Rima Suqi

Having recently spent several weeks in Hawaii, and going back for more next week, I can safely say that an Aloha shirt is something best left in the “fashion” archives. While some of the prints are passable, the cuts are oversized and unattractive. Even the hottest guy cannot pull off an Aloha shirt without some serious alterations.

Unless it’s the new line, by Reyn Spooner, a company that’s been around for over 50 years. Their patterns are vintage and chic, the new color combinations are sophisticated, and the cuts are very slim and modern. Even a not-hot guy could rock these. They make shorts, too. No women’s line as of yet.

For over 15 years, Vanity Fair’s version of the Proust questionnaire has been one of the most popular pages in the magazine. Now they’ve compiled 100 of those interviews in a book. It’s  arranged alphabetically, beginning with Robert Altman and ending with Brian Wilson, and is a great read and an even better gift ( Amazon has it for $17).

Some choice answers:

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Lauren Bacall: “a 24 inch waist”

Annette Benning: “Virginity”

Ray Charles: “Talent”

Ted Kennedy: “Silence”

What is your idea of perfect happiness”

Lou Reed: “A rent controlled apartment”

Salman Rushdie: “Life without policemen”

What do you consider the lowest depth of misery?

Maureen Dowd: “No mini-bar”

Eleanor Lambert: “Having nothing to read”

Fran Lebowitz: “French”

Arthur Miller: “Betrayal”

Gore Vidal: “A mirror”

What is your motto?

Sandra Bernhardt: “Kiss ‘em, slap ‘em, send ‘em home!”

Elaine May: “Don’t throw away designer clothes”

What do you dislike most about your appearance?

Jimmy Buffet: “Somebody stole my hair”

Karl Lagerfeld” “I spend my life working on that subject”

John Waters: “I’ve had a bad hair life”

What is your greatest extravagance?

Julia Child: “Shoes!”

Deepak Chopra: “Double hazelnut lattes”

Joan Collins: “Lawyers”

Catherine Deneuve: “Spending all my money when I was 17 years old to buy an Hermes Kelly bag”

David Mamet: “On moving house in Boston, empowering my decorator to conduct the whole proceduer while I was away on location.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger: “I am a major shoe queen”

Donald Trump: “Having to only ride an elevator to get to work”

How would you like to die:

Eric Clapton: “Fishing”

Ellen DeGeneres: “No, thank you”

Hedy Lamar: “Preferably after sex”

Olivia de Haviland: “ensconced on a chaise longue, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered tohe answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword.”

In July Lacoste announced their latest collaboration, with design darlings the Campana brothers. Perhaps  their alligator chair inspired the match. Details after the pictures. I personally would run out and get the first one, despite my commitment to an austerity plan this year, but it’s only available in white.

And finding it is going to be a challenge. The company is running 3-page ads in all the major fashion rags but call their 800 number and nobody knows about it. I did find out the 5th Avenue store will have the women’s polos for $165 but there are several styles for both men and women, and it’s a safe bet prices will vary and that all-alligator version will be a lot more.

LACOSTE TAPS CAMPANAS TO CREATE 2009 HOLIDAY COLLECTOR’S SERIES

Based in Sao Paulo, Estudio Campana is constantly investigating new possibilities in concept and uses for different clashes of materials. It creates bridges and dialogues where the exchange of information is also a source of inspiration. Designers Fernando and Humberto Campana carry the duality of their rural Brazilian background and the urban codes from their youth and adulthood.

For the fourth Holiday Collector’s Series by LACOSTE, the Campanas have created an exclusive range of polos. The special edition of 20 000 pieces is based on their famed Alligator Chair, which shows how the reptiles pile up in mud beds during the dry season in their natural habitat. This is replicated by embroidering a cluster of eight crocodile logos onto a classic men’s and women’s white polo shirt.

There will be two limited editions in the Campanas + LACOSTE series.  Anavilhanas, small fluvial islands on the Amazon, inspired a limited edition of 125 pieces for men, while Lianas vines that grow in trees in the tropical rainforests inspired a limited edition of 125 pieces for women. These are crafted from various sizes of the iconic LACOSTE crocodile logo. Finally, the super limited edition will be made to order only with up to 12 men’s and 12 women’s editions created, it is hand-crafted completely from crocodile logos, recalling the lace work of Northern Brazil.

I love books that provide a social history of NYC, whether or not I was part of it. Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred (Rizzoli) is the latest. Read below for the official blurb. $60
The restaurant Indochine has gone from trendsetting pioneer in the mid-1980s to established scene-maker in the 1990s, to the iconic status it holds today. With spectacular images presented by some of the most renowned photographers, celebrities, and writers, Indochine celebrates twenty-five years of being an important legacy in New York’s downtown social swirl, where celebrities rub elbows with downtown hipsters, uptown moguls mix with East Village club kids, and fashion designers with artists and gallery owners. Vintage photographs from the 1980s and ’90s are mixed with contemporary collages and Polaroids taken during Indochine’s most notorious private parties. Stories by Salman Rushdie, Moby, Julianne Moore, and Bob Colacello are combined with photographs by Patrick McMullan, Roxanne Lowit, and Patrick Demarchelier, along with artworks by Francesco Clemente, Helmut Lang, Tom Sachs, Ruben Toledo, Narciso Rodriguez, Ross Bleckner, and Julian Schnabel, among many more.

