The Holiday Pleasures of Bergdorf Goodman

Bergdorf Goodman is is one of my favorite places in New York and I wrote a chapter about working for the store in my book How I Look. Last week I stopped into BG, which was recently designated a New York City landmark and is now decked out in its holiday finery. The big holiday windows that glow jewel-like on Fifth Avenue are dazzling at night. This year the theme is adventures and emerald-green tones were prevalent throughout. In the window pictured above, a jungle princess resplendent in a Marc Jacobs gown perched next to an exotic and elegant gorilla that was completely covered in green beads.
A damsel wearing a CD Greene sequined gown and carrying a dainty parasol tippy-toed on a tightrope over a river filled with fish below –

On the 58th Street side, a holiday reveler was dressed in a colorful Libertine coat –

When Bergdorf Goodman was recently renovated, a new window was punched into the wall on 58th Street offering a fresh view from the sidewalk into the store. Colorful dresses by Gucci, Marchesa and Valentino lured the eye in –

Inside the main door, event designer David Monn, who we met in November, has constructed a collage-like, pale grey Christmas tree which echoes the tones of the store's interior –

Throughout the store, clothes on display, like this Gucci dress, looked like festive Christmas ornaments themselves –

One of my favorite corners in Bergdorf Goodman houses the Los Angeles-based label Libertine. The clothes are embellished with all kinds of happy beads and sequins and decorations –

The clash of colors and textures at Libertine is delightful –

Around the corner, Prada presented a cleansing contrast in sharp black and white –

Bergdorf Goodman always offers an entertaining eyeful. But it was a freezing cold night and I was happy to get home to our cozy Christmas tree –

I am wishing you all the best for warm and cozy holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. I have had an unusual season this year – super busy at my new job at Ralph Lauren, and also very preoccupied with getting my father ready to move to Colorado, which I wrote about on the blog previously. So my attention has been elsewhere and the holiday season has literally flown by, but TD and I have enjoyed some wonderful parties and entertainments here in New York City.
Last weekend we at last got our Christmas tree up (above). We got it from our friend Billy Romp on Jane Street who has supplied our tree since 1988.
For my birthday, which is at the end of November, we went to see Pippin on Broadway!
(photo from Pippin web site)

When I was in high school, I went to see the traveling version of Pippin in Utica at the Stanley Theater. I took a girl. Later we went to the junior prom. Let's just say I enjoyed Pippin more! This production on Broadway is directed by Diane Paulus, who was the genius behind the recent Broadway production of Hair, and it features gymnasts and acrobats in a circus setting. It was so colorful and entertaining. We sat in the first row in the balcony. I had great time.
My photo of the curtain call –

On TD's birthday, which comes one week later, we had a delicious lunch at Union Square Cafe –

Up at Bergdorf Goodman, the theme of the holiday windows is the arts. This glittering one is based on music –

They do such a fantastic job with their windows. This one is inspired by film. It looks like a Greta Garbo silent movie –

Down Fifth Avenue, TD enjoyed viewing the big tree at Rockefeller Center –

We went to see the Matisse cut-outs at the Museum of Modern Art. I love these Christmas colors –

My mother had a cousin named Bondie O'Donnell, and he has a daughter named Julia who has a daughter Uma who is 14 years old and is studying here in New York City at the School of American Ballet. She's a real ballerina! I think Uma and I are second cousins once removed. Anyway, TD and I took Uma to see George Balanchine's The Nutcracker at the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. (photos from the web site)

It was so beautiful. I had seen it years ago but really had not remembered how ornate and gorgeous it is.

Here we are at intermission, O'Donnell second cousins once removed.

Today is Christmas Eve. We are going tonight to my brother Eric's in Montclair for a family dinner. There we will say good-bye to my father who is moving to Colorado on Friday.
This is a picture of the two of us a few years ago at a wedding –

I will miss him a lot.
And I am wishing you all the best for the holidays and the new year, dear reader. 

Summer in the City

Sitting in Madison Square Park and looking out to Fifth Avenue. You can get a glass of wine at the Shake Shack and enjoy the park; sometimes there are concerts. (click on photos to enlarge)
I hope you are having a nice summer. It doesn't seem that long ago since the winter snow was falling. Thankfully summer is now here, and it is not yet too hot. I've been enjoying the city and taking some pictures along the way.
Sitting next to me on a bench in Madison Square Park was a young woman looking casually stylish in an embroidered tunic, silky pants, and chic sandals.

One of my favorite events is the Jane Street sale, held in June, when people in Greenwich Village come out and sell their goods.

I bought this big, old, heavy metal container which is meant to hold ashes at the fireplace.

Now, we put kitty litter and other supplies in it in our kitchen. $25. I love it.
Over on the Hudson River, boats passed each other on a sunny day.

Up at Bryant Park, the lilies are in full bloom. The flowers there are so pretty.

This talented young woman was singing and playing an accordian in Bryant Park - wonderful!

At Bergdorf Goodman, horses are the current window theme.

I had lunch at the Coffee Shop on Union Square with my niece Jane who was much smaller when we started this blog... This summer she is off to art school. Where did the time go? I am her proud godfather.

We took a weekend trip out to Connecticut for Father's Day and had lunch at the Stone House Restaurant.
Here is my nephew Ben, brother Eric, and my pa.

