…posting, here is a random pic of me looking rather witchy. I know its been a while since I’ve written and I’m sorry- I’ve just been super busy shaking things up. New career path, new body- Core Fusion at Exhale Spa is amazing, and hopefully even new love (I’m going speed dating tonight-so wish me luck)!
I promise to update with windows soon~
I have to be honest I am not a huge fan of polka dots. I much prefer the print’s linear, and way preppier cousin the stripe, but I am caught in the waves of this mermaid Oscar de la Renta gown. Aside from the obviously fab couture cut and fresh floral detail, this gown makes me want to kick off my heels and dance barefoot on the beach while gazing up at the stars above… Perchance to dream 
I love the idea of pairing an unexpected hat with the look (and any gown for that matter) but would have gone for an overstated floppy version like the style below. The runway chapeau is top heavy and static- an unbalanced compliment to the gown’s graceful fluidity.
Bette Franke
Forever 21 Flat Bow Floppy Hat, $12
Here are some of my other favorite looks from Oscar’s Resort Collection, I am always game for a little Spanish Renaissance!
Jules Mordovets & Lydia Carron
Ksenia Kahnovich
Marillia Dutra & Bette Franke
Jacquelyn Jablonski
Hanne Gaby Odiele & Tati Cotliar
Hanne Gaby Odiele
Oscar de la Renta, 772 Madison Ave, 212.288.5210
Images Courtesy of Style.com
A Gentile in the Midst of a very Jewish neighborhood- One small stride for non Christmas celebrating peoples everywhere.
Artsy Barbies & Ken- an artistic display which incited a discourse in the function of fashion.
Mwa Mwa- thought provoking and mesmeric, a look deeper at all of the parts that make up the whole of one’s beauty!
You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Chicken Head?- one of the many disco balls to grace SCW, but the only one to include with it a chicken head!
The Windows are Here The Windows are Here- the Lady Gaga inspired budoir made entirely of hair, showcasing her place as Barneys mane girl!
This has been a week full of ups and downs when it comes to benefit and I… First I find out they opened right around the corner from me on 74th and 3rd and I’m UP. Then I find out they discontinued my cannot live without (let alone leave the house without) powder Georgia, and I’m way way DOWN. Clearly in need of a new beauty bounty- I saunter on over to the aborbs new boutique and despite my initial skepticism, was made over flawlessly by the super fab Sam Most- clearly (and now evenly toned) back UP again! While I’m a firm believer in the school of “if it aint broke don’t fix it” (and I never would’ve fixed my Georgia addiction because it made me a vision of peach perfection) I am beyond happy with my revamped regimen.
Never one to keep a secret, especially one that makes the world a more beautiful place–
Say hello to my sick new arsenal of skin perfection:
The POREfessional pro balm so adept at minimizing your pores you’ll wonder if you ever had them to begin with!
they’re Real! mascara which lengthens, curls, lifts and separates- my lashes have just reached a whole new level and its past my eyebrows!
“that gal” brightening face primer- yours (and mine) go-to for the ultimate in deliciously dewey skin.
hervana, a “good karma” face powder of shades lucky shell, divine peach, heavenly rose and berry delight for a totally enlightened tone.
high beam luminescent complexion enhancer- a perfect accent for cheek and brow bones, and what i found out today is it even works on your nose!
Benefit, founded by twin sisters Jean and Jane (former models and make-up artists) began creating cosmetics in the 70′s, opening up shop in sunny San Fran. The neighborhood venture and beauty “locker room” quickly became a mecca of make-up and go-to for gloss gossip that is now a thriving global beauty biz with over thirty boutiques across the world.
A favorite of mine for years, I actually found out about the brand while working for another ues local hot spot, Big Drop, and I’ve never looked back, or better!
benefit, 1301 Third Ave, 212.288.4728
Images courtesy of benefit.com
The Miu Miu stole has finally graced their 57th street windows! Is anyone rocking the trend yet~ we’ve had some deliciously warm weather lately???
Miu Miu, 11 East 57th St, 212.641.2980
Bergdorfs is totally channeling South Beach this month- first a Lik look alike and now this musically inclined display at the mens’ store just in time for MMW! Sadly this year I will not be attending and I’ll actually be working every day this week so keep me in your rager spirits Ultra’ns~ these sick windows are about as close as I’ll be…
I’ll save my schpiel about how house music has completely blown up and cut right to the chase about how I feel it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Music and the instruments to create it are entirely symptomatic of a people at their given time in history and in case you’ve been under a drum for the past decade or so we’ve rapidly become a tech savvy society (to put it lightly), so it makes sense that our music speaks the language of well, us.
Neanderthals didn’t have the time to produce the lyre any more than the Greeks had the skill set to create electronic music! Neither culture’s lifestyle or knowledge base afforded them the ability to do so. Ours on the other hand has people creating something from nothing- just look at the internet… But that is another story for another time, rock on, I mean push buttons on DJ’s~ it’s what our society has become ever so proficient in anyway.
