Twelve Hats of Christmas

* The Twelve Hats of Christmas (after a fashion)
* Photo Essay of Our Venture into TVland

Jean says: In anticipation of our cable TV debut on December 14 as "Timeless Girls in Hats" on Susan Finelli's Behind the Shadows (click here to see her website) we thought we'd give you an up close look at the chapeaux we featured on TV. We each changed hats six times, more or less at the same time. We didn't (couldn't!) take pictures during the show, so we've reproduced the hats for you here in different settings. In order of appearance, they are:

Hats 1 and 2: Two Ignatius hats.

Jean's: Our more rabid fans will recall our road trip to the Philadelphia Craft Show in early November and the fabulous milinery creations of Ignatius Creegan and Rod Givens (www.ignatiushats.com) from Petersburg, Virginia. I confess and throw myself on the mercy of the court: I held out on you! In addition to the three Ignatius hats shown in our November 15 posting, I did indeed acquire a fourth hat, which made its maiden voyage on TV. A new favorite, this spare, jet black deco number, made of wheat straw plaits and a de-nuded peacock feather, was the perfect Bauhaus counterpoint ("less is more") to Valerie's majestic Guggenheim hat (where, obviously, "more is in fact more").

In front of a jungle print textile, I'm wearing the hat and black wool scarf with white polka dots (which reverses to black polka dots on white), black coral earrings and brass pinky ring by Kirsten Hawthorne (e mail her at klh-nyc@worldnet.att.net), black skull ring by Meredith Katz ( www.MadeHerThink.com), my black vintage bakelite ring and the five gold rings cited in our last posting.

For another view of Valerie's Guggenheim hat, see the photo of us in front of the Guggenheim Museum, below.










Hats 3 and 4: Two Black Feathered Hats.

Jean's: a black velvet and cock feather vintage hat. After location shooting at the tree at Rockefeller Center and at Radio City on Saturday night, in a veritable sea of humanity, we crossed Fifth Avenue and took advantage of this great gamecock graphic on a truck parked next to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I'm wearing the hat atop a black faux goat jacket by Spanish designer Amaya Arzuaga (from a consignment shop).












Valerie, bundling up against the chill at Radio City, is wearing an unlabeled conical black feather hat, probably from the ‘60s. The feather brush comes from vintage millinery supplies, and was sewn to the hat earlier this year. (The white coat, labeled Friess Original, is probably from the early ‘50s, and was purchased at a flea market.)

Hats 5 and 6: Pink Hats.

With an army of Andy Warhol Marilyns as backdrop, Jean is wearing a nameless vintage black felt hat with a pink flower (channeling its inner sea anemone) topping a Comme des Garcons jacket. (Astute readers will note that in her excitement, Jean actually forgot her glasses - an all-time first!) Valerie's pink felt hat is labeled Chisato Tsumori. Tsumori once worked for Issey Miyake, then struck out on her own. This is from one of her earliest collections. A Rorschach hat, its shape has been described by different people as “soft ice cream”, a “snail” and a “vortex”. Hmmmm. Nubby pink silk and wool jacket (from a thrift shop) by Fabrizio Lenzi.

Hats 7 and 8: Felt Hats.

Jean is wearing a round Turkish felt hat with a black, grey and white geometric design. She's paired it with a grey on grey fulled wool coat tailored by So Hung (no lie!) who now has a shop on East 9th St. (between 1st and 2nd Avenues) and Trippen elf boots. Jean is studying the lighted bull dog lamp in the lobby of the Crosby St. Hotel while showing off the back of her coat.












Valerie's shibori’d hat in shades of green is by Nafi de Luca, and purchased at Barney’s. Originally a wool beret, it was re-blocked into a square shape, folded into quarters, rolled like a cigar, and then randomly bound. The uneven coloration is the result of the irregular folding, rolling and binding.

The green felt coat with undulating blue and green felt ribbons is the work of felt maker and designer Tiiti Tolonen who lived and worked in Brooklyn for many years before recently returning to Finland.

