BEACH BAG

Note to self: the following are the only ingredients needed in one's suitcase when embarking upon a beach vacation for one week. I need to write this don't while the list of clothes I actually WORE while out in Montauk is still fresh in my memory.

- Two bikinis (1 bandeau, 1 basic string bikini)
- Two beach skirts
- Two color C&C basic tank tops (one sunshine yellow, one white)
- One pair Lucky brand comfortable cargo pants and beat up pair of 7's
- Two long-sleeved tops for cool nights and A/C (Michael Stars, Alternative Apparel)
- 4 shortsleeve tshirts (Aloha Maui, LNA deep V, Whitehorse Vintage Smiley Face T, old Loomstate Sunshine T)
- One sleeveless LNA tshirt in turquoise
- One Hurley sweatshirt
- One Free People knit sweater
- Two summer dresses: Roxy and Young, Broke & Fabulous
- Two pair of shorts: homemade Levi 501 denim cutoffs, and Danang silk/cotton cargos
- Terry lounging pants
- 3 white Fruit of the Loom wife beaters
- One silk scarf and bandana for hair
- Havaiana flip flops
- 2 pr dressier sandals

Just add a few other essentials, like sunscreen, sunglasses, hat or visor, underwear and toiletries and you're good to go. No need for 3 giant bags of basically everything from your closets and drawers. Remember to KEEP IT SIMPLE. Summer and the beach is about relaxing. About letting your guard down. About BEACHY wild hair, and just going with the flow.

Cut it out..

Cut offs - the new "it" short to be seen in? Please please please promise me that you'll think twice before spending money on pre-fab cutoffs especially ones that cost $175 (like the brand Siwy featured on the girls above)! Even I draw the line at that. Cut-off jean shorts as the moniker implies is a shortened pair of jeans. To get your own pair, here's all you need to do.

Step 1: dig through closet and pull out pair of jeans you haven't worn in ages. Or better yet, if you have a brother-in-law who does construction and wears Levi's to work in everyday, that are banged up, ripped, and broken-in, start with a pair of those.
Step 2: try jeans on and while standing in front of a mirror, use piece of chalk to draw approximate line as to where you want to cut them off.
Step 3: use sharp pair of scissors to cut off the legs.
Step 4: run through wash once to get desired fringing on the edges
Step 5: throw on Havaianas and old boyfriend t-shirt and go

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your shoes

My post on the gladiator sandal gave me the urge to watch GLADIATOR the movie, which I'm doing right now. Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) has just been murdered his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix)... enter Maximus (Russell Crowe) to pay his last respects. Watching lead me to wonder how and where the gladiator sandal trend got its (ahem) foothold. With a little bit of digging, I found out that we have avant-garde designer Balenciaga and this photo of actress Jennifer Connelly sporting a high-concept pair of knee high gladiators to thank - a look that only Jennifer Connelly and Balenciaga could pull off.

Sword and Sandal

I'm channeling Hercules, Samson, and Goliath right now, which could be why some of my favorite trends this season involve leather, studs, and rivets. There was the short leather bomber mentioned (gasp) weeks and weeks ago, and now here I am to make a case for the Gladiator Sandal. Now, at 5'2", I'm classified as short, and admittedly I'm not sportin' a pair of gams like Nicole Richie (not even the post-pregnancy Richie, whose two legs equal about one of mine). Typically the thought of wearing a shoe or sandal that wraps around the ankle sends a chill of fear up my spine. Why would I willingly wear something that would make my legs look shorter than they already are? My Eastern European lineage has provided me with a set of solid calves - they're not cankles, but then again they're not those petite dainty calves the size of my forearms that I see on some girls walking about the city. But I covet the gladiator! So luckily, while waiting for Spring to arrive these past several weeks, I visited every e-commerce site out there and discovered a number of gladiator styles that will work for many leg lengths, calf shapes, and ankle widths. Here are a few of my fav's, several of which you'll see me in in just a matter of weeks...
Et tu Brute?

Shoe-revelation

The secret passion that many women have harbored for years, I have escaped for most of my life.

