Glove Makes the World Go Round

Way back in 1966, Deon Jackson sang that "Glove Makes the World Go Round". He was so right. Here we've put our gloves to good use to help prove his point.


















You can wash your pink velvet bustier in your red rubber gloves.


















You can take your daily calcium pill while wearing your beaded elbow-length gloves.

















You can recreate the black and white Japanese monster movies of your youth, updating them with a splash of color.






















You can zip up your black coat in your contrasting black and white polka dot gloves.






















And why shouldn't you look fashionable while checking out your website?

















The reason you always hated dusting is that you were wearing the wrong gloves, and you probably had the wrong color duster for your home, too. Problem solved. No more dust bunnies for you!

















You can do your weight-bearing exercises (good for muscle tone and bone density) wearing gloves that match your weights. Be the envy of all your friends!

















You can quit smoking the chic way (faux cigarette in the bakelite cigarette holder). Or, if you've been invited to a Breakfast at Tiffany's party, you're all set! (Oversized pearl ring by Meredith Katz for Made her Think.)






















Grocery shopping holds more appeal when you're wearing your drawstring gloves.















If you didn't buy the pink tool set that was so popular several years ago, just wear a good glove. A little color goes a long way toward making home plumbing fun.


















Gold embroidered opera gloves are just the thing for rummaging in the chilly fridge for some sake.

































You can work on your hand-eye coordination.

















Don't leave home without it - your black leather fringed gauntlet from Santa Fe, that is.






















On the road again? Flag down a cab with black patent and gray leather Issey Miyake mittens.

















Self portraits with gloves in contrasting stitching.

Run, Don't Walk to Stephen Petronio Co

Get thee to the Joyce Theater ASAP! The Stephen Petronio Company's (SPC's) New York season is in full swing at the Joyce on 8th Avenue and 19th Street! There are two shows on Sunday, March 11th.

On Tuesday evening, March 6th, we attended the opening night gala and the after party at Hotel Americano on West 25th Street in the heart of Chelsea.





















Not to be missed, in particular, is Petronio's version of Intravenous Lecture, in which he dances with an intravenous tube in place (inserted on stage by a doctor as part of the performance). Stephen's commentary as he dances is provocative and riveting, and he does it all while wearing a fabulous horizontal striped suit by CFDA award winning designer John Bartlett, which moved beautifully with him. Before the show, Jean had the opportunity to chat with John (also well known animal rights activist). He and his companion, also named John, were absolutely charming. Here, Stephen chats with Justin Terzi (left) who collaborated on some of Stephen's earliest productions.






















Check out Stephen's shoes!



















Jean-Marc Flack (left), Stephen's husband, and two guests. Jean-Marc flew in from Paris that afternoon to attend the gala.























SPC Co-Executive Director Craig Hensala stopped to compare notes with Jean.























Kirsten Hathorne, Nancy Ng, Valerie and Frank Winter lounge on one of the banquettes in the front room, enjoying the h'ors d'oeuvres, as Valerie shows off the fy'dala bill (as we say it here) that she'd just found on the floor!


















Jean congratulated dancer Barrington Hinds on a wonderful performance.




















Dancers Joshua Green and Julian De Leon ham it up for the camera.






















Dancer Joshua Tuason, one of his friends and Julian De Leon unwind after the performance with Jean.
















Kirsten and the Dumpling Diva, Marja Samsom, channel their inner black swans at the after party.























These ladies were enjoying the music and the crowd at the party.























Shahzad Ismaily is one of the musicians (percussion, synthesizers, bass guitar, acquaphone, banjoy and vocals) who performed the live score at the evening's world premier of "The Architecture of Loss" which featured an original score by Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurdsson and costumes by Gudrun & Gudrun. His girlfriend Jenni is adorable - a New Zealander who teaches writing at NYU.
























Mercifully, fellow Icelander Hrafnhildur Arnardottir (left) goes by a hilarious but admittedly memorable alias ("Shoplifter" - the closest many of us can come to her name), to the great relief of the rest of us tongue-tied Americans. Check out her website (www.shoplifter.us). She and Marja pose with costume designers Gudrun Ludvig and Gudrun Rogvadottir who live and work on the Faroe Islands. Their handmade costumes were made of organic untreated, undyed yarn from Faroese wool.
















Dancer Nicholas Sciscione and his friend paused for a photo with Jean.


















