When we put up the Ritz @ Anthropologie

The luxury of a massage and a spa day in my household is equivalent to have a personal styling sesh.

We are always up for shopping? 

All it takes is good disposition, sitting on a sofa, sipping coffee or champagne (depending on age, there's always a good reason for bubbles and sparkle).

We met Mely during one of those family outings to Anthropologie - we love it there, and by "we" I include Petunia the dachshund who is welcomed with treats and compliments everytime we venture. 

Mely (@themorenasalad on IG) is the personal stylist at the Miami Beach store and this is not a paid post so we spontaneously did everything, no staged fittings or promotions. We liked eachother, she is awesome, she gets me as she has two teeanger daughters herself, and the holidays seemed the right occasion to freshen up our closet and have fun dressing-up. 

The room had libations, coffee, juice, music and all that jazz that you can only find for Christmas at Anthropologie: they know how to do it ... hello for getting us into the mood. It was the right amount of quiet, that one that doesn't leave room for awkwardness. In other words, I would have stayed all day, reading a book and keep trying on clothing. 

We went a little speakeasy meets Downton Abbey for me: black lace kimono worn as a blouse, midi black tulle skirt and the  peach stole cinched at the waist. Imagine how many other outfits i can rcreate with those 3 guys. 

  1. Black lace kimono over a white tee, ripped washed jeans and Vans.
  2. The peach stole with a baby blue taffeta dress and printed yellow platforms, so decadent Miu Miu.
  3. Black tulle skirt with a white tank and silver sparkly thong sandals.

I could go on forever.

Cec just went from her inseparable Vans to an embroidered grey tulle skirt with pewter/copper sequins and a silvery printed v-neck shirt. 

It was all done in a jiffy.

Look who's ready to party!

from Design Miami to Cult Collective: where art, fashion and design meet

Design Miami/

It started with a star-studded panel that included among the mostest, Craig Robins, Marina Abramovic and man of the moment Peter Marino.

35 galleries from allover the world, 5 coming from Italy bringing the best in design. 

The highlight?  "Counting the Rice" at the Marina Abramovic Institute a relational art experience that wants you to really count rice and separate the grains from the lentils. Seems silly? 

"We live in a world driven by technology wich is good news and our worst enemy" explained Abramovic. "We must stop living a life where we have no time".

Don't we all relate to that? We live in the intention of catching the next train and we are never present to the train we are riding now. So I did challenge my daughter to the experiment. Result: total fail. She separated all grains and lentils while contemporarily counting the lentils, while my attempt produced a small pile of rice and a bigger one of lentils and finished with me leaving the station for a glass of champagne. She ended up being filmed by no less that Mrs. Karla Otto in person. #proudmama

Opening reception for Cult Collective

Danny Santiago is for Miami what Yves Saint Laurent was for Marrakesh: chic relaxed luscious glam elegance.

Santiago is a name larger than life not only in Miami and, believe me, whatever he touches becomes splendid. He is an avid collector of Fashion, the one with the upper case F and modern design, uber stylist (hello "Sex & the City" the Movie) and pedegreed print titles of the likes of Vogue Italia and Vogue Gioiello. The man who never sleeps is now the creative mind behind Santika with A-lister jewelry designer Erika Peña.

Told ya we were in front of royalty.

Santika is a capsule resort collection inspired by the iconic divas of the 70s and just as that it would suffice to dive into those flowy caftans, add a maxi tasselled necklace and live in them all year long. But those two are a powerhouse of brilliant stilistic eye, design and talent, just talent of the sweetest form, the one that welcome you open heartedly every time you pop-in. You can't leave Miami without visiting them: the pop-up store will be open until the 10th of December. Living in Miami without being stung by the Santika bug is like visiting London and missing Mayfair .  



The domino-effect of becoming a contributor - Episode n.2

The hottest month of summer was a busy one chez nous that brought an avalanche of love. In an attempt to return at least a portion of that affection, I would like to jolt a few notes on how grateful I am for having met the two beautiful women behind www.DDmag.it , Isabella and Luisa.

The galeotto [as intermediary] of our meeting was Instagram - yes, that thing that glues my nose to the phone consistently. I would say I am dedicated to its growth,  not addicted nor obsessed, like to a plant that needs to be watered, nurtured, vitamin infused and talked to.

