Travel: L.A.

I was visiting friends in L.A. over Thanksgiving and in between kids activities we managed to squeeze in a trip to the Huntington Botantical Gardens. They have THE MOST incredible cactus garden and greenhouse. Looking at all the patterns and colors close up made me want to become a textile designer. 

Snapshot: Bianca Jagger

There are countless photos of Bianca Jagger that I really, really love, but I recently found this one and it seems to trump all the others. Unbelievably chic.

Home Sweet Home

As much as I drool over minimal interiors and wish that I could live in such ordered simplicity, I know that the one thing I couldn't live without is the personal artwork hanging on my walls. Since I don't have the budget to buy any truly significant kind of artwork I feel incredibly lucky to not only have an artist husband but also lots of artist friends that give, trade or make artwork for me. We're also really big on handmade valentines (large ones!) in our family and those take up a lot of wall space too. 

These aren't handmade, but I do love them so much. I found them in a vintage store - they were some guy's college project in the late 60's. There are 5 of them in total and they were featured in a Vogue Living story about my house.

 A collage I made from Kmart kids' valentines for my husband (2007).

A photo that Jessica Craig Martin took at our wedding, that I then covered with heart stickers and gave to my husband for Valentine's Day (2001).

Left A photogram portrait of my son by his godfather Adam Fuss (2009).

Right A watercolor of Lil Kim by Jane Rosenblum. It was a wedding present (2000).

Two heart collages I made for each of my kids for Valentine's Day (2005).

A drawing from Planet of the Apes, by Jane Rosenblum (2000).

Left A watercolor portrait of me by Anh Duong (1998).

Right When I worked at Gagosian Gallery I got to work with one of my photography heroes, Sally Mann. She used to write me notes and letters on the back of her unseen, unpublished photos and then fold them up like stationary and put them in an envelope. This is my favorite one (1998).

This one has a story: When I was in 7th grade, I transferred to Horace Mann and went to more Bar Mitzvahs than I could count. During that time I really wished I was Jewish so I could have my own Bar Mitzvah. There were many aspects of Bar Mitzvahs that I was envious of, but I was especially crazed about the enlarged photo of the honoree everyone signed as they entered the reception. By the time I got married 13 years later I was still thinking about the signed photo so I used this picture Arthur Elgort took and had it made into a poster that everyone signed as they arrived. I still smile everytime I pass it in the hallway.

Another Valentine I made for my husband. I got the quote from a photo of a pillow in Helen Hurley Brown's living room. Go figure (2008).

A Valentine Christopher made for me. I love how surfer-y it is (2008). 

Left Our friend David Yarritu made this from an Us Weekly cover - he blacked out everything but Hollywood, Star Jones' face and that big smile. He then made the cutouts at the bottom with a hole puncher. I think it's genius (2008).

Right I love to make photo collages. It's so much easier to look at photos that way instead of hiding them in albums. This picture was from Domino (2003).

Printed Matter: Diane von Furstenberg's Book of Beauty

If you're a fan of DVF and you don't have this book, I suggest you go to Amazon right now and buy it. You can get a good copy for under $5. It was published in 1977, and it's filled with practical beauty tips (like what color makeup works best with your hair/skin color), great vintage photos of DVF at home, and Diane's signature charm and wit. Case in point: There is a chapter called "Brazil? With My Hair? Never!" And if nothing else it's a cheap and chic addition to your coffee table.

I ♥ Your Scarf

I have been so inspired recently by Hermès' new website - J'aime mon Carré.  It completely reinvented my perception of the Hermès scarf as something only Queen Elizabeth or Grace Kelly would wear into something that any cute young thing can wear. I've included some of my favorites from those images here along with a few vintage ones. Being 36 I wonder if I'm not too old to wrap an Hermès scarf around my head. I'd probably only try it in the summer at the beach. The best I've ever felt wearing a silk scarf was inspired by my college roommate Patricia Herrera who showed me more than a few things about personal style. She taught me how to tie a scarf around my neck with the tie in the back so it almost served as a turtleneck - it keeps your neck warm in winter and it looks chic. The key is to use a smaller scarf - you dont want a big plume of scarf tails hanging down your back. Or maybe you do. But I don't. 

I ♥ Your Style: Kate Moss & Johnny Depp

I was that girl who had pictures of Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street plastered on the ceiling above my bed. As a young teenager his was the last face I saw before I fell asleep every night. I had at least 15 different fantasies about how I was going to get him to be my boyfriend. I even wrote him an impassioned letter that I was sure sounded different, more sincere than all the other fan mail he'd received. Never heard back. 

