The Key Fall' 09 Pieces

FALL IS HERE. Check out fabulous Fall trends you need on your style radar - the key pieces you can't live without.
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Cozy knits, biker jackets, 80s get ready for fall with these fashion must-haves.

Cardigans

A timeless piece that will always be chic and classic sauntered on down - Cardigan. Cardigans have been around for ages, and they will no doubt be around for several more. This classy and one of the most versatile garments is this Fall's key trend. Credit it to Coco Chanel (launch of movie Coco Before Chanel) or First Lady Michelle Obama (its more of First Lady's contribution as she sports one at almost every occassion), cardigan's have become a rage.
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Michelle Obama wearing cardigan

Fall and Autumn/Winter 2009 runways were flooded with this staple in every colour and style. From the trendiest to the most sophiticated label, everyone had their version of the Cardigan - Etro, Vivienne Westwood, Chanel, Etro, Dolce and Gabbana, Blumarine, Moschino.
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This seson's cardigans are not just in basic blacks and greys, they are hued in all shades bright, brightened with embellishments and given detailings like sharp shoulders, ruffles, gatherings, military style.

Dolce and Gabbana and Limi Leu Fall 2009 Collection

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Etro (left) and Twenty8Twelve (right) Fall 2009 Collection

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How to wear it?

Its versatality allows you to slip it over/under everything - wear it over a dress, under a jacket, with a tee. Wear it effortlessly as much with casuals as with formals (like Michelle Obama, Julia Roberts and Jessica Alba). Just play around with it as much as you can.
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A partially buttoned cardigan combined with equally soft pieces can look effortlessly casual. Leave it open like Julia Roberts or accessorise it with a cinch belt (like Etro), any way you wear it, this stylish sweater will go well with every ensemble and style.

Wear it long or wear it short. It's a great way to add a layer to a shift dress to keep you warm, and it goes well with tights, denim, boots, flats and even heels.

They are my wardrobe staple and can't just ever have them enough.


Biker Jackets
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Stella McCartney and Staerk

Vena Cava and Ohne Titel

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Runways were packed with biker jackets - the season's quintessential jacket. This is the season's top must have, and also the designers favourite. Seen on the runways of Stella McCartney, Gucci, Balmain, Jean Paul Gaultier, Blumarine, Chloe, Alexander Wang, Phi and many more.

This trend has had its comeback so many times already, they were huge hit last year, but this season's biker jacket is slightly edgier.

This key piece is easy to update any look. A white t-shirt, black skinny jeans and that rugged biker jacket would do the trick!

How to wear it?

Keep it short or replace your regular winter coat with tough chic style. The runways featured them with everything from leggings to gowns.

This season's new twist to your jacket is giving them armholes that are cut high. So you may want to simply toss it over that drapey cocktail dress like a stole.

Accentuate your femininity by playing with traditionally masculine styles. Put on a biker jacket over a feminine, flirty dress and team it with knee-high boots for a rock chic style.

The easiest and smartest way to wear them is over a shirt and a tank. The black military jacket gives your denim a lot of attitude, but for the 9 to 5 wear it with white trousers to give it a feminine feel.
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1. Warehouse Stitch Detal Denim Biker Jacket for £60, click here to buy
2. Firetrap Biker Jacket Dress for £75, click here to buy
3. Oscar De La Renta Bouclé motocycle jacket for $1,990, click here to buy
(also available on net-a-porter UK site)

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Coco Before Chanel - get Chanel Chic
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Shoe Spotting: olsen Haus

Why do vegan shoes have to be shapeless, boring and Birkenstock-ish? No more. olsen Haus, a chic and cruelty-free brand, launched leather-free shoes that speaks of style and luxury.

olsen Haus is an American brand started by Elizabeth Olsen who has worked with the likes of Calvin Klein, Bulga, Nine West, Jodi Arnold, MINT and many others. Elizabeth Olsen herself is a vegan of two years, vegetarian since nineteen years and an animal-rights advocate for over twenty.
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Like Stella McCartney, Ms Olsen also believes in creating chic vegan-friendly line. Her cruelty-free, vegan friendly shoes are hip and modern and come in sassy colours and style. Each shoe is tailored with luxury and style. Her designs are completely delectable and a blessing for all the animal friendly fashionistas.
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Cameron Diaz wearing olsen Haus shoes in May 2009 Vogue issue, Source

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olsen Haus shoes have become popular with many celebrities like Emily Deschanel, Alicia Silverstone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Amy Sedaris and Cameron Diaz and have been featured in various magazines like Vogue, Marie Claire, O - Oprah Winfrey's Magazine and Star. Cameron voted olsen Haus shoes as one of her favourite accessories. In the picture (above), Diaz is wearing one of their shoes in an issue of Vogue magazine.
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olsen Haus incorporates bright colors and materials such as cork, linen and ultra-suede to their designs, that are made of non-animal materials, in sample rooms and factories that adheres to ethical practices. Her shoes are priced at an average of $140-$250, not cheap, but definitely worth the luxury every pair emanates.

