This is so two weeks ago

More style icon sightings! The glamorous Giovanna Battaglia and Stefano Tonchi, editor-in-chief of W magazine. I love Giovanna's outfit. It's so simple and elegant and the oversized buckle makes it high style.


The fashion folk are in Paris this week, but my thoughts are still in New York. What follows are more photos from my exciting NY fashion week adventure as an outsider (on the sidewalk!) at the Band of Outsiders show in Chelsea about two weeks ago. Since then, the style cognoscenti have ogled the runways in London, Milan and now Paris. But style inspiration can be found anywhere at anytime and I hope you find some here, even if this is ancient history.

I love this idea of knotting the hem of drapey wide trousers. 

Beautiful lace and necklace. And the white and coral is so dramatic with her black hair. 

I saw a lot of these leather shorts. 

Lots of block colors and geometric shapes too. 

It's amazing how a motorcycle jacket, striped T and ripped jeans still look great. 

Nice update with the clutch. 

Beautiful. 

An indy-prep look. It's a shirtdress and loafers, 

but the shapes and proportions are pushed and more dramatic. 

I saw lots of crisp white shirts and with those legs, she sure wears it well!

Very luxe-collegiate!

Style-Star Struck

Grace Coddington, Creative Director of Vogue. She doesn't take photographs, she sketches. I would love to take a peek inside the sketchbook she's holding. 

I was just in NYC for work; a seven-day photoshoot which had absolutely nothing to do with the world of fashion. It was long days of recreating office scenes and groups gathered to discuss their investing in corporate and home surroundings. And at the same time in NY it was Fashion Week! I knew there were runway shows and events happening all over, but I didn't have enough strings to pull to get tickets to any shows. What's a style blogger to do? I did some praying to the fashion goddess ("Isis, Isis, fashion crisis!") and she answered, in a bigger way than I ever imagined.

Last Sunday, we were shooting a corporate event scene at an art gallery in Chelsea. Across the street I noticed a bit of a hubbub. I learned it was the show for Band of Outsiders. No, there were no extra tickets, but I was told I could hang outside and watch the comings and goings. Sure! I'll make the most of what I can get. I situated myself in a good spot with the other photographers and started shooting some very pretty people in great clothes (more on that in my next post). When a white Town Car pulled up and I saw the top of a very red-haired head. I gasped, that could only be one person - Grace Coddington! Sure enough, it was. I was arm's length from one of my major style icons. I began snapping away and getting teary and laughing at the same time. I think I got a bit hysterical. I even called out "I love you Grace!" like a kid at a boy band concert. (What I meant was "I respect and admire you!"). But I managed to keep it together and take these photos.

Grace with that determined expression we're all familiar with after The September Issue. 

Raydene Salinas, wearing a great fashion photographers outfit: stylish, comfortable 

and ready for quick moves. 

While we photographers were waiting for guests to arrive, I befriended the darling and empathetic Raydene Salinas, Huffington Post photographer and photo editor. It was a relief to share my star struck excitement with her. She laughed with me and said she wished everyone was as enthusiastic about style.

Garance Doré and her great smile. 

No sooner than I could catch my breath from seeing Grace, up pulls another car with Garance Doré and Scott Schuman. I regularly follow both of their blogs. Garance writes in such a friendly open tone that reading her blog feels like a chat with a girlfriend. She's wearing the Valentino Rockstud shoes I've lusted after for some time. I wanted to make a connection with her, so I introduced myself and we shook hands and I stammered out "I really like your blog." She smiled and said thank you. (Note to self: practice more intelligent comments when meeting my style icons!)

Scott Schuman of The Satorialist and Garance Doré of the eponymously named blog. 

Simon Doonan, creative ambassador of Barneys New York. He's easy to spot in his signature 

flower-print shirts and majorly monogramed Goyard bag. 

I adore Simon Doonan and I actually felt comfortable enough to strike up a conversation with him. He's written six books that I've read. They are all personal and very funny so I feel I know him. He has a new one coming out this month, The Asylum, "a collage of couture reminiscences and hysteria." Sounds like a must-read.

Linda Fargo, senior vice president of Bergdorf Goodman's fashion office and store presentation. 

Do an image search of Linda Fargo and you will see someone who is always dressed elegantly and up-to-the-minute. Of course, she has Bergdorf's as her closet, but she certainly wears it well.

Even though I was on the fringes, it was a thrill to be in NY for fashion week. Who knows, maybe next year I'll be on the guest list.

Bien Vestida: Bianca Jagger

Bianca, front row of the Donna Karan Spring Summer 2013 show. Photo from the blog Americana Manhasset. 

I love reading the Sunday New York Times, but it can be overwhelming and when I buy it, I read as much as I can on Sunday, and then unread sections collect dust waiting for me to get to them the following week. Feelings of guilt and inadequacy set in. The pressure is too much, so I often choose not to get the NYT at all. I always feel like I'm missing something.

Recently, my friend and colleague, Jessie, and I spontaneously started a weekly ritual. She subscribes to the Sunday NYT, reads it, highlights the articles she thinks I'll be interested in and passes those sections on to me the following week. It's like having a personal reading service. This practice assuages her guilt too; she's giving a second life to her paper.

She also jots little editorial comments next to some of the articles. Like this article on Nick Cave's apartment, Jessie scribbled: "His style is so alive! Love this = love boxes." It's fun to read her comments because I feel like I'm having a dialog when I'm reading the paper. And she's very good at knowing what I'm interested in. We all need personal readers to cut through the media clutter!

But back to dressing well with personal style and meaning. About a month ago she highlighted this paragraph in an article by Bee-Shyuan Chang titled "Not Just Footlights for the Runway" about scene-sters and celebs at NY fashion week. Jessie added the note "Where are we? : )" Good question!

Jessie highlighted the quote below from Bianca Jagger and it struck me as a perfect statement on individual style with flair.

The quote: "I'm into style," Ms. Jagger said. "I'm not a fashion person. Style is not fashion. I'm someone who has a very busy life, so what I wear has to be practical and functional and well cut, and that's timeless. If you look at what I have worn, my style hasn't changed all that much."

Bianca front row at the Caroline Herrera Spring Summer 2013 show. Photo from  Zimbio. 

Yves Saint-Laurent introduced his Le Smoking in 1966 and Bianca made the tuxedo style all her own. Forty-six years later she is still wearing versions of it; adapting the shoes, accessories, silhouettes and textures so she always looks up-to-the-minute. I've never seen Bianca in person, but I can imagine she would capture my attention first not because of her celebrity status or because she's wearing over-the-top designer clothes; but because she is a discriminating style force, wearing only the best of what feels right to her.

Below are photos of Bianca from the late 60's and 70's, wearing Le Smoking with stunning and elegant style. In her remembrance of Yves Saint Laurent she says "It was part of my liberation to be able to wear trouser suits because it makes life so easy. Trouser suits are practical, but they are only elegant when they are well cut, and Yves's were very well cut."

At Heathrow, 1972

Style is a mix of things; a dynamic package of you, your history, knowing what's important to you and what you like best and fearlessly showing that to the world. Now more than ever we are bombarded with magazines and websites (and blogs!) telling us to buy, buy, buy the latest shoe, skirt, shirt, dress, jacket, perfume, anything and everything and most of it is a lot of noise. The commercial onslaught can be overwhelming and ignoring style all together can seem like the easiest option. But if you do that, you're selling yourself short. You can cut through the clutter and distractions by knowing yourself and your style and making the most of what suits you best.

So, I'm curious, what is your style?