Earlier in the new millennium, my obsession was jeans. There was a two-year period where I probably grossed about 20 pair. Hearing brand names like 7 For All Mankind, True Religion, Citizens for Humanity, and even Levi’s, did for me what Red Bull and Vodka did for others. I’m happy to say that I’ve moved on, and in the last year my denim-fetish has waned. I’m less about the label now, and more about the cut and fit. Since last fall I’ve added just one new pair to my collection (True Religion Jane in Dusty Road) I’m proud to say.

No, it wasn’t jeans that I was spending my hard-earned dollars on and living paycheck-to-paycheck in for this past year, it was boots. [Pause to reflect on the beauty of the boot] As I was saying, it was about a year ago that the boot entered my consciousness, specifically the FLAT boot in all its glory. It started with a supple pair of brown leather riding boots from JCrew and escalated into a collection that included the brown cuff boot, flat black riding boot, tan flat riding boot (for spring, of course), and short black engineer slouch boot from Frye. Boots are possibly the top reason I look forward to fall and winter outfits, and I’m always a little sad when the mercury starts to rise and my calves begin to – well – get a little too warm in the leather shaft of a boot. There’s only so much a pair of Spanx knee-highs can be expected to do.

Recent spring/summer purchases have driven me to become acutely aware of my [lack of] spring/summer shoes. It’s abominable, really. I have one pair of grey leather mary janes (closed toe), and pair of brown leather strappy wedge sandals that are least 3 years old (that’s 21 in NYC street years), and a variety of beaten-up flat sandals. I have always thought of summer as that season for which you buy “disposable clothing.” The heat, the sweat, the grime of the city takes a toll on clothes and shoes. When it’s 85 and humid, you get one wear out of a tshirt or dress and then it’s right back into the wash. Woolite and Ivory Snow help stave off fading and breaking down, but not for long. The same goes for shoes. I’m meticulous about keeping them clean and polished, but the city streets are hard, giving them a very short shelf-life. I have many friends who refuse to where an open sandal or flip flop in the city in the summer. And rightfully so – the germs that are bred and baked on the street on a hot summer day…ugh…it’s like the city becomes one giant petri dish of bacterial infection. I, however, laugh in the face of infection and regularly wear sandals that are so thin my friend always says they’re no better than wearing a pair of tissues wrapped on your feet. I’ll refrain from providing a lesson in hygiene, but know that regular pedicures help stave off any issues.

Enter The Wedge. In Webster’s a wedge is defined as a piece of hard material with two principal faces meeting in a sharply acute angle. I’m writing to Miriam asking if she would add to the definition with: brilliantly designed woman’s shoe that adds height, without sacrificing comfort, and style without breaking the bank. Not sure about the rest of you, but I’m onto something here for the summer months. Wedges can vary in height from 2 inches to 4, keeping lovely manicured feet above dirty, germy pavement. Leather, pleather, linen, canvas, open-toed, sling-backed, ankle-strapped, suede-lined slides, wood-soled, or flexible-synthetic-soled wedges…pick your poison. I’m agog at the number of varieties there are, really. Espadrilles and Kork-Ease are the classics, but look for brands like Frye, Seychelles, Charlotte Ronson, Matiko, Chie Mahara, and others churning out some modern classics, in every color combination imaginable. I suddenly need a different pair for each summer frock and outfit! At long last I understand woman’s obsession with shoes!

Though NYC is breaking records for temps today, there’s a good two months left of boot-wearing here in the northeast. And though I’ll savor every last moment of the season, I won’t be caught without when that first warm sunny spring day hits.

Recession Jeans

It was a gloomy day on Wall Street today. The bears beat the bulls...to a pulp. While the cry from the floor was "Sell, sell, sell!" not "Buy, buy, buy!" My cry was "Why, why, why?"

It's mid-winter. What tops, sweaters, pants, skirts, and dresses, felt like a breath of fresh air two months ago, feel like they have a choke-hold on me today. It's late January, and right about now is when I contract a bad case of "I-hate-everything-in-my-closet-itis." The only glimmer of hope and sliver of happiness, are those harbingers of warmer weather and a new season of clothes - the many catalogs that continue to appear in my mailbox, even though the holidays passed a month ago.

