the best version of yourself, and let your true beauty shine for the world to enjoy.

You are powerful when you believe in yourself – when you know that you are capable of anything you put your mind to. You are beautiful when your strength and determination shines as you follow your own path – when you aren’t disheveled by the obstacles along the way. You are unstoppable when you let your mistakes educate you, as your confidence builds from experiences – when you know you can fall down, pick yourself up, and move forward.

1. Stop judging, and appreciate the beauty within you. – Judging yourself is not the same as being honest with yourself. When it comes to living as a compassionate, non-judgmental human being, the only challenge greater than learning to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, is learning to walk a lifetime comfortably in your own. In every smile there is beauty. In every heart there is love. In every mind there is wisdom. In every human being there is a soul, there is life, there is worth, and there is the ability to see all these things in everyone, including one’s self. Read The Mastery of Love.

2. Treat yourself the way you want others to treat you. – Accept yourself! Insecurity is what’s ugly, not you. Be you, just the way you are, in the beautiful way only you know how. The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others. You must love who you are or no one else will either. And when you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not everyone will like you, but you won’t care about it one bit.

3. Care less about who you are to others. – Don’t lose YOU in your search for acceptance by others. Be aware that you will always appear to be a little less than some people prefer you to be, but that most people are unaware that you are so much more then what they see. You are good enough just the way you are. You have nothing to prove to anyone else. Care less about who you are to others and more about who you are to yourself.

4. Know your worth. – We often accept the love we think we deserve. It makes no sense to be second in someone’s life, when you know you’re good enough to be first in someone else’s.

5. Don’t rush intimate relationships. – Love is not about sex, going on fancy dates, or showing off. It’s about being with a person who makes youhappy in a way nobody else can. You don’t need a perfect one, you just need someone who you can trust – who shows you that you’re the only one. If you haven’t found true love yet, don’t settle. There is someone out there who will love you unconditionally, even if it’s not the person you were initially hoping for.

6. Let go of those who aren’t really there. – There are certain people who aren’t meant to fit into your life no matter how much you want them to. And the only ones truly worthy of your love are the ones who stand with you through the hard times and laugh with you after the hard times pass. Maybe a happy ending doesn’t include anyone else right now. Maybe it’s just you, on your own, picking up the pieces and starting over, freeing yourself for something better in the future. Maybe the happy ending is simply letting go.

7. Forgive yourself and others. – Of all the things that can be stolen from you – your possessions, your youth, your health, your words, your rights – what no one can ever take from you is your freedom to choose what you will believe in, and who and what your heart will love going forward. Life begins where your fear and resentment ends. Just because someone hurt you yesterday, doesn’t mean you should hate the world, or start living life today in constant fear of being hurt tomorrow. When you forgive yourself and others, and stop the inner imprisonment, you’re creating the love of your life. Read The Tao of Pooh

8. Focus on the positive. – Do not let the pain make you hopeless. Do not let the negativity wear off on you. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Even though others may disagree with you, take pride in the fact that you still know the world is a beautiful place. Change your thoughts and you change your reality. Our thoughts are the makers of our moods, the inventors of our dreams, and the creators of our will. That is why we must sort through them carefully, and choose to respond only to those that will help us build the life we want, and the outlook we want to hold as we’re living it.

9. Believe in the person you are capable of being. – The real purpose of your life is to evolve and grow into the whole person you are capable of being. Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. Change really is always possible – there is no ability that can’t be developed with experience. Don’t ever let your negative beliefs stand in the way of your own improvement. Read A New Earth.

10. Work on goals you believe in. – Never put off or give up on a goal that’s important to you. Not because you still have tomorrow to start or try again, but because you may not have tomorrow at all. Life is shorter than it sometimes seems. Follow your heart today.

11. Keep looking and moving straight forward. – Moving on doesn’t mean you have forgotten; it means you have accepted what happened in the past and choose to continue living in the present. Moving on doesn’t mean you’re giving up; it means you’re giving yourself another chance by making a choice to be happy rather than hurt. Through all the problems you have faced, the burdens weighing down on your shoulders, the pain in your heart, you have only one thing to say, “I survived and I now know better for next time.”

In the end, loving yourself is about enjoying your life, trusting your own feelings, taking chances, losing and finding happiness, cherishing the memories, and learning from the past. Sometimes you have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, maybe not exactly how you planned, but just how it’s meant to be.

