Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Stylelist Home
Did you know that the Huffington Post has a new decor-centric site called Stylelist Home? For their launch today I was happy to chat about all manner of very butch topics, including the bedskirt I just made:
Check out the interview here. Thanks to Dickson Wong, formerly of Elle Decor -- oh, the hours we spent rounding up credits for Mugatu's projects. Anyhoo I'm excited to see what Arianna and Co. bring to the home-website table!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Under the Tuscan Son
Kudos, me: I finally have a working scanner ... and printer, and copier, and fax machine (yes, I fax CONSTANTLY). Two months ago a plaster shell bracket fell off the wall and onto my four-in-one Epson nightmare. Only two functions continued to function, not including the one I need daily (PRINT). So this afternoon I sucked it up and bought his replacement (a "Brother") ... so banal I can barely type it out. Is anyone else paralyzed by tech maintenance? My lame, corporate BlackBerry freezes for six minutes at a time and after my single attempt to fix the sitchu I wanted to pull a full-on Kaczynski, or at least a Salinger.
ANYWAY.
This scan takes me to a warm, sunny place. Picture it, Tuscany, 2011: A place where colors don't have to coordinate yet headboards and Parsons tables wear matching grapefruit linen slipcovers. It's a bedroom in a villa belonging to Dede Pratesi, matriarch of the molto-luxe linens firm, plus her son Federico and his family. I'll cop to a certain ignorance when it comes to fancy sheet companies, though I'm partial to Schweitzer, they of the endless embroidery pattern selection and absolute refusal to rebrand with the times. So I had no idea that some Pratesi's look like the best of Mrs. Tillett? Also note how that twee frescoed ceiling actually works when paired with a bold tiled floor, modern art, small-scale plaid curtains and said gonzo multi-citrus/battleship gray/taupe color palette. (Whatever she says, DON'T negate it.) No disrespect to the Pratesis but this is where I picture secret Russkie Tilda having her second act in the sequel to I Am Love.
ANYWAY.
Architectural Digest, September 2011, photographed by Peter Estersohn
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Supreme
I have a weakness for easily listening, and the other day this haunting li'l tune (penned by Mr. Easy himself, Lionel Richie) popped into my head:
After a lengthy Youtube sesh I decided Miss Ross will be my style icon, a tutelary 'spirit human' if you will, for Fall 2011. Forget the obvious references, though who doesn't love a bouffant/satin glove combo or that rainbow chiffon number from Mahogany? I'm talking about her post-Motown aura: regal and imperious but a little messy. The hair's always sort of a frizzbomb, the sequined column a size too big, and the chiclet teeth (a medical term, according to Jill Zarin) forever uncapped. It's a refreshing attitude when every housewife has a stylist and lady celebs seem determined only to out-pretty or out-kook each other on the red carpet. And Diana genuinely looks like she's having a blast! Watch her dance with Marvin Gaye above or with Jacko in his prime:
Could Gaga or Britney ever let loose like this? The former looks like she's taking a chemistry exam onstage, and the latter is back to pageant queen speeches and (literally) going through the motions.
In a weird way this all came into sharper focus after I read Molly Young's gushing article on J. Crew's reigning magpie Jenna Lyons in New York's Fashion Issue. She is tall and uber-stylish and insanely good at her job. Is it wrong that I liked her more after finding out she has bald patches on her head and a mouth full of dentures because of a genetic disease? A pretty brave revelation for someone in the image business. And unlike other designers who take us to Crazytown season after season but hide themselves in layers of black, this woman loves her a sequin and some marabou. Walks the walk, so to speak. For instance she wore a slouchy cashmere sweater over her feathered gown to the Costume Institute Ball. A confident and perhaps calculated move, but it does show us who's runnin' things. Do you think a stylist ever told Diana (who used to sew costumes for the Supremes), "You know, the tomato flamenco explosion just isn't so flattering"?? Wincing at the thought. Anyway as Mugatu used to say, there is perfection in imperfection.
After a lengthy Youtube sesh I decided Miss Ross will be my style icon, a tutelary 'spirit human' if you will, for Fall 2011. Forget the obvious references, though who doesn't love a bouffant/satin glove combo or that rainbow chiffon number from Mahogany? I'm talking about her post-Motown aura: regal and imperious but a little messy. The hair's always sort of a frizzbomb, the sequined column a size too big, and the chiclet teeth (a medical term, according to Jill Zarin) forever uncapped. It's a refreshing attitude when every housewife has a stylist and lady celebs seem determined only to out-pretty or out-kook each other on the red carpet. And Diana genuinely looks like she's having a blast! Watch her dance with Marvin Gaye above or with Jacko in his prime:
Could Gaga or Britney ever let loose like this? The former looks like she's taking a chemistry exam onstage, and the latter is back to pageant queen speeches and (literally) going through the motions.
In a weird way this all came into sharper focus after I read Molly Young's gushing article on J. Crew's reigning magpie Jenna Lyons in New York's Fashion Issue. She is tall and uber-stylish and insanely good at her job. Is it wrong that I liked her more after finding out she has bald patches on her head and a mouth full of dentures because of a genetic disease? A pretty brave revelation for someone in the image business. And unlike other designers who take us to Crazytown season after season but hide themselves in layers of black, this woman loves her a sequin and some marabou. Walks the walk, so to speak. For instance she wore a slouchy cashmere sweater over her feathered gown to the Costume Institute Ball. A confident and perhaps calculated move, but it does show us who's runnin' things. Do you think a stylist ever told Diana (who used to sew costumes for the Supremes), "You know, the tomato flamenco explosion just isn't so flattering"?? Wincing at the thought. Anyway as Mugatu used to say, there is perfection in imperfection.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
