Memo: Everything Old Is New Again At Harper's Bazaar

To: The Editors of the June/July 2011 issue of Harper's Bazaar

Stella McCartney

Louis Vuitton

Dolce & Gabbana

Michael Kors

Note: I already managed to make it through the fashions of 1980s once...

please don't make me do it again

Memorial Day and The Santa Monica Mountains

Unlike in northern climes where the seasons are clearly delineated
there is generally some question about what the true seasons are in Southern California
Some say Flood, Fire, Mud, and Drought
Others say Fire, Mudslide, Earthquake and Riots
Yesterday, while strangely cold in the morning it began to feel like early Summer
aka early Fire season in the afternoon
One wouldn't say that down in the flats of Beverly Hills or Brentwood
where roses and jacaranda trees are blooming profusely
but up in the hills there are already signs of the start of a dry hot Summer

These are my photos from my hike in the hills yesterday

you can see how close the trail is to the ocean

which brings so much moisture from the marine layer
yet dryness is everywhere
in another month most of the green on the hills will be gone

 It amazes me that some wild flowers can be in full bloom and lush

amid other plants that are utterly dead and dry

don't they both have the exact same exposure to both water and sun?

With a book to listen to on my ipod, I can hike alone on the trail for hours

and I do



It is Memorial Day today

and I am sincerely thankful for what so many others have sacrificed for this country

so that I can spend my weekends wandering in the hills.

Saturday Morning Miscellany and Music

A little of this...a little of that

From Discover, Kissing and Cancer

From WSJ, Eternal Sunshine of the Springtime Mind

From WSJ, Modernism's Austrian Rebels

From Bloomberg News, Virginia Postrel on Oprah, American Girls and Binge Dreamers

From Businessweek, Tyler Cowen America's Hottest Economist

Amid Privilege for Professor C's post on Ethan Frome

Une Femme d'un Certain Age for a Taxonomy of Tourists

and for your listening pleasure
Air and Au Revoir Simone performing Left Bank

Around Town - Beautiful Balboa Island

It's snowing like the dickens in mountains of Colorado.
Meanwhile it's bright and sunny in Southern California.
I was fortunate to be able to spend the morning at a beautiful house on Balboa Island in Newport Beach
It was gorgeous.

There is nothing like being on the water on a sunny day to make you feel like summer is finally on the way!

Let the weekend begin!

First Lady Fashion - Really Michelle...Really?

How is it that Michelle Obama can look so perfectly appropriate one night
as she does in this Tom Ford gown and dangle earrings

and then then the next night
totally blow it with pairing a beautiful Ralph Lauren dress
with tacky and trashy Tom Binns costume jewelry?

With access to all of the great new fine jewelry created by American jewelry designers

not to mention all the beautiful estate jewelry that could easily be loaned to her

why would she choose to wear art project gone wrong costume jewelry nonsense by an Irish designer?

No disrespect to the Irish here...

it's just that Michelle Obama's job is to promote American design, products and industry

as Carla Bruni Sarkozy does so well for the fashion and jewelry houses of France.

Is Mrs Obama even aware of the fact that there is a fine jewelry industry in the US that employs thousands of Americans and provides tax revenue to coffers of Washington DC?

I don't care what she wears in her private life,

but her fashion choices for a state dinner should reflect her position as First Lady.

I am so annoyed by this that I'm adding to my post

Since virtually any American fine jewelry designer would have happily loaned the first lady jewelry

why couldn't her people have contacted some of the great American women designers

such as

Rhonda Faber Green

Cathy Waterman

Lorraine Schwartz

Cynthia Bach

Elizabeth Locke

Judith Ripka

Lori Rodkin

Wendy B

and the list goes on and on....

Mrs. Obama, please promote your peeps.

Around Town - Hearst The Collector With Victoria Kastner

Last night I had the privilege of attending a lecture sponsored by the Royal Oak Foundation given by architectural historian Victoria Kastner, the preeminent scholar of Hearst Castle.  The lecture was held at the Beverly Hills Women's Club, an organization with many members who have an interest in decorative arts and the architectural preservation of important local buildings and landmarks.
Kastner, who has been the official historian of Hearst Castle for 30 years, has written these two amazing books.