We had our first meeting in an elegant, unusual, stucco-ed and delicious cafe-bookstore-gallery in Piazza della Scala chatting along like old friends do. 

In reality, we became friends and we are not old, for the press. What happened after, was a first of a series of stories on how live in Miami Beach as an Italian - no matter if a one-time visitor or a local, the flair and spirit are the same. 

check it out at @luisarasia 

'You discover a door with a graffiti message you have never seen before and you can buy locally-grown produce [...] and that opens a whole new world' ...  continue reading here 

Just because they are splendid hostesses, the following week I got the whole contributor feature - the VIP treatment on the mag for which I had to be paparazzed. I mean I had to answer questions, my moment of fame, I had to dress up for press time like at the Festival del Cinema di Venezia.

It's time to graciously return the favor, host them in a third episode of the domino-effect series and dedicate them some space like in a salon littéraire.

 

CHICfb 4 Wowcracy: 'Heavenly Beauty' by Dawid Tomaszewski

http://wowcracy.com/en/lab/user/11614/project/865#

Berlin-based Dawid Tomaszewski has been a brilliant presence at the German edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and has presented 'Heavenly Bodies' for the fall. 

Dark Soul Dress

It's where the curves of a woman's body meet with 'geometric abstraction'. The rigueur of the color black and the sartorial cuts let femininity prevail over lines and structure. A subtle game of courtship where the woman wearing any of the creations is the winner. 

The looks are layered with pieces that have their own independent life: a tunic can be a dress, a pair of silk cropped pants can live without the top and mingle with a simple white cotton blouse you have in the wardrobe. Heavenly Bodies inspires a sense of sophistication that slips into minimalism. 

Luxurious materials, comfortable styling are the most prominent ingredients to a poised medley of tailored and fluid pieces. A sensible research was applied and it resulted in a mature presentation worth our attention. 

Silvina Maestro @ WOWCRACY

That moment when Wowcracy selected chicfb.com as one of those blogs 'to keep an eye on' : the WOW factor. I will be watched by a team of experts of the likes of Diane Pernet, VOGUE Talents, Harper's Bazaar and Susie Bubble. It feels like a tremendous responsibility, but isn't writing, commenting, analyzing, reviewing, matching, reading, being behind the scenes, brainstorming what someone like me with a fashion nose has always dreamed of? 

So #justdoit.

WOWcracy is a fashion platform that offers new talents the opportunity to showcase their latest collections and pre-tail them without any financial burden and allows influencers like me to preview them, review, widen the exposure to an extended audience, potentially infinite.

'Theorema' is the collection designed by Silvina Maestro that I will be reviewing. It is part of a project called 'Call The Tune' by Wowcracy in collaboration with Vogue Talents. 

“I like to explore the tension between the presence and the absence of beauty, love, and light, all sides of the same thing.”
— Silvina Maestro
Directrix

Directrix

'Hyperbola' 

Once it was said that the clothes of a woman should follow the movement of a woman's body not constrict it, and that is a Chanel quote mesdames et messieurs and it is relevant when defining style.

If there's a word that comes to mind looking at Maestro's lookbook is 'fluidity': each garment is inspired by a concept as the fabric runs on the body, stops where supposed to and continues to completion. Feminine is what perspires and cohesively hints throughout the collection. 

Rouches, cut-outs, asymmetrical hems all show up at the right moment in the body, enough to enhance sensuality without being inappropriate. 

'Eccentricity' skirt 

'Linear eccentricity' skirt - 

In the interview published in Vogue Talents, Maestro explains how she is interested in the 'tension between the presence and absence of beauty, light, and love all sides of the same thing'. We see black and white, short and long, shine and matte and they all blend masterfully and without edges. 

My work is a progression on itself, each collection is a conceptual continuation of the previous one, like chapters in [sic] a novel. Narrative is important to me.  

  Silvina we take you by the word as the collection promises many more chapters to come.  

Source: http://wowcracy.com/en/lab/user/1425/proje...

The Bucolics of chic

A conversation about the concept of chic arose this past week after the launch of CHIC Fille a new French magazine.

