Thursday: silver Jimmy Choo heels

Back when I lived in Europe, I spent a lot of time in Italy — mostly Milan, since that is where the fashion action is. But I did find myself in Florence a few times, and on my list of must-see sites, the Ferragamo Shoe Museum comes in second only to the Prada outlet that’s about 45 minutes out of town. Okay, perhaps I shouldn’t really ignore the Uffizi Gallery, or Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia or the Duomo like that, but we are all in agreement that shoes are works of art too, right?

I’m not even a huge fan of Ferragamo the brand — a little too conservative for my taste — but I gotta give props to Salvatore the man, who founded the company and revolutionized footwear. I’m not exaggerating; this is the man who used cork and wood and even the cellophane from candy wrappers to make fancy shoes when all the leather in Italy was going to the military during World War II. The museum contains 10,000 models of shoes. You think the Uffizi has 10,000 Michelangelos? I didn’t think so! All kidding aside, the museum is definitely worth a visit (note: I just read that it’s closed until November 30). And yeah, okay, you can go after you’ve done the Uffizi and the Accademia… and the Prada outlet!

Technorati Tags: Ferragamo, shoe museum, Florence

Thursday: Chanel cap-toe flats

I love kitsch and I’m not afraid to admit it. I mean, I know in my heart that one of these days I will have to get rid of all those bobblehead dolls and other NBA memorabilia that I’ve been collecting all these years. This may sound shocking, I realize, coming from a fashionista, but I think it’s all OCD-related hunting and gathering.

In any case, a few months ago I was walking through one of the carbon copy street fairs that populate our fair city during the summer when something caught my eye: a giant piece of shrimp nigiri bound to a fluffy white… pillow. I stopped in my tracks. Now a sushi pillow qualifies as kitsch of a supremely high order — and ironically enough, it’s not even made in Japan. Nope, the geniuses behind the Original Sushi Pillow are a couple of Asian American musical theater actors. And I am now the proud owner of a giant piece of edamame, which I will put… oh, who knows where? But I know I had to have it! Thanks, Cindy and Mel!

Technorati Tags: sushi pillow, edamame, collecting, kitsch

Thursday: silver Jimmy Choo heels

Believe it or not, this is my first season of Project Runway. And you know what? I can’t believe I’ve been missing out! For one thing, last night’s episode was about accessorizing with/for your dog. And yes, there was a pug. Now I probably will never have a real pug, but if I ever did, I just don’t think I could be all matchy-matchy with the poor thing. Okay, maybe if it was all done tongue firmly in cheek. Okay, maybe not in public. Because then I’d be known as “that crazy pug woman.”

Besides, dogs are not dolls, are they? But then again, children aren’t dolls either (as fun as it is to dress them) and even I’ve been guilty of treating them that way. When my niece (who just turned 14!) was 3 or 4, I bought her the cutest little wool jumper by Cynthia Rowley. It was gray with red stitching around the pockets and the collar. So adorable — she probably wore it maybe once. What I need to confess, though, is that I bought a matching jumper for myself. Oh god, that’s so embarrassing… but I figured (1) I’m her aunt, not her mother, and (2) she lived in a different city so no one I knew would ever see us looking like Dr. Evil and Mini-Me. Well, it turns out, luckily I suppose, that we never did wear our outfits together — and now God knows she would never be caught dead matching her aunt!

Technorati Tags: dog clothes, matching, dressing kids

Monday: silver Jimmy Choo heels

This may come as a surprise, but I’m something of a basketball fanatic. And good god almighty, my team — the Dallas Mavericks — is in the NBA Finals! I’ve been waiting some 20 years for this day to come, so in my deliriousness I’ve made a … shall we say… rather overexuberant promise.

Early in the playoffs I told people that I would paint my face if they made the Finals. Well, I had every intention to! But (1) I have no real artistic talent, and (2) even painting your face like a basketball requires some amount of skill. And then there was this buzzkill called a real job. I had some important meetings the day after the Mavs clinched so I admit it — I wussed out. Instead I went out and found some temporary tattoos (yes, even with basketball it’s all about the shopping and accessorizing) and put one on the inside of my wrist.

But I can’t be accused of not being a true fan! So if the Mavs win it all — and they are up 2-0 now in a best of 7 — bring on the face paint. Hmm, what lipstick color goes with blue and white cheeks?

Technorati Tags: sports, fanatic, face paint, Dallas Mavericks

Wednesday: Prada snakeskin peeptoes

Sure, by now you’ve seen the photos of the skirts whimsically spinning like a ceiling fan, and the flared skirts spread out like pansies and flattened under plastic. But let’s discuss the placards at the “Waist Down: Skirts by Miuccia Prada” installation at the Prada Epicenter store in SoHo. Curator Kayoko Ota of Rem Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture “carefully studied” the skirts, says the gazette that’s handed out at the exhibit, “so that each piece is shown in a lucid yet surprising manner.”

Indeed! Now I thoroughly enjoyed the installation — it was like a walk down memory lane, an ode to all the skirts I’ve loved before — but it’s the descriptions that are truly priceless. They read like a fashion writer gone amuck (not that I haven’t been guilty of that before) or maybe an art historian writing earnestly about a fashion show, and I have to say they warmed my heart. (Whether or not you make it to SoHo before May 31, it’s worth picking up the catalog that accompanies it.)

“This design is purposefully made heavy, yet it gives off a very strange sensation and a different attitude when one walks in it,” reads the description of a steel metal mesh skirt from fall/winter 2002.

On a beaded mini from spring/summer 2003: “Even though many corsages are attached, the fabric is held in suspension without a wrinkle, leading many to believe that some secret technique is at work here.”

On a flared skirt decorated with pink organza corsages: “Here the clothing concept is pushed to the very limits of excess yet still remains perfectly wearable — a signature of Prada irony.”

Well, amen to that!

Technorati Tags: Prada, Waist Down installation, skirts