The Best of Despi Spring/Summer 2010 Swimwear

Its the first post on Beautify on Swimsuits. Despi's Spring/Summer 2010 collection is chic, classy and sophisticated, so how could we miss them on this blog?

Despi, the Brazilian swimwear brand is making waves in the fashion world with its sexy & classy designs in swimwear and their Spring/Summer 2010 are just irresistible. The Spring/Summer 2010 swimwear collection has 18kt gold detailing, inspired designs, beautiful colours and authentic Brazilian beach looks!

They say, "Subtly beautiful details like delicate elaborate beading enhance the classic look of Despi swimsuits, and the result is a dreamy goddess-like appearance. The fabrics and textures are always sensually soft, and the designs are carefully constructed so customers are able achieve that perfect-fit. With Despi Swimwear, you’ll shine in subtle sophistication, and with just one glance, your stunning appearance will leave them breathless", and rightly so.
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Sexy Plum

This plum one piece swimsuit with gold detail is chic and an absolute stunner. Love the colour and design, sure to soar temprature this summer.

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Shades of Green

Pictures speak a thousand words, look at the images below and you'll know what it means. The prett unusual and chic designs in green is definitely a mut-buy iyou're planning to hit the water this summer.

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In Rust

The one-piece swimsuit and the halter beaded bikini in rust is a stunner.

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Brazilian model Bianca Klamt Motta has done Despia's Spring Summer 2010 campaign.

Image Source
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Tiffany Diamond Statement

Make a statement with one of Tiffany's designs from their collection.
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EARRINGS

Look lovely in the beautiful dangling earrings from Tiffany, from left: pendulum diamond drop earrings, swirl diamond drop earrings and teardrop diamond drop earrings.
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Tiffany Key Pendants


Arent's these keys just gorgeous. Tiffany sure knows how to make keys look their best. Used as pendants, Tiffany has them in various styles from petals to heart key in platinum, titanium, silver, yellow gold, rose gold and diamonds.
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Beautiful Tiffany Pendants

Whether you choose the oval orange tourmaline medallion pendant with diamonds or the diamond and yellow gold locket, its sure too make a statement.

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the family table: well done

happy thanksgiving. 2009.

Shilpa Shetty Wedding

Finally Shilpa Shetty got married to her British Indian beau Raj Kundra. The ubiquity of her wedding talks on television and print has been a bit much, but we still can't miss the bride's and her friends' pictures on her wedding ceremony and reception.


Shilpa Wedding's Grand Reception

Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra's grand wedding reception was held at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai and, it goes without saying, was attended by who who's of the business and glam world.

For the reception Shilpa wore a sequineed golden Tarun Tahiliani contemporary lehenga, inspired by a dress, while the British businessman, Raj Kundra wore a black sherwani by the duo Shantanu and Nikhil.

I'd say I was disapponted by the bride, who didn't pay much attention to her groom. His sherwani was rather disappointing and we wish he would have worn something better. As for Shilpa, she certainly looked stunning. But considering it was her wedding, a more traditional lehenga would have been better suited for the reception. There's nothing like a demure bride. She's looking more like ready for an item number, than a bride.

Well it was their 'Big Day', so everything is forgiven.
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Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra Wedding
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Shilpa Shetty at her wedding reception

The Guest List

Shilpa Shetty's wedding reception was a star-studded affair with bigwigs Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan attending the wedding ceremony to wish the couple a happy life ahead. Let's see who wore what at the occassion.
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Shamita Shetty, certainly not the guest but family, wore a blue green Manish Malhotra saree for the reception. Weddings are the perfect occassion to bring our your blingiest saree, but this one does not work at all. The colour and the design both are a turn-off. Shamita, it was your own sister's wedding, you surely could have done better.

Shamita Shetty at Shilpa Shetty's Wedding Reception

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Rani Mukherjee was one of the most well-dressed attendees at Shilpa Shetty's wedding. She turned in a lovely pink Manish Malhotra wedding and looked quite a stunner.

Rani Mukherjee at Shilpa Shetty's Wedding (above, below)

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Aishwaya Rai Bachchan attended Silpa Shetty's wedding reception with her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan (why is Abhishek always missing?). She wore a pink Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla pink anarkali, that she also wore back in 2007 at Bachchan Sandhya in New York.

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Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan at Shilpa Shetty Wedding (above, below)
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Rekha attended Shilpa's wedding in her classic kajevaram style. I am already not a big fan of kanjevarams and this look is too blingy and passe for me. The drape does not look too good, too much jewelry with the already bright saree and the blouse looks bit ill-fitted. Rekha sure looks lovely despite everything though.