Photos: Sasha Pivovarova by Yelena Yumchek for AnOther #11 via FGR

AMERiCAN WOMAN

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:37:00 +0000

"The American woman, I learned, could be funny, tough, intelligent, sophisticated,

flirty, hilarious, practical... and downright dangerous."

-- Isabel Toledo

Photo: Lily Aldridge by Claiborne Swanson Frank for her book, American Beauty

Photo: Type Written Word

YOUR iNNER VOiCE

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:25:00 +0000

Photo: My Pretty Red Heart

FRiDAY FAVORiTE: GUCCi GARÇON EVENiNG CASE

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Last Friday's Favorite is still on the homepage of ESS, which means I have not had time to post very much this week. Between work, dinner parties, birthday parties, and launch parties (is spring fever to blame?), the past few days have gotten away from me. I know many of you have been similarly crazy lately, which is why this Friday Favorite is perfect for pulling it all together at the end of the week. A small, elegant evening case will unburden you from the week's extra baggage by paring you down to the weekend essentials- phone, cards, lipstick- while adding instant polish to your look. This favorite is a stunning mirrored box with ebony crocodile trim from Gucci's Jazz Age-inspired Spring collection. With a gold Swarovski fringe tassel and emerald clasp, this statement piece is all you need to effortlessly sweep into your weekend plans with gusto and style.

Photo: Vogue

Gucci Garçon evening case, available here.

Or maybe you sweep into sticker shock... but you know how I feel about just going with the fantasy.

Friday Favorites usually serve as a way to simply appreciate the artistry of one beautiful object without crassly bringing up the fact that the feature is largely unaffordable. However, this week I happened to find 3 great alternate evening cases from Zara, House of Harlow 1960, and DVF, so Friday Favorite serves inspirational and practical purposes this time. Hope you enjoy!

Here are a few other bits discovered this week which also promote the idea of embracing fantasy and appreciating beauty:

- Tips to Make Your Life a Formal Affair from the Simply Luxurious Life

- Iced Coffee Season by Inslee

- Bettina Prentice's APT with LSD + 8 Tips on Creating Beautiful Vignettes from Everything Fabulous

- Lyrics, Quotes, Poems, Words, Thoughts... TypeWritten shared by my friend Madeline

Have a fantastic, beautiful weekend!

VOGUE RUSSiA MAY COVER STORY: GLAMOROUS MOTHER

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:55:00 +0000

If you have visited ESS frequently and / or we are friends, you may know it is one of my goals in life to be a glamorous mother. It's that dichotomous instinct which craves excellence both in a career and in the home. I know, lofty goals-- I will let you know how that goes once I get married. But for now, let's enjoy this new editorial from Vogue Russia's May cover story, featuring Maryna Linchuk as a glamorous mother, showing us how to make it all happen... and look fab doing it.

Photos: FGR

Side note: I realize this is an editorialized fantasy and not an accurate portrayal of the realities of motherhood. But as long as you can enjoy the fantasy responsibly, why not do so? Reality is overrated.

PiNTEREST: A SUNDAY KiND OF LOVE

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:47:00 +0000

Being a little under the weather this weekend, I've taken to the couch with Pinterest. Is everyone still this addicted? It can't be helped... when I see beautiful things, I must pin!

Screen shot of my favorite board, Love.

YSL: "THE MOST BEAUTiFUL MAKEUP FOR A WOMAN iS PASSiON"

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:49:00 +0000

Photos via Tumblr

FRiDAY FAVORiTE: JENNY PACKHAM SiLK-CHiFFON BED JACKET

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:54:00 +0000

For those of us not headed to the desert for Coachella, it's thunder and lightening this weekend in LA (alas, the beach weather was not destined to last). It's the perfect time to wrap Jenny Packham's petal-soft silk-chiffon bed jacket over your shoulders, sip a glass of wine, and listen to the thrashing storm outside. Is there anything more romantic?

Click here for more information... as with last Friday's Favorite, if you are going to order it, you are one lucky girl!

On the other hand, if you were super inspired by StyleStalker's fab look book earlier this week and aren't about to let a little rain get in the way of your party, here are 3 links to get your weekend started:

- 3 Steps to Throwing a Super Fun Pre-Party

- Glamour's Pros & Cons of Meeting Guys at a Bar (visual aids provided by Beyonce and Buffalo Bill)

- Vogue's Extra Pro of Meeting Guys at a Bar (Rolling Stone tested, supermodel approved)

Not that I necessarily support meeting guys at bars, but if you do, high five, sister. Happy Friday!