The vintage green scarf (1960?) with silk warps and wool wefts, labeled Ben Goodman & Son Inc., is imported from Japan. Green chenille gloves from Strawberry. Calf length flat mocassin boots by Frye, found at a resale shop. Peeking out from under the coat is a vintage Norma Kamali green corduroy snap front dress, and barely visible in her right hand is a large black Le Sportsac weightless foldable parachute nylon bag with 200,000 pockets and a shoulder strap. The practical woman's Must Have.

Hats 9 and 10. Architectural hats.

Jean's black vintage Ziggurat hat: Regular readers will recognize this favorite from its many appearances, most spectacularly at the Guggenheim Kandinsky show atop a colorful Issey Miyake ensemble with Loungfly bag and Dansko clogs (see photo above).

The vintage orange conical hat with rolled brim, made of long nap fur velour, is from Hattie Carnegie, purchased at a resale shop; the orange wool coat is from Searle, purchased at a thrift shop.












Hats 11 and 12: Twin Hats.

Bought entirely separately from different vintage dealers on different days, these hats are nearly identical. Valerie’s vintage hat (left) is mouton, brown felt and brown and white feathers, labeled Franklin Simon Fifth Avenue New York. Jean’s hat is mouton, brown felt and green feathers, with no label. Judging by the materials, small size, angled shapes and wire trim in the back, both are probably late 1930s. Valerie’s vintage two tone mouton coat, labeled Liberty Furs of Cleveland, from the flea market. Jean is wearing her hat with her Norma Kamali leopard-print jacket (in which she made a big splash at the Easter Parade and in which she appeared in the NY Times' Style Section). Purchased at the Metropolitan Vintage Show.



****************


Valerie says:

Of all the good advice our mothers ever gave us, “Always wear your hat” was not among their pearls of wisdom, and yet wearing hats got us our big break on TV. Producer Susan Finelli invited us to appear on “Behind the Shadows” after seeing photographs of our September appearance at the Guggenheim Museum wearing the Guggenheim hat and the ziggurat hat at the Kandinsky exhibition. We had the pleasure of taping Timeless Girls in Hats in November, and on December 14, 22 and 28 we’ll have the further pleasure of seeing the half hour program on MNN. (See full details and listings in our previous post.) We each brought six hats to the studio, and managed to wear all of them during the course of the program.

Below are pictures commemorating our adventure into TVland.

Here we are at the end of all the preparations. Twelve hats of various shapes do not pack easily. We took several boxes to the studio (and several changes of clothes, to show the hats in context). On the cardboard box in front of Jean is a copy of Vintage Fashion Accessories, a book by Stacy Lo Albo, published by Krause Publications, in which both of the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas appear modeling hats.

In the taxi, giddy as little school girls, on our way to the studio.













Jean taking her coats and hat boxes out of the trunk of the taxi.












In the studio, doing sound and lighting tests. On the stand, between Susan and Valerie, you can see a copy of Susan’s novel, Behind the Shadows, published by PublishAmerica; at the base of the stand is Vintage Fashion Accessories.

David Vernon, co-host of Timeless Girls in Hats, styled the set beautifully in no time at all, using just what was available on the set and the hats, clothes and boxes we’d brought.


Taking down the set after the show. Everything had to be fast, fast, fast, so we could make way for the next show. There was time to do a quick inventory, but everything went into boxes helter skelter, to be straightened out later.

After taping on the far West Side, we deposited the detritus of the show at Valerie's pad and embarked to Matisse, a new little bistro on Second Avenue to compare notes, toast one another, and nosh. (The cream of cauliflower soup was divine!) See Valerie and her bubbly above, under the conical orange hat.



BONUS You Tube video: You Can Leave Your Hat On is a song that expresses the appeal of hats to such perfection that it appears in two movies: 9½ Weeks and The Full Monty. The former is sung by Joe Cocker, the latter by Tom Jones, both of whom do it lusty justice. Because 9½ Weeks actually involves no hats, we can’t in good conscience recommend that video clip (although it has a lot to recommend it, hats or no), but we are happy to present for your viewing pleasure the Leave Your Hat On clip from The Full Monty, which includes six hats (rated N for Nudity and H for Hilarity): click here to see the video.

Babes in TVland TV Alert! TV Alert!

