209
March 9th, 2010
say hello to the antifashion crowd. they’re just as lovely
Tuileries Paris, Autumn 09
208
February 17th, 2010
A REALLY COOL PLACE.
TRANSLATION: Culture Club: Persian Style
London’s newly opened hot spot destination for “members only” where east meets west
“The idea is of an old train in motion, inspired by 60’s Britain with subtle influences from the Silk Road” explains Farhad Farman-Farmaian, Managing Director of the Beauchamp Club in London. The new private members club on Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge lies behind an unmarked door with no number nor name on the outside. Enter into a whole new world of interiors and influences from all over: a sophisticated European Orientalist vision accompanied by a unique soundtrack with Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, Nino Rota and Billie Holiday. Warhol and Frank prints hang on the walls amidst old family photos paying tribute to Farman-Farmaian’s noble Persian heritage. Founding Members include Agnelli’s, Getty’s and Santo Domingo’s. When not dining on Mediterranean and Persian cuisine and experimenting with prosecco and pomegranate Bellinis, members can enjoy the lectures, readings, classic film screenings, and musical performances curated under the watchful eye of its esteemed Cultural Advisory Council including world renowned architect Zaha Hadid and Swiss art gallerist Bruno Bischofberger.
Mr. Farmaian, how does a non member enjoy these delights?
It’s all so lovely, I was fortunate to taste a bowl of pasta before the club opened (one of the best), and sampled some of the music too…
There should be a way to have interesting and interested non members visit…
BY: shala
TAGS: beauchamp club |
Comments (2)
207
February 1st, 2010
POP LOVES WOMEN! Brigitte Lacombe
I met Brigitte in Doha.
It was at a reception for the premiere of the first ever Tribeca Film Festival there.
She was circling round and round with her leica camera. She was immediately striking, eyeing everything in sight.
We met again the next day on a trip to the falcon farm. Then we saw a movie together. Then I saw her in LA for the Moca Gala.
She completely fascinates me as she is a woman living her passion while it supports her, travelling the world taking photos.
Brigitte Lacombe is definitely a POP ICON.
For more on Brigitte take a look at her website here
Madame Lacombe, hard at work.
Brigitte often works on film sets. Here a shot of Ava Green hard at work.
As well as working as a travel photographer for Conde Nast Traveller, Miss Lacombe also does advertising.
One of her many travel photos
BY: shala
TAGS: Brigitte Lacombe |
Comments (1)
206
January 29th, 2010
The Bloody First Communion Dress…
Dress: Valentino. Gargoyle earrings: Delfina Delettrez, Photo: Gilles Bensimon
Let me tell a story about the white Valentino dress.
Last fall, in Paris, I sat next to one of the most deliciously, intelligent, and splendidly dressed gentlemen at the Miu Miu dinner in Paris. Ahhhh. I melt with the memory. It was delicious for me because we got to speak about why we wear the things we wear when we wear them. It’s not as shallow as it sounds… You could learn some things in conversations like that. Like the fact that Burano in Venice, is where all the lace is made as opposed to Murano where all the glass is made… Any way we got to the topic of where lace is made, because in Venice last summer, during the biennale, the one thing I got myself was a lace collar that I HAD to buy, because it reminded me of my mother. I wore it to Dasha’s birthday party…
But this gentleman was making the point that certain things in our memories especially from our childhood has an effect on the choice of things we wear from day to day… subconsciously. My example being this collar that I pinned with a safety pin whilst wearing only a bustier, only because I had to buy it (because it reminded me of my mother) and because I had to wear it; NOW! My mother is also guilty of such things, like wearing the same dress two days in a row. Her reasoning being, “ I love this dress so much, what if I die tomorrow…” I swear her EXACT words.
Anyway the crotchet part conjured up things like, I’m named Shala, because (more…)
BY: shala
TAGS: Delfina Delettrez, Paris Couture, Valentino |
Comments (3)
205
January 19th, 2010
A childhood well lived
Screaming children, it’s such a lovely sound. It takes me back to my school days, when I got back home, my plaid overalls, and orange poplin shirt dirty as hell. I now look at this dirty little girl I was as sign that I had a childhood well lived. I was definitely a screaming, running, skipping, happy child.
Screaming children is what I hear outside my hotel room in Paris. It’s not even sunny, it’s grey as a London fog day, but I can hear the peals of laughter joyously penetrating through the sealed windows.
The bell rings.
Silence
BY: shala
TAGS: Paris |
Comments (3)
204
December 17th, 2009
“I wish he would be the president of the whole world!” so says JOSEPH BANDA
President of the world...
I know I’ve posted this little boy’s story before but he is so filled with joy, though his village is dirt poor. And he is a dreamer, he wants to fly, he doesn’t want to be President of his country, he’d rather be a pilot and fly the president… “it happens” he says, without a drop of doubt. I’m sure he will be one day.
The interviewer from the BBC who had this conversation with him has already taken him on a small plane ride, and ofcourse he was over the moon.
I will keep you updated on his next interview with the BBC.
