My New Swim Suit

Right from the 80's and won on Ebay...!
Can't wait to wear it... perfect for the swimming pool, isn't it? ^_^

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Venido directo de los 80 y recién ganado en Ebay!...
Que ganas de recibirlo en el correo... perfecto para las tardes vagas en la piscina, no? ^_^

Remember Crystal Renn?

This Miami native was one of the most gorgeous plus-size model in the fashion business for the last couple of years, but it's been quite sometime since I've lost sight of her.

She was once a "normal" size model, skinny and all, although she had to loose 50 pounds at the beginning of her career once she was scouted by her former agency (she would later sign up with Ford which had no problems on her weight).

But the thought of a good cheese burger overpowered her and so she took the decision to be who she is no matter the size she would get. It was actually her gaining of pounds, up to a size 12, that gave her the good work, what made her to be the special model she became and to work with photographers such Steven Meisel, Craig McDean and Patrick Demarchelier.

She did even "gain" a wikipedia entry.



photographer: Craig McDean
magazine: Vogue UK 2005
images courtesy of foto decandent

Goo See It

I remember from some comment that Riz from Mode et Utopie wasn't very excited about the selection that the MET chose for this year's fashion exhibition.
But let me tell ya, Superheores: Fashion and Fantasy is superb.
I went this morning to take a look and I stayed there for more than an hour! The fact that they chose such a not-so-random subject is what makes this exhibition so special.
The link between fashion and comics' characters is very interesting and to see the real costumes from movies like Spiderman or Iron Man is quite something. I couldn't take my eyes off the cat-suit that Syren Couture created for Catwoman /Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman! Or the aerodynamic suits from Speedo or Nike. Or the creations of Hussein Chalayan, Gareth Pugh, Balenciaga... It's worth it.

Turning Old Rings New and the Art of Knitting

I'm more of a "re-use" person than a "recycle" one.
I find interesting, creative and far more ecological to find new uses to old stuff, re-create them into something new and exciting rather than just throw them into the recycling bin. And not everything is recyclable!
Thus I got very excited when a week ago I received an email from jewelry designer Michelle Kendriak who is exactly doing that, converting old found jewelry into delicate pieces of art by adding hand-made embroidery bits.
You could find these rings in her Etsy page (and still you can), but now also at the Museum of Arts and Design of New York's store.

Quote of the Day. Diana Vreeland on Surfing.

photography by Vava Ribeiro

"Do you know what I think a lot about? Surfing! I do think that surfing would be the most beautiful thing in the world to do. I do really believe that. Oh, I've seen surfers by the hour! In California I used to go down to Malibu Beach; I'd stay until midnight, wrapped up in shawls and helmets and things around my face. Out there, they were all in rubber suits, and I could just catch sight of them on the top of the waves in the light of the moon. I could watch forever! Forever! And envy them. You know I'm not an envier. I envy no man... usually. But I do envy their surfing. "

Diana Vreeland.
D.V. page 186

Custo Barcelona, Vice Magazine & F&Art

You know New York City: everything happens all at once and there's not choice, you take it how it comes.
Yesterday there were WAY TOO MANY things to do and to choose was impossible!

Mahret from F&Art is in town! and I had the wonderful chance to meet her and friend Kathrin.
We went to the opening of the new Custo Barcelona showroom of which I took no pictures at all...

Then the Vice Magazine Mexican Issue launch party with a line to enter THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS long and because we didn't RSVP or had a VIP name, we couldn't enter. So instead of a Mexican party we had a Mexican pick-me-up at La Esquina, the best taqueria in the city.




There were more parties to attend but we ended up our night here. We were too tired, and poor Mahret still suffering the inclemency of the jet-lag.
Claire form Enchant and Doom is in town too and tried to reach her but this thing with phone roaming never works...

This is My Bike

This post is dedicated to Roybot who has ALMOST the same bike as I have.
Wish you all a beautiful day!

The First Supermodels. Part II

Working in a popular coffee shop in a cool neighborhood gives you the chance to meet all kind of people.. and to SEE.
Two days ago none other than Sasha Pivovarova came in with friends to have some food. I was amazed! So then I remembered my posts on the first super-models... I did a first part but there are so many more to come! So let's get continued...


