The Feeling is Miuccia

So I really just wanted to use that title (inspired by the divoon Mrs. B.), but I'm also back in Northwest Florida where it hit 76 degrees today. I was laying out by Pa Olsen's cement pond on a vinyl chaise with Enrique Iglesias blasting on the radio. Had I been transported back to 1999? I didn't have a BlackBerry then, or contractors calling me on it, or much else to do but watch Melrose Place reruns and freebase Triscuits before tackling an epic trigonometry problem entitled "The Water in a Lake." (I should've sued over the trauma we all suffered leading up to Mrs. Calley's announcement: "There is no solution. Whoops!")

Anywhiz, Pilgrim-centric holidays aside, for me the Gulf Coast now always translates to "vacation." And isn't that what Ms. Prada sends down the runway, spring season after spring season?


She loves her some postcard prints and so do I. JJ Fad --I mean Crew--got on it:


And is it creepy that a movie about a gay serial killer might be one of my all-time favorites (again, '99 was a good year)?


Forrest Gump's mom said "Vacation's when you go somewhere ... and you don't ever come back." Doesn't Dickie Greenleaf know it.

(Now playing)

Wheel of Fortune

Siena Duomo, y'all.

(Never knew he sings "The wheel has brought no fortune" -- what about buying that Beatles song catalog back in '84, eh?)

Me, yesterday: Wish me luck!
Sister: You are a star. Kill them with your grace and charm just like Vanna White.

Reminds me, some crazy talent has come out of Myrtle Beach, SC.

The Climb

Wrapping up Unintentional Emerald Week here at Nick Olsen Style International I just have to post about this climbing leopard by Diane von Furstenberg (I'll cop to pronouncing it "Dee-ahn" like a pretentious fashion twit) for The Rug Company:

It's a riff on Fornasetti, no? I'd Google but The Real Melting Faces of Beverly Hills is on.

More, More, More

Check out this amazing project by Sam Schwartz of Illusions, a full-service interior design firm in beautiful downtown Long Beach, NY:

photos by Thomas Loof for New York Magazine

Kidding! Of course it's Mugatu's. I know I'm biased and this blog might lately be mistaken for the Miles Redd PR Machine but GOOD GRIEF, quel chicitude. And so funny that a commenter mentioned Stephen Tennant on my preceding satin sofa post because this particular client, a gentleman and a scholar, owns a satin sofa and reminds us of Tennant and his literary counterpart Cedric Hampton in the best ways possible! Anyone who references smelling salts and quips "let's make a bonfire of the vanity" in email correspondence deserves to live in such splendor if you ask me.

Kindly note:
- faux basalt half-urns are the new foo dogs
- primary colors and jewel tones can live in harmony
- black paper shades make it so none of the lamps have to match

Read the NYMag article by Wendy Goodman here.

Wolf Like Me

Someone at Wolf Home (formerly Silk Trading Company) is reading my mind. Solid silk satin 20" square pillows with down inserts in a range of pretty colors? Check. Silk velvet ones in squares and lumbars too? Check check. Tufted sofa with buttoned waterfall skirt and single seat cushion in EMERALD GREEN SATIN???


Check, check, check my pulse I might pass out. She ain't cheap but how refreshing, especially with all that Belgian linen across the street.

(Now playing)

November Rain

A friend of mine works at THE "It" restaurant in town and regularly makes it rain for her coworkers with all the swag she receives from folks angling for a corner booth. We all know that's reserved for Ryan Seacrest and the president of Rwanda (not kidding).

Anyway this month the press gods made it rain for my dear Mugatu, with spreads in both Elle Decor AND the newly revamped Veranda:


On the cover!! (More photos here.) This was by far the funnest project I ever assisted on -- the owners personify southern hospitality and the 'Everything is Bigger in Texas' spirit. When we'd finished our installation the lady of the house called her friend: "Come over and see! And wear a Depend, gurl, 'cause you're gonna wet your pants!!" It's Miles meets Mario meets Dorothy Draper and Cecil Beaton's lovechild and I'm so pumped for the world to see.

And while we're on the topic, everyone needs to subscribe to this mag right now. New Editor-in-Chief Dara Caponigro, Senior Style Editor Eugenia Santiesteban (both ex-Domino-ers) and other shelter world vets are bringing the chic BIG TIME. Veere Grenney's London project makes me want to ditch bold colors for bruise colors, it's that quietly luxe:


Oh, and if you want your design problems solved by a deer in the headlights, click here.