September 2008
I walked by Zella Brown the other day and thought to myself: love that window display. So bold and colorful. Hollywood Regency style at its best. And then I saw that dog… Turns out that fake little pooch draws more people in off the street than anything else—and it’s not for sale. Owner Trisha London’s mom bought it for her 10 years ago and she can’t remember where. It’s so real-looking it’s creepy! But London, who has witnessed many people knocking on the glass to “get its attention” maintains that she will always find a way to incorporate the odd dog into her window, no matter what people think of it. The things that drew me in: the tulle-wrapped-metal curlicue chandelier by 2Jane (not too shabby for $409) and the fun papier-mâché birds ($30 each) and stool ($299) from Stray Dog.
—Gina Bazer
Read more
More Auction Action, on Two Fronts
The seller of an 80-year-old Winnetka mansion has no idea what her lakefront estate might be worth in today’s market, so she is putting it up for auction. And several builders who want to unload their new houses or vacant land have signed on with a new online real-estate auction service. Both auctions are sources of potential bargains for buyers—although in the case of the Winnetka auction...
MARC JACOBS
I was speaking with a few fashion friends who are European, and they were saying how visiting New York makes them feel like they're in a movie. What New York gives them is a strong emotional experience. This is what fashion, at its best, should do. Marc Jacobs delivered that on Monday night, judging by the reactions of hard-nosed editors and reporters. Definitely a YSL tribute mixed with so many other elements: a tribute to America, to the American abroad. And all this set to Gershwin music! It slayed me...
Two days feels like two weeks when you are counting your life in high-heel time. Let me explain high-heel time. High-heel time moves like regular time if you're seated. If you're walking, it feels double as long as normal time. And during those moments spent shuffling oh-so-slowly down the bleachers and towards the door—leaving a fashion show is very similar to leaving a small concert—high-heel time means...
Read more
My contractor friend Dave Albin [albin720@aol.com] bought a fixer-upper vacation home in LaPorte, Indiana, has been working on it for a while now, and we drove up to check it out and have some end-of-summer R&R. It’s on a couple acres of land, so he put a lot of thought into landscaping the backyard, and came up with a great alternative to a traditional swimming pool. He researched and built a natural swimming pond, using a phyto-filtration system that apparently is really big in England. The idea is to have a deep area for swimming and surround that with a shallower area that’s planted with special grasses that purify and oxygenate the water, eliminating the need for chemicals. The water is kept circulating by the different water temps, a small waterfall and a solar-powered pump. I love the natural look of it, with all the rocks and waterlilies (and some melodic frogs, and friendly fish as well), and it’s going to be a lot more interesting to look at in the winter than a tarp-topped rectangular hole in the ground.
—BRADLEY LINCOLN
Read more
At the Gap presentation on Sunday afternoon, the first spring collection under creative director Patrick Robinson, power editors buzzed around drinking fruit punch and looking totally unfazed by the heat. After spending a summer away from the fashion scene, the clothes on the editors' backs looked shockingly good. I'm seeing a lot of summer looks still—gladiator heels, harem pants, paper-thin T-shirts (the 300-dollar variety that drape in a lovely way but pill the instant you touch them, god forbid you carry a handbag...
Read more