the little black dress

last night, law and i went over to saks for a shopping playdate which we have never done. we got him some cute ( walker dark wash from j brand) jeans for the show (finally) and he picked this dress out for me. i am really not one for the little black dress, much preferring pattern and color..fearful that i will somehow not appear chic at all, but rather somehow look like an old greek widow. ah well..such is life. it is hard to argue with this fabulous little wrap from lady miss diane (von furstenburg)..i think it will work for the trade show..but now..what shoes?

update on:{skinny vases}

last week i posted about the derivation of our new concept for spring: the skinny vase. it all started with this drawing..now it was time to make the drawing into a real live piece!
the result was very "meh" to say the least..wah! often this happens..when i do a drawing i think..oh genius! let's go! but by the same token..just as often the genius concept turns out to be a bust, as in this case..and so in a way it was back to the drawing board. our next thought was to fit the long shape with an adapted key that we could merchandise with our other key forms from last season..the result [below] is not that bad, but notgreat either...hmm..what to do?

i never say no to a morroccan tile, and we thought that this would suit the shape, but something said keep going.
so in the next case we fattened up the shapes and changed the proportions for a very pleasing result..
but5 when we placed it on the thinner longer form the proportions looked funny..so at this point we are still searching for the perfect fit..oh the trials!!
stay tuned for a final result in the coming week!

chuck taylors {for you by you}

christmas morning my neices busted open boxes of brand new personalized converse sneakers that they had "designed" themselves online! i mean..have you ever? last night, thea, after announcing that she "needed" these pants/shoes, took us to the converse website where you can "design" your own sneakers.
they give you a zillion blank canvases to choose from because sneaker people are very passionate and picky!
then you move on to the really fun part where you have a bout 14 different choices to make..like what color/pattern canvas you might like your tongue/body to be, the stitching color,the rubber,..even your lace eyelets..wow! i was very blown away, and my kids had a blast picking, choosing, rejecting, and choosing again..to make a truly original final result. the piece de resistance is that you can have your name printed by the achilles heel..way cool dude!
unfortunately for me, i prefer the white old fashioned original style jack purcells which as anyone can see are way more chic!

cupcake hell

i am not positive how it started..but i am pretty sure we have carrie and the sex and the city girls to blame for the continuing craze of the dreaded cupcake! oh these babies are everywhere. i will swear that i have at least 5 cupcake shops in my neighborhood, and not a bakery in sight. jeez! can a girl buy a decent loaf of bread?
don't get me started! je cannot stand them! too dry! too much icing! and hey! what was wrong with cake in the first place! cake i like! cake is a commitment i can stick to!
oh i get it. they're small, they're pretty, and for a control freak..perfection. "this is MY cupcake! all mine! all my way! get away from MY cupcake"..oh.. i get it.
but stop. cupcakes are too cute pour moi. too popular. my darling friend chris made wonderful red velvet ones with thea for new years and i crushed him when i went on and on whining about the stupid cupcakes. too dry. too much icing. (too much red dye)
oh..let me eat cake!

fashion pickle

the other day i went dress shopping, and ended up in lily pulitzer where i have found (big shock!) things i like. i tried on the adelson shift and fell in love. as i am wont to do i called mimi my mom who is a goddess to her 4 daughters and her 4 granddaughters! she insisted (having grown up in these things in locust valley) that i was making a big big mistake! "this is not a winter dress jilly!" (currently i am not only preparing a a new collection, but i am also working on a new york gift show wardrobe!) "you don't want the adelson," mimi continued, " what you want is the blayney!" so last night i did as my mommy told me and tried on the blayney..oy! i still don't know what i think..so i hand it off to you to help decide! help.

Crushing on Filmaker: Greg Mottola

Law and I watched "Adventureland" last night..and i j'adored it!
the film takes place in 1987 so the soundtrack is very fun, and it stars the very adorable jesse eisenberg (ok what's not to love? hello? Squid and the Whale?), the lovely kristen stewart who i realize is a big star but i haven't seen her vampire thing, kristen wiig and a whole bunch of hilarious and very talented supporting players. Mottola is the man who brought you Superbad..so you cannot go wrong with this flick. in the final analysis the storyline is not all that interesting..very coming of age love story..but it is the treatment and the world these characters inhabit that had me riveted!

Boston Home Magazine

i have to say that walking into the studio to find this sitting open in our entryway was quite a major treat! thanks to erin gates of elements of style for recommending us to Boston Home!