Anne St Marie
I found the flickr account of her ex-husband and Harper's Bazaar photographer Tom Palumbo, where I could find endless images of her. But I couldn't find even one mention of her life along the www. How strange!
I knew of her because she is named in many "best of" models' list and the photo where she is with the monkey (see below) that her friend and photographer Irving Penn gave her is quite famous. But there is not even one word on her life.
All we know is that she worked for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue... and she wasn't young but what a face!, she had elegance and poisse! Wonderful character.

Suzy Parker
What Lisa Fonssagrives was to the 30's and 40's, Suzy Parker was to the 50's; The Face.
She was born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker in Queens, New York.
It was her elder sister, Dorian Leigh, who introduced the future model to agent Eileen Ford when Cecilia was just 14 years old.
Suzy became the "signature face" of Coco Chanel and Vogue would point her as one of the confident post-war American frontage women.
She was one of the models to be chosen to play in our fave movie Funny Face together with Fred Astair and Audrey Hepburn (she danced during the Pink Number) although her importance in the movie wouldn't be as important as Dovima's who was "the model" of the film.
Suzy died in 2003 at age 70 after a long battle with ill health.









































































































































































Bettina Graziani aka Bettina
Imagine that someone as Hubert de Givenchy names his first collection after yourself... well, that's exactly what happened to Bettina!
In 1952 Givenchy launched his first collection what named after the French model, and one of its designs, the Bryonesque "Bettina" Blouse, became a must in the early 50's. source Now, that's something!
Bettina, a favourite of Roybot as he kindly reminded me in my first super-model post, retired from modeling in 1955 after meeting Prince Aly Khan. She was with the Prince in the terrible car accident that cost his life, when both were coming back home from a party in Suresnes, France, a suburb of Paris.
After the accident Bettina wrote her memoires "Bettina by Bettina".

Te Amo in New York City!

I interviewed Mexican fashion duo Te Amo two months ago... then Face Hunter met them during Mexico Fashion Week and the meeting was captured in his The Facehunter Show Mexico City- Part1...

The only chance we had to get their clothing for us lovers of Te Amo in NYC, was to contact them directly and waiting a deliver...
Till now!
Two lovely friends of Rafa and Roberto have brought from Mexico DF Te Amo clothing to sale tomorrow Saturday at Mercado Libre, a small outdoor shop in Williamsburg.
Free Margaritas and Vampiros!
174 Grand @ Bedford Avenue.

Hoy inauguración en Madrid!

A aquellos que esteis en Madrid, hoy a las 20h es la inauguración de la expo de Miguel Cococrash en La Casa de la Carne de Carlos Díez Díez (c/ Loreto y Chicote nº9).

La música correrá a cargo de La Casita de Wendy. Promete estar bien!

David Hamilton Loves The Beach As Much As I Do

Christian Dior at YOOX

In a vintage madness era, virtual boutique YOOX is bringing to its costumers a rare selection of Christian Dior pieces found around the world in cities like New York, Paris and Florence.
With this project, Long Live Christian Dior, YOOX is ending a series of "specials" on vintage clothing which height was last year with Chanel, a sale that sold out in a record time.
Selection from the 40's to the 80's and beyond.
This is my own selection...

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En una época de locura por lo vintage como la que vivimos, la boutique online YOOX aprovecha el tirón para lanzar una serie de prendas del couturier francés Christian Dior encontradas en diferentes viajes por el mundo, Nueva York, Paris, Londres, Florencia...
Con este proyecto, bajo el título de Long Live Christian Dior, YOOX termina asi una serie de especiales "diseñador vintage" que tuvo su punto álgido el año pasado con la venta de diseños de la gran Chanel, una venta que se agotó en tiempo récord.
La selección de Dior recoge prendas de los años 40 hasta llegar a nuestros dias... y aqui, mi selección personal...

Maria Cornejo Celebrates its Tenth Anniversary with A New Space in New York

I do ALWAYS carry my digital camera with me in case something exciting happens and needs to be snapped. But yesterday I decided I didn't want to carry it; after all I didn't plan to do anything special, just taking a walk. Thus I wanted to avoid extra weight on my shoulder... I wanted to feel light as a bird.

My friend Max called me during my walk inviting me to the opening party that Maria Cornejo was throwing in order to celebrate her tenth anniversary with Zero Maria Cornejo.
The venue was the new location purchased by the Chilean designer in Blecker street at Mott in Manhattan.

