Beware of Gang Initiation On The 4-5-6 Lines

So I'm not really one to stress over a possible break in/rape/beating/murder etc.  I've always subscribed to the thought that if someone wants to abduct me he will send me back within thirty seconds of meeting me and always laughed at one of my friends who would call the cop at the site of someone without a collar on their shirt walking past our off campus house.  Lately, and I don't know if its the warm weather or I've been taking the subway solo more, but it seems like the freaks have been out to play.  The crazy man with a thick Jamaican accent announcing to everyone he only loved his gun and his gat, the legless crack addict shuffling down the aisles and the cops following him telling no one to give him money, having to hit a man for grabbing my ass, the homeless man who whipped his crack on one of the polls... I mean its all a little unsettling, but its big city life at its finest. Until this.  The Sunday of the Puerto Rican day parade this well dressed man stopped me and asked me for the time around 5:30pm.  The thing that wierded me out was he asked me to come closer.  Hell no Shaniqua. So I walked away but had a sick feeling in my stomach about it. Last night I'm coming home from babysitting late and having a conversation about how the subway has been scary lately and my neighbor is having a cig in the hallway (like.. really?) and stops me.  She tells me that there is a gang initiation going on where guys ask girls for the time and if you tell them the time they cut your face, especially on the 4-5-6.  I wanted to give her another cigarette and set up a whole smoking parlor right outside my door I was so thankful for the heads up.  So please, please, please be careful! Something else to beware of? This:

Dear Lady Gaga, Stop Going To Baseball Games

Gaga is now banned from Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.  Why, pray tell? Because she refuses to put an FING pair of PANTS on.

 After wearing the above to a previous Mets game, the team had to remove her from virgin eyes and gave her Jerry Seinfield's private private box (which they then had to apologize about).  Seeing it was a great opportunity to remind us she isn't a zombie who sleeps during the day she decided to go to Yankee stadium and boys, this is one trade you can gladly have.

Photo 1, 2

I'm Getting Really Into The World Cup...

And it's not really hard to see why.  Thank you Annie Lebowitz and Vanity Fair for these gems that I was salivating over in last month's issue, but now that I've been watching the games, these take on a whole new meaning.

 Landon Donovan is on the home team ladies, second from the left.  Warning: he's married and balding in real life, but whatever this photo is all about KAKA (jeans). He's a sick striker for Brazil and if you aren't convinced of his hottness, check his solo shot down yonder.  He won't be playing in in the next game because another partially blind referre gave him two yellow cards (equals a red cars, equals one game suspension).

Vanity Fair Photos

I think I could get past the name "KAKA." Eventually.  Actually, no.  

Recently there has been some controversy surrounding the French team, which plays South Africa tomorrow in the AM. After their loss to Mexico on Thursday forward Nicolas Anelka was thrown off the squad for getting into a fight with his coach and then refusing to publicly apologize. I mean, if the Spice Girls could stick together for longer than three weeks can't these babies work it out?  Thank goodness for Philippe Mexes and his hotness to soften the blow. {Pictured above}. I'll of course be watching the game from my "office", can someone please tell me how they score this tournament?  Later this week... the men of Wimbeldon.  

Resort 2011 Roundup

 For work I covered the amazing collaboration between Oscar de la Renta and Lee Jofa in conjunction with Oscar's Resort 2011 collection (check it out if you haven't) and I've already given you a rundown on the Gypset fashions Karl Lagerfeld debuted for Chanel's cruise line, but here are some of the shows I haven't gotten to you.  I'm trying to be more selective in the looks I show, which to be honest, wasn't that hard.  Far and beyond de la Renta and Chanel were the best, but hi, they are also couture.  So there's that!

 

DVF was... black but on a less somber note it was also completely wearable, completely chic and timeless with that youthful edge we've come to expect from Dian von Furstenberg.

 

I did really love Lanvin's classic collection of suits, fashion forward swimsuits and some undeniably girlie pieces.  That white dress on the bottom left is kind of the best thing I've seen in a while. Killer.