Dancer Jaqlin Medlock (left), who only joined the company in September, celebrated a successful show with guest artist Wendy Whelan, principal dancer from the NYC Ballet, who appeared in the wonderful solo "Ethersketch 1" with costume by the ever-fabulous Karen Erickson and music by Nick Cave.






















Dancer Amanda Wells and her husband Jonathan and a friend stopped for a photograph. Amanda's dress had the most incredibly long fringe that swayed gracefully whenever she walked or danced.






















We'd just run into Stephen in Soho the week before, just after our outing at Melissa Shoes!























What we're wearing:

Jean: Ignatius hat, Louis Feraud jacket, Brigitte harem pants,Trippen boots, Kirsten Hawthorne earrings, vintage bakelite necklace and rings, Tignanello bag.

Valerie: vintage black straw recently purchased from Helen Uffner making its theatrical debut; vintage red celluloid earrings; second hand gray wool Searle swing coat; unseen floor length open knit sleeveless gray wool dress by Blayde and held up with giant safety pins (also unseen); red leather and wood pin by Tereza Symon's mom; unlabeled transparent black polyester organza tie front bolero; brand new Melissa shoes designed by Gareth Pugh, also on their maiden voyage, also unseen.

Why Y-3? Shoes, that is!

The heart wants what the heart wants!






















Ever notice how those words tend to preceed really bad life choices? After highjinx and frivolity at Melissa shoes in Soho, detailed in last Sunday's posting, Jean dragged Valerie several doors down on Greene St to Y-3 to see the shoes that she REALLY WANTED! These fabulous high-heeled wonders of engineering! East meets west! Japanese high design meets all-American athleticism. How could one pair of shoes incorporate all of the components that push all her buttons?




















Skeletons and wet suits: The white dog bones really pop against the black neoprene zip-front bootie.

Cantilevered: The sexy angle of the sky-high heel combines with the marble-like engraved, curved sole that resembles a ski out of Dr. Seuss. The bright yellow cookie inserts add a touch of color. (Isn't yellow the international sign of caution?)






















Anticipation of the inevitable pain that comes from actually wearing the contraptions stopped her dead in her tracks. Truth be told, after seeing the price tag, she decided not to even try them on because if they did fit and she could somehow hobble around the store, she might actually be tempted to buy them.























Here is the Y-3 website description of the shoe - which retails for $690.00! "The wickedly chic Y-3 Oriah ankle boot features skeleton details on a stretchy black mesh sock. The sculptural, futuristic heel cushions impact and boosts energy return. Upper: knit mesh with cow nappa leather details. Lining: mesh and pig leather."



















To break the spell of the shoes, we checked out the wonderful men's and women's clothing -- and the staff. One of the sales personnel sported very interesting tattoos, including a chess board pattern on his right arm and a bull's eye on his wrist bone.























His left arm features a design from an obscure album cover, including this pair of scissors.
























How evocative are these tatts? Who could ever forget Robert Mitchum's turn as a serial killer/preacher with "l-o-v-e" and "h-a-t-e" knuckle tattoos in the 1955 thriller, The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton and also starring Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish? Or the lines from The Clash's "Death and Glory" ("love'n'hate tattooed cross the knuckles of his hands") on its London Calling album which debuted in the U.S. in January 1980? (First Robert Mitchum photo from listos.20minutos.com and the second from greatspirits.com.)




























Ahhhh.

Oh, and not to be forgotten: The everlovin' Pogues.

















(Did Comptoir des Cotonniers have Mitchum in mind when they made these?)

Melissa in Wonderland

This is the story of how Jean and Valerie bought new shoes at Galeria Melissa.






















We had both, at various times, seen this ad in the subway and made mental notes that we had to visit, especially having seen Zaha Hadid's shoes for Melissa in the newspaper. Below is a stock photo of the assymmetrical shoes by the prolific Iraqi architect and designer. (Stay tuned for more about her in future postings.) Who could resist?! Proof positive that it's possible to make a sexy shoe with low heels. (They're now no longer in production, alas.) So when we compared mental notes, hands down (and feet down too), we were off to Galeria Melissa.























Before you even get to the shoes, you're hit at the door by this wall of sequins. When the opening door moves the air, the sequins flutter like little butterflies. This, and many of the other eye-popping visuals in the store, are the work of Assume Vivid Astro Focus, which first made a big splash at the 2004 Whitney Biennial.