SPECIAL MIDWEEK EDITION

Timeless Girls in Hats

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Please note 12/14 scheduling change! The show will air 1/2 hour EARLIER - at 2 PM - not 2:30 PM.

The Babes – um, the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas – are delighted to announce that we will be appearing on cable television and simultaneously on internet, in living color! We’ll be talking about hats (of course!), showing how we wear them and match them to our wardrobes, explaining why we choose them, recounting some of the reactions we get, and just generally demonstrating that hats are fabulous accessories. The program, on MNN, is called Behind the Shadows, and our episode is called Timeless Girls in Hats. The photo above shows us in the studio just before taping, with Susan Finelli, our host and producer of Behind the Shadows.

The air dates and times are:

December 14th at 2:00 p.m. TimeWarner channel 67 (RCN 86, Verizon 36)

December 22nd at 8:30 p.m. TimeWarner channel 67 (RCN 86, Verizon 36)

December 28th at 9:00 p.m. TimeWarner channel 34 (RCN 83, Verizon 33)


Since you all have busy schedules, you can choose from a Monday afternoon or evening or Tuesday evening, depending on what works best for you. Our fans tuning in via internet should log onto http://www.mnn.org/ and pick one of the channels listed above. Be sure you log on at the actual air time or you’ll miss us!

Look for the full story of our first adventure in TVland in our next posting.

Twelve Days of Christmas Blings

Jean says: Fa la la la la, yadda yadda yadda! Well, kiddies, it's that holiday time of year again. Before the spiced (spiked?) eggnog addles our poor little brains and yours, we're getting nostalgic. In the spirit of the "twelve days of Christmas," we've decided to dedicate our four December postings to a series of twelve of our favorite [fill in the blank]. So, we hope, regardless of what holidays you celebrate, that you'll enjoy our first little offering -- These are a few of our favorite blings:

Valerie says: I can't add much to what Jean said. We just wanted to share a few of our favorite 'jewels'. We're equal opportunity jewelry wearers. We don't care what they're made of, as long as we like them. These are made of everything from plastic to gold to wool. Like good parents, we value the sparklers as much as the plainer members of the family. We just love them for different reasons. These are a few of my favorite blings:

5 Gold/Bold Rings. From top to bottom: My mother's ring, which I first stole from her jewelry box at fifteen, received as my birthday gift when I turned sixteen, and which she had already stolen from her own mother, who bought it in Tunis around 1926. Red plastic ring from El Museo del Barrio. The whole ring is cone shaped, coming to a (rounded) point underneath. White felt ring from DKNY. Blue tagua ring from Mary Jaeger. My father's high school graduation ring. (In case you're wondering, I never wear them all together. I got carried away with the theme.)

Imitation green Chinese Warring States bead on green ribbons and necklace/bracelet with hilarious hand painted porcelain carrots. (Flea market and thrift shop, respectively.)














Above, black lacquered wood pin by Rumiko Suzuki and pin of red leather over shaped wood. These are great for making a statement with a single piece of jewelry. (Traditional embossed leather pouch from Kyoto.)

Le rouge et le noir. Earrings of red plastic and zebra mussel shells. Bracelet of red and black industrial felt by O-Matic of Brooklyn. Red and black plastic lipstick covers from Isabella Rossellini threaded on red washi from Japan.











Nine ladies dancing, and strung on a plastic chorus line. Well, there used to be nine ladies dancing, but six were laid off. Made of polymer? By Niki de St. Phalle from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sterling renditions of photographs taken around the turn of the 20th century of the Selk'nam (also known as the Ona), indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego, in ceremonial costumes. By Marcela Alcaino of Chile. Strung on mizuhiki (Japanese paper cord).




Bonus Bling:

Three French hens brooch. This photo taken following very clever plastic surgery, which gave them back much of their youthful appearance. (I heard they had it done in Brazil. They said they'd gone on "vacation", and had come back feeling "refreshed".)


Jean's List:

1. Bees: Symbols of immortality and resurrection, bees are among the oldest emblems of the sovereigns of France. The Emperor Napoleon included them in his Royal Coat of Arms specifically to link his new dynasty to the history of France. Who knew? All I know is that my bright red Kenneth Jay Lane bee earrings (purchased at the most recent Metropolitan Pavilion's Vintage Fashion show) are my newest favorite bling.