Bergdorf Goodman, 754 Fifth Ave, 800.558.1855
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is alive and well at Ralph Lauren on 72nd and just look at that merchandising detail~ peacocks, vases, leaved trellises, couches and jazz instruments… And the clothes, talk about a time warp, they make me feel as if I’m on my way to west egg, or was it east??? It’s no surprise there that Ralph designed such an impeccably flawless 20′s reprisal for his spring summer collection~in 1974, he designed the costumes for the original Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, at the time launching his design career and a mini Jazz Age Golden Age!
I have to say I am a huge fan of the roaring 20′s and its flap’tastic fashion. Not only were women granted their right to vote, but dance clubs, jazz music and speakeasies peaked, cosmetics became popular for the first time in America, and women bequeathed their Victorian lifestyle for a more hedonistic one- baring arms, legs and chins (bobs were all the rage).
An eternally classic style, none can deny that a drop waisted pleat dress with feathers and intricate beading, fur stole and layers of pearls topped by a chic chapeaux will always be en vogue!
Yulia Kharlapanova
Valentina Zelyaeva
Karlie Kloss
Kristina Romanova
Bruna Tenorio
Toni Garrn
Karlie Kloss
Sui He
Josephine Skriver
Ralph Lauren, 888 Madison Ave, 212.434.8000
Images courtesy of Style.com
These two sickkk Bergdorf windows remind me of one of my favorite landscape photographers, Peter Lik, who is truly unrivaled in his ability to capture the essence of the natural beauty all around us. The Aussie-born self taught artist owns thirteen galleries internationally, and when I visit the one in South Beach I can spend forever just staring at his photos imagining myself in them…
It’s hard to pick a favorite when they are all so breathtaking but here are a few:
Ethereal Glow, Page- Arizona
Red Dawn, Northern Territory
Angel’s Heart, Antelope Canyon- Arizona
Embrace, Horseshoe Bend- Arizona
Tree of Life, Oregon
Upon Horizon, Utah
Tree of the Universe, Hawaii
Fire Dance, Queensland
Santorini Terrace, Greece
Beyond Paradise, Key West
Hamoa Beach, Hawaii
Bergdorf Goodman, 754 Fifth Ave, 800.558.1855
Check out more of Lik’s work on my pinterest boards!
Images courtesy of Lik.com
Let me start by squelching any ideas you may have about my well being~ I have not fallen into a windowless abyss! As I mentioned previously, since joining a gym a good portion of my time has been devoted to bettering my health and physique. And while I don’t spend every waking hour there, as of late I have been extremely uninspired. No, not by windows (there are actually some pretty sick ones happening right now)- but by the monotony of day to day living.
My bestie expressed to me recently that she didn’t get this thing we call life, and my reply was that there is nothing to get– the only point to it any and all of it is to love and be loved. To have love for yourself and love for others, love for what you do and love for where you’re going…
After twenty something years of refining (and haply appreciating) my singular existence on this planet, I would really like to know what its like to share it with another. To experience the passion that exists between book pages and on big screens, (before you ask, no I haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey, but I have read the entire Lords of The Underworld series). Now I’ve totally gone off on a tangent here- but - this is just a little explanation on where I’ve been lately, and a romantically inclined preamble to where this post is going…
Once Upon A Time there was a show about unrequited love on ABC that while not very captivating in its de-linearly circumnavigating plot is overwhelmingly precise in its costume design. Eduardo Castro, the show’s wardrobing extroidinaire and three time Costume Designers Guild award winner for his work on Ugly Betty is a legend in the biz; and while I never watched the show you all know how much I love my ponchos! With nearly three decades under his [Hermés] belt, Castro was beat out for this year’s CDG award in the “Outstanding Period/Fantasy Television Series” category to Boardwalk Empire’s John A. Dunn and Lisa Padovani. Now I haven’t watched that show either so Im unaware of the competition, but I can assure you that their period garb is no match for Castro’s.
In reality (and surely in my book), a win is certainly not the demarcation of ones excellence and craftsmanship. Just look at the lack of wins Tilda Swinton received for her standout performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin- which was so garish and raw I am still not able to talk about it- except to tell you to go see it ASAP! And let’s not forget Ellen Burstyn’s non win (certainly it was not a loss) for her role as Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream- I haven’t been able to look at a red dress the same since!
If you haven’t yet watched Once Upon a Time, its not for the hodge podge plot I recommend you do- but for the imaginatively expansive fashion that Eduardo Castro has brought in overwhelming proportions to the small screen. A true appreciation of dramatic detail and return to opulence, the fabrications are nothing short of regal and the cuts are completely rejuvinative. Not only has the show given me a desire to join LARP, or LAIR (for the Role Model fans out there), but more importantly it has made me seriously question and abhor the practicality of my wardrobe.