In a small dark alcove in the middle of the store is an interactive screen, so you can look at the entire selection, and the available colors. All the shoes are made of plastic, which their brochure claims is both recyclable and hypoallergenic, and all the shoes give off a candy-like scent. Have you ever walked into a Crocs store? The acrid plastic smell emitted by so many pairs in one place almost knocks you down. There is none of that at Melissa.






















The store is a riot of color, with constantly changing wall projections adding to the fun. (If you look at our photographs, you can see different designs on the back wall.)


















Melissa collaborates with fashion designers as well as architects and interior designers. This is a Vivienne Westwood shoe for children, but we would have loved to see it in an adult size.






















Way in the back of the store, at the foot of a spiral staircase, is this well, in the center of which were three Disney collaborations. One of the flat slip-ons featured Cruella de Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians; a second had one of the evil stepsisters from Cinderella; and the third Melificence, the Evil Queen from Snow White. Tooooo pointy for us, but great graphics. Jean confesses here in print that the wonderfully bifurcated villainess of black and white, Cruella de Vil, is one of her all-time favorite cartoon characters.

















Jean ascends the staircase. The red wall is great; the hidden door handles are great (see the indents behind Jean, above?), and the little black alcove, barely visible (below), is also great.


















How do you get your customer's attention? Melissa's folks know the drill cold. When we indicated our interests, they asked our shoe sizes, and before we could even think, they presented all the variations of those shoes, laid out like yummy open boxes on Christmas morning.























Melissa has collaborated with Goth British fashion designer Gareth Pugh on a gladiator-style sandal, called Aileron (designed with the moving parts of a plane in mind!), that comes in multiple combinations. In a November 2011 British Vogue interview about his 2012 Spring collection with Melissa, he described the shoes as "armor for the feet". There is an all black model, an all white model, a white shoe with a black central panel, a black shoe with a white central panel, a white shoe with a silver panel and a black shoe with a silver panel.























While we were considering all our options, the fabulous staff brought out some fabulous Brazilian espresso. If we had harbored any doubts at all before, the espresso sealed the deal (it should be called Stealth Espresso), and we wanted to take home the entire experience with us (best carried in a shoe box, natch). One of the staff kindly offered to take photos of us. We're not sure if she took them at angles to underscore the edginess of the store, or to make sure the photos took in as much of the store as possible. Or maybe she thought Idiosyncratic Fashionistas needed idiosyncratic photos. Our photos are generally more conventional, so these make a nice change.
























Part of the fun is in looking at the other guests. We would have loved to photograph this woman head-on, but were unprepared, and this photo from the back had to suffice. Check out all the stripes in her clothes.






















This is the model Valerie finally decided on.

















Even the shoe box is fun.

















This was Jean's choice, called Enjoying II. Even though it came in all black, Jean surprised herself by picking the buff silver version -- which will go with 99% of her wardrobe.

The store was such a visual treat right from the moment we walked in that it was clear we would have to blog about it, regardless of whether we bought anything. (With our feet being so problematic, we have to turn down even the most appealing shoes if we sense trouble ahead.) So we mentioned to the very attentive sales staff early on that we do a blog and have a book, and gave everyone our card, so they could find the blog and see what we wrote when the time came. (Three LOVELY people wound up waiting on us, and we are kicking ourselves - with our new shoes - that we failed to take down everyone's names.)























Well, at the very end we had a conversation with Sami (the manager?), who asked us what size shoes we wound up buying. (Why would she want to know that, we wondered.) When we told her, she presented us each with a pair of the FABULOUS sandals above in our size. They were the sandals given to those who'd been lucky enough to attend Melissa's opening night festivities last month.

We couldn't have had a better day, and it will be a long time before we have a better shopping experience!

Jean is wearing a vintage She Bible wide-legged jumpsuit, vintage Betsey Johnson red and black skull sweater, Ignatius hat, High Use coat, Trippen boots.

Valerie is wearing a Nafi de Luca hat, Tiiti Tolonen coat, wood pin on felt base from the Philadelphia Craft Show, vintage green suede gauntlets with mustard insets, reversible painted sheepskin vest by Mina Poe, shirt by Suitsme, pants by Comme des Garcons, and unlabeled shoes.


Bonus photo:

Melissa shoes designed by Gaetano Pesce. The idea was that each wearer could cut the shoe to suit individual tastes. How cool is that?! (Note that these are not from the current season, so we assume they're not available.)