3 Fabulous, Chic, Fashion Books To Add To Your Gift List

Over the holidays I absolutely love to curl up with a great book.
My regular life is so hectic, sometimes working 7 days per week for weeks on end. (at the time of writing this post I have been working 48 days straight)
Just the idea of days off, a couch, and some great books borderline makes me giddy!

One of my favorite things is to spend time with fashion based coffee table books, getting inspired and just loving the art form.

To date my favorites have been The Little Black Jacket: Chanel's Classic Revisted Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and Carine Roitfeld:  Irreverent

This year my gift list is being populated with gorgeous fashion and lifestyle books, written by some of the biggest bloggers and social media presences in the fashion arena.
These make sensational gifts for girls who love fashion, business gifts, and gifts for yourself! 
I've had trouble finding them in bookstores, so have linked each of them to Amazon for you.



Garance Dore is the epitome of chic, french-girl style. Her website Garance Dore.com is a must see compendium of beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. Her book  Love Style Life is all this and more.  It makes a super chic gift.

Girl boss and Nasty Gal blogger/fashionista/influencer Sophia Amoruso's second book Nasty Galaxy is a gloriously illustrated visual collection of her style and the style of her brand Nasty Gal. Its actually a mixture of many things. Short essays, photos, inspo-journeys and her philosophies on relationships, work, friendships, balance - everything Sophia.

Instagram superstar, fashion blogger and interior designer Aimee Song (Songofstyle.com) has written a fabulous book! Capture Your Style: Transform Your Instagram Images, Showcase Your Life, and Build the Ultimate Platform is all about how to craft your voice and story on Instagram. If you have seen her insta feed you appreciate how beautiful, well thought out, and powerful it is. 
Instagram is an incredibly important business tool and platform, and Aimee has built an enormous brand following on it. Her book tackles everything from building your following, styling food, travel and fashion images, which filters to use - you name it.
And the photos are gorgeous!

Impetuous Hedonism ~ Jo Malone's Basil and Neroli Candle

Jo Malone Basil and Neroli

The way my home smells is so crazy important to me. In order to function in the madness that is my work and life schedule I need clean, clear, beautifully lit spaces that smell just right.

It sounds a little righteous, and there was definitely a time in my life when I would have rolled my eyes at a statement like that and said something incredibly clever like "oh pu-leeeeze!!"

Smells bind with memories in our brains, and for a long time now spring and summer in my home have existed on an olfactory loop that mixes lemon with jasmine and honeysuckle, the heady fragrance of Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

I can walk into my home after the longest, most stressful day and in a single breath be transported back to the bluest ocean you've ever seen. It's like magic.

I don't like most of the mass market seasonal home fragrances. Over the years I've tried to give my son an autumn home that smells like pumpkin spice or vanilla and brown sugar and any of the traditional scents, but just between you and me, I can't stand them.

I've been searching for a new home fragrance for a while now, and I've become fixated on the new Jo Malone Basil and Neroli.

I love verbena smells, this one also has a cedar grounding it somewhere in its base along with a sexy yet fresh white musk followed by basil up top and warm sun kissed neroli at it's heart.

This fragrance still manages to transport me back to Italy with a single breath. 

the sun setting over beautiful San Gimignano

Evoking a hundred nights in Tuscany the basil note reminds me of evenings drenched in the golden sunsets of San Gimignano, sitting along the city wall, a glass of local vernaccia in hand,watching over the fields and vineyards and olive groves as the afternoon moves into evening.

late afternoon in San Gimignano smells like fresh basil

The neroli smells like the blood oranges we eat for breakfast on the terrace in Sicily, or while looking out the palace windows at the screaming blue of the Adriatic in Puglia. 

morning coffee on the Adriatic in Puglia

Blood oranges that ripened in the blinding heat of the summer sun in the Mezzogiorno. 

breakfast time by the sea in Puglia

On the island of Lipari we stay in a place named after orange blossoms that fill the garden looking out over the bay at the live volcano of Stromboli, and that line the street that leads down to Cannetto bay. 

Stromboli volcano smokes menacingly across the bay

The neroli in the Jo Malone fragrance is a heady mix of all these memories.

One of the things I love about this fragrance is that even with so many notes it stays fresh and light.  It's not weighty or cumbersome. It makes the perfect end of year gift, be it a business gift, personal gift or gift to yourself.

I read that it was designed to reflect the green leafy spaces in London, combined with London's impetuous hedonism.

I like that idea. Impetuous hedonism. 

The Jo Malone Basil and Neroli candle is available both online and I store at Nordstrom.

7 Lessons On Life And Style From Carine Roitfeld (Via The Coveteur)

I love Carine Roitfeld.
She is brilliant, inspiring and so endlessly chic.
I buy her Fashion Book, I love her coffee table book, I think she is fantastic.
So you can imagine how excited I was to open my inbox and find that The Coveteur had a story on her.
Do you follow The Coveteur? 