With these stylish and cruelty-free shoes, you can step in guilt-free splendour at all times without forsaking luxury and style.

olsen Haus soon plans to expand into handbags, so stay tuned.

For more information on olsen Haus line, click here


Related Posts:
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CRUELTY FREE FASHION
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a taste of tennis, 2009: the jo-willy tsonga edition

and because he was lookin' so good, rockin' that white pinstriped suit, jo-wilfried tsonga merits his own post.

"impossible" not to root for him...

a taste of tennis, 2009

my friend, kevin, called me this afternoon to see if i could help him out at the taste of tennis event at the w hotel--he had to try to get "red carpet interviews" with some of the players and chefs, and he needed someone to help to identify them (especially the "international" tennis players).

i knew there existed a universe where all of my dining out and tennis-watching and blog-reading would be of use.

i really enjoyed the event last year (mob scene that it was), but hadn't planned to go this time 'round. i had an idea this little gig would be fun--and a decent opportunity to re-test my g-10.

here's who we saw and spoke with (I think the interviews will go live in a week)...

andy roddick.

andy was kind enough to stop and chat with brandeis...

nicholas kiefer wasn't up for a tv interview...

neither was gonzo.

pretty ms. sabine lisicki.

sabine stopped for our team, too.

david ferrer made his way quickly down the press line, hardly stopping to smile.

brad farmerie, fresh off his iron chef victory over cat cora (that little tidbit, courtesy of my mom, came in very handy for the interview)...

is as handsome...

and charming as i remember him...

also returning this year...alfred portale...

vera zvonareva--our "first interview" of the evening--looking lovely...

and sweet.

Shilpa Shetty Launches 'Shilpa's Gourmet Creations'

With the new acquired business acumen, Shilpa ventures into another new area, with the launch of her new product called 'Shilpa's Gourmet Creations' at The Tiffinbites Restaurant in London.

Shilpa Shetty wearing Donna Karan at a photocall of her product launch in London

Shilpa Shetty along with her enterpreneur boyfriend Raj Kundra took a 33% business stake in a British firm called V8 Gourmet. Checkout her pictures at the photocall in London.

Shilpa Shetty at the launch of her new product 'Shilpa's Gourmet Creations'

Shilpa Shetty with Boyfriend Raj Kundra (left)

Shilpa Shetty wearing a gold Rolex

Shilpa is wearing Donna Karan's silk dupioni wrap jacket with a matching skirt, in blue, from their Spring 2009 Modern Icons Collection. She is flaunting her favourite gold Rolex studded with diamonds. So flamboyant, so very Shilpa Shetty.

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"stop being a baby"

i am not really going to sit here before you and start bleating about work because a) it is work (and "work is good") and b) there's really nothing SO bad about it that would be worth going into with you tonight (i.e. "no one will die" except maybe me, a little bit, inside, every day until this project ends).

but let's just say, of late, what has transpired between the hours between 9:30 and 6:30...and then 7:30 to midnight has left me dumbstuck and directionless. i'm doing my best to hoop-jump and juggle but i'm losing my footing and my grip. everyone is unsatisfied, including me.

i''ll be working from home the rest of the night. that's not too bad a thing. 30 rock will be on later...and i can listen to music all night too.

in lieu of a happy pill, i'll be listening to happy music...

how about some english beat? some special beat service?

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my sister wore deep grooves into one track on the lp :"i confess." i don't think I fully appreciated that ultra cool song at the time, in part because it was hers. if i was gonna like the english beat at all, i needed my own songs. the sweet "tears of a clown" and the frenzied "sole salvation" were really the only two tracks i bothered with.

but in listening to "the best of" on the ipod, i've discovered the charms of others.

especially "best friend." this brings out the teenager in me.



how about saxa in this video? love him...



and this is sweet:



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finally...back to "sole salvation." i fell in love with the tempo changes, the bass, the horns... but i have never really known the lyrics (except "we never feel the power of our own hands...do it right, do it now here there everywhere shouting out i'm as mad as hell...stop being a baby!...stop! ... have a heart but don't take mine" and something later on about "a woman's understanding." and obviously, "sole salvation"). i just dance around to it.

but it turns out there are a hell of a lot of words in between, so many more than i could have imagined, so this little video was informative AND entertaining. love that the producer even added caveats about spelling, technical credits and citations.

enjoy! (and i'll stop being a baby)

read a good poem: love song

richard, teresa, and kevin, at the corner bookstore, madison ave, nyc. the word on the street is that scenes from "the princes of tides" were filmed here.

cheers to my friend, mr. kevin c. fitzpatrick on the occasion of the publication of his 3rd book: the lost algonquin round table. The book is a collection of writings (including previously unpublished works) from 16 members of the round table, including robert benchley, alexander woollcott (who inspired the haughty, creepy "waldo lydecker" character in the noir masterpiece, laura) and one ms. dorothy parker.

you can purchase the lost algonquin roundtable and kevin's other book, a journey into dorothy parker's new york, on amazon...