BY: shala
TAGS: BBC, Joseph Banda, President Barak Obama |
Comments (0)
203
December 15th, 2009
Giambatista Valli SS/10
Fresh mint at the market
Margarita Missoni at GBV Studio in Paris
Giambatista Valli hard at work
The garden at the Hotel Ryad Madani
GBV Mood board
accessories
Hard at work with Giamba and Anne McNally
spring summer 2010 collection
spring summer 2010 collection
MARRAKECH PART II
This summer I watched Bernado Bertolucci’s, “The Sheltering Sky.” I cannot explain here how this movie affects my life. Life, like Kandinsky, is full of circles. In any case I saw this movie after I had been to Marrakech. It’s where I met Giambatista Valli for the first time through a mutual friend, Carlos Mota who’s a style editor for Elle Décor.
The first thing Giambatista did was, order us mint tea while sitting on the crowded side of the Café Des Epices, in the center of the Medina. Morrocan mint tea, it’s served cold, and very sweet, often in a small, decorated glass; Morrocco is full of details. I mention mint because when I first promised in Paris to explain to you the reason there was so much green in his collection, it is due to the ever present mint, and it is fresh mint, Emerald green! There is lots of green to be seen, like date palm leaves, like olives, like orange trees, like all the green you can find in the dessert. I had no idea. I hardly ever research a city before I visit. I’ve said before, I’m lazy. Actually I did google it but my mind still thought desert meant orche, not verdant.
In the middle of the Medina, in the middle of my hotel, Ryad Madani, is an extremely lush garden. It reminded me of home (St.Lucia). Outside of my room – banana trees, bougainvillia, palms and cypress trees just to name a few. And so Giamba’ as I now call him because he is a darling, in the desert, saw lots of trees; hence the green in the collection.
And there was Picasso too.
We all had breakfast one morning where Giamba took me to a nook at the top of his villa and showed me the snow capped Atlas mountains. It sucked the wind out of me. He then brought me over to a dainty little table shaded by honeysuckle vines. Breakfast here includes, in addition to flat bread, fresh coffee, fruit and tea – fervent discussion. Everyone had a book or the paper, about six of us. I was happy to just listen because I don’t come across this thing in New York often. Smooth transition from Italian, to French, to English, Arabic, like music… One gentleman was reading poetry, the other an Egyptian newspaper, Giamba going over a copy of a certain Picasso book of late paintings. Ever so politely one would stop and remark on something that moved them and so the breakfast went. The silences were most delicious.
To be continued…
BY: shala
TAGS: Giambatista Valli, Margarita, Morroco, Paris |
Comments (0)
202
December 12th, 2009
YESTERDAY I FELT THE URGE TO BUY A HAT…
and so I went to THE HAT SHOP.
Linda is the sales woman there, and what a delight she is.
The thing is I’m beginning to have a problem with Department stores, only because its too stimulating… I digress.
Amid her many stories, one of them explaining why the Mad Hatter is so called, she excused herself to make a very important phonecall.
I need to call this journalist she said, and I said fine because I really felt at home at the little shop and didn’t mind, it was also evil cold outside.
Her call was to the BBC about Joseph Banda. Listen here. Joseph reminded me a bit of Amelia Earhart.
Here’s our little interview recorded on my iphone.
Hat: The Hat Shop, Dress: Rodarte for Target (only $39.99) Watch: Prada.
Linda: After I heard the story I sent the BBC an email, they sent an email to the reporter, she got back to me and said that several people had asked, you know how they could help but nobody really knew what to do. Then because I had experience with the Thorntree Project in Kenya I started to put together a long-term strategy for Joseph because he is definitely going to need help, as he gets older. (more…)
BY: shala
TAGS: Amelia Earhart, Joseph Banda, Prada, President Obama, Rodarte for Target, The Hat Shop |
Comments (3)
201
December 8th, 2009
Getting lost is not so bad. Look what I found in Paris..
A vintage Chanel clutch at Vintage Paris.
I was feeling adventurous.
By that I mean,I felt like walking the Marais with no specific goal.
It’s a wonderful thing to do. There are wonderful shops to discover like VINTAGE PARIS, which has a great selection of old pieces from Chanel, Hermes and Gucci to name a few.
I also discovered another shop that I OVER THE MOON recommend: CHRISTOPHE LEMAIRE.
It turns out he designs for LaCoste, but his little store has some very exquisite clothing made mostly in Japan with some of the best fabrics you you’ll ever touch or lay eyes on.
Back to the getting lost story. Don’t go to the Marais between 5pm-7pm if you don’t know how to take the subway, or bus, if you don’t have a driver or don’t speak french too well.
YOU WILL NEVER GET A TAXI!!!!! They exist. They just stare you right in the face, like cows, wide eyed. Long story short they don’t like driving in Marais traffic at these hours.
One little lesson learnt in Paris.
This left me with one of the many times where I hated France!
But I’ll always love Paris. (It’s a case of true love)
I have a nice little sleeping pill story from Paris which i’ll write about on one of my nights of insomnia.
Back to the story sorry. I’m used to taxis fighting to pick me up in New York. Except on rare occasion where they pass me by and pick up a white passenger.
There I just wish them the worst things in hell. They deserve it.