Forgive me but this is going to be a chattier blog post than the usual “here’s a picture, isn’t this cool, see ya” sorta thing.

My history with L.L. Bean began in college with their catalog. I ordered blucher mocs (loafers not lace-ups), spent four years breaking them in, and then somebody walked off with them, breaking my heart and obviously sole. I ordered ragg wool sweaters and socks. I loved that catalog and because of it has a whole Maine fantasy that revolved around this quirky store that was open 24 hours, 365 days a year.

And then two years ago – which admittedly is many years post college – I went. What a disappointment. Bottom line: LL Bean, for all the romance, is corporate. I barely made it through the entire, poorly lit store, and left. It was like my version of “there’s no Santa.”

So, when LL Bean hires someone to do a new, more fashionable, upscale line for them, you have to take this with a grain of salt. First of all, what’s more fashionable for them is not necessarily mind-boggling to the rest of the world.Even if it is a HUGE departure for their company. Which, this new collection by Alex Carleton of Rogues Gallery, definitely is.

Second, since (and I am guessing here, I have no inside information) it is corporate, there are probably a lot of opinions involved. Any designer is only good as his employers will allow him to be. Autonomy usually equals success, design-wise.

That’s the prelude to the intro. The party was great. Good looking crowd (hello Anderson Cooper!), lots of booze and food, and surprisingly nice space considering its physical location, near the decidedly unglam Javits Center.

The presentation was very well styled. Alex Carleton is a really smart, stylish, low-key guy who doesn’t seem to buy into the fashion bullshit (I mean, he’s been known to take classes at a wooden boat school in summer). The way he was dressed today was the way I’ve always seen him dressed. Not a trendy bone in his body, although ironically his style is very trendy right now.

Anyway, the ultimate point of these pieces, I believe, is how you make them your own. The question is – especially for women (because I felt, as did many others there, that the mens was more interesting) – do you want to buy it?  See for yourself. In stores/catalog/online March/April.

(sorry about the crappy scans/photos)

Tops!!!!

Can these guys do anything wrong? Besides making some of the most consistently beautiful ceramics pieces year after year, they’ve just designed a set of 3, limited edition, walnut tops for Herman Miller. James and David apparently spent an afternoon at the Eames’ case study house in Pacific Palisades, were inspired by their gigantic toy collection, et voila!

Pricing isn’t yet set but I hear they’re around $100. Check them out here.

Another entry about another person I hadn’t heard of. But I’m cutting myself some slack on this one. Ever hear of Anthony Pappalardo? Major skateboarder. Sponsored by Converse. Dad has a pizzeria. And he makes furniture.

I know, I know. But it looks pretty cool and the description below is endearing:

Virgin White is the first installment of furniture and art work by
designer/pro skateboarder Anthony Pappalardo. His first solo exhibition
explores the labor intensive process he uses to produce the final pieces
of furniture. This collection of handmade stools, created from small
blocks of a variety of common and exotic woods, focus on the graphic and
textural qualities of end grain.

Check it out at the Future Perfect – opening party is Friday.

I admit, I had never heard the name before last week.  Then I did some reading and felt like an idiot – he’s considered one of the most prolific American art-deco ceramic sculptors of the early twentieth century.  In 1941, the New York Times wrote that he was a “genius in his field.” You can read more about him here and here. The point is that his (I believe) great-nephew is reissuing pieces from the archive and, frankly, they rock. Here’s a preview:

In doing research for an article I ran across these pieces that Tiffany & Co made in the ’70s and ’80s. So RIGHT NOW. So poised for a comeback. Somebody there has gotta go digging in that archive.

Exhibit A:

Paloma Picasso cuff

Exhibit B:

Elsa Peretti cuffs:

Exhibit C: Elsa Peretti snake belt, which T&Co. should reintroduce IMMEDIATELY

In the spirit of fall cleaning – summer clothes out, fall clothes in, that kind of thing — I decided to finally take two of my non-functioning watches in to find out why they’d stopped ticking (so to speak). In the past I’d gone to a quirky place I’d written about before, run by two curmudgeonly sister who had told me several times that my favorite watch “wasn’t worth anything” and basically why did I bother. They were expensive and waits were sometimes weeks long (and I didn’t have a Rolex).

So this time I decided to try out a guy I saw in a neighborhood shoe repair shop, where he had a corner near the window. He’s a little Russian man named Anatoly who seems gruff at first but turns out to be adorable. Anyway, I handed him my not-worth-anything watch and my definitely-worth-something watch. Ten minutes and $25 later I had fixed watches, sans attitude. He’s my new hero.

Here’s his info:

Anatoly, 196 7th Avenue, between 21-22,  (inside the shoe repair shop, sorry but I don’t know the name). 347-323-5487.

If he can’t fix what ailes your ticker, email me and I’ll point you to the grouchy sisters.