Rekha at Shilpa Shetty's Wedding Reception

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Among the other high profile guest, the always flamboyant Vijay Mallya made a grand entrance at Shilpa's wedding reception at Hyatt in a black suit and smart smart shoes. Smart and Sophisticated, nothing too overdone.

Vijay Mallya at Shilpa Shetty Wedding Reception

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thank you (george)

i've spent the last couple of hours sitting in our family room (the basement) with my dad, half-watching a college basketball game (sun devils vs. blue devils) and half-looking for a good thanksgiving poem to post. I had with me on the couch the thickest poetry book I could find –a good old norton anthology--but not even part of one, from yeats to baraka, seemed right.

admittedly, the ambiance i chose for this exercise wasn't really poetry-friendly (dick vitale's "alliterative commentaries,” even though i've heard them all before, are still pretty distracting).

i could have gone to my room, re-started the search in relative silence and with several other books to peruse. but i wanted more to just sit in a room with my dad, to be around in case something came up that we felt like chatting about. or he thought of a good joke. i decided to save the poetry for another time.

after both my parents called it a night, i got my second wind and started singing a favorite george harrison tune (remember, the family is asleep, so i can do this out loud) and it occurred to me that this song fits the giving/grateful theme as good as any poem. or maybe it’s late and i’m crazy. anyway, it’s where my heart is. hope you like it.




i’ve been on a george jag for the last couple of weeks so here’s one more. it's really quite good live.



happy thanksgiving.

the O2: a well-lighted place

rafael nadal in his first match of the WTF in london. photographed by julian finney/getty images. via yahoo sports.

this is a fairly common shot, but with uncommon shadowing that sculpts every fold in his shirt, and creates mood and mystery in nadal's profile.
nov 23, 2009. photo by julian finney/getty images. via yahoo sports.

the year-end championships for the atp are underway, or as "mfw" so smartly announced: WTF is happening.

my favorite player is struggling as we speak in his first match against robin soderling, and my enjoyment level ebbs and flows with his fortunes.

but the tournament is being played under bright white and blue lights at the O2 arena in london. everyone in the stands is bathed in blue shadows. and photographers are given instant mood lighting for photographing the on-court action--side shadows sculpt angles, and if a player tilts his face toward the lights, to hit a serve or an overhead, he's got a glow that's near to heavenly. dreamy conditions for photographers, i'm sure! there's rich contrast in almost every photo i've seen so far.

the yahoo sports tennis page hosts one of the best galleries--photos do not go up as fast as on the getty site, but these are un-watermarked, and they were up today within a half hour of the start time. pretty efficient, and great.

enjoy them...and the matches on tennis channel this week, espn this weekend.

saturday, at saturdays

saturdays, on crosby street. photo © anita aguilar

more boards...photo © anita aguilar

i spent saturday afternoon down in my former neighborhood, walking around in the sunshine (with a scarf, but sans coat!), brunching on spring street and checking out the very handsome goods at the pop up flea. (oh, give me money and a man to shop for and i know where to go and do some damage.)

but my favorite part of the day, not surprisingly, revolved around the discovery of a new coffee place.

saturdays, on crosby street, is a small coffee bar attached to a small surf shop, and it appears to cater exclusively to men and the women who love to see them in only the finest surf gear. among their offerings: hullabaloo boards, alex knost wetsuits and lightning bolt shorts, select dry-land goods (i especially like their ties) and surfing-related miscellany (wax, books, dvds, best made axes - not sure what the axes are for? but i like them). some of the brands are a mystery to me (a non-surfer) but my friend (a surfer in his soul) was agog. he took a careful, admiring eye to and for pretty much every single piece in there.

i fancied the lattes, made artfully and strong by josh, one of the owners.

as we sat with our lattes on the wooden bench in the front of the store, across from a row of surfboards and i talked about my week, it was impossible not to notice my friend's eyes widen and gleam--he was mesmerized by the surfing movie that was being projected on the wall behind me. i knew that he was dreaming about the next time he could hop on a train to long island to see if the surfing would be as perfect as josh had described it minutes before, that he was longing not to be in that very cool shop, drinking perfectly nice coffee with a perfectly nice girl, but out on the ocean, alone and at peace on his board.

and i laughed to myself because i found it impossible to blame him.

