Rachel Zoe TV Marathon

“I die.”  the 3 hour Rachel Zoe marathon that I finished today was pure fashion porn and now I’m breathless.   Rachel, being the like-minded Chanel fanatic, left me lusting over her every tweed blazer, chain purse and pearl necklace.  And did you see those endless fashions being pulled, organized and hanger-ed during the Globe award fittings? “OOC” (Out Of Control in Zoe speak).

This show fantastically feeds my weekend need for vegetation AND  fashion inspiration.

For you Rachel Zoe fans out there, check out this funny clip

What was Anna Wintour doing at Harvard?

Fashionable and fabulous she is. But scholarly? hmm So what was Anna Wintour, the Vogue editrix doing at Harvard this week? Here’s a more quizzical question: What were Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, and Natalia Vodianova all doing at Harvard?

Well I can assure you, (thankfully) they weren’t around to discuss neuroscience or astrophysics with the masterminds at the University. They were invited by Harvard Business School and MGH’s Harris Center for Education and Advocacy in Eating Disorders to discuss the world’s weighty issues. With Anna Wintour representing the editorial perspective and representing the Council of Fashion Designers, Micheal Kors representing fashion designers and Natalia Vodianova giving a fashion model’s perspective on the pressure to be thin (and her own personal fight with anorexia), they discussed the prevalence of eating disorders in the fashion industry.

At this forum, titled “Health Matters: Weight and Wellness in the World of Fashion,” Wintour, announced the fashion industry’s progress in implementing the following guidelines:

• don’t hire models under age of 16 (Kors pledged to no longer use any model under 16 — “no matter how hot she (was).”)
• don’t allow smoking or drinking backstage at runway shows or at photo shoots (I went backstage while at several NY fashion shows this year and can attest this to be true)
• limit hours worked by underage models (there used to be tons of 13yr olds on the catwalks)

She also professed that they are pushing the fashion industry to “identify young women who could be suffering from eating disorders” and said “we are all responsible for the models’ health.”  This is in stark contrast to Karl Lagerfeld’s widely publicized quotes on his insistence that having to hire more voluptuous models was  “absurd” arguing that the world of fashion is supposed to be about “dreams and illusions.”  (Karl is also known to have fought H&M for going against his will and creating clothes for larger-sized women during H&M’s special Karl collection.  He vowed to never work with H&M again).  “What I created was fashion for slim, slender people.”  He thinks the current backlash against skinny models is from “fat moms sitting with their bags of chips in front of the TV and saying that thin models are ugly.”

According to Wintour, Vogue editors now interview models to evaluate wellness before a shoot. “We want healthy-looking girls.. our readers want healthy looking girls.”

Vogue’s April 2010 “Shape Issue” was supposed to feature real-women and real-sizes but instead features Gisele Bundchen, and Liya Kebede ..hardly “real” in my book.   Ah well, at least you can rest easy knowing all the models were interviewed first for their wellness.

In the Devil Wears Prada’s words, “That’s all.”

Keep Kim Kardashian’s Clothes

I just learned that Kim Kardashian sells her unwanted, often unworn clothes on ebay AND she wears my shoe size (7)!   With 99.4% positive feedback and a collection of fabulous clothes and shoes from her overstuffed closet, she donates to the Dream Foundation which grants wishes to the terminally ill.

Here Kim takes you into her closet and discusses her most favorite finds. http://www.fashionair.com/index.php?action=watch&itemID=41406

Surprisingly she cites Gucci and H&M in the same sentence as two of her favorite brands.  Who knew Kim could be a frugal fashionista?

Damask Decor

I’ve been really into damasks (as if you couldn’t already tell from this blog’s design).  And I love baroque details, with classic black / white pairings so I salivated over this picture of Nicky Hilton’s dining room.

I actually have that same fabric that you see on her chairs as my bedroom curtains (bought at Targe’t and pictured here) and I made my own matching bed pillow shams with additional curtain fabric (also pictured below).  This week, I got a little creative and added some glossy black damask stickers to the wall behind my baroque headboard (that i bought direct from a furniture wholesaler on ebay a couple years ago).  Signchick1.etsy.com hooked me up with these easy to apply stickers.  Don’t worry, I won’t go crazy and start applying scratch ‘n sniff stickers next…

The lighting also needed a makeover.  Here’s what was involved:

1. I dismantled the old ugly apartment lighting which looked like a bowl was stuck to the ceiling.
2. I had an electrician install this chandelier that I bought direct from a wholesaler online and I had the handy electrician put everything on a more romantic dimmer.
3. I bought a white baroque circular frame from a wholesaler online, had them cut it in half free of charge and used it as part of my makeshift crown.
4. I bought, cut and glued damask wrapping paper over the gaping hole that the previous unsightly lighting fixture uncovered
5. I then used industrial strength tape to make the molding stick to the ceiling which will save me from being penalized later for abusing my apartment
6. Lastly, I added baby chandelier to the draping crystals (tied on mini chandelier lighting kits)

Voila! I have a damask themed, black and white bedroom on a budget!

Here’s another inspiring photo I found on one of my favorite home decor sites, brocadehome.com

Oprah’s closet and other inspirational celeb closets to die for

This month’s O magazine caught my eye because Oprah was on the cover showing off shoes from her to-die-for shoe closet.   It reminded me of my earlier post on celebrity closets which attracted a lot of attention and so I had to capture the Oprah photos and share with you some additional closet photos (including MINE) as a follow-up.

Here’s MY shoe closet (on a budget of course).  I made the shelving unit myself using an Ikea unit that I bought on sale They ran out of white shelving which is what I would have preferred but I didn’t care so much being that I knew it would be hidden behind the curtains shown here.  The sheer, white floor-to-ceiling curtain and wall-to-wall curtain rod were also inexpensive finds from Ikea.  The shoes, well they were all bought either on sale or were gifts from my lovely friends at Bloomies, Bruno Magli, Gucci and Ferragamo.