thoughts for the new year

My new year’s resolution every year (since I was six) is to be more organized. This all started when my first-grade teacher, Ms. Beauchemin, a real pain in my six-year-old you-know-what, insulted my Nutcracker menagerie. What is a Nutcracker menagerie, one might ask. Well, you can make one yourself: all you need is a paper bag from the grocery store. Get some card stock with different scenes from the Nutcracker, color them in and paste them onto the sides. Then, color some paper dolls representing the characters, stash them inside, and you’ve got yourself a menagerie you can play with any old time! There’s a Clara, a Mouse King, a Sugarplum Fairy, and of course the man himself, the Nutcracker.

Well, I spent a decent amount of my young life coloring within the lines and my menagerie was truly some of my best work (to this day). My dad probably still has it stashed away somewhere and I’m sure it would be a sight to behold. Nevertheless, all my efforts were lost on Ms. Beauchemin, who said I had pasted the scenes onto the bag in the wrong order. She ignored my masterfully decorated Harlequin dancers, Mother Ginger’s voluminous skirt which took on an aerodynamic quality under my skilled brush, and the finely nuanced lines I had drawn on Uncle Drosselmeyer’s face to give him a stern yet kindly visage. All lost to Ms. B’s eyes (probably blighted by cataracts), she suggested I pay closer attention to the instructions next time as she handed down my first-ever S for Sufficient (but not at all to me) rather than the E for Excellent I suppose I had been taking for granted.

This year I am breaking the mold and going after something bigger and hopefully more attainable. The good folks at HBS have defined integrity and created an impressively clear and straightforward model which outlines the definition – “a state or condition of being whole, complete, unbroken, unimpaired, sound, in perfect condition” – and the concept of integrity as an essential condition for workability and maximum performance. Having integrity is basically being true to yourself and to the world around you. So this year I am committed to being as “whole” as possible.

thanks Mom

bibliokleptomania

The Virgin Suicides is the most shoplifted book after the Bible.

gallery girls

For those of you who cast not an eye at my blogroll, you are seriously missing out on Gallery Girls. Created by my friend Mary and starring many friends, Gallery Girls follows the trials and tribulations of Cecelia West Gallery’s put-upon receptionist, Bridget Thomas, and the various other characters of the Gallery. It’s updated biweekly and is pretty much the best web comic. Ever.

While I always find Gallery Girls totally hilarious, smart, entertaining, cheeky, and original, I thought everyone would get a kick out of yesterday’s post since its particularly relevant to this site. Definitely check it out at www.ceceliawestgallery.com every Tuesday and Thursday for new comics.

the vibrator play

So that one-woman show I saw last Tuesday sadly didn’t do much for me, and did nothing for Nancy since she was fresh off of seeing Jude Law in Hamlet (a Broadway double-header, impressive). However, there was a glimmer of hope in the program. In the Next Room or the vibrator play is a comedy set in the 19^th century based on the (true) history of doctors using vibrators to treat hysteria and release “pent up emotions in the womb”.. I guess this was fairly common and not considered a sexual practice. Vibrators didn’t appear in porn films until the 1920s so no one really had any idea about them. The playwright, Sarah Ruhl, sums it up perfectly: “The Victorian bedroom could have been a very radical, experimental place, because who knew what they were doing?”

This sounds hilarious and is something I can definitely sign up for. I love/studied Victorian literature and early feminist American texts; The Awakening, The Clever Woman, The Yellow Wallpaper, and Wild Sargasso Sea (among countless others) are texts I have on memory speed-dial. All my theater-loving friends are living in other countries at the moment (all three of them) so I may have to fend for myself, but I’m excited to go see it!

Update: NYMag loves the story of oh!

le sac

She was glad of presents, however, and when I gave her, perhaps, a new little purse of red lacquered leather there might be two or three gold pieces inside it. As a matter of fact, she laughed at me over the red purse. It was charming, but a bargain, and no longer in fashion. In these matters, about which up to that time I was as little learned as in any language of the Eskimos, I learned a great deal from Maria. Before all else I learned that these playthings were not mere idle trifles invented by manufacturers and dealers for the purposes of gain. They were, on the contrary, a little or, rather, a big world, authoritative and beautiful, many sided, containing a multiplicity of things all of which had the one and only aim of serving love, refining the senses, giving life to the dead world around us, endowing it in a magical way with new instruments of love, from powder and scent to the dancing show, from ring to cigarette case, from waist-buckle to handbag. This bag was no bag, this purse no purse, flowers no flowers, the fan no fan. All were the plastic material of love, of magic and delight. Each was a messenger, a smuggler, a weapon, a battle cry.

Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf

on the agenda

Glenda Bailey tonight 6-8 PM at the Museum at FIT. There may still be space and it’s free to the public, just RSVP at museuminfo@fitnyc.edu.

