NY: The Highline

With the new gorgeous & innovative Highline now completed in NY, and its close proximity to many apartment balconies, it seemed only a matter of time before some creative person seized this unique opportunity. This has happened with a neighbor conceptualizing a "Renegade Cabaret", enlisting her jazz singer friend to help transform her fire escape from a laundry dryer into a bona fide stage, saying “This is in response to 31 years of obscurity. Now, every day there are thousands of people looking in my window. We’re not here to celebrate, we’re here to exploit. Welcome to the Renegade Cabaret.” Only in NY!
www.thehighline.org
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/24/garden/20090625-seen-slideshow/index.html

Fashion/Global 411: Luxury Climate

An interesting little clip on the future of the luxury market, with Suzy Menkes (still rocking that terrible trademark hair) of the International Herald Tribune interviewing Francois-Henri Pinault (aka Salma Hayek's new husband) at the sustainable luxury conference in New Delhi. What is the future of Couture?
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/04/06/multimedia/1194839247532/the-luxury-climate.html

Fashion: Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton plans to announce a high-profile new ad campaign featuring 79-year-old astronaut Buzz Aldrin and fellow space travelers Sally Ride and Jim Lovell.The campaign, with agency Ogilvy & Mather, marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and is intended to be “an homage to these great travelers.” The astronauts are the latest in a quirky series of Vuitton spokespeople, among them Mikhail Gorbachev, Catherine Deneuve and Keith Richards, who have appeared in the brand’s “Core Values” campaigns. For more: www.louisvuittonjourneys.com

Music: The King of Pop

Today, with the passing of the enormously talented (& troubled) Michael Jackson, all we can do is remember & celebrate the amazing music that made us dance, dance, dance for more than three decades! www.rollingstone.com/news/story/28852524/michael_jackson_19582009

Fashion/TV: Facehunter Show

In addition to the Sartorialist and Facehunter (staples for any fashionista), the last few years have seen an onslaught of other fashion blogs explode onto the scene. In an effort to expand out of this crowded field, Facehunter (Yvan Rodic) has launched 'The Facehunter Show' which continues his search for the unconventional, and for those who express themselves through clothing.

Paris part 1 from The Facehunter Show on Vimeo.

Beauty: Latisse

If you have not heard of the product Latisse, you will soon. It is quickly becoming the latest beauty 'must have', because who doesn't want longer, fuller, darker lashes? It is user friendly, just brush on the solution over your lashes before bed every night and your "before" and "after" will soon look like the above (those lashes pictured are Brooke Shields') It has tremendous results, as I have personally witnessed with a friend and all I can say is "wow"! Latisse is available by prescription only www.latisse.com

Fashion: Jimmy Choo at H&M

Uh oh. Here we go again....yet another designer doing a line for H&M. This time it is fabulous shoe creator Jimmy Choo, bringing all of their stiletto glory to the leaders in affordable fashion. Hang onto your wallets, people! www.hm.com, www.jimmychoo.com

"This autumn, British accessory brand Jimmy Choo will bring its international glamour and covetable shoes and bags to selected H&M stores. The collection will be available from November 14 in around 200 stores across the world. It is the first time that H&M is collaborating with an accessories brand, and to celebrate Jimmy Choo will extend its design vision for this collection to women’s clothing to complement the accessories. Further exciting news is that this collaboration includes a men’s collection of shoes, bags and accessories."

Movie: Oye Cuba!

For those who know me, I have been working on an upcoming documentary on Grammy Award winning jazz musician Arturo O'Farrill, as he reconnects with his family and his homeland in Cuba. Here is the preview and for more, visit us at www.oyecubafilm.com

Fashion: Marc Jacobs & Anna Sui

Style.com invited the CFDA International Award and the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award winners to lunch at Il Cantinori (delicious, go if you have not!). Listen to designers Marc Jacobs & Anna Sui as they trade trivia and talk about New York fashion and going out in the eighties.

Music: Madonna

And speaking of Madonna...here is her latest video for her lovely song "Miles Away". Her Sticky & Sweet Tour will continue throughout the summer in Europe, and if you have never had a chance to see her live, GO! You will not regret it, and let's face it, she can't keep doing this forever (well, maybe she can ;) www.madonna.com

Fashion: Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana have released their fall ad campaign, featuring none other than Madonna's Brazilian boy toy, Jesus Luz. (Somehow, I don't think she ever got over their last hot photo shoot for the March issue of W magazine: www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2009/03/madonna_rio) The ad was shot by Steven Klein, same as the W shoot, at the historical boxing site Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, where Mohammad Ali and Mike Tyson once trained. www.dolcegabbana.com

TV: The Colbert Report

Though my heart will always belong to Jon Stewart, his old employee and now the host of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert, became the first show to broadcast a taped episode from a tour in order to entertain U.S. troops. Kudos! The purpose of this was to bring attention to the six year war which has been overshadowed by economic news. Wearing a camouflage suit and tie, Colbert inspired laughs through his alter ego, the pompous, blustering conservative TV host. For The Colbert show that aired June 8th in Iraq, visit www.comedycentral.com (USA) or www.comedynetwork.ca (Canada).

Photo: Marilyn Monroe

For many of us, the fascination with Marilyn Monroe never ends. Recently, unpublished photographs of Monroe shot by a Life photographer surfaced, showing a softer, more innocent 24-year-old budding starlet before the tidal wave of fame crashed down on her, leading to her mysterious overdose at the age of 36.


"Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live." - MM

Fashion/Travel: T Magazine

A hybrid of my fave things, travel AND style, TMagazine (NY Times) puts out issues exploring everything from globetrotting to seasonal must have's to what is new in the world of design. I promise it will be a great read...

The latest issue:
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/03/22/style/t/index.html#pageName=home

Music: Black Cab Sessions

Looking for a fresh perspective on the music you already love? Check out the Black Cab Sessions where you can hear acoustic sets from all kinds of amazing musicians such as the Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Elvis Perkins or Lykke Li (see below), as they ride around London: "One song, one take, one cab." www.blackcabsessions.com

Inspiration: 4real.com

Friends recently suggested 4REAL.com to me out of interest in international affairs and positive changes being made in global communities. 4REAL informs, inspires and engages people passionate about art, culture and change. It also includes 4REAL Productions; a global online community (4REAL.com), and educational materials (4REAL School). With a tag line that states: "Real people. Real places. Real stories. Real change", how can you not be curious? Go to the site and check out their TV series covering locations such as Kenya, Haiti and Peru: www.4real.com

Music: Phoenix

On their fourth album, the Parisian band Phoenix (singer Thomas Mars is Sofia Coppola's baby daddy ;) continue to make well crafted & fun music. Long time critical darlings, Rolling Stone says of the new album 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix': "The band sounds more musically confident than ever, building on the breakthrough of its 2006 album, 'It's Never Been Like That'. The 10 songs are sleek and clean, as if the Strokes had kept pushing a little longer and maybe bought some old disco records."

Photo: NY Times "on the street"

With so many publications tripping over themselves to perfect their multimedia departments, the NY Times has really been doing something right. With a barrage of slideshows and video, they never fail to captivate the online readers attention. The online Fashion & Style section has a regular feature entitled "On the Street with (photographer) Bill Cunningham" as he captures style on the streets of NY (much like the Satorialist) but it includes his personal voiceover, which is both charming and (perhaps unintentionally) funny. Read up!
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/16/090316fa_fact_collins
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/05/24/fashion/20090524-street-slide-show/index.html?scp=2&sq=%22on+the+street%22&st=m