sf

My trip to San Francisco was filled with lots of the usual activities that I enjoy while travelling: drinking, eating, shopping, and museums.

Friday was a blur, we ate and bar hopped and ended the night at a crazy punk bar. I had no idea there are so many kids under 30 who are "punks" in this day and age. A few weeks ago I saw a punk couple at Cha Cha Lounge with The Darlings, and we couldn't stop staring they were so out of place. I started to get nervous when I noticed how many random dogs were wandering around the bar. Scary.

Saturday started off with Shane's AMAZING buttermilk pancakes - we were sneaky and made him promise before we went to bed the night before. After the pancakes Katie and I left for our girly day of museums, eating and shopping.

We started with the de Young Museum, which featured the YSL tribute show. I am sad to say, I was not too impressed. The first room was filled with really beautiful pieces, mostly Le Smoking or other black tie, black garments. But the rest of the show was sort of a mish mash, with too many of this or too little of that. I'm glad I saw it, but I was underwhelmed. A pleasant surprise came with the Warhol Live show that was going on downstairs at the museum. It was all about his participation in the music industry throughout his career. I had no idea how many album covers, beyond The Velvet Underground and Nico, that he really did. I am always happy after I see some Warhol. We ended the day with some food, coffee and shopping, see previous post about the impulse shoe buy.

Before the partay in my honor, we got some delicious pizza at Delphina Pizzaria and participated in some sidewalk wine drinking. Eating delicious and fancy pizza reminds me how there is really no place to get such a thing in LA, and it makes me MAD!

The rest of the night is a blur, and I had to wake up way too early the next day to catch my flight back to LA.

Thanks Shane and Katie for such a fun weekend!

that's what she said.

Anyone who considers Barney's the Mother Ship, as I do, knows what the inside of their dressing rooms look like. For those of us who can't afford the entire store, we stick to the Co-Op. It was maybe a year and a half or so ago, that all the Co-Op dressing room walls were covered in the funniest little silhouette portraits in a rainbow of colors with the best one-liners below them that described the person in the portrait. It turns out that these portraits are by the artist Carter Kustera.

photo credit: jonathanadler.com

I was browsing the Jonathan Adler website, via Dominomag.com, and saw you can custom order these portraits through the Jonathan Adler stores. Genius. That is all I can say about that.

Then I tried to think of the quotes I would put under my friends' and family's portraits. That definitely created a good hour of entertainment. Lucky for them, they all have much more attractive profiles than poor Andy from the above portrait.

museum time + shopping

I have spent the past few days, running around Los Angeles with my mother. I have been frantically furniture hunting as well as eating my feelings, pretend shopping at all my favorite stores and going to museums. Pretend shopping is sort of a lie, because I did buy 2 sweaters at Mas on Sunset, though in general I'm taking a break from shopping for clothes. Mas turned out to be one of the better shopping experiences I've had in a LONG time. We heard the champagne pop the minute we walked in, and I really can't say no to a mimosa, especially on Sunday. It's like cookies and milk, they just go together! It's a small boutique that carries some great, lesser known brands and a few trendy ones too. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of Current/Elliott on principle; I get grossed out by brands that are completely celebrity driven. But I did try on a super cute strapless denim dress with a sweetheart neckline, but i couldn't quite squeeze into the small, which was the only size, and it very closely resembled an Imitation of Christ denim halter dress I already own and love.

Then tried on a really beautiful Crispin & Basilio double layered tank dress of chiffon and charmeuse. It is so so so so pretty (the picture does it no justice) and so flattering. The bottom layer is racer back while the top is a basic tank, one of my fave combinations.


I also tried this top, thought it was way cool too. Love the layered use of stripes and checks. This brand really knows how to use chiffon in a sophisticated and cool way, but still totally feminine as chiffon can only be.


And I totally heart this heart necklace from ginette_ny. Santa??!!?? I especially lust after it since my itty bitty Eiffel Tower necklace broke on the drive down to LA. Don't get me started on what a bad omen it is for your talisman to break on the 2nd day of a life changing move. One bad thing after the other...but, until that gets fixed:

photo credit: masboutique.com

I remember seeing this brand in Paris, and LOVING their monogram pieces. As most people know, I am a total sucker for anything that I can put my initials/monogram/name on. Especially jewellery. Photos and descriptions of sweaters to follow.

Off of shopping and onto art. We actually did the days activities out of order. When we were younger, middle school or high school, my mother used to drag us kicking and screaming to museums. BUT, she soon figured out that we put up much less of a struggle if she rewarded us with a present afterwards, i.e. shopping. Even though I love museums now, the tradition stuck.

After the mimosa and shopping at Mas, we went downtown to the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. I'd never been to the space before, which is located in the heart of Little Tokyo. Upon entering, I was instantly reminded of Le Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Though it is missing the super cool restaurant with the fancy schmancy bathrooms, I did discover that the MOCA gift shop carries things from Muji!!!! I guess that makes up for the lack of restaurant! I always can't help thinking "I could have thought of that" with a lot of contemporary art, my mom was kind enough to remind me that I didn't and that is why their work is in there and not mine! TOUCHE!

journey to the west side

After our unsuccessful trip to JC Penny's we drove over to LACMA on Wilshire to see the Vanity Fair Portraits. After buying our tickets, we learned that the museum didn't open for another 30 minutes. Snap. Things were just not going our way. Neither of us had been to the museum since it's huge expansion that came with the appointment of the new director Michael Govan, so we spent the time wandering around outside. I remembered the lamp post installation, so we went over there and had a mini photo shoot. The pictures will be added later, due to my mother's technologically stunted camera. I really enjoyed the who LACMA experience. It has always been my favorite LA museum.





We started with the Vanity Fair Portraits, which was very cool. Obviously, fashion photography is high on my list of interests, and the show was full of images from Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Helmut Newton and one of my faves Steven Meisel. But it was really the photos from the early years of VF that were really inspirational. The black and white images of the old Hollywood legends by Edward Steichen and Cecil Beaton really got me. That's a bit of a cliché, isn't it. Oh well.

We moved onto the Hearst: The Collector, it was basically like a portion of the Louvre. Then we followed these signs with a painting of a girl in profile with a red scarf on her head until we discovered the room full of Fabiolas.

photo credit: lacma.org

Floor to ceiling, 3 walls covered in paintings of Fabiola, a fourth century saint. There were images made out of needle point, painted beans, paintings with rips in them, paintings on all sorts of surfaces. I went through the room and tried to pick which was my favorite, but there were too many! It was AMAZING!

After LACMA, we went over to Barneys to have lunch on the top floor at Greengrass and to do some oogling and crying (because we couldn't buy anything). Lunch was pleasant as usual, but I was antsy to get into the store. Not only was it all decked out for the holiday season, but pretty much the entire store was on sale, especially the Fall o8 designer collections, for their 50th anniversary. Originally it wasn't one of my faves, but I feel in love with the one shouldered navy blue dress with the grosgrain from Lanvin, of course, it is far more beautiful in person than it is from the last row of the fashion show.

photo credit: style.com

The beauty of Alber Elbaz' work never ceases to amaze me. And a really cool sweater from Dries that I cannot find an image of anywhere. I am going to have to do some DIY action to recreate it for myself; yarn store, here I come! I'll post it when THAT happens. And of course, those Miu Miu shoes. SIGH...