Post-holiday. Credit card bills. Bear market. On Larry King tonight, financial analyst Jerry Lewis dished the straight poop--BE CONSERVATIVE WITH YOUR MONEY, i.e. DON'T SPEND, PAY DOWN CREDIT CARD DEBT, STAY ON TOP OF YOUR BILLS.... blah and waah. Oy. But something in what she said rings true.

So, until there's a correction in the market and those bulls start charging again, it's time for me to get creative. Maybe I'll pull out some old jeans that haven't seen daylight in months or perhaps even a year, give them a few new rips and shreds, or convert into a new jean skirt. I'll pretend that my dry cleaner is a fancy NYC boutique where for just $13.50 I pick up a designer dress (that in actuality has been held hostage for the last 4 weeks since no dry cleaner in NYC ever is or ever will be open on Sundays...) I'll turn the heat on full blast, warm my apartment up to a balmy 95 degrees, lay out a beach towel in my bikini, and sip an iced cold Corona and lime while watching surfing movies...

Recession-shmession...it's a yin and a yang kind of world we live in. What goes up must come down and go back up again. You know that, and I know that. Toro toro bulls!! Those bears will realize it's time to hibernate soon...

Get your motor runnin'

Dust off the old leather bomber girls, or better yet, buy a new one, cropped, fitted, and cute (look up Mike&Chris, D&G, Madison Marcus, or L.A.M.B.) Add flirty feminine frock-with-tall boots with leggings, or over-the-knee socks. Or underscore with floral silk blouse-faded wide leg lightweight denim jeans-ballet flats combo. Play it up or down with chains (layered, delicate, multiple strands, with feathers intertwined), big chunky rings (no spikes!). Layer on the Jovan musk or Love's Baby Soft. Add Bruce and strut.

Hanks a lot

Hanks and skeins. Guage, slub, nub, and boucle. Chenille or spiral. Needles, hooks, pins, yarnover and casting on. Slip slip knit, slip knit pass.... the peculiar language of knitting! I took up knitting about three Christmas's ago when my sister gave to me as a gift, a set of needles, a book on knitting, and several skeins of yarn to get started. In three years, I taught myself - and have pretty much mastered - casting on, knit and purl, garter and seed stitches, and how to make a cable...the basics. Which has added up to at least a half dozen scarves, and hats, including items knit for friends as well as Peanut, an old tiny teddy bear I own with wobbly head and legs. His little scarf keeps him warm, while supporting his head.

As much as I revel in the thrill of shopping for items perfectly constructed and manufactured by someone else, it doesn't match the feeling of making something with your own hands. Knitting stores are wonderful, cozy places to visit. Cubbyholes are usually packed with colorful hanks and skeins of soft merinos, rough hand-spun worsted wools, baby soft alpacas, shlubby chenilles, flat cottons that look like long strands of linguine, and peculiar looking strands called flutter that add a touch of whimsy to patterns. And the patterns! From simple simple chunky scarfs and hats and mittens, to difficult shawls and cardigan sweaters that I aspire to make - the finished pictures of which would make you drool.

I'm better at holding knitting needles now than I am at holding chopsticks. I love the feel of the warm wood or bamboo in my hands, manipulating the soft yarns - through, up and over, down and through again. Each stitch, one stitch closer to the finished product. It's meditative, calming - until you notice a hole like the hole in a piece of swiss cheese because you've dropped a stitch two rows back...

I knit at home, on my way to and from work, and while traveling. I once made a hat on a flight west to Maui. I've seen people knitting socks on subways, and hats on the cold winter sidewalks of SoHo, New York with ear flaps and all. Simple materials that work anywhere. A simple stand of wool, grown off the back of a woolly sheep, that grows into something charming and wooly to wear...

What I'm thankful for...

1621. The first Thanksgiving held in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Puritans and Native Americans giving thanks at the end of the harvest season.
Women wearing full skirts, bodices, aprons, and bonnets called coifs and biggins to keep their hair clean...
Men sporting loose fitting blouses, breeches gathered at the knee, high socks, tall leather boots, and Puritan Hats--tall conical hats with a large round brim decorated with a buckle and belt. And Native Americans in moccasins to protect their feet, pants, loincloths, and skirts and dresses made of tanned deer hide, soft as butter.