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saturdays is every day at 31 crosby st (between grand and broome streets), nyc.
m-f: 8am-8pm
sat: 10am-5pm
sun: 11am-6pm

oh my. sweet... ("can we? shall we?" by rob ryan)

this photo is a reproduction of can we? shall we? by rob ryan, which is on view now at the MAD museum, nyc.
here's a link to the original.

this sounds good to me.

can we?
shall we?
call in
sick one
day and
travel to the sea
and hold hands all
day, can we?
shall we?
eat our sand-
wiches on the
train,
get drunk
on fresh air and
come home tired and never tell anyone.....ever.

greatness: andy warhol's polaroids of athletes...

i love this picture of dorothy hamill, though i remain haunted by that haircut.

faded, but still great.

one of my idols. and my first racquet.

warhol.
polaroids.
athletes.

done.

on view at danziger projects, until december 12.

hear a little song: (i did, last night)

sasha dobson, performing at a jammed rockwood music hall.

i could only steal a few shots. it wasn't easy to work the zoom in such a small and tight venue--i kept jamming my friend with the lens.

her voice is beautiful. and i know that she's a pro--i have heard her perform a number of times, but she admitted to nervousness last night. and perhaps this was approached a little too casually? there didn't seem to be a set list, which made for some awkward and unusually long between-song moments.

it was a short set, maybe 6 songs. the perfect dose for a late tuesday night.
she sang 2 numbers with her gal, ms. norah jones. lovely.
this photo, by n. pavach.

if you'd like to listen this morning, here's a link to her myspace page.

Love Your Body: Parben Free Body Care

When it comes to skincare or skin products, natural is the way to go.

Even the big and famous cosmetic and body care companies use ingredients that cause cancer, kidney damage, headache and the list goes on.

I've found a company that uses all natural ingredients and does not even use parabens, SLS or petrochemicals in its products, the ingredients whichare found in the vast majority of toiletries on most bathroom. In fact they don't use animal derived ingredients, so you can be relieved that they are cruelty-free.

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Yes thats the name of the body care brand NAKED, strip down to the best raw ingredients and not to veil them in unnecessary chemicals or artificial colours. It has no synthetic ingredients and has atleast 97% of its ingredients natural.
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97% Natural, but What about the other 3%?

They say....

"The other 3% - is made up of miniscule amounts of synthetic ingredients to ensure safety and stability of the products e.g. the preservative system (like Benzoic Acid or Methylisothiazolinone) to stop mould and fungus growing after opening; binding agents like EDTA which stop unwanted chemical reactions and separation; and performance enhancers like anti-static agents to prevent flyaway hair. In many cases we reach 99.5% naturalness"

Crammed with gorgeous high quality botanical extracts and created with plant and mineral derived ingredients, Naked products range includes creamy, foamy body washes with tantalizing scents (like White Ginger and Minty Menthol), shampoos and conditioners tailored to your hair type (straight or curly, normal to dry, etc) as well as luxurious, soothing body butters, exfoliating scrubs and daily face washes.
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They're also all reasonably priced; most of the range costs £3.91, with none of the products costing more than £7.82.

Recommended Product:
Naked's Coco de Mer Body Butter, it moisturises your body making it soft and supple and leaving it smelling gorgeous.



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point and shoot: park ave, post-pacquiao...

rainy park ave. nov 14, 2009.

branches, off the avenue. november 14, 2009.

piym: in need of a fresh take?

photographing this fresh green bean casserole was a little challenging. obviously, i was to make it look pretty and delicious...but it's a melange of cooked vegetables. it's very brown. even at the time, i was thinking, i'm not doing this justice. i covered it from various angles, but how many different ways can you photograph a cooked casserole in the casserole dish?

after the shoot was over, i thought of different ways we could have approached it--which seems to happen after every shoot. but there is formula at PIYM, sort of dictated by time and space and the script. maybe in the new year, we'll try something different? i suppose it's fine, my little disappointments with the photos, because it's a reminder of things that i need to work on.