 Hearst Castle:  The Biography of a Country House

Hearst's San Simeon: The Gardens and The Land

The lecture focused on Hearst as a collector, the construction of San Simeon, and use of the property as a country house.  Hearst typically entertained the Hollywood set at the Castle, but he also hosted George Bernard Shaw, PG Wodehouse and Winston Churchill. 

I won't go into to details of the hour long lecture but I will post this short interview with Kastner who explains some of the wonder that is Hearst Castle.

Julia Morgan Architect

Of course no lecture on this topic could be complete without a description of Julia Morgan, the greatest female architect...ever.  Julia Morgan, who graduated with a degree in civil engineering from UC Berkeley in 1894, was the first female student to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  After studying in Paris she returned to California and built the first bell tower or campanile on a college campus in the US, which housed bells that had been cast for the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. The campanile, which was the first reinforced concrete structure on the west coast, withstood the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and she became sought after to rebuild important structures that had been damaged, including San Francisico's Fairmont Hotel. Then in 1919, after some 500 commissions, she became the architect of Hearst Castle and Wyntoon, Hearst's other fantasy property.

In her long career she was the architect of some 700 buildings.  

Imagine that for a woman who died in 1957.

OK, I can go on and on about Julia Morgan but she deserves her own post.

So instead I'll write about something really important...like what I wore.

As I've mentioned before, navy is my neutral 

so voila, a  navy blue suit and sapphire and diamond estate jewelry from Beladora.com

Naturally, I had to wear that sapphire cuff bracelet because it was all things wonderful

But instead of the mother of pearl and diamond earrings I kept with a cabochon sapphire story with these earrings

Sapphire and Diamond Earrings in 18K $4950

and this gorgeous ring

Sapphire and Diamond Ring in 18K $2850

How is it possible that as a lifelong Californian, I've never been to Hearst Castle?

Obviously after last night it is high on my agenda for a future road trip after I get my new car.

Now....If I can only finagle a private tour of the house and grounds by Victoria Kastner...

So lovely...California at its best

No wonder Hearst loved it so.

Jewelry In Film - My Cousin Rachel

Last night I dreamed of Manderley
no not really
But I did watch the film of the other great Daphne du Maurier tale
My Cousin Rachel
which stared a young Richard Burton and the verly lovely Olivia de Havilliand

If you haven't read the book or seen the film, the story revolves around a young man, Philip Ashley, who is on the verge of inheriting the coastal country estate of his late uncle.   He becomes romantically obsessed with his uncle's widow, Rachel, while simultaneously suspecting her of murdering his uncle.

Yeah, drama ensues.

Because of his obsession with Rachel he presents her with a magnificent pearl necklace that is entailed to the estate and then more drama ensues.

The entailed jewelry and how it is treated by Rachel plays an important part in the story and leads to Philip's final understanding of his cousin and her motives.

So, if you like classic films, Richard Burton and Daphne du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel is for you.

Design Day Monday

It's Design Day Monday chez BHB
La Brochanteuse has brought us garden design from her trip to the Chateau Villandry

The formal parterre...lovely isn't it

wow, talk about fresh local ingredients

with a vegetable garden like this, you could practically feed an entire village

From her post
An imaginative twentieth century re-creation of a renaissance castle garden. The moated Chateau dates from c1536 and had a formal garden in the eighteenth century. The present garden dates from the years after 1906 when it was bought by a Spaniard, Dr Joachim Carvallo. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, he wished the garden to have a sixteenth century character. Great horticultural skill was deployed, especially in the use of vegetables. An arbour of grape vines leads to a great parterre, conceived as a Garden of Music. On the other side of the canal is a Garden of Love. Symbolising the moods of love, it looks rectangular from the chateau but is actually trapezoid. The aesthetically designed vegetable garden is based on an illustration from Du Cerceau's Les plus excellents bastiments de France (1576). Despite its origins, Villandry is the work of a twentieth century imagination.

And then we have interior design from Dwell
with a Mid-Century meets Manhattan Beach at the home of Matt Jacobson and Kristopher Dukes.

I love the minimalist approach in a town full of millionaires and their beachside Mcmansions.