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here's a little ms. parker for you and me:

love song

suppose we two were cast away
on some deserted strand.
where in the breeze
the palm trees sway--
a sunlit wonderland:
where never human footstep fell
where tropic love-birds woo.
like eve and adam we could dwell,
in paradise, for two.
would you, i wonder, tire of me
as sunny days went by,
and would you welcome joyously,
a steamer?...so would i.

suppose we sought bucolic ways
and led the simple life
away--as runs the happy phrase--
from cities' toil and strife.
there you and i could live alone,
and share our hopes and fears,
a small-town darby and his joan,
we'd face the quiet years.
i wonder would you ever learn
my charms could pall on you,
and would you let your fancy turn
to others? ...i would too.

between us two (suppose once more)
had rolled the boundary deep;
you journeyed to a foreign shore,
and left me here to weep.
i wonder if you'd be the same,
though we were far apart,
and if you'd always bear my name
engraved upon your heart.
or would you bask in other smiles,
and, charmed by novelty,
forget the one so many miles
away?...that goes for me.

--dorothy parker (1921)
from "the lost algonquin round table
copyright © 2009 edited by nat benchley and kevin c. fitzpatrick

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more of my friends:

richard and teresa, aka film snobs

cheers!

a superfan's notes

i recently had the opportunity to correspond with comedian and "colbert report" writer, peter grosz, for a freelance project. i'm officially a superfan! he made a rather challenging circumstance a lot easier to manage. and...well...he's funny. he's also a photography enthusiast, which endears him to me tremendously. i've received a couple great recommendations for photography books...like anonymous: enigmatic images from unknown photographers and america in passing.

you may recognize him as one of the "two guys" in the sonic commercials...





another thing i love about him is he's really keen on promoting young talent, and supporting the theater arts and live comedy: upright citizens brigade, the magnet theater and iO in la and chicago...we're going to try to do our bit at work to promote them, too.

hopefully, more to come.

"too hot" (and read a good poem/wild for my melon toddie)

i like the groove of the original track but this live version is fun...

i've been spending most of these last few dog days indoors, practicing my picture-taking, summer cleaning, and reading "hot, flat, and crowded"-- which i thought would be the super-clever title of a post that i planned to write from (or about our family trip to) the philippines. but it was really not so very hot there at all. and it was not really so very crowded as, at least for the first week, we were virtually the only guests at a sprawling golf resort...

the pool at malarayat golf resort...july 2009...

i did make it out to greenpoint on saturday to share some birthday cheer with my friend, reid, aka "rad reid," a bona fide philly soul if there ever was one. i indulged in a few refreshing servings of watermelon soaked in vodka. sweet! and no hangover. though i did have a crazy two-part dream that involved one very handsome writer/editor friend...and i woke up with my bedsheet wrapped around me like a toga...

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in the spirit of that melon "toddie," i'll share a poem from virginia hamilton adair.
i've re-printed one of her poems here once before and i'll happily re-link to the pbs online newshour interview that introduced me to her work. enjoy.

Ants on the Melon

Once when our blacktop city

was still a topsoil town

we carried to Formicopolis

a cantaloupe rind to share

and stooped to plop it down

in their populous Times Square

at the subway of the ants

and saw that hemisphere

blacken and rise and dance

with antmen out of hand

wild for their melon toddies

just like our world next year

no place to step or stand

except on bodies.

pretty city: the real deal

ted croner's "time square montage," 1947-48 via the nytimes.com ("capturing the city" slideshow). ps. i don't know if the title is really "time square montage" or if that is a ny times typo.

in my last post i talked about one of the highlights of the past weekend being a night at my sister's house, skimming fashion mags and watching tv. i'm a thrill-cat, aren't i?

but i suppose i just needed a night of pure relaxation. this weekend, my plate is three-quarters-full (dancing...filming...birthday-partying) but i'm hoping to steal a little time on the couch, to read and watch "rafaelito" make his real summer debut in montreal.

if i get a little ambitious or antsy, I may make a trip down to the yancey richardson gallery. i read this article in today's times, and was inspired. and i heard from a very reliable source here at the office that the yancey richardson gallery is one of the best in town. if i don't make it to chelsea on sunday, (you and) i have until august 28, to check it out. that's not a lot of time, so we'll have to make time.

ps. the helen levitt show at the laurence miller gallery, further uptown, also sounds great. on view only through aug. 20...

the road, and ruby blue

one of the highlights of my last weekend was hanging out at my sister's house, sifting though her piles of design and fashion magazines (fell in love with a spread of stella tennant in damascus):

photos of stella tennant, photographed by tom craig, which appear in the may 2009 print edition, via vogue.co.uk.