I asked; may I go home to change cloths and pick up my camera?... mais no!
Come here RIGHT NOW, this will finish in an hour...

So there I went, looking rather dull and with no camera to record the event.
The space was filled with super duper fashionable people, and it was a surprise that no one stopped me dead at the entrance (i swear, i was looking bad, bad): Victoria Bartlett, the people from Three as Four, Maria herself... I love Zero Maria Cornejo so it was a shame i wasn't ready to be introduced to her...

The space was big and very white, pictures of past collections and campaigns hanging on the walls and the most emblematic pieces of Zero on mannequins along the room.
Sorry I couldn't take any picture AT ALL.

Opening Night Party at the Metropolitan Museum

Every year the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York hosts a Gala to celebrate the opening of a new fashion exhibition. It's the Oscars of the West Coast, where a red carpet is unrolled and celebrities walk it with the best fashions of the world. Fashion rules the night.
This year's Gala theme was Superheroes, and the whole blogosphere posted images of their favourite guests with their favourite outfits. We all knew who, what and when but, did we ever wonder what was behind the walls? How was the party? What did the people do inside?...
I found some footage on youtube from a 1982's Opening gala party at the MET, invitee included Andy Warhol, Gianni Versace, Diana Vreeeland, Marisa Berenson, Halston, Bianca Jagger... what a night!

The Saddest New: Yves Saint Laurent. RIP

Yesterday fashion genius Yves Saint Laurent left us for good... :'(
He was 71.
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Ayer el gran Yves Saint Laurent nos abandonó para siempre. :'(
Con 71 años.

Yes, Yes, Yes! Opening Ceremony Sales!!

Yes!

Tomorrow Friday our fave store ever, Opening Ceremony, is starting their summer's sale.

Up to 60% off on selected items... hopefully those selected items include Chloë Sevigny for Opening Ceremony...

Patricia on Patricia

The story of Patricia Field and her impact on New York street-fashion didn't begin, as one might think, in the late 90's with her work as stylist for über famous TV show Sex and The City.

Although the series and posterior work in the film The Devil Wears Prada brought her name into the fray, for those not familiar with downtown New York, Patricia Field has influenced the look of countless women since she opened her own store, House of Field, in Greenwich Village in 1966, when she was just 24 years old. .... [keep reading]

I am collaborating with art & fashion web 212DressignRoom/BLOG. Rachel, founder and super woman, contacting me weeks ago to be part of this very personal project and I chose Patricia Field to be my first post, a woman whose work and personality I truly admire.
To read the full article go here... I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

Beryl Markham

On my way home from a BBQ (Labor's day) I found a cardboard box full of books and magazines. Books are my obsession, and so are magazines so i stopped dead to take a look.

I found three things of my liking: a US Vogue from 2005 with Salma Hayek on the cover, a book on Art and modern culture and a biography of female pilot Beryl Markham: Straight On Till Morning, the biography of Beryl Markham.

Beryl was born in the town of Ashwell, England, but spent most of her life in Kenya where her father moved the family when Markham was 4 years old.

She pursued a career on her own as a breeder and trainer of race horses (one of her horses won the most prestigious racing prizes in Kenya when she was just 24) and later as a bush pilot, which is quite something; Bush flying is a term for air operations carried out in remote, inhospitable regions of the world.

Beryl Markham, as opposed to Amelia Earhart, made to cross the Atlantic West/East in a solo flight, a trip that wouldn't take her where she wanted to finish, New York, but Nova Scotia, due to an engine failure. While she's pointed as being the first person to fly the Atlantic, such tittle belongs to Scottish Jim Mollison.

The love of Markham for flying was born thanks to pilot Denys Finch Hatton, who you might remember for both the movie and the book Out of Africa and with who Beryl had an affair when his relation with Karen Blixen was loosing up. Beryl was the outspoken "Felicity" in the movie.

Beryl Markham wrote about her childhood in Kenya in an book tittled West with the Night. The book was highly acclaimed by different authors including Ernest Hemingway, who found the writer not as appealing though: [...] this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book. (source)

According to her biographer Errol Trzebinski, the book's real author was her third husband, the ghost writer and journalist Raoul Schumacher, fact that didn't stop the pilot to enjoy the success.