As you can see from the photos, they look fabulous on me and displayed on DeeDee, my fabulous feline. A true East Village cat (named after one of the Ramones), she is a shelter cat from Social Tees Animal Rescue. She's a Bombay, a breed otherwise known as "parlor panthers" because of their muscular build and well-shaped skulls. Needless to say, she loves the limelight, as you will see as this posting progresses.

2. Crocodiles: Although I do love pirates (Johnny Depp, anyone?), my favorite character in Peter Pan was, of course, the crocodile! One of my favorite haunts in Milan is Angela Caputi's jewelery store. She designs colorful statement pieces in a light but extremely durable resin, a modern bakelite. I could not resist her crocodile bracelet. Fellow fashionistas lucky enough to see the exhibition "Iris Apfel, Rare Bird of Fashion" at the Metropolitan Museum, at FIT and/or at the Nassau County Museum last year may remember that Iris too had a penchant for Angela Caputi's bold jewely. As you can see from the photos, my jet black crocodile is a substantial fellow, built much more like a De Soto than a Ferrari. He's humorous and cruelty-free. (The croc is displayed on a striped Philosophy by Alberta Ferreti sweater.)

3. Skulls: Loyal readers already know of my extreme fondness for bats. Hand in hand with that affinity is my love of skulls. Not that my closet looks like something out of "Sons of Anarchy", but skulls do appear on many of my scarves, socks, handbags, clutches, and yes, jewelry, especially rings, necklaces and earrings. My favorite East Village designers, Kirsten Hawthorne and Meredith Katz, have both incorporated skulls into numerous pieces in their respective collections. Kirsten's brass skull ring is smaller and almost delicate, providing a counterpoint to her earrings which combine silver or brass skulls with pearls or crystal. Meredith's "Made Her Think" line has incorporated numerous versions of molded plastic skulls into gumball size rings, rosary-like long necklaces, etc. In the photo, I am sporting Kirsten Hawthorne's silver and pearl earrings (with skulls with articulated jaws) and brass ring (in the top left of the photo) along with a white Made Her Think choker (with rhinestone spacers) and a variety of Made Her Think plastic rings in black, white and red. [Remember to click on the photographs for greater detail.]

4. Dice: Although I am a terrible gambler, I do love dice, and their kissing cousin, dominos. This allows me to indulge in two addictions at once since the best of both are in bakelite (be still my heart!).

In the second of four photos, I'm throwing kisses wearing an Art Deco bakelite domino pin on my hat and a Kirsten Hawthorne crystal ice and dice necklace on an oxydized metal chain. (Repeat that three times quickly!) I've accessorized the two with my crocodile cuff, a deco black bakelite ring and about ten other rings. (I rarely wear less than ten rings.) In the third photo, I tried to display a couple pairs of dice earrings, the deco domino pin, two black bakelite dice keychains and a few dice from my collection as accent pieces, including several round dice. The fourth photo gives you an idea of the rich variety of die colors, shapes and sizes.












5. Charms: For many of the same reason our mothers and grandmothers had charm bracelets, I have a charm necklace to which I keep adding gifts and trinkets of my travels. The current incarnation consists of the following components: two dice (I sense a theme), one in black bakelite and the other in silver (a blank cube with no numbers, "so every roll is a winner" from Kirsten Hawthorne); two silver skulls, the first is from Mexico and the second with a bird perched on top is a Kirsten Hawthorne design; a bronze wishbone, cast from the real thing (by Kirsten Hawthorne); a Victorian carved bog oak cross (a gift from the talented and ubiquitous Ms. Hawthorne); and two silver-toned mountain lion "fangs" (from Alexander McQueen-designed shoes from Puma). The necklace itself is a black leather cord. (Is it a coincidence that the biker town in "Sons of Anarchy" is named Charming?) I've accessorized the charm necklace with the deco bakelite domino pin and metal and plastic '50s dice earrings.


6. Cameo: My grandmother's black bakelite cameo is one of the sources of my love of bakelite and deco jewelry. It is a simple carved 2 inch by 2 inch black diamond shape. Its bakelite chain is turning a beautiful deep bluish-purple with age. (Aren't we all, dahling?)

