Zac Posen and me...

What a night!  Daniel and I were treated to a beautiful show at Neiman Marcus the other day.  It was the National Black Arts Festival's annual Fine Arts and Fashion Benefit for the Visual Arts Program.

Thank you Robert Ector for capturing my Oscar de la Renta dress,

Christian Louboutin Pigalle heels and

Jimmy Choo Candy clutch.

 

 

And for capturing how the draping of  Zac Posen's dresses

beautifully accentuate a woman's curves

 

The movement of fabrics can be

A show in itself!

Yes, she did fan that dress right in front of me...

 

Exquisite...

 

 Hello Zac!

 

 

  A great talent, and only 31!

 

Sorry, sooo very late!

My favorite labels surprised me this season.  I watched not so much for what I would incorporate into my own closet, but more out of interest for the craft and artistry of beautiful design.

Valentino

 

I loved the new silhouettes of Chanel

a fresh take  on the boyfriend blazer

And then there is the kind of design that tells a story and offers a bit of drama,

Louis Vuitton

Naturally I was won over by the porter carrying the lady's bag...

Especially when the lady knows how to make an entrance!

 

You may have seen a few pics already, but I can't wait to share with you some highlights from the private Zac Posen viewing I attended at Neiman Marcus!

 

 

Fashion Week Fall RTW 2012 Part III

Olivier Rousteing has edited the Balmain jacket a bit,

but its new lines have remained sexy. 

I look forward to all he will bring to the house....

 

Balmain

 

These colors and textures are begging to be paired with....

Carven

These Louis Vuitton Booties in my Closet. 

 

This tailoring, this palette!

Haider Ackermann

 

Here I give a tour of my closet, 

and receive the invitation to South Africa...

via Essence.com

What memories could I make

in this?

Missoni

 

Not to worry, I have saved the best for last.

My favorite looks from

Valentino, Chanel, Louis Vuitton are coming.

 

 

 

Runway Photos Via Style.com

The little black dress

  Chanel Reclining by Horst

I am as drawn to her style as I am her story.  That she was raised in orphanages, abandoned by her father, immediately solidifies the connection.  That during this time she learned to sew, to make pretty things and find a way to create beauty where there wasn't any, I understand.  That she would start a hat business, a small, but successful one, way back in the 1920s, when women did not work, or own businesses - unexpected. But that she would go on to transform women's fashion in a way that still today is unique, timeless, effortless style, that is magnificent.

The story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel made a lasting impression on me when I discovered it.  I love her clothes, but more than that, I love her strength.  It reminds me of what can be done when we believe in ourselves.  How we can master our own destiny.  My three strands of pearls are witness...

 

Fashion Week Fall 2012 RTW Part II

Dark,

glamorous,

sheer and

strong looks

won me over this week....

L'Wren Scott

Silhouettes that celebrate the female form,

 

Gucci

Fabrics that tease and flirt,

while still holding on to their

mystery...

 

Alberta Ferretti

Power, the subtle kind

not soft but seering...

 

Joseph Altuzarra

 

Gucci

 

But subtleties will, of course, have

to be overtaken,

by bold and daring displays of

what makes fashion

 

Fendi

 

Endless fun! 

 

 

Via Style.com

 

Labels, Hair, Make-up, Joy

Photo by Pamela Mougin

 

This past week has given me pause.  This week I was forced to confront darkness and its sometimes catastrophic outcomes.  What is the impact of loneliness, fear, sadness and yearning, and how does what is bottled up inside manifest itself?  I thought about coping, searching for the light anywhere you can find it and what that means for me.

Clothes is where it started, but pretty things of all kinds would soon take over as family, and a connection to them, became more and more fleeting.  Pretty hair would follow clothes, then furniture and eventually a pretty home.  My family, or rather, various members of it, would at different times fall into drug addiction, nieces and nephews would follow into the foster care system, and love, the true kind, the kind I had searched for my whole life, never came.  More and more I needed to fill the emptiness, and cars and trips and expensive food and labels would have to make up for having less. Clothes were my refuge, clothes were what I could have, clothes had to fill the void where a mother and a father, a loving home, and a family should have been.

Even today, on a bad day - and there are still quite many - when I need to fill myself up, when I need to smile and feel what real happiness could be like, I walk into my closet.  That’s when I perk up and I feel grateful, for I do have many blessings and I do have a place to go that is pretty, filled with pretty things that when I put them on, make me feel good.  That’s when I feel everything will be okay.  It is how I cope, and it is how I try to help others cope.  Sometimes feeling pretty can be all you have and if that is so, then that is what I want to give to them.

Clothes are important to me and they lie at the core of who I am.  But I know that there will come a day when I will have the most precious label of all, one I have searched for my whole life, the one I will be most proud of.  One day, I will have a family and I will speak about them glowingly, I will show them off and I will go to them when I want to smile.  I can’t wait to see this design...

Fashion Week Fall 2012 RTW Part I

I love the showing of the new collections, the surprises, re-visiting classics.  I love getting excited about so very different things.  Getting swept away.  Come with me, I hardly know where to begin...

  Michael Kors

 

    Milly

 

Milly

 

Oscar de la Renta

 

Oscar de la Renta

 

Preen

 

Rodarte

 

And then there are the ones that leave me breathless....

Vera Wang

 

Fantasy transformed to reality...

Marchesa

 

Via Style.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sequins & what sparkles most of all

It was so interesting to see how quickly we could move past the absurd, to the wonderful and truly lovely.  How we could so easily grow apart and stay divided over things like labels, height and safari style.  Then, just as easily we could come together.  And once we did, there was no division, there were no differences.  We all felt the same thing - love and gratitude.

It is hard to describe really.  The children, naturally precious.  They are God's most beautiful designs.  And your heart breaks when they are not given the most basic things all children need.  There is no feeling quite like knowing that you could easily love them, take care of them, nurture them, but then have to leave them behind.  To see their happiness at the very little they receive and not being able to give them even more.  Each of us wanted to grab them all, each of us wished for magic - the ability to change their lives in an instant. 

We couldn't.  What we could do is treasure them and hold on to the look in their beautiful eyes.    And I will treasure sharing that moment with everyone who was along...

 

All I want for Christmas....

All year round beautiful and unusual things capture my attention.  Things that I admire just for being able to make me pause.  Things that tickle the senses, sweet things, scented things, elegant things.  I want to share them with you, to see if you might like..

The crackle of

Cocoa Lace

Chocolat-Chapon

 

The glamour of

travel in times past

T. Anthony Hat Box

 

The strange, intoxicating scent of

smoke and leather,

Carner Barcelona

 

or the sweetness of stationery,

even though you never write enough notes,

Connor Diana Vreeland Card Set

 

And of course the sparkle

that always completes everything,

Solange Azagury Partridge Acquarius Pendant

 

but my most precious find

always is,

Marlo with nieces & nephews

Family, love, comfort, joy.  It's on my wish list every year; one day starting my own and mending the bond with the one I came from.  I know that I do not get to decide when those things may come, so until then I will wrap up something nice for me.  Something to make me smile...Happy holidays!