For Resort 2012 I combined a few of my favorite things…

1. A touch of the movie “Gilda” from 1946 with Rita Hayworth.

2. Memories of Danceteria, my favorite club in the 80s where I spent 3 nights a week as a hooligan.

3. Abstract visions of the Italian director Federico Fellini.

Here are some of my favorite shots. To see the whole thing check out our Facebook fan page (and don’t forget to “Like” me!).

This is a jolly cute couple I ran into in San Francisco. They know they’re photogenic.

I highly recommend this musical. It’s by Trey Parker and Matt Stone who created South Park. I sat there with my jaw opened and laughing the whole time. It made me have faith in Broadway and its future. It’s truly original and unexpected from the beginning to the end.

Franny is my boyfriend’s cat. He adopted her from a shelter and she was badly abused. He was told she was 2 years old… zoom forward! She is now staying with me and wasn’t putting on any weight. We brought her to the vet and found out she was actually 12-16 years old- She’s an old lady!

Any way, she’s in good hands now and I’m obsessed with putting weight on her.

The Brooklyn Museum has always been considered a bit of a sleeper, but recently has made some big strides to update its image.

They have an amazing night called First Saturday where they open up the museum from 6-12pm and the museum becomes a huge party/dance scene. I highly recommend it. A couple Sunday’s back I decided to escape the heat and check out some art.

The picture above is by Kehinde Wiley. He’s a great artist who has personified African Americans in classical-esque paintings.

This is by Lorna Simpson. They are snapshots from the 1930s and 1950s from a series called “Please Remind Me of Who I Am”.

A staged doll house.

On Sunday I was at the NY Gift Show and I received a text that Joan Rivers was in my booth and dying to meet me. I rushed back there to see her and she was swarming around the booth pulling jewelry. She apparently is a BIG FAN!! She was super sweet and slightly demure which I know is surprising to think of Joan being demure but there it is…

For everyone who hasn’t seen her movie ..you should! It’s incredibly funny but has a slightly depressing undertone, partly due to her never ending driven nature to be in the public eye and get work. Unfortunately, Joan Rivers has never been given the credit for paving the way for tons of women comedians; since her debut on the Johnny Carson Show. She fought hard to create a new model and succeeded. I don’t think she has any regrets.

I told my friend Jeanine Payer about a dance party in Fort Greene. She got all “Flash Danced” out and gave me her best dance face for this picture.

We love Anna Paquin, from her performance in “The Piano” with Harvey Keitel and Holly Hunter to her acceptance speech at The Oscars to now turning it out on True