In order to give you an idea of scale, I am modeling the cameo with the help of my Alexander McQueen skull scarf (a gift from rock star guitar strap designer, Jodi Head).













Editorial note: I have a new-found respect for jewelry photographers. After spending about twenty hours trying to photograph my jewelry as individual objects, I finally resorted to just wearing the pieces in photographs. I wanted to share with you one of the relatively elaborate vignettes I had composed to showcase the cameo: I had placed it strategically between an Art Deco vanity set (from Muse on Second Ave at East 2nd Street) and DKNY Chandon champagne splits (from DKNY's 20th Anniversary party earlier this year). Needless to say, the fact that I was spending hours composing, lighting and shooting the sets was too much for DeeDee, who had to get in on the action.












Bonus Bling:

5 Golden Rings (you now, the stuff that comes after 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming and 6 geese a-laying) from the top: 1. Gold signet ring with family crest (the motto "Scientia et Prudentia", from my husband's side of the family); 2. Ruby and gold antique ring; 3. September 11th 18 K gold commemorative ring by Kirsten Hawthorne; 4. Amethyst and gold college ring (with a miraculous medal concealed on the inside); 5. Gold wedding ring consisting of two bands (in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition).


Social Tees Animal Rescue (www.socialtees.com) is located at 124 E. 4th St., NYC 10003 212-614-9653. This holiday season - and year-round, please keep your local animal shelters in mind for donating, volunteering and adopting! Social Tees Animal Rescue is not to be confused with that golf-centric young professionals' network.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Early Christmas feast for your eyes: If you’re in New York City, run, don’t walk, to see Ruven Afanador’s exhibition Mil Besos at Throckmorton Fine Art (145 East 57th Street) before it closes this Saturday, December 12. Afanador worked with a group of flamenco dancers (who are theatrical to begin with), took them out of context and raised them to a new level of theatricality in fabulous grainy black and white images. The photographs have voluptuous shades of Serge Lutens, kabuki, Chinese opera, Nihon butoh, and Fellini. If you can’t make it to the gallery, look out for the book, by Rizzoli. And for a little taste, check out this video.

What to Wear to Chemo

We are taught from an early age how to dress for most occasions, either by instruction or by example. Brides wear white; mourners wear black. Corporate America wears a dress or suit most days of the week, and jeans or chinos on casual Friday. When invitations specify "business attire", "black tie" or "festive dress" we know how to dress appropriately. We follow these dress codes so that everyone in the group feels comfortable, and everyone has an idea of each member's role at an event.

But when life invites you to chemotherapy, what do you wear?

Usually this blog centers on Jean and Valerie, the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas. Today it focuses on Orly Ginossar, wife, mother, artist, international traveler, Israeli citizen, woman of rare style, and breast cancer patient.

Orly received her diagnosis this past May, only days before her elder daughter's wedding (when the picture at left was taken). Not wanting her daughter "to stand under the chuppah thinking about cancer", Orly kept the diagnosis secret until the next day. In a life that has been full of adventure, she soon afterward embarked on the kind of adventure that no one is ever prepared for.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Orly rose to the occasion with strength and creativity. Illness forces us to compromise on many fronts, but Orly drew the line at giving up her very personal style. She adopted some of the tricks that previous cancer patients pioneered - for example, eyebrow pencil to draw in eyebrows that have disappeared, and earrings to distract the eye. But she pointedly rejected others, such as wigs and head scarves, and came up with a few tricks of her own. In particular, for the course of her chemotherapy treatments (eight in all, between July 1 and November 4), Orly began to wear pink (echoing the breast cancer pink ribbon), and even went so far as buying a pink cover for her laptop and painting her bedroom a dusty rose pink to raise awareness in her home. She and her family have been documenting her adventures in breast cancer. In this week's Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, Orly tells us what she wore to chemo and why.

In this photo, Orly wears a pink shawl over a black dress. The shawl is actually a length of wild silk cut straight from the bolt. This was not merely a fashion statement or a political statement: it kept her skin covered outdoors, since she was told to avoid exposure during chemotherapy; it functioned as a mask in crowded areas, since her resistance was low; and it helped keep her warm in the air conditioned hospital.

