Three Fave Tomas Maier Collections for Bottega Veneta

News broke yesterday that the Bottega Veneta creative director of 17 years, Tomas Maier, has stepped down. Before a new designer is named (Phoebe Philo got my vote, but Kering chose Daniel Lee who worked with Philo, which could be very interesting) I thought I’d rerun three of my favorite BV collections by Mr. Maier. The SS15 collection above was a standout that season, each look lovelier than the next. To celebrate the house’s 50th anniversary, Lauren Hutton walked in the SS17 show below carrying the clutch she made famous in the all-time classic film American Gigolo. And I loved the mixed prints on the dresses in the PF16 collection bottom, a trend that is still going strong today.

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Linn Hägglund Inspired

Swedish stylist and creative consultant Linn Hägglund has personal style in spades and her discerning aesthetic inspires me to be thoughtful about what I buy. Friends with designers Elin Kling and Josephine Dahlin, Hägglund works with both women on their respective lines Totême and Deitas.  A few years ago she told Make it Last that “(t)he minimalistic yet luxury aesthetic appealed to me as candy to a child.” Hear, hear.

Images @linnhagglund

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Sale, Sale,Sale!

My inbox has practically exploded with emails touting further markdowns on sale items. Since I didn’t buy much when the sales started, I decided to see what’s still available—a lot, actually.

Saint Laurent sunglasses, Chloé ballet flats, A.P.C. dress, Saint Laurent sweater, Saint Laurent belt, Portolano hat, Blazé Milano blazer, Marni Trunk bag.

Glamping

As a kid, I loved our yearly camping trip. My father owned 100 acres that straddled the New Hampshire/Maine state line and there was a beautiful river running through it. We would pack up the old wood-paneled Jeep Wagoneer (it’s only purpose was the summer camping trip) with a Coleman stove, coolers, tents, sleeping bags, and foods we were never allowed to eat at home.

Time has, naturally, dulled the memories of waking up cold and damp, washing in a frigid leech-filled stream, and being stuck in the woods with no escape from my siblings for days on end.

Which brings me to glamping. Years ago I was obsessed with an article on the Miller sisters and their families camping out west in Airstreams that they had kitted out with bohemian pillows, throws, and tons of great food (they may have taken a chef with them). Today there are a number of hotels that offer an upscale version of camping and would be ideal for a family reunion—Tablet’s The Agenda has the very best list.

Cool Stuff for Dad

I am fortunate to have a fantastic men’s shop nearby for Father’s Day gifts. James Guy above has all sorts of cool  stuff and it’s nice to support a small local business. Online I found lots of great gift ideas on Huckberry, and Creed’s Green Irish Tweed is always a winner.

I Spy With My Little Eye: Concho Belts, Continued

Saint Laurent’s design director Anthony Vaccarello presented the Spring 2019 men’s collection (with a few women’s looks) in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. “New York in the ’70s” was the theme and the look above caught my eye. The hip-slung concho belts firmly reinforces their return as a trend, and the gorgeous top and trousers got me thinking about new silhouettes, as well.

Never In My Wildest Dreams

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be singing along to ‘Africa‘ in 2018.  A 14-year-old female fan badgered Weezer for months and months to cover the 1982 Toto classic and the resulting rendition is fantastic. Even funnier: Weezer messed with the fan by releasing Toto’s ‘Rosanna‘ a week before ‘Africa’.

Okay, I didn’t love (or even like for that matter) Florence + The Machine’s ‘Hunger‘ the first few times I heard it—but it has grown on me and I am looking forward to the rest of the new album High As Hope.

Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys sounds so much like David Bowie on the new album, just listen to ‘Four Out Of Five‘, it’s eerie and great at the same time.

#environmentday

Yesterday was Environment Day and I posted on Instagram about how easy and chic it is to give up plastic shopping bags, plastic bottles, and straws. When a plastic bag was found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, my heart broke. I live on the water and we pick up trash on the beach as often as we can. The recent issue of Porter has a story photographed in the Maldives and many of the pictures are of the plastic that has washed ashore even in this remote spot. Editor-in-chief Lucy Yeomans is very keen on highlighting this escalating pollution problem and “Porter has partnered with Parley for the Oceans and dedicated their summer campaign to the ocean plastic crisis.”

So, I thought I would offer a few easy alternatives to plastic items that are used daily. And please buy local honey to help battle honey bee colony collapse, another environmental issue that is close to my heart. These would be useful and conscientious hostess gifts.

Filet bags, water bottles, straw market baskets, paper and stainless steel straws.

Hair Help

When it’s not 90° and humid, it’s overcast and rainy—oh, what a spring we’ve had in NYC. I posted a picture of myself on Instagram last week and my hair looked awful; a little more effort is in order (makeup, too, but that’s for another time).  The messy bun à la the Duchess of Sussex never looks as good on me and a ponytail is great, but not all the time. I’m looking for products, short of ’60s hairspray, that will help my hair defy the humidity.

New Magazine: More or Less

Jaime Perlman, a Vogue alum of both the American and British editions, is launching More or Less, a bi-annual magazine that will mix luxury with vintage. Kate Moss is on the debut cover and showcases her famed vintage collection in a story photographed by Ethan James Green. Vogue‘s Mark Holgate spoke with Ms. Perlman and got the scoop.

I’ve been adding more and more resale items to my posts—there are so many sites with great and authenticated finds. As the price of luxury clothing skyrockets and environmental concerns about fast fashion escalate, mixing it up feels modern and conscientious.