Not so many years later I was a camera assistant to Patrick Demarchelier. We had gone to St. Barts to photograph Kate Moss for Harpers Bazaar. We had shot Kate many times. I was pretty enamored of her too, and the only thing she'd really ever said to me was that she loved an antique jade and gold ring I wore (it was my mother's). So we arrive on set that first day in St. Barts, business as usual, and as I was walking into the kitchen I heard his voice. Johnny Depp was there. Obviously I knew that he was Kate's boyfriend, I had just never imagined that he would come to a shoot. I was so stunned that I did a 180 and walked in the other direction. What could I possibly say to Johnny Depp?? I avoided him entirely. An hour or so later I saw him and Kate snuggling in a hammock while we finished setting up the lights. An hour after that they were making out next to the pool. While Kate was being photographed, Johnny lingered around for most of the day, not coming close enough to me to warrant an introduction. I was nervous all day, in fact pretty miserable. How could I be in such close proximity to Johnny Depp all day and not have the nerve to at least meet him? 

At the end of shooting, Patrick announced we would all have dinner at his house that night. I thought for sure Kate and Johnny would stay cuddled up in their room and not join us. But they did. In fact, I met him only minutes after I arrived at Patrick's house. If nothing else happened I would feel better that at least I shook his hand. He sat across from me at dinner. He was shy. We made a little small talk here and there, and our conversations with others crossed paths a few times. But it was pretty obvious that in his mind Kate was really the only person in the room. He stared at her the whole dinner. They interlocked their feet under the table. There really was an incredibly intense love going on between them. By the next morning Johnny had jetted off to somewhere else, and the shoot with Kate resumed as usual. I never had the same feelings for Johnny Depp again after that. I was so convinced of his love for Kate that I was happy to leave it at that and move on. When I look back at pictures of them now, what I notice mostly is just how good they looked together - their looks, their clothes, their style, their body language. It's almost too much cool to handle. I guess it was for them too. 

Snapshot: Tod's at Barneys

I ♥ Your Style: Gisela Torres

My friend Gisela was in town from London recently. I met her because she took an amazing photo of Sally Singer that I used in my book. We also have a great friend - Duro Olowu (the most stylish man ever) - in common. So Gisela came over to my house to photograph a pair of my shoes for her blog, and I was so inspired by her turban. This picture was taken in my bedroom which was so perfect because the african fabrics on my chair and sofa looked so good with the african fabric on her turban. What I loved most is how the turban transformed her jeans and t-shirt outfit from an everyday look into an arresting and exotic silhouette.

Snapshot: John Currin

I was so sad to miss John Currin's opening at Gagosian recently (I was in Rome). Thinking of it made me remember this silly photo my husband took of Yvonne Force and me in John's studio reenacting one of his pictures. If you're in NY go see his show at 980 Madison - it's up until Dec 22nd.

Snapshot: Saubaudia, Italy

I was here last week, If there is heaven on earth this might be it....

Printed Matter: The Fashion Makers

I so loved reading about the most iconic American designers in The Fashion Makers but what really floored me was the portraits of the designers. I'm going to have to look up photographer Barbra Walz and see where she is today.

 Buy it here

American Women

I've been thinking lately about women with classic American style. In a quest to spend more money on my house and less on my clothes, I've cut way back on shopping and am working hard to veer away from of the moment impulse purchases and focus more on great quality clothes that will last longer than the current trends. I've been thinking about women I've come across over the years in my fashion career - Marina Schiano, Tonne Goodman, Alexandra Kotur and Deeda Blair - who have great discipline in choosing what works for them best and sticking with it.......yes, a uniform of sorts. I've always felt that at some point in my life I would go down that route. I have no idea if I am there yet - only time will tell of course - but I can acknowledge that the idea is getting more and more attractive. So what is the look that suits me best? That speaks the most to who I am, who I have been and who I want to be? It will likely take me awhile to figure that out, but I know that I am pretty much quintessentially American, and the most consistent style in my wardrobe has been classic, despite having rebelled from it for most of my 20's. So I'm trying to find inspiration in who made classic American style the most interesting. Yes of course pictures of Jackie O  and Lauren Hutton pop into my head right away - especially images of them in the 70's - but I've also been surprised in my constant and obsessive trolling through the internet in search of women with great style - past and present - to find moments of true classic style in less likely places. Those are the ones that excite me most of course.

Clockwise from top: Ali MacGraw, Lauren Hutton, Lauren Bacall, Claiborne Swanson Frank , Jerry Hall, Slim Keith, Aerin Lauder, Asia Baker, Lauren Bacall.