Check out their interview with Carine, and her 7 lessons on life and style.

Carine Roitfeld by Alec Kugler

7 LESSONS ON LIFE & STYLE FROM CARINE ROITFELD

The famous French editor gives us a lesson over her new collection for Uniqlo.

By: Emily Ramshaw

Photography: Alec Kugler

Carine Roitfeld is one of those very top of the fashion world pyramid people who, when you finally meet them—as we did yesterday at the St. Regis Hotel in New York where she showed us her new collection for Uniqlo—you don’t know where to begin because there’s just so much to ask. Roitfeld, though, is one of those who happens to drop little pearls of wisdom every other sentence—all you have to do is say hello and she’s off, spouting tips about matching leopard with pink and why she dresses on a Monday morning the way most people would dress to go out to a party. In fact, Roitfeld is so chatty and so full of tips we want to store away for when we need her particular mix of confidence and simplicity,  Uniqlo design director Naoki Takizawa barely got a word in edgewise, except to confirm that she is in fact very picky about her clothes (reason 7503830 that her collaboration with the brand—now in its third season—is so damn good), and that it took 20 faux leopard print samples for Roitfeld to agree on one that looked very un-faux. What’s the meme? I wanna be a Roitfeld? Well, now you (kind of) can.

 

1. MUST LOVE FUR (BUT IT CAN BE FAKE).

CR: “I love fur and it’s very difficult when you love fur to wear fake fur. But this fur is fantastic. I’m wearing the short black one later and you really think it’s real fur. I think, today, you feel prouder to wear fake fur, but it’s very difficult to feel elegant and chic. Naoki made miracles to make this one look real. The bomber is very easy to wear. And the leopard is chic. It’s very difficult to make fake fur look good, but we found it.”

NT: “I brought 20 different leopard samples to her apartment and she picked the best one.”

2. MIX THE UNEXPECTED—EVEN IF THE RULE SAYS NOT TO.

“This is a collection of all my bad taste mixed together. I like to mix things you aren’t supposed to put together—the flower dress with the leopard print coat, it is my fantasy, I love it. Also, pink trousers with leopard is very good together. I like to mix what supposedly doesn’t go well together.”

 

3. SWITCH UP YOUR SILHOUETTE ONLY WHEN IT FEELS RIGHT. IN THE END, IT’S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE.

“People are used to seeing me in a tight skirt or trousers, but these [wide-legged trousers] are more Monsieur Saint Laurent, a little more traditional French Parisian. I’m a skirt lady—I always wear skirts. But I want to wear skirts as trousers, so I put pockets in the skirts. It totally changes your way of thinking to put your hands in pockets.”

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4. STYLE DOESN’T COME OUT OF TRENDS. KEEP YOUR CLOTHES FOREVER.

“These products aren’t so trendy at the end of the day. Even the dress with the floral print. Everything came from my wardrobe that I’ve have for five, 10, 15, 20 years, and I have a dress that’s similar from 20 years ago that I like to wear all the time.”

5. “BASIC WITH A LITTLE JE NE SAIS QUOI.” (IN OTHER WORDS, WEAR PERFECTLY CUT, SIMPLE PIECES.)

“It’s very basic at the end of the day. I’m very basic. Basic with a little je ne sais quoi. It’s just a way of mixing. I’m not a designer. I like a very easy pieces, but it has to be perfect. I’m very picky—the length, the waist—I’m more about the details. Usually I go to a tailor with everything, but this is like couture for me. I know my body and a woman’s body perfectly, so I know I don’t like when the sleeves are too long, I don’t like when a sweater is too short, I like a special length at the knee.”

6. STICK TO YOUR PRINCIPLES. (AND LOOK OUT FOR YOUR FRIENDS.)

“I work on my magazine, I collaborate a lot with very luxurious brands and, of course, I work with Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, Riccardo Tisci, and I cannot copy what they’re doing. It’s more inspired by what I’m wearing. You want them to respect what you’re doing, but you don’t want them to feel that you’re copying them. If they say it looks great, it’s great quality, that makes me happy. Nothing is a copy of anyone.”

7. KNOW YOURSELF—AND USE IT TO STAND OUT.

“Uniqlo’s first collaboration was with Jil Sander. It was very sober, easy to wear and go to work in—I like that. Uniqlo doesn’t copy anyone. With some mass brands, they copy and then it’s in stores quicker than the designers’. And then with Inès de la Fressange [another Uniqlo collaborator], she has her own style but she is not a designer. They didn’t call me because I’m a designer, they called me because of my style. We are both Parisian, but we are very different. Inès is more casual, and, for a lot of people, the way I’m dressed is for going to a party, but for me it’s morning. I’m a bit more sophisticated. Uniqlo is very respectful of us and never copies [other people]—this is why, when they asked, I said okay.”