 

It's no secret that my sun rises and sets with Tory Burch; one day I'd like to say that about Hermes and Chanel, but for now we are here, and I don't hate it.  Her collection was inspired by a recent trip to Rajasthan, so with that being said, there is definitely and ethnic, other world aspect to her collection, which I enjoy, I just don't understand howww the styling of this collection turned into a homage to derelict from Zoolander.  Again, I'm trying to only pick things that I like, and I totally respect her for turning out the most interesting of what I saw on Style.com, but just take a gander at some I didn't include.  

 

 

I just love the patterns and the colors; this feels like a resort collection should feel, you know, like you've packed your bags, checked into a exotic hotel under an new alias and plan on telling everyone you were born in the Swiss Alps. I'm not quite sure what is going on with those boots though. Its as though Ugg and Minketonka had sex and you know what happens when cousins procreate...

 

 

 

She also showed a few looks for the girl to who resort means actually going to the Swiss Alps. These I can't really get behind as much.  The one on the top left kinda looks like something MJ would be into while the one on the right looks like something MK would wear in the middle of July.  I don't know any girl that is a little MK and a little MJ but at least they look Tory Burch.

 

Issac Mizrahi is a master and I thought his collection was really just spot on.  He designs for women across the ages and I thought these were particularly great examples of All American style.

Thanks so much to Style.com for all these pictures and to all the photographers! There are plenty more shows to peruse so be sure to check them out as well!

Home Girl Rachel Zoe To FINALLY Do Her Own Line: Warning If You Read This You Might "Die."

I mean, we've seen this coming since she took the sleeve off Karl Lagerfield's Chanel dress and made Armani put a train on Anne Hathaway's Oscar gown... and then made him take it off. Twitter has been blowing up since early this morning with news that the stylist turned reality TV star turned modern day fashion icon will now be designing all on her own.  Will her celeb clientele be sporting her looks? Will there be evening? Will there be fur? Is that even a question??  Zoe tells InStyle, "You will definitely see me in the clothes. Like, you will absolutely see my trademark pieces. I’ll definitely do faux furs and incredible leather jackets and great trousers.” She went on to say, "Subconsciously or consciously…I would say my ultimate dream scenario was to be on the design side.” 

Zoe's personal style has always been the place where haute couture meets boho glam; a look every young girl can rock.  Expect heavy influences from Halston, Missoni and of course Chanel. No clue which stores or online boutiques will be selling the line, which is set to debut in the Fall of 2011, but we can still get our bananas on when Zoe launches her next OVC line on June 28 and with the new season the The Rachel Zoe project, set to debut in early August. 

The Last Time I Saw Abbey Lee Kershaw...

(And by last I mean first and only) She was toting a lunchbox full of crayons and engaging in a mortal brawl of a bar fight.  After seeing the way she held her own with five giant bouncers she' coo in my book.  Take a look at her on the cover of Vogue Nippon August 2010 cover. 

Summer Reading: Fifth Avenue, 5 a.m

I'm on this kick where I'm going back and reading all the books I "read" in high school and college but I'm going to take a break from Tolstoy for this one, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M: Audrey Heprburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Dawn of the Hidden Woman.   As much as it always pained me to stand on the sidelines the first day of field hockey practice because my parent's didn't hand in my health forms, I was always the first of my friends to see every movie, from the classics, like Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday, to The Bodyguard. (Even at five I knew there was something wrong with Whitney).  I can't remember when I first saw Breakfast at Tiffany's but I totally walked around in a black dress of my mom's for a week straight (with my plastic ruby slippers) and used a bic pen for a cig.  Every girl has a version of that story or had the freaking poster in their dorm room and this book attempts to pin-point why Breakfast is such a cultural phenomenon.   I think I'm going to get Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's before this book comes out on June 22; according to this NY Mag article, Capote wanted Marylin Monroe to play Holly.  I've always been interested to see the raunchy depiction of Holly as a call girl and not some space cadet who gets $50 to go to the powder room and now that I don't have to write a paper on it... it's the perfect time.

California Girls

I tend to not drop a cool buck twenty-nine on any of the songs on the top of the I-Tunes 100 list (I thought "Beiber Fever" was a new STD) but I have a big one for Katy Perry and Snoop's new song "California Girls."



