We are reaching the end of our summer essentials list! After analyzing straw hats, sunglasses, sleeveless shirts, shorts, flat sandals, double pearl earrings, the no logo beach tote and the Celine skirt its now time for essential number 9 – the airy summer pants! So where to get the best styles and how to wear them?
Celine resort 2014 (photo@style.com), Apiece Apart (photo@apieceapart.com), Equipment (photo@equipmentfr.com)
Sunglasses are among the top fashion essentials year round. They easily turn a boring look into a stunning outfit. While its great to experiment with different frame shapes and colors as well as lens shades I personally tend to turn to classic designs with a slightly vintage feel. Here are my top 3 brands for sunglasses shopping:
1. Moscot
I had heard a lot of Moscot sunglasses and optical frames prior to our recent trip to New York and consequently a visit to their 108 Orchard street store just a few houses from the original place where everything started in 1936 was an absolute must! Moscot is a downtown New York based eyewear brand worn by celebrities including Terry Richardson and Jonny Depp. They have an incredible selection of optical frames and sunglasses with a certain vintage spirit and a totally unique retail environment!!!!
Moscot, Retired, Alexis, slate green, photo@http://www.moscot.com/alexis_411_32.html#lenscolor=G-15
One of the key elements of Vogue Paris editor in chief Emmanuelle Alt s chic minimalist wardrobe seem to be military style jackets. During fashion week back in February she combined an oversized style jacket with white pants and for couture week she showed up in another khaki colored jacket, which she mixed effortlessly with a pair of blue distressed, cuffed jeans. I know at the moment its quiet hot and maybe not the right time to think about shopping for khaki jackets. But as always its best to plan ahead before the best styles have already sold out. So which brands to turn to when it comes to shopping for khaki jackets?
Emmanuelle Alt wearing military style jackets during fashion week and couture week in Paris, photos@ eel.com, wwd.com
Hats are an accessory that many many people fear to incorporate into their wardrobe! Even on a hot summer day in the city many people skip the hat and favor to get a sunstroke or to make a last minute tourist purchase of things as ugly as a “sunbrella” (Good god I couldn’t stop laughing when a street vendor offered sun hats in the shape of an umbrella fixed to the hat, while we were queuing at the statue of liberty ferry in NYC!!!). Same goes for a moderately rainy day – where an ugly umbrella is often favored over a nice hat! And the same goes for cold winter days where freezing is preferred over a stylish hat! With Emmanuelle Alt showing up in a black Maison Michel Virginie fedora hat during a chilly NYC fashion week in February 2013 and the opening of the Maison Michel pop up store at 19 rue Cambon Paris at the end of last year everything seemed to change (… or at least that’s what I felt)!
Adèle Exarchopoulos (photo @wwd.com) and Cara Delevingne (photo@ elizabethswardrobe.tumblr.com) wearing the Maison Michel Henrietta hat in some fun colors. The black version with a contrasting cobalt lining is available at Montaigne Market Paris!
Finally, I have a little time to share another experience from our previous NYC trip with you – Our lunch at the Four Seasons Restaurant New York. Actually we had planned to have lunch at La Grenouille prior to visiting the MoMa, but had to find out that it is closed on Monday. Not knowing another good spot to dine in the region we finally decided to go for the Four Seasons restaurant. Here comes our experience!
The Four seasons restaurant New York seems to be as trending as ever – It was chosen as the backdrop of Jason Wu’s latest fall 2014 campaign featuring model Adrina Lima, photo@http://models.com/feed/?p=52112
When it comes to travel planning no matter whether business or vacation I am usually the one, who selects hotels. However, for our recent NYC trip my husband had booked Ace hotel NYC. Googleing the hotel for the first time I have to admit that I was a little shocked. Sure its industrial and sure I like industrial style But only to a certain amount. Some of the hotel rooms seemed industrial to a point thats almost painful! Consequently, I was more than suspicious on how a stay at Ace hotel is going to look like!
Photos like that made me a little worry about how a stay at Ace hotel NYC is going to be! photo@tripadvisor.com
While in New York city a few weeks ago one of the things I enjoyed the most was highline NYC. Its a park on an elevated former railroad track in the west of Manhatten island. In the north the high line NYC starts at west 30th street and its southern end is marked by the Standard Highline hotel near the DVF headquarters.
View onto Chrysler building from highline nyc, photo@stylecloseup.net
The US are the country where denim was born and I personally somehow feel that you really see this until today. No matter whether you watch people in the streets or have a look at the department stores denim is everywhere. Luckily this coincides with the fact that I am a denim addict, who loves to browse the denim departments for hours. Summing up what I learned at the New York department stores denim sections here comes my denim guide 2014:
photo@http://www.artofmanliness.com
For such a long time I had watched MET gala live streams, bought the accompanying exhibition catalogs and had longed for visiting the Costume Institute at the MET to see one of the much acclaimed exhibition live. Knowing that I am going to be in NYC during the time of the MET fashion exhibition and hearing that the 2014 summer show is going to be about Charles James, a designer I had never heard about, was a little disappointing for me at first. Sure I had hoped for something, like Prada and Schiaparelli, Punk or McQueen. Despite of the first disappointment I started to gather some information on the designer and realized that he is a quite interesting person with a design approach not so different from Azzedine Alaia. As a consequence I forced my husband to visit “Charles James beyond fashion” at our first day in New York.
Charles James beyond fashion the whole city is full of advertisement – Here the window displays at Rockefeller Center!
Its been a while since my report on the Irving Penn exhibition at Palazzo Grassi in Venice. And its almost two months ago that we had visited Venice (…unbelievable how fast time passes by!). But I don’t want to forget to recommend the second collection of art works that is presented besides the Irving Penn exhibition at Palazzo Grassi until end of this year. The exhibition is entitled “The illusion of light” and deals with all possible ways to alter the human perception with the help of light. It includes a huge amount of fabulous installations – Here are my 3 favorites:
Doug Wheeler, D-N SF 12 PG IV (2012) installation in the atrium of Palazzo Grassi is incredible!, photo@http://www.veneziadavivere.com