 

It's not about being trendy, wearing the next thing, battling against aging, reckless consumption or chasing the latest trend like a headless chicken. A girl's style and her wardrobe are not a chain production mill of fast-paced fades, it should be cradled as a curated exhibition. 

Jane Birkin

Everyday life is infested by what theorists call the 'megaphone effect', an audience pleasing game where you allure the readership by wearing the latest, the 'un-published', the hot-off-the-runway IT bag to drool over. It doesn't matter whether it's 'tasteful' or not, it's what the designer and the corporation behind him are supporting and will be featuring in the ad campaign. Coming soon to your nearby screen, meanwhile it's on Instagram or Twitter 'as seen' on X, Y and Z.

That 'as seen' means X, Y and Z received it in consignment or as a regalia where gift assumes the double sense of present for the blogger and free advertising before the paid advertising campaign. It's a merry-go-round of freebies where good taste, chic, elegance, eye for details go forgotten.

We are not here for bitching though. 

Mademoiselle Coco Chanel

Here we are in the realm of the naturally chic, instinctively refined, honestly sophisticated that doesn't happen overnight, but we believe in it. It's like going to school to learn how to cross stitch like good wives to be used to have to: it takes time, there's no crash course available, you have to climb the steps. Same happens when you decorate a house and you decide to hire an interior decorator, a landscape designer, buy pieces at flea markets and hang your child's pre-school hand-crafted masterpieces and dress your bed with family's heirloom monogrammed linens.

When people show they rely on you, they count on you and they consider you good at 'being chic', you are first surprised, baffled by the role and proud to take it seriously. 

Ines de le Fressange

“... that’s how I ended up with this reputation for being the ultimate Parisian. I didn’t choose it, but I am very proud of it.”
— Ines de le Fressange

It happened to Ines de la Fressange, unofficially crowned the Ambassador of French awesomeness. There are various misconceptions and rules, but the most important secret lays in learning the balance of being unpretentious. 

How are you being chic? 



The Season's Honor Code: Spring

Spring is that season that opens the windows to colors, transparency, sun-kissed cheeks. This one is all about cool, freedom, comfort, laid-back and that mix of lady-who-lunch and tomboy-ish attitude.

There's room to play around.

Shoes, mean flats this season

Drop the heels for a season. It doesn't mean eliminating all our stiletto, pumps, wedges, D'Orsay but, on the contrary, buying flats. All is good, homework is shopping anyways. 

  • slip-on sneakers (Celine, Aldo, Steve Madden, Gap, H&M). If you are one of us, you indeed own Stan Smith, Vans and AllStar Converse at least. To update the shoe closet, you may splurge at Givenchy and Celine or go frugal at The Gap, Steve Madden and even H&M. They may be disposable and who cares? The *good* ones will be in the closet forever. These are temporary trends. 
  • 2-band sandals (Celine, Marni, H&M, Prada, Tod's)
  • Birkenstocks & Co (Steve Madden, Zara)

RETIRE platforms ... yep, just for this summer at least.

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The Shirt 

We have done an extended research on THE shirt, like that crisp button-down equivalent of the perennial green cypresses in the Italian gardens. Alexander Wang nailed one look of his spring collection that contributed to the relaunch and resuscitation of the item. 

This means that:

  1. what you have in the armoire needs to be spruced up and brought back to pristine conditions;
  2. this is the season to dig in to your pockets and invest in at least a couple of new shirts. There are plenty of options, Madewell, Zara and JCrew  being the frugal ones. Celine, Alexander Wang and Valentino some of the VIP ones. White cotton, even the most sophisticated Swiss one, doesn't get better with time like wine does. Au contraire, it gets worn out and, no matter how many times you have it washed, pressed and starched, it will never be that David you were once proud of. 
“That shirt you have in the closet needs to be spruced up and brought back to its pristine conditions.”

Skirt

the hems are descending, getting to around the knee

  • pleated
  • full 
  • pencil (we love the lace ones, they go versatile from work to the beach as a super chic cover up)
  • wrap (look n.    of Altuzzara SS14 is the leading example)

Pants

Billowy, wide-leg, slouchy, cropped, flowy

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What happened when I met Carlos Huber @ Babalu'

I bought a new perfume after 23 years of being married to one.