Then, Housing Works’ annual benefit, Fashion For Action, chaired this year by Derek Lam. Event is closed to the public but more than 150 designers donated $1M worth of merchandise to be sold at 50-70% off, with all proceeds going to Housing Works. I’m proud to say my company is in the list of contributors.

wonder women

Tommorow night I am seeing an off-Broadway show with one of my life’s many inspirational women, Nancy Rappaport. We are seeing Nightingale, a one-woman show starring and written by Lynn Regrave — sister of Vanessa, aunt of the late Natasha :( — that imagines her grandmother Beatrice’s Victorian life. I am excited for the play, it has been months since I have seen one, but more excited to hang out with Nancy. She is full-force on her book tour for In Her Wake, her memoirs of her mother’s suicide and sort of a handbook for coping with the grief. I can’t really talk about the book without diminishing how powerful it is; all the language I can use to describe it seems kind of trite. It’s a combination of juicy drama (her family is a pretty powerful/well-known New England family), touching/funny/awkward childhood memories, and her own insights as a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Anyway, she is one of those people who brings me back to earth when my head gets stuck in a cloud and reminds me to feed my brain.

rio rio

Fresh from WWD, Mario Testino’s new book, MaRIO DE JANEIRO Testino (how creative). But I can’t hate on anyone who loves Brazil this much. It’s the home of some of my best friends. It’s where I met my boyfriend. It’s sun and sex and tan lines. And I totally agree with the artist: people in Rio always do seem to be having more fun…

 

Above, Arpoador, the point between Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. Photo by Mario Testino via WWD

reviewing the reviewer

I try to read as much as possible – on the subway, before I go to bed, while I’m having dinner – I can usually get through a couple of books a week. My taste is eclectic so I don’t hand out recommendations that readily (hard to believe, I know) but occasionally I will come across something so delicious it would be a shame not to share it.

Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires, her memoirs of her tenure as the restaurant critic at the New York Times is one of those books. Donning disguises was not enough for her to escape detection in New York’s most notable eateries; with the help of an acting coach, makeup artist, wig vendor, Thompson Street second-hand shop, and her own wild imagination she actually transformed herself into different characters, visiting the same restaurants over and over again. Besides mouthwatering descriptions of food that made me hungry lying in bed at 2 AM, the story itself never slows as each metamorphosis reveals a different layer of the author’s psyche. Her original reviews are published at the end of each chapter; even though this book was published in 2006 I discovered a restaurant I can’t wait to try: Kuruma Zushi.

This book is particularly interesting to read in light of the upsetting shuttering of Gourmet magazine, of which Reichl was the editor after the Times, and about which she recently chatted with her old alma mater.

american beauty

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of American Beauty at The Museum at FIT. Curated by Patricia Mears, the exhibit is the intersection of dressmaking and American notions of beauty. The exhibition is not comprehensive and you can walk through the entire thing in less than half an hour. But, fashion is recycled over and over again and these looks gave me some great inspiration to reinvent my own wardrobe.

Bold Graphics and Patterns

Frankly I am sick of seeing plaid everywhere, but this little romper caught my eye. Retro motifs are a creative way to experiment with patterns and textures, like the Pauline Trigère cloqué dress and coat in the far right of the second picture. Bold graphics were also on display, like the Rei Kawakubo dress and Stephen Sprouse blazer in the last picture. To make the trend wearable, try an animal print, bold stripe, or knit mesh.

Tailored Dress-Coats

My former roommate had a fabulous peacoat-dress from Burberry that I was never able to find (nevermind that I couldn’t afford it either) but I got my own perfect version at Miu Miu last year at the private sale. For something similar check out Silence and Noise’s Asymmetric Placket Coat ($138), Thread Social’s Silk Blend Coat Dress ($635) Topshop’s Lime Check Belted Coat ($190), and Ardistia’s Cape Coat ($495). Burberry obviously has the definitive spring version.

Rodarte

My friend commented that the first look reminded him of something I would wear, which left me pleasantly speechless but bemoaning my lack of appropriately sexy otk boots. The floral appliques are a big trend right now, not one I am getting on board with at the moment, but worth mentioning anyway. Here are some cute ones from Marchesa and J. Crew. There aren’t that many good, inexpensive options because cheaply-done flowers look cheap.

Hollywood Glamour

How refreshing is it to see Hollywood representing something other than crotch-flashing starlets and rehab? American Beauties fit for the best. I’m loving all the drapery and fishnet in the second picture.

Modern Marvels

What a pity I can’t remember/find the geniuses who designed these. So simple and sophisticated. The nude shift dress with the rusched neck needs to get in my closet now.

American Beauty, at The Museum at FIT, November 6, 2009 – April 10, 2010

Admission is free and open to the public Tuesdays – Fridays noon to 8 pm and Saturdays from 10-5