And then we have graphic design with the work of Paul Crifo, the master of the movie poster.
I found these images on the Mr Movie Poster page on Facebook
Here is some of his better known work

and some of his less known work

a fashionable gent from the 1950s

and equestrian art

Of course we must mention fashion design
with the new Fall collection from Akris at Bergdorf Goodman

Now I know that Akris clothes are manufactured in Switzerland
but with the cashmere jacket priced at $3990, the top at $995 and the pants at $895
are these clothes handmade with spun gold by Gnomes, Heidi and William Tell himself?

And finally we get to the really important part of this post...jewelry design
Here is my new favorite piece

 an important sapphire, diamond, mother of pearl and black onyx cuff bracelet

my photos don't do justice to how awesome the piece is
because this bracelet is truly a work of art

It looks perfect with these mother of pearl and diamond earrings from Beladora.com
Happily... I have an an event to attend tomorrow night
you can probably guess what estate jewelry I will be wearing...

Yeah? Yeah?

Sometimes I just need to share these things with you

Music For A Friday - Blackbird Blackbird Pure

Ah, finally Friday
Lot's do to this weekend away from the computer...car shopping, training session at the gym, art gallery opening, dinner with a friend, hiking...the usual nonsense.

DSK and Arnold aka the "topic of the week" has been a gift that just keeps on giving with so much stuff all over the net. A friend wrote this to me in an email:
And preying on women is big time wrong! And from an egoistic point of view where is the satisfaction ? "A vaincre sans péril on triomphe sans gloire".
Indeed
So here is some music to start your weekend off
I like the chill sound but the video could bring on an epileptic fit
so listen rather than watch

Vintage Turquoise and The Other Topic of the Week

Janet over at The Gardner's Cottage has been busy this week.
First she posted her amazing recipe for artisan bread

Doesn't this look amazing?

I may actually attempt to try making it this weekend

Then she posted fabulous photos of her favorite Ralph Lauren looks

and included this image of her vintage turquoise jewelry

Great pieces aren't they?

Of course seeing her jewelry inspired me to post some pictures of moi

with some vintage turquoise jewelry from Beladora2.com

Vintage American Indian Turquoise and Bear Claw Jewelry

necklace

earrings

cuff

Vintage Turquoise Cuff Bracelet

Vintage Victor Beck Turquoise, Jet and Coral Belt

Vintage Kingman Turquoise Squash Blossom Necklace

Vintage Turquoise Cuff Bracelet 

Vintage Kingman Turquoise Cuff Bracelet

And back to the topic of the week

Kate at Make Do Style has a great post 

and

Miss Whistle has another excellent post

Go read their posts

A Narcissistic Clique With A Monstrous Sense Of Entitlement

This is the week that keeps on giving, isn't it?
Gawker has been all over the Schwarzenneger story
including publishing a photo of the housekeeper/other woman/mother of the love child.

and the Daily Beast...yes I get my scandal news from the best sources...
has a well written article on DSK.
The Narcissists Defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn by Michelle Goldberg

So this is the dark side of the famed French sexual sophistication. For decades now, American liberals, myself included, have bought into the notion that the discreet French approach to the private lives of public figures is superior to America’s tabloid Puritanism. Often, after all, the same qualities that make men effective leaders—ambition, grandiosity, love of power, and an unquenchable hunger for affection—make them bad husbands. The French system of accommodating this complexity seemed admirable, especially during the years when Bill Clinton was nearly hounded out of office for a seedy but consensual affair.

But the aftermath of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest puts the French approach in a rather different light. Rather than evidence of liberality, the silence that protected Strauss-Kahn seems like a conspiracy allowing a powerful man to prey on powerless women. And the apologists for Strauss-Kahn, like the egregious Bernard-Henri Levy, reveal themselves not as worldly humanists, but as members of a narcissistic clique with a monstrous sense of entitlement.