After lunch we had a quick trip to the beach 

and the following day we went to the beach at Hammonasset State Park where the rugosa roses were in fragrant bloom - 

This weekend we had a successful trip to the Union Square Farmer's Market, where fresh flowers, lettuce and bread are now plentiful.

Sunday was the Gay Pride Parade so TD and I marched down Fifth Avenue and Christopher Street with the other revelers -

We stopped for a glass of water along Fifth Avenue -

TD and I say equal rights for all!

The Wonderful World of Dries Van Noten

Runway photos from Style.com
I love to watch the work of Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten, and I think he presented a great collection for fall 2014 recently in Paris. To me, his clothes look artistic and creative, but also relaxed and easy to wear, and that pairing of sophistication and simplicity is my favorite combination. For this collection, he combined optic curving stripes and big floral prints in a range of clashing colors that some how go together. Nothing matches but it all mixes. These very unique pieces seem to combine effortlessly. The clothes evoke the 20s and 30s to me, and the eccentric style of the Bloomsbury group. I picture a madcap heiress like Daisy Fellowes, whose grandfather amassed the Singer sewing machine fortune, tossing on these clothes for some fun in Paris.

A big floral print over orange stripes –

A giant red lily on a dark winter coat –

Geometric diamonds and florals. Plus sunglasses –

Throw a fur over it –

I also like the t-strap shoes, very classic.
Here is the man himself taking a bow after the show –

Not long ago I was up at Bergdorf Goodman and passed through the Dries Van Noten shop on the third floor. The colors and decorating are reminiscent of his store in Paris – 

The spring collection was in full bloom on the racks – 

including a beautiful floral scarf –

Vogue presented a wonderful story on Dries' house and garden outside of Antwerp in the March 2014 issue – 

Check it out if you can (It's much more interesting than Kim Kardashian).
And Dries was recently in town at a party with his friend actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who was wearing the spring collection while Dries was in his floral pants –

This photo from WWD
They were celebrating a new exhibit which has opened in Paris at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Called Dries Van Noten - Inspirations, it is a presentation of the artwork, photography, movies, accessories and clothes that have influenced the designer's creative vision. This show is up until August 31st, and the reviews have been great. As I do not have plans to go to Paris by then I hope this exhibit travels to the U.S. of A.!

Gilded New York In Print and In Person

Gilded New York book on the left, and a corner of the Gilded New York gallery, on the right. 
New York City first rose to the stature of a world capital, on a par with London and Paris, during the Gilded Years - 1885 to 1905 - when new industries like steel manufacturing and railroads produced vast fortunes after the Civil War. New wealth led families like the Vanderbilts, Goulds and Astors to live with glamorous style which emulated European aristocratic luxury. These personal fortunes also bankrolled many buildings which still shape New York City today including the Frick Museum, the Morgan Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Main Branch of the New York Public Library. This fascinating era in New York City is explored in a new book from The Monacelli Press and in an exhibition now up at the Museum of the City of New York.

Recently I went up to the Museum of the City of New York at Fifth Avenue and 104th Street to see Donald Albrecht, the Curator of Architecture and Design at the museum, and a co-curator of the Gilded New York show along with Jeannine Falino, an independent curator, and Phyllis Magidson, the museum's Curator of Costumes and Textiles. I had met Donald before, when I worked on my Cecil Beaton story for Elle Decor magazine, and attended the seminar on Gay New York and the Arts in the 20th Century.

Donald met me at the new Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery where the Gilded New York exhibit is on display. He reported that the Tiffany & Co. Foundation supports this permanent gallery with a grant devoted to fashion, jewelry, and the decorative arts of any period. This Gilded New York show is up until Nov. 30, 2014.

The small elegant gallery is a jewel box of a room designed by William T. Georgis Architects. Windows offer pleasant views across Fifth Avenue to Central Park.

On display are paintings, fashions, accessories, and jewelry from the turn of the last century. 

This large canvas on one wall portrays Cornelia Ward Hall and her children, painted by Michele Gordigiani in 1880. It captures a wealth of satin, lace, pearls, velvet and glossy Asian decor –

At the opposite end of the gallery are two evening dresses by the first brand-name fashion designer ever, Charles Frederick Worth, who was born in England and worked in Paris. The one on the left, called Electric Light, was worn by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II to the Vanderbilt Ball in 1883. Its metallic electric bolts in the fabric and shooting out from the shoulder celebrated the power of electricity which Thomas Edison had just invented in 1880 –

The accompanying book investigates the era further, with interesting essays and photographs about jewelry, architecture, fashion, and the famous balls. 

The chateauesque Astor home at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street had a double-height ballroom with paintings hung salon-style from floor to ceiling  –

The George Vanderbilt house was at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, where Bergdorf Goodman now stands today –

Interestingly, as has been observed by fashion historian Caroline Reynolds Milbank, when the United States was born, its founders like George and Martha Washington did not want to dress in an ostentatious way which copied the European aristocracy, but rather desired a style which was simple and independent of Europe and reflected the values of their young democracy. And so the simplicity of American style was born. However in the nineteenth-century, with their new wealth based on new industries, Donald Albrecht said, the Vanderbilts and the Astors began to look to imitate European aristocracy with their castles, crown jewels and couture. "Americans in the Gilded Age were looking to the past and looking to the future at the same time," he noted.