I have another such story (not a taxi driver) just someone who drove their car into me. I shake at the memory of it. (I will tell that one too) but that person must be dead now or suffering really badly cause I wished him something worse than hell.
So let’s end on a lighter note.
I finally got picked up after waiting for two hours.
It was raining, just so i’ll have a nicer image for my story.
I ended up at a vintage magazine shop, I don’t remember the name now.
But I did discover some wonderful things, like this sentence from one of the many people I desparately called for advice on how to deal with being lost in the Marais.
“WHY DON’T YOU GO TO ALAIA, BUY A PAIR OF SHOES AND THEY’LL BE SURE TO GET YOU A TAXI.”
Sounds practical no?
BY: shala
TAGS: Alaia, Christophe lemaire, Paris, taxis, Vintage Paris |
Comments (8)
200
December 7th, 2009
“A WOMAN IS TO HAVE MONEy AND A ROOM OF HER OWN IF SHE IS TO WRITE FICTION…” (Virginia Woolf)
What I am concerned with here is the exact symmetry of my legs with his. who's copying whom? In this instance I'd say it is I. I walked up to this lovely man eating his ice-cream. I suppose the capirinha must have readied me for mimicking. "... the truer the facts the better the fiction..." VW
“A good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Or maybe I had dined well…
Quotes from: a room of one’s own by Virginia Wolf.
Comments please.
BY: shala
TAGS: A room of one's own, Virginia Wolf |
Comments (3)
199
December 5th, 2009
Miami, where nature competes with art.
Kusama sculptures at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Miami Florida USA
BY: shala
TAGS: Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Miami Art Basel, Yayoi Kusama |
Comments (2)
198
December 5th, 2009
What happens in Miami DOES NOT stay in Miami.
Not naming names on this one. Sorry. But this is Todd Eberle's hat...
The art-dealer, Toni Shafrazi making a sale.
The W Hotel's Aby Rosen busts some moves.
Alberto Mugrabi and friend
Derek, I'm dying to know what you said to Diana.
Aaron Young and his dealer, Almene Reich
BY: shala
TAGS: Aaron Young, Aby Rosen, Alberto Mugrabi, Almene Reich, Derek Blasberg, Diana Picasso, Miami Art Basel, Toni Shafrazi, W Hotel Miami Beach |
Comments (1)
197
November 25th, 2009
“AND STILL LIKE DUST I RISE”
Because my mother sent this poem to me via email.
Because my mother stopped school at age 9.
Because I recited this poem at school, and my mother never heard it, cause she was busy, working…
Because it’s on the wall of my secondary school.
Because Maya Angelou…
Because
STILL I RISE.
by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
BY: shala
TAGS: Maya Angelou, Still I Rise |
Comments (7)
196
November 24th, 2009
THE SPICEBURNS
I just can’t wait till their album comes out. Can you…?
The Spiceburns: Drummer Tatiana Santo Domingo, Lead singer Eugenie Niarchos, Guitarist: Margarita Missoni at their performance in LA. The girls wear Missoni.
BY: shala
TAGS: Eugenie Niarchos, Francesco, Margarita Missoni, Moca, spiceburns, Tatiana Santo Domingo |
Comments (1)
195
November 18th, 2009
Zaha Hadid’s Maxxi Museum, Rome Italy
I have but one complaint, and I’d like to say it loud!!!!! and Clear. Why does a museum whose trustees I’m sure wear heels have to have them ruined by Hadid’s subway grate stairs. Apart from that the museum is spectacular, fullstop.
There they are, those beautiful stairs, that kill your shoes' beautiful heels. Why? I really want to know why? Perfect case of form over function. Am I not considered because I chose to wear heels???? By the way every Roman woman I've seen wears heels in Rome's cobble stone streets. I await a response that will shut me up. I understand I can take the elevator but...
BY: shala
TAGS: Maxxi Museum, Rome, Zaha Hadid |
Comments (4)
194
November 15th, 2009
Coming soon… Missoni Beverly Hills, USA
Elizabeth Von Gutman and Alexia Niedielski cling to bikini hangers at the almost ready store.
Yep the “Saturday Group” girls can’t wait till they can scoop up some teeny, weeny, itsy bitsy red hot missoni bikinis.
BY: shala
TAGS: American Spirit, Beverly Hills, Missoni, Prada, Saturday Group |
Comments (0)
193
November 15th, 2009
I’m in the American Spirit, Los Angeles California
Hair by Soween, Brooklyn USA
BY: shala
TAGS: American Spirit, Soween |
Comments (8)
192
November 14th, 2009
“This place is cool and the boss don’t mind if sometimes you act the fool.”
A seventies kinda girl, in Moscow, Russia
Above lyrics from the movie “car wash”.
telling you I’m in a 70’s mood.
BY: shala
Comments (0)
191
November 14th, 2009
Twice is nice, thrice would suffice
Caravaggio, The Inspiration of St. Matthew 1602, Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
At Prada Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles
BY: shala
TAGS: Caravaggio, Contarelli Chapel, Prada, Prada Book Party, Rome |
Comments (0)
190
November 14th, 2009
Prada Book Party on Rodeo Drive
Alexia Niedelski hard at work.