A narcissistic clique with a monstrous sense of entitlement
what an excellent description

In a piece published, alas, in The Daily Beast, Levy, erstwhile defender of admitted rapist Roman Polanski, declared himself outraged by the treatment his friend Strauss-Kahn was subjected to after his arrest on charges of attempted rape, sexual abuse, and unlawful imprisonment. “[N]othing in the world can justify a man being thus thrown to the dogs,” he wrote. If Levy wanted to argue that the American justice system is brutal to all those caught up in it, that it treats people in a way at odds with the presumption of innocence, he’d have a point. But his argument wasn’t so universal. Instead, he raged at “the American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other.” As opposed to what? If our criminal justice system is indeed refusing to accord special treatment to a rich and powerful foreign official accused of attacking a maid, surely that is to its immense credit. That Levy believes otherwise should forever disqualify him as a credible champion of democracy.


Of course, I am not a fan of BHL for a multitude of reasons
including the fact that I just can't take seriously a man who poses with his shirt as such

Bernard-Henri Levy in all his brawny Gallic glory

Can you?

The Sad Schwarzenegger Shriver Story

After occasionally posting about lying cheating hypocritical politicians...on both sides of the aisle
I was going to let this one go
Why, you ask?
Because everyone I that I know who actually knows Schwarzenegger and Shriver personally says only the nicest things about them.  Intelligent, attractive, educated, accomplished, philanthropic, connected and wealthy, they are our royal couple, our Wills & Kate.
They are our power couple, our living example of the kind of Democratic/Republican detente that can make our State better.
And can I repeat that they are known to be genuinely nice.
But really come on. 
When they announced their separation a week or so ago, no one was all that surprised.  They had led physically separate lives over the last 8 years with Schwarzenegger working in the State Capital and Shriver raising the kids in Brentwood. Naturally couples grow apart with physcial separation, but that wasn't the issue.
It was this
Schwarzenegger reveals he had child with staffer

The Times did not publish the former staffer's name nor that of her child but said the woman worked for the family for 20 years and retired in January.

In an interview Monday before Schwarzenegger issued his statement, the former staffer said another man — her husband at the time — was the child's father. When the Times later informed the woman of the governor's statement, she declined to comment further.
The child was born before Schwarzenegger began his seven-year stint in public office.

Of course the first thing that I did after reading this was email my friend, who has worked for the S&S family for 20 years, and inquire as to the possibility of her having been the staffer with Arnold's love child.  No such luck, but she did inform me that there are a  few people who have been consistently with the family for two decades.  The family inspires loyalty in their staff.

Loyalty is one thing, a love child is another.

What amazes me is how could this have been kept on the down low for 10 years.  Didn't the child show a physical resemblance to Schwarzenneger?
Could the couple have a reconciliation for the sake of the four children?
Of course. 
Perhaps Maria, like so many other wives in the extended Kennedy clan, can overlook the disrespect and the disloyalty for the sake of the family.
But I doubt it.
Could you?

How To Wear Estate Jewelry - Amethysts In The Afternoon

It's soooo cold outside and while I'd dressed for winter I'm in the mood for Spring
and for me Spring most definitely means the color purple

so this afternoon it's bright purple amethyst estate jewelry from Beladora2.com

yes, I know, this isn't a great photo

so here's the jewelry

Vintage Amethyst, Emerald and Diamond Dangle Earrings in 14K $1250

 Vintage Amethyst Pendant in 14K $476

Vintage Amethyst and Diamond Ring in 14K $796

And on the topic of jewelry....because that is what I blog about

From National Jeweler

Husband, wife sentenced for selling toxic fakes

Los Angeles--A husband and wife team who owned a Los Angeles department store were sentenced to three years behind bars for selling counterfeit designer jewelry containing dangerous levels of lead, federal officials announced earlier this week.

toxic jewelry...yikes!

The investigation into the Oh’s business, the Elegance Fashion Mart located on East Olympic Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles, began in 2007 when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division received a tip that the store was selling counterfeit merchandise.

toxic and counterfeit!

The goods, knockoffs of labels including Tiffany & Co., Bulgari, Tous and Van Cleef & Arpels, were manufactured in Qingdao, China, and illegally imported in the United States. If the seized items had been genuine, they would have been worth more than $18 million, federal officials said.

Fake designer goods and jewelry seem to be everywhere these days
If the price on signed Tiffany, Bulgari and VCA jewelry seems too good to be true
it's probably all counterfeit and straight from China

When buying both new and estate jewelry
be sure that you only purchase from reputable dealers
counterfeit is bad enough, but toxic...trust me you don't want to go there