On principle, as a New Yorker, I have to question a lot of what comes out of California in terms of fashion. It's part granola taster in the trees, part Paris Hilton and part plain white tee but there is an undeniable "California Girl" heritage, though lost in Heidi Montag's faux mammaries, that is the "All American Girl."

Marilyn Monroe

Bridget Bardot

As much as it pains me to admit this, this season has been all about the California Girl and its because of this B...

Because my chapter of Emotional Cutter's Anonymous closed I've regressed to my masochistic ways and continue to look at my Vogue June 2010 issue with the delectable Blake Lively. I mean... Hi. These pictures speak for themselves so moving right along. With the surfer trend apparent its time to go back to all the favorite middle school brands (Roxy, Billabong- you know the Delia's staples) and I think you'll be surprised at just how un-brahtastic, these Surfer Girl staples are. 

Day Dresses by Roxy
Sandals at Tilly's

Catch the wave?

The CFDA Awards Round Up

Last night fashion's number one players got together to congratulate themselves on being masters of the universe at the Council of Fashion Designers of America 2010 Awards.  The night is for designers, models, editors- people in the game, but surprisingly at a night designated to honor fashion, the gowns were a little yawntastic.  Take a look at some of the looks I loved and looks that made me do a spit take, and not in a "I just saw Robert Pattinson naked" kind of way.

I understand SJP's desire to honor her friend and late designer Alexander McQueen but I don't love this piece.  When McQueen uses his crazy patterns they can easily fall pray to the worst dress list, while his other voluminous shaped creations are widely loved and celebrated.  I wish she would've picked something a little more timeless and a little less Ferngully. 

I don't know whether or not her and Justin Timberlake are on the rocks but I do know that recently she has looked ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and the same holds true for Jessica Biel in this DVF column gown.

Love Jess Stam. Love this Giambattista Valli gown with Fenton/Fallon necklace. She looks so fresh faced and innocent from the neck up... but then... haute.

 Whitney Port's body looked amazing in this David Meister gown, I just wish the fabrication was a little younger and little less golden granny.  If it was a light and airy print I deel like that would've been perfection.

Hillary Rhoda can do no wrong in my book especially in this Rachel Roy.

Dree Hemingway looked casual but chic in this Calvin Klein Collection ensemble.

 HARK THE HERALD ANGEL SINGGGGGGG. I mean what would the night be without Ed Westwick,

 I once had a dream that Alexa Chaung was giving me an interview and she showed me all these pictures of me looking really ugly and fat so I've decided to hate her and its not hard when she looks so dowdy in this Marc Jacobs dress.

 Doutzen Kroes in Michael Kors looks classic and chic. Perfection.

 Not youthful.

 Gwenyth Paltrow was one lucky lady as she arrived on the arm with Lifetime Achievment Honoree Michael Kors, both in Michael Kors.

Rachel Roy was my favorite of the night in her own design.

 Molly Sims was a close second in a short and glittery DVF cocktail dress.

 Battle of the editors! Both Vogue's Tonne Goodman wore Michael Kors and Marie Claire's Nina Garcia wore Michael Kors, but who looks best? You tell me.

 Designer of the Year Nominee Tory Burch wore her own design but I wish she had worn one of her sparkly numbers!

 Icon recipiant Iam and her hubby David Bowe wore a custom Giambattista Valli.  In her acceptance speech she said to Bowe 'move over there are two icons on this couch.'

 Amanda Hearst looked cute in this little yellow number, but was it right for the event? Not so sure.

 Rachel Bilson, you have it all! Amazing style, your a ten and you got your fiance to not only wear Richard Chai but go to a fashion function with Richard Chair.

 Elle's creative director Joe Zee looked cute with Fern Mallis who wore Rachel Roy.

 The night took a reflective turn as they honored the late Alexander McQueen.

 Anna Wintour presented MK with his lifetime achievement award.

Marc Jacobs won Womenswear Designer of the year, which is not a huge surprised and totally deserved. I was so excited that Alexis Bittar took home the accessory designer of the year, he's designs paired with the Joan Collins ads just hit the spot for me.  Whelp, it sounded like an amazeball night! One day...

{Photos NYMAG via The Cut}