MiUCCiA PRADA: "i LOVE APRONS"

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:44:00 +0000

"I’m interested in the lives of women in general, which is why I love aprons.

The apron is a recurring theme in my work because it is symbolic of women’s sufferance ...

It’s an emblem of women’s despair, their poverty, their passions.

I love drama and romance."

- Miuccia Prada via The Cut

I loved this quote from Miuccia Prada. It reminded me of a touching exhibit I saw on traditional Hungarian women's dress at the Museum of Ethnology in Budapest. The exhibit explained that through the twentieth century, the impoverished Hungarian economy was largely agricultural, and women were expected to labor in the fields from sunrise to sundown, even immediately after giving birth. It brings a new appreciation to the freedom and opportunity women are able to enjoy in our lives today.

Photos from the Budapest Museum of Ethnology, taken in the days of my Blackberry... I wish they were better quality!

STELLA MCCARTNEY: A PERSPECTiVE ON ABUNDANCE VS. LACK

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:02:00 +0000

"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities.

It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend.
When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives,
but are grateful for the abundance that's present--
love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure
--the wasteland of illusion falls away, and we experience heaven on earth"

- Sarah Ban Breathnach via Simply Seductive

Photo: Young Stella McCartney photographed by her late mother, Linda McCartney via Pinterest

These kind of quotes can sometimes be frustratingly annoying. Aside from being rather cliche, these rose-colored axioms seem condescending when you're going through a hard time, and can add guilt to the hurt you're already experiencing. But once in a while, a statement like this will click, and open up a whole new perspective. I like this one by Sarah Ban Breathnach because it acknowledges that everything is not perfect, yet not everything is terrible, and that's okay: "both abundance and lack exist simultaneously". For example, we could look at the above photograph of Stella McCartney: the daughter of one of the most influential musicians of all time and designer of one of the coveted fashion houses of all time, Stella seems to have lived in abundance her entire life. The image shows the young beauty lounging in a garden, the subject of her photographer mother's critically acclaimed lens. But the mother who lovingly captured her here has since passed away. Close to her since birth, Stella has publicly expressed her deep grief at the loss of her mother. Losing one's parent is clearly a profound sense of lack that can never be replenished, not even by abundant fame or success. Anyone who still has their mother, especially if they enjoy a loving relationship with her, can in a way be considered more abundantly blessed than Stella McCartney.

This is not all to say that Stella's abundant blessings mean nothing, or that anyone else's struggles and sense of lack are invalid. It is simply to use someone we admire to illustrate the many ways of looking at what we have, and ultimately, how to find that path to "heaven on earth". What do you think?

SCARLETT JOHANSSON COVERS MAY iSSUE OF VOGUE

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:37:00 +0000

Scarlett Johansson sweeps through the pages of Vogue's May issue with a cheetah at her heels and a champagne in her hand. Channeling Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, Scarlett paints the town with Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo. Let's go to her party.

"I'm a singing, dancing, jazz-hands kid."

- Scarlett Johansson

Read the full article here.

CARiNE ROiTFELD REVEALS NAME, DETAiLS OF HER NEW GLOSSY

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:32:00 +0000

Since Carine Roitfeld's departure from Vogue Paris in December of 2010, speculation has swirled regarding her next move. Yesterday, the former EIC has confirmed to WWD that her new project will be a new magazine entitled CR Fashion Book. Debuting in September, each issue of the book will follow a theme and will contain only feature length stories. Carine emphasized to WWD that CR is not a challenge to Vogue, but "something new, something different". What do you think?

Photos: Fashionologie

It's very Carine-- loving the b&w of course, and the handwritten monogram logo. Not sure about naming it CR (a little obvious?), but overall, it is, as my little cousin would now say after spending the weekend with me, so chic.

STYLESTALKER'S NEW LOOK BOOK WiLL MAKE YOU WiSH FOR THE WEEKEND

noreply@blogger.com (lacealexis) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:19:00 +0000

Okay so it is only Tuesday but after seeing StyleStalker's amazing new look book, I am ready for the weekend. Rachel and Sue-Ann, the girls behind the fab label, said they were channeling "old school Kate Moss getting ready for a night out". Um... could anything be better?

Let's dance.