Read more from The Coveteur here

Pattern Play ~ Luca Magazine

I love editorials where there is movement.
I love seeing models jump, slow skip and dance - it makes the story so interesting!

Here is an editorial I worked on with photographer Kelly Capelli for the fall issue of Luca Magazine.
Did you know that I'm the Beauty Director for Luca Magazine? You're going to love what we have coming up for you!

This story is all about prints and patterns for fall, mixing them up, breaking the rules and having fun with it! The makeup is a slightly more extreme version of one of my all time favorite themes for fall/winter, a red and gold eye. I love to see a gorgeous glow to the skin all year round, so I've been using Marc Jacobs Spotlight 700 Glow Stick to get a glow, instead of a crazy high shimmer highlight.

I hope you will engage in a little pattern play this fall!

XO

See the full editorial with credits here

The Tom Ford Coffee Table Book

I love Tom Ford.

Apart from the fact that he has to be one of the sexiest men on earth he is also one of the greatest
designers of my generation.

His years at the helm of Gucci increased the luxury conglomerate's revenue tenfold. He took the company from an accessories brand to one of the sexiest labels in the world.



Every Christmas I get a new coffee table book. I love spending Christmas afternoon paging through my new giant fashion tome.
This year I want to add the Tom Ford book to my collection.

This book is the complete catalog of his designwork for both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent from 1994 to 2004. It not only explores his clothing designs but also his vision for the complete design for the brand, the advertising, the stores, the architecture. 
It's brilliant, and shows what a brilliant mind Ford is.

There are more than 200 images from photographers including Herb Ritts, Helmut Newton, Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Richard Avedon and others. This giant, beautiful book was published to coincide with his departure from Gucci back in 2004.

You can find the Tom Ford book on Amazon.

5 Steps To Cleaning Out Your Closet For Fall

I hate the end of summer.
I hold on to every last minute of the sunny season, drag out abandoning sundresses and sandals, and only make the transition to spring when I absolutely have to. (kicking and screaming).

And , of course, its kicking and screaming time.

Last night I was scrolling through one of my favorite websites, 
The Zoe Report, and found this article written by Amy Lee.
It meets both my closet cleaning / organizing / fall transitioning needs and my closet inspo needs. 
I really need a closet overhaul. One of these days I need to get a closet company to come out and redesign the space, but for now I'll just add these pics to my secret Pinterest closet board, and head over to The Container Store and pick up some storage solutions for the sundresses that won't see the light of day for another 7 or 8 months....

5 Steps To Cleaning Out Your Closet For Fall

by Amy Lee

Fall is coming! While adding new pieces to your repertoire is a must, it’s crucial to first clean out and reorganize your closet, taking stock of classic pieces from past seasons and stowing away current summery staples for next year. Ahead, five easy steps to follow for a well-edited wardrobe ready to take on chillier days ahead.

1. Donate or Toss Your Summer Pieces

Start by narrowing down your warm-weather wares. Pull out your summer items and create three piles: keep, donate/sell, toss. If it's a transitional piece you can wear into fall or it's something you'll wear next year, keep it. If it's fast fashion that you feel has been exhausted or you haven't worn it in the past three months, throw it into the donate/sell pile and take it to a charity or consignment store (check out our tips for consigning here). If it's raggedy or in otherwise poor condition, toss it.

2. Store Non-Transitional Summer Items

From the keep pile, separate your summer-only pieces from your transitional ones and store them away. For example, cropped off-the-shoulder tops, denim cutoffs, pom-pom sandals and straw hats won't work once September hits. Anything that blatantly screams exotic vacation, put away.

3. Bring Out Fall-Centric Pieces

Move fall items such as jackets, long-sleeve blouses, scarves and ankle boots out of storage. You want to replace billowy, breezy silhouettes with more polished shapes, and add back layering accessories for chillier days. It's important to do this now so they're top of mind and you can start incorporating them into your ensembles as you transition.

4. Organize By Priority

It's now time to organize by importance and accessibility. Keep basics such as white T-shirts and tanks at the front to create a foundation. Then, add in the summery transitional pieces you can still wear into fall (you'll store them as the weather gets colder later on). True fall pieces should follow, in the order from lightest to heaviest weight, starting with thin knits and polished tops and ending with jackets and coats.

5. Clean Your Closet And Drawers

Get your disinfectant spray and duster out to clean surfaces, mirrors and drawers. Not only will it feel tidier, it'll also help clothes and accessories stay in better condition. Don't forget to fold everything neatly to prevent wrinkles, and use storage containers to create sections if needed.