Orly's cotton dress from Turkey is of different lengths and can be worn both backwards and forwards. She wears it here with brown leather Trippen shoes with turned up toes. Her glasses are by Theo and her "Owlita" feather earrings were found on Etsy from Annieland. "I never wanted to look ill", she says. "I always wanted to look perfect."














Unafraid to bring attention to her smooth scalp (which she shaved herself, rather than see her blond hair slowly fall out), in the photos above and below, Orly wears a floral headband with looped petals made of vintage kimono fabric, as well as a necklace of the same material, both purchased on Etsy. Her black shirt is by Express Design Studio, and her unlabeled black skirt is from a second hand shop in Boston, where Orly lived while her younger daughter was attending the Berklee College of Music. Underneath the black skirt are two black tutus and a contrasting white felt skirt (no label). The black boots, by Trippen, were bought during a trip to Belgium, and the red felt flower earrings, also from Belgium, are by Silvana Riva. Most of Orly's wardrobe was already in place before her diagnosis. Additions have consisted primarily of earrings and wraps.














Below Orly wears her pink silk shawl over a red silk top made of two triangles, with matching harem pants by RetroReproHandmade, available through Etsy.

The flip flops, one green and one turquoise, were combined from two separate pairs bought at Target.

The straw earrings, from a street vendor in New York City, play off the necklace of cloth circles. Orly asked her friends everywhere to send her large, bold, cheap, colorful earrings. This is not only a very positive approach to both cancer and style, it's also an excellent way to keep friends involved and allow them to be active participants in the road to recovery.

Orly's fabulous glasses, again by Theo, are suspended from a metal strip at the bridge of the nose that goes over the head and is held in place by the tension of the strip, and a short metal bar at the back.

In the zen-like pose here, Orly makes chemo look easy, although she admits that it isn't. During chemotherapy, she was warned to avoid any kind of injury, including insect bites, injections, cuts, plants with thorns, splinters, and even blood pressure checks. Naturally outgoing and friendly, she was advised to avoid people while her immune system was compromised. Everyone who visited had to wash their hands as a precaution.

"But I decided that I should make it easy for myself and be as positive as possible (hard!!!!!) in order to gain quality and ... strength." Her unique style, one facet of her positive attitude, was noticed by everyone around her. "Everybody has a comment", she says. Fellow cancer patients say "You show us the way", "You have a lot of courage", and "I wish I had done this". A nurse told Orly she had never met anyone like her, saying she brought "so much liveliness, so much hope". Orly has seen people react to her with smiles, laughter, and even tears. On the streets, people unaware of Orly's condition compliment her on what they believe is simply an avant garde hairstyle. (Orly says she intends to continue shaving her head after treatment is completed.)

In the photo below, Orly wears cold mittens and shoes at chemo. These bring down the temperature of her hands and feet, and for several hours following the procedure she is not allowed to use shoes, socks, gloves or blankets. This treatment helps to prevent possible later nerve damage that could be caused by the toxicity of the chemicals.














Below, Orly wears a wool sweater with lace-like designs by Kedem Sasoon. The shape is so flexible that she can wear it upside down, as shown here. The felt scarf is from Etsy, and the necklace of red and black felt balls was bought in Switzerland. The clear plastic ice cube shaped earrings are perfect for the Theo glasses. The skirt, by Odille, was bought at a second hand shop in Boston; the fabulous shibori tights from a "junky shop" in Israel. The black boots with fake fur trim are by Trippen. All the outdoor photographs were taken at The Davidoff Center at Rabin Medical Center, whose beautifully groomed and thoughtfully laid-out grounds seem to have been designed to bring a sense of pleasure and contentment to a place that many people - understandably - tend to associate with anxiety.

















Here Orly wears a bright blue feather boa interspersed with ribbons, available in Tel Aviv by the meter.

The 100% cotton multicolored men's striped shirt by Muji, very comfortable against sensitive skin, is color coordinated with a necklace of cloth rings (all "happy colors", says Orly). The glasses, by Teffany, are about thirty years old. The short black felt jacket is from a second hand store.