If you know my adversity for synthetic colognes sold with discounts and gift-with-purchase, you know it wasn't any of that.

It was a walk in the past into one of those mid 17th century literary salons.

I will not be abandoning my Patchouli, but 'it's like choosing what to wear in the morning', that's how I was broken into the New Me by Carlos Huber, the one of the only two Latin American 'noses' in the world and the creative director of Arquiste parfumeur.

Here's how it started.

This is how Babalu looked before the party 

As I am getting ready for the event where the master perfumer will be doing a one-of-a-kind appearance, I realize I am walking to Babalu without wearing my own perfume.

(Un)consciously naked.  This is going to be interesting.

Unusual to say the least. The fixation with my own scent started from getting acquainted to the Galateo of Giovanni della Casa: a debutante is supposed to own her own personal fragrance. God only knows I am long past that decade. 

Carlos is behind the counter like a master mixologist and we are welcomed with a refreshing gin cocktail, the perfect concoction for a steamy Miami Beach afternoon.  (Don't you even think I got drunk and bought the perfume like one would get married in Vegas and not remember the following day. )

The atmosphere is understated and chic as usual at Babalu,  the 'antithesis to a department store'  [Greg, one of the owners - cit.] boutique cornered in the most unusual real estate spot of Miami Beach. 

Huber sniffs (baaad pun) I am Italian and Paolo, the other owner of Babalu, says he is too -  'molto piacere'. 

As I ask where is Carlos from, I realize I didn't come prepared. Another sign that this is going well: no expectations.

“Huber collaborated with internationally recognized noses in order to recapture the olfactive notes of historical moments. ”
— www.arquiste.com

The nose behind Arquiste is from Mexico, 'but I spent all my summers in Florence, as long as I remember' he adds.

Signs of the unexpected are folding over me like an origami flower. 

Miami, the ocean and at one point there must be those essences in one of the perfumes

FB - "How did you begin the path to fine fragrances?"  

CH -'I am an architect specialized in historic preservation.'

History, Tuscany, travel, a unique zeal for the past and the aromas of past moments. 

I am charmed and intrigued to hear how those stories got trapped in the bottle and I want to spray them out. But since I cannot keep my mouth shut, we diverge into talking about heritage, living in different countries, national pride. An engaging conversation with a stranger who wasn't a stranger anymore.  

FB - "How were you drawn from designing homes, rooms and bridges, to the ethereal job of combining essences into fine fragrances?". They seemed two opposite worlds, one tangible and the other ephemeral.

The fil-rouge unifying both worlds is time - and memories. Buildings have their own unique scent fruit of the combination of materials used, events that happened there, people that populated and visited them.

WARNING: if you are intimidated by old constructions or don't like history, do not proceed. 

The gardenia is in one of the fragrances ... for sure!

Each fragrance of the Arquiste line is an olfactive reminiscence of events of centuries past in detailed minutiae .

Life in 1695 in a Mexico City convent, the celebration of a good harvest in a Calabria 1175 (before the Americas were even discovered), the day when Louis XIV married la Infanta in June of 1660 that, by Carls interpretation, produced two fragrances, masculine and feminine.  

FB - "How would you convert someone like me who has had one perfume forever?" And then my rant about patchouli bla bla bla went until he said:

CH - 'Let's not give too much credit to a perfume. It becomes who you are, not the other way around.'  

I start getting the whole essence (I swear this is the last pun).  

CH - 'What the perfume smells on the sliver of paper is not how it develops on your skin', Carlos continues. 'When you spray it on your skin, it goes through phases and it builds on you in a different way it does on anyone else.'

CH - 'Let's say you remember that day you spent in the garden in Florence, the cypresses, the honeysuckle, poppies, jasmine, you wore a linen blouse and leather boots.'

Carlos is good. He brought me back to my summer vacations. This is getting better by the minute. 

“A scent is a time capsule. It can invoke our most intimate memories and dreams, and open doors to distant worlds.”
— Carlos Huber - Arquiste parfumeur

Gotta say we took a train ride on the Orient Express, did a VIP tour of the world through centuries and landed on our almost exclusive fragrance. Our essence in a capsule.