***

what's great about piym shoots, is 90% of the time, jess makes real food--food that's ready to eat as soon as it's shot. i wouldn't advise this at most food shoots when the beauty of the shot supersedes all notions of clean food prep. even if the food is fresh and fully cooked through and free of the additives that make it more photogenic (glycerine, glue, soap suds...), it's been seriously manhandled, violated even.

but when jess says that what she's prepared for the shoot is good for the eating (and if there is some left), i'll have at least a bite or two. i went a little bananas with this fresh green bean casserole, though. it's just so everything i'd want with my turkey. in fact, i'd make the turkey the vehicle for this creamy, onion-y affair.

i don't have a very long history with green bean casserole (it's relatively new to our family's thanksgiving table--we only started having turkey in the last 15 years or so, and only in the last five have one or two "traditional" sides, involving the beans or sweet potatoes or cranberries, made their unremarkable way into the buffet) so i never really understood its enduring appeal, other than the novelty of the store-bought fried onions? this fresh stuff, to me, was a revelation.

if you don't have a recipe that you're married to, try jess'. it's pretty simple. just don't skimp on the real heavy cream, and maybe approach the little bit of extra prep time, trimming and halving the beans, slicing the mushrooms and onions, as meditative act rather than a mandated chore. when it's served, people will talk.

and then they will eat. and then they will talk more and eat more. until pretty soon they will be harassing you for the recipe, while battling for the last bites.

and if you are inclined to share, send them here.

monsters of folk (MONSTER sets)

performing "to save me." can you see the guy jumping in the air? that's conor oberst, rocking it out.

i loved them all so sharply dressed...

i had my tamron 18-270 zoom...from our seats (orchestra, row s).
still tough to get shots at that distance, with so much rocking out happening.
m.ward was easier to catch than the rest.

mr. m again.

jim james/yim yames

effective, dramatic lighting choreography, too.

last week, when my friend bill, offered me his extra ticket to see monsters of folk at the united palace in washington heights, i jumped at the chance (after i googled to find out who they are, that is. technically, i jumped after i saw "m. ward"). on the actual night, i felt a pang of laziness. washington heights seemed so...far...away, and i was in sort of a lonely, lousy mood. i wanted to stay home and wallow.

my friend and his extra ticket saved me from that scenario. luckily.

there were two words that came to mind in the moments and days after the show. respect and rock.

they seemed to care about putting on a great production. i loved that they all wore sharp suits. i loved the lighting--choreographed to be evocative, not ostentatious. these two things to me were fine enhancements.

the show was billed as a 2.5 hour musical event, set to start at 8. imagine my delight when they started playing shortly after 8pm, and stayed on for 2.5 hours. it was, from that perspective, as advertised.

from a musical standpoint, it was far more. they rocked. full-on, full-out rocked. they seemed to have real fun being up there, playing together. is it possible that each had more fun playing the other's music? that's how it seemed to me. their on-stage chemistry was electric. and somehow also sweet.

it was a musical event worthy of such a grand venue, though i would venture to see them anywhere.

***

i took photos, which i honestly didn't think was verboten (i thought just no audio/video) and nearly got kicked out. it's the closest i've been to being a scofflaw, ever! so i feel a little guilty... but i'm going to share the love, hopefully no one minds.

here's a link to a small slideshow.
and here's a link to a super set, for superfans.

monsters of folk (MONSTER)

m. ward (with the monsters of folk) at the united palace. november 6, 2009.

i recently lamented how little live music i've seen or heard this year. but if monsters of folk turns out to be the only show i catch all year, then it will have been enough.

i have a ton of photos to go through and will post more in the coming days, but if you want to catch their live broadcast tonight, check it out on wxpn...details here...

piym: apple month

probably not unlike a lot of kids, my first taste of an apple pie or any sort of cooked apple concoction was a mcdonald's apple pie. i remember thinking the packaging was quite special, but the pie itself, revolting. cooked fruit was just...weird. i was thereafter never tempted by any hostess fruit pie. and i didn't hanker for the little paper cups of apple sauce that were served up in our school cafeteria.

but my palate has since evolved--i love any kind of cooked fruit, stewed in a compote (even prunes, for goodness' sake) or poached in wine, and especially when nestled in a tart, pie or pastry. any kind of tart, pie or pastry. (ok, i still might not be able to swing the mcd's or hostess...)

i made an apple pie once, many moons ago--i tend to stick to the pecan and pumpkin, in the fall and winter months. i like how easy they are to make. but jess' apple pastry recipe, using ready-made crust, is appealing and seemingly simple to prep.

check out the latest piym episode, celebrating "apple month," and her recipe for apple pastry cups with caramel sauce here...

brothers redhead, in greenpoint?

at the risk of being accused of hipster/rock band profiling...i think these are the pace brothers, from blonde redhead? they could just be any old i-talian brothers, but i took their photo just in case. so cute, the moto guzzi.

all photos © anita aguilar