Now that the chemotherapy is complete, Orly feels herself getting stronger on a daily basis. Always in search of a new idea, she had a small yurt built in her garden, where she can meditate, entertain friends, and draw strength from the earth.

As for her post-chemo style, Orly says "Pink is over." Three weeks of radiation therapy will start shortly, and end just before the new year, leaving all of 2010 open to new beginnings, and new adventures - the kind one can embrace with relish.



All photos by Orly's son Itamar, 17, and her husband, Shaya (a man of a certain age).

Fashionistas Meet One of Fashion's High Priestesses

Jean says: It's been a whirlwind week, dear readers! On Wednesday evening, we taped our first local access TV appearance. (More on that, kiddies, at another time! Stay tuned.)














On Thursday evening, we went to FIT for one of its most entertaining Fashion Culture Programs yet, featuring Glenda Bailey, Editor in Chief of Harper's Bazaar, in a conversation with Dr. Valerie Steele, Director of the Museum at FIT. (Editorial note: In order to minimize confusion and distinguish Idiosyncratic Valerie from Valerie Steele, I will refer to the latter as Dr. Steele.) My Mission Impossible assignment from Valerie was to show up ahead of time on Thursday and secure us two seats (preferably on the aisle) up front. I lined up outside the auditorium on 27th St. with numerous other early birds: more than a few well-coiffed/well-attired professional-looking women, lots of earnest students, and several of Ms. Bailey's ex-assistants and ex-interns.

When the doors opened, I checked in at the desk and received my complimentary copy of the December issue of Harper's Bazaar, featuring the subscriber cover shot of Twilight's Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. (As Journalistas in the audience already know, Bazaar, under Glenda Bailey's stewardship, was the first to publish two separate covers for the same issue of the magazine: one for subscribers who already knew what to expect and another version for the newsstand, to attract new readers.)

Hallelujah! I scored two seats on the aisle in the second row! I wore a distinctive bowler hat and thought Valerie would have no problem locating me in the crowd. (Although I was channeling my inner Malcolm McDowell a' la Clockwork Orange, my husband had dubbed my look "Odd Job" after James Bond's nemesis' bodyguard in Goldfinger. Hmmm...) Anyway, I'd barely settled into my seat when, lo and behold, the hostess and guest speaker strolled down the steps and sat right in front of me! I have long admitted to having Fashion A.D.H.D., so I was in a tizzy: In between admiring Glenda's long, dangling earrings and marveling at her and Dr. Steele's impossibly high heels, flipping through the pages of my new fashion mag, and checking out fellow members of the audience, I kept turning around trying to locate my partner in crime in the crowd. I noted the arrival of Stephen Sumner, Glenda's Significant Other of many years, who joined her in the front row. "Silly me," I thought to myself, "relax, these things never start on time." Ha! At 6:01 PM, Dr. Steele and Glenda took the stage. I looked all around. No Valerie.

Through a series of questions, Dr. Steele led Glenda into a conversation about how she got started in "the business". Quite simply, Glenda said she had "a passion for fashion", and described the improbable chain of events that led to her landing her first job, as editor of a new fashion magazine in London; her next job as editor of Marie Claire magazine's British edition during its groundbreaking coverage of women's issues (e.g., child slavery, cultural suppression of women in Afghanistan), and finally, her current position as editor of Harper's Bazaar, here in the U.S. In between surreptitious but vain attempts to locate Valerie in the audience, I did laugh out loud at some of Ms. Bailey's bons mots: "The only job I've ever had in publishing is Editor in Chief" and "Working your way up through the ranks is over-rated."

After her slides of Marie Claire articles, Glenda talked about and showed slides of award-winning Bazaar cover shoots and fashion layouts, including the photo spread in the recent September issue of 1980s supermodels (Kristen McMenamy and Cindy Crawford, among others) sans makeup, and another with airborne fairies! At the close of the presentation, she took questions from the audience on a range of issues, including inquiries from students seeking advice on how to make headway in a highly competitive field during a bad economy. (She was very encouraging.)