Clothing was sometimes stylish, but mostly functional, and all was handmade. There were no malls, no mail order catalogs, no online stores, no magazines with high fashion models pushing the latest trends.

Four hundred years ago is was about the essentials. Today it's all about excess. As I reflect upon the day, and think about what I am thankful for, I'll also reflect upon whether or not it's absolutely necessary that I own close to 20 pairs of jeans, dozens of shirts and t-shirts in every conceivable hue, numerous chunky knit sweaters, dresses, and skirts in numbers that make it hard to close dresser drawers and closet doors.

Though I'm thankful for brands like True Religion, Michael Stars, Odd Molly, Dream Society, and Velvet, and for retail and online stores like Loehmanns, Urban Outfitters, JCrew, RevolveClothing, and ShopBop, I realize that it's all just superficial fluff. What I'm truly thankful for is my family that I'm spending this day with, a new love in my life, my best and closest friends near and far away, and my health. I'm grateful for the year I've had, and wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and a happy holiday season ahead.

Give 'em the slip

As passionate as I am about the exterior look of clothing, I'm currently all about what lies beneath.

There's a passage in the book EAT, PRAY, LOVE (which if you haven't read yet, if you don't do any else this Saturday afternoon, get to a bookstore, buy a copy, and read immediately) when in Italy, after having had a discussion with her friend Luca Spaghetti about how "SEX" is Rome's "word of the city" (as it is what all Romans think about all of the time while walking, working, and well, making love) when Elizabeth Gilbert goes on a lingerie buying spree. She is searching for her own "word" and is led into a little boutique off of the Via Condotti where she spends several hours under the tutelage of a sales associate and buys "enough lingerie to keep a sultan's consort outfitted for 1,001 nights." She continues, "I bought bras of every shape and formation. I bought filmy, flimsy camisoles, and sassy bits of panty in every color of the Easter basket, and slips that came in creamy satins and hush-now-baby silks, and handmade little bits of strings and things, and bascially just one velvety, lacy, crazy valentine after another." "Per chi?" (Why?) She did not know yet.

When I was little, one of my chores was to iron fresh laundry. My mom started me off on simple things like sheets or my dad's hankies - anything flat, and square - but I graduated to other more difficult items like pleated uniform skirts, blouses, and eventually even slips. I never understood slips. I hated to iron them, and never wanted to wear them. I mean, I already had underwear on, why on earth did I need another layer of clothing between my sensible cotton underpants and training bra, and my outer clothes?

My mom had drawers of them made out of silk and satin and cotton voile. Adjustable straps of ribbon-like material, with lacy insets and pin-tuck stitched detailing at the chest. Tiny little bows and rosette accents. The material was slippery so no matter how neatly I folded them, one touch to move them and they'd fall undone. Looking back, I realize that their undone-ness was part of their genetic makeup. A slip is meant to be removed (by oneself, or by another) and allowed to float gently to the floor, and left in a satiny mess. Straps are meant to slide off shoulders and hems are meant to peek out playfully and invitingly. A slip is practical in that the extra layer it provides between your skin and your clothes can either provide warmth, or keep you cool, and protects your clothes prolonging their life. The right-brain character of the slip though is that it is sensual - the silky, soft, delicate fabrics hug your body boosting your libido and confidence. I swear they'll even change how you walk - put on a slip and suddenly your hips find a rhythm they never knew they had.

There's a lingerie & slip revival of sorts happening right now (in America, at least...lingerie is de rigeur in other parts of the world). Look through magazines and catalogs and you'll see them everywhere. Tip: believe it or not, Urban Outfitters lingerie category carries a good selection - black, cream, pink, baby blue; satin, silk, cotton; lace-trimmed, spaghetti-strapped, empire-waist and a-line ... it's a good place to get started. I challenge you to buy one. Just one. And wear it. And then I challenge you to not buy dozens more.