(see the behind-the-scenes video from the shoot here...)

and then, she caught me up on SYTYCD?! i do love that show, but i missed the first few episodes of this season and never managed to catch up. it's a lot of hours of programming every week. but my sister is a brilliant curator, and i trust her to show me only the best of the best dances. i finally got to see the mia michaels "addiction" routine . and there was a great disco routine, which she said reminded her of me. which i thought was highly flattering-- have i missed my calling? disco dancer? we did laugh that if it involves some crazy head shaking and ass shaking, i could probably pull it off. but what i would LOVE to be able to do, which is really pretty far beyond me is this:



SO fun...

testing testing: the sigma, at aldea

i recently invested in new lens on the advice of one of my cousins, who's an amazing photographer. i expressed to him that i was having a problem getting great, indoor photos of people without a flash, on a consistent basis (a lot of "blur," which i like sometimes, but didn't always want). he gave me a few ideas, i chose a sigma 50 mm F1.4 ex.

first use: a gelf magazine event. i started to miss the zoom on my other lens. i was happy enough with the photos, though, and was glad i didn't need a flash.

second time around: i took some headshots for a friend--and my cousin was right. the lens is much faster and the portraits looked good. in that particular session, there were very few shots that were not crisp. but again, i was missing the zoom...

third time, the real charm? i took the lens with me to dinner at aldea. and i started to discover the limits to its use. the camera actually wouldn't take a lot of shots that i wanted. and several that i did manage to take were blurred. below are the better ones of the bunch. if i took a little more time, these might have been better, but, at some point we needed to dive in to the meal...

but these aren't really the quality that i was hoping for..clearly, i have a some things to figure out with this lens..what it can do, when i should use it best...

sea urchin toast, with cauliflower cream, sea lettuce, and lime

lightly cured spanish mackerel, with meyer lemon, almond milk and crunchy soy

sea salted chatham cod, with market cranberry and fava beans, lemon basil mussel broth.

(not pictured, because i couldn't manage a good shot: arroz de pato: duck confit, chorizo, olives, and duck cracklings)

caramelized brioche, with blood orange gel, creme fraiche pink peppercorn ice cream

lens issues aside, the dinner at aldea was elegant.

this is my iberian summer--i've had a season full of good food, but dinner here, and at txikito on 9th avenue, were the meals i craved. (i have been longing for a seaside vacation?) txikito stands out as distinctively iberian--a marriage of the simple, quintessential spanish flavors: smoky, cured meats paired with sea salty cod and anchovy. their portions are smaller, but they are richer and heartier (quail eggs..chorizo hash sandwiches...croquettes).

aldea takes the same flavors, but presents them with a far lighter touch. the result is cuisine that is less distinct to a region (asian notes in the sea urchin toast, the lightly cured mackerel, and the caramelized lychee), but meals that reflect strong french tradition and technique and a modern, green-market sensibility. to wit: meyer lemon, coriander yogurt, green garlic, crunchy soy, cauliflower cream, creme fraiche pink peppercorn ice cream...

my lovely friend allison (one of my favorite dinner companions: we have the same sense of adventure, the same approach to the menu. she arrives to our meals very well-schooled-- i can rely on her to remember critic's picks and pans. but we regard everything before, during, and after the meal...and she lets me take photos) had her first taste of sea urchin (liked it!) and we had the requisite "umami" discussion. i somehow imagined that the sea urchin would have been whipped into some sort of spread, and broiled, open-faced, in a toaster. but i love sea urchin raw, so i wasn't disappointed to have whole pieces presented on a long, crispy flatbread. the contrast in textures was new and good. we loved both the chatham cod and the arroz de gato. and the caramel brioche! when i think of brioche, i think of stretching and pulling pieces of sweet pastry and popping them into my mouth. but this brioche yielded so easily under the fork, like my mother's chiffon cake. it was wonderful. and the pink peppercorn in the ice cream was the best surprise--no heat, just a mild, peppery crunch.

the lone disappointment of the night were the "sonhos," little munchkins, rolled in sugar and presented with 3 dipping sauces--a too-dark chocolate sauce (allison rightly compared it to baker's baking chocolate); a zingy apricot sauce, and a hazelnut sauce, a nice cross between whipped cream and a pudding). but the dough in the doughnuts tasted uncooked. that they were doused in sugar didn't help. the sauces just put it over the top, and not in the best way.

but the service throughout was impeccable: attentive, polite, and generous. and, aldea offered a lovely little dessert amuse bouche (chocolate caramels, brown butter financiers and white peach pates de fruit) that would surely set any little wrong right.