Then, while I was unsuccessfully signaling to ask a question, from high up in the seats diagonally across the auditorium, I saw THE ORANGE HAT before I saw the distinctive grey hair or heard that voice. It was Valerie, in the nosebleed section, asking a variation of the question on the tip of my tongue. In essence, it boiled down to: "What fashion advice do you have for women of style over fifty?" [Valerie interjects: And of COURSE I mentioned our blog for women of a certain age.] Glenda began by citing Bazaar's "Fabulous at Any Age" - one of the magazine's most popular features, and now a book as well. She also noted that women over fifty should feel free to be themselves and express themselves through fashion. Not exactly the answer Valerie or I were seeking, since we have no problem expressing ourselves on the style front. What we really probably wanted Brenda to say was "Yes, I think that's the women's issue I'll tackle next."

As you can see from the photo, Valerie got to meet Glenda onstage, up close and personal. Valerie also humored me by carrying a hilarious tubular orange bag I'd found for her at a second hand shop for $10! [Valerie interjects: I wouldn't call it humoring. It's a fabulous bag, and I was tickled to have the perfect opportunity to wear it. It's just that it's a small bag, and it's hard for me to let go of my inner Practical Person. My mother called her bag her office, and now that I'm my mother's age I embrace that concept. (Yes, I have become my mother, or a version of her.) I hate changing bags because something always gets edited out in the process, generally by accident. Jean herself ALWAYS carries a bag that's big enough to fit two bowling balls, and just as heavy. See the photo below. One day we're going to photograph the contents for a future blog entry. I think there's also an emergency full change of clothes at the bottom of the bag, but I suspect Jean would never be able to find it among her other supplies. It must be vintage by now, if it wasn't when she put it in.]

After the program ended, Isabel and Ruben Toledo appeared (see below). Regular readers will recall our September blog entry describing the FIT Museum's mid-career retrospective of Isabel's designs, aptly called "Fashion from the Inside Out", illustrated by Ruben and curated by Dr. Steele. We had also seen Isabel at her book signing at Barney's on Fashion's Night Out (but were separated from her by the THRONGS of fans who lined up to get Isabel to autograph it and Ruben to sketch in it).

When Valerie and I chatted with her about shoes, Isabel confided that she'd designed some comfortable but fashionable footwear for Anne Klein which was never manufactured. (SIGH....)

Then we told Ruben how much we'd loved his illustrations at Isabel's recent show, and he asked if we'd torn any of them off the scroll and taken them with us! When he saw our faces, he laughed and said he'd intended them to be carried off. (Who knew? Now he tells us...Next time, we'll bring our step ladder!) [Jean can bring the ladder- maybe in her bag. I'll bring the scissors and crushproof portfolio.- v.]

Before we all headed out into the evening for our respective feasts and libations, Dr. Steele and Stephen Sumner joined Valerie in a group photo commemorating the evening.














Needless to say, Valerie experienced the same angst up in the rafters as I had down in front. Thinking I had not been able to accept the aforementioned Mission Impossible (not a stretch, given my habits of late), Valerie kept trying to spot me in the audience. Despite my best efforts to look like Mr. Steed (stunning Mrs. Peele's dapper partner in the Avengers, favorite '60s show of every hip teen), she didn't see me sitting in the second row. (So much for thinking I stood out in a crowd!) She'd been looking for me all night and had saved me a seat. We had a good laugh about it as we recounted the events of the day at underground Under Bar at the Union Square W.

Upstairs earlier on the main floor of the W, we met the rather exotic looking and very personable members of a band from Philadelphia and their friend, a DJ with a palm-sized remote-controlled helicopter. We'd run into Wes in the elevator where he showed us the electronic contraption that he proceeded to launch in the lobby, to the joy and laughter of an appreciative audience.

Jean is wearing a vintage Stetson bowler hat, vintage Comme des Garcons jacket, Brigitte harem pants, Lounge Fly bag, Gucci glasses, Kirsten Hawthorne silver skull and crystal earrings, Dansko clogs, charm necklace and about 10 rings.

Valerie is wearing a Hattie Carnegie orange felt fur hat (second hand), street fair reading glasses, vintage Issey Miyake shirt (second hand) and newish matching Issey skirt, stone and sterling necklace and bracelets from the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Searle wool coat (second hand), orange bag by Backyard Oaks (sec- well, you know...), and black suede Aerosoles flats.