Smell This

The weather was criminally gorgeous yesterday, so it follows that I would be working inside all day.  I was moping at my desk, mumbling something or other about Vilebrequin swim trunks and frosty beverages, when my nostrils perked up at the loveliest scent. 

A designer client of mine had just walked in, and she seemed to be emanating the smell of summer personified.  It's difficult to tell someone that they smell heavenly without seeming like someone who collects human hair in scrapbooks.  However, I was compelled by sense of duty to ask. 

The culprit: a bergamot cologne from Le Labo, the New York-based parfumerie with a decidedly apothecarian aesthetic.

I'm a big fan of colognes, but they rarely stick to me for long...nor I to them.  A candle is,  for me, the next best thing.  And luckily Le Labo has taken some of their most popular formulas and made them wick-ed.  If you're not groaning too hard, take a look at their offerings. 

And yes, "wick-ed" just happened.

Yule Blog

Hello again, friends!

Looks like I've climbed out of my serious Glee/GaGa/carbohydrate hole and have finally seen my shadow, if not my feet.  Holiday awesomeness is predicted for all, and here are some lead indicators (and a de facto xmas list for those of you who gave birth to me and are reading this):

My family and I waded through the Thanksgiving Day post-parade melee to see the Lewis Carrol-inspired Bergdorf windows, and as usual, they did not disappoint.  A particularly fantastical favorite (below) features a cacophany of chromed musical instruments, disco unicorns and a Naeem Khan-clad social X-ray standing on the mantel. 

The fantasy here, I suppose, is that an 85-pound body could support a 90-pound beaded gown, let alone scale a fireplace.  In my YouTube re-creation/your dreams, I will be wrapped in tin foil, standing on top of my bathroom vanity and flatironing my emo-bangs.

Also loving the new David Stark holiday goodies for West Elm (below).  For the uninitiated, Stark is the go-to genius for the fete set in NYC, planning some of the chicest and most creative parties this side of...well...time and space.  He captured some of his signature flair for his WE collection, no hand-engraved Crane & Co. invite required:

Check out David's webiste for some gorgeous party ideas, as well.  (I need help deciding between Cipriani's and Lincoln Center for my imagined commitment cermony to Orlando Bloom. By the way, we're registered at Mary Boone Gallery and the Library of Congress.)

West Elm has some other holiday niceties, as well, for those of you in need of some low-paycheck, high-payoff wintertime entertaining supplies.

WE's Manzanita candelabra has an echo of Michael Aram without the sticker shock.  And with spots for nine mini-tapers, it's a perfect hostess gift for that Hannukah bellini-and-bagel brunch you're attending. 

Other items on my Secret Santa list:

- anything monogrammed

- the rights to turn Troop Beverly Hills into a stage musical

- a monetary donation in my name to the struggling shelter mag of your choice

- floor seats to the Gaga show next month (or cheap seats along with really stylish opera glasses)

- early parole

Thanks for reading...and the happiest of holidays to all three of you!

(0) Days of Summer

Labor Day weekend is like Sunday of the whole year.  That back-to-school melancholy is in the air, along with the Hampton Gitney's last breath of exhaust, and I find myself entertaining wistful thoughts of sunny L.A. ranch houses, bright blue swimming pools and endless summer bonfires back in my native SoCal.  (Going going back back to...)

My last post was all about getting a jump start on fall.  But today I just want to cling onto summer like a schoolboy with ADHD.  Part of that means wearing my Ray-Bans on the subway, listening to Solange Knowles on loop, and making my own Bumble&Bumble Surf Spray in my kitchen sink (hint: salt+water = saltwater). 

But I thought I'd put together a little greatest hits list of summery Cali style, as well.  If used wisely, you may never have to buy a new Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper for school again....

I'm all about using art as inspiration, especially when you're trying to evoke a particular energy or texture in your decor.  For instance, David Hockney's swimming pool paintings are so piquantly summer-sexy that I can almost feel the sting of chorline in my eyes and the residual prickle of a fading sunburn.  I'm an indoor kid at heart (Scrabble and spray-on tan to the core), but I like to pretend that my past is filled with debauched Malibu pool parties chez Geffen.  No reason I can't decorate as if.  Like my mom always says: "If you can't do lines on the lanai with Carly Simon, then you should go shopping at CB2 for accessories." 

Oh Ma, you're so right!  To get that Hockney look try a mix of the following:

Art Deco Table Lamp from Target, sunny and funky:

A few Astroturf floor tiles from FLOR underfoot:

A Kartell stool in your favorite shade of shallow/deep end:

If Hockney is too-too for you, take a look at one of Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park paintings.  There's a beachy rustication to the simple shapes and sunbleached colors that, to me, conjures up images of the Venice boardwalk and the bungalows along Abbot Kinney.

Since a Diebenkorn is a little out of my wannabe beachbum budget, I found these great photos in Union Square from a company called She Hit Pause Studios.  Sold in perfectly weathered frames, they look like Holgaroids that have been left out by the pool on a sunny day.  The photo doesn't do them justice, so check out their site at shehitpausestudios.com.

Enviroments Furniture has a collection of reclaimed wood furniture that seems ready-made for your Venice Beach bungalow/Murray Hill 1BR, with a little 70s romper room mixed in for good measure.  Fabrics are in earthy tweeds and funky felts.  Check out their Union Square showroom if you're in the hood.

Any other cures for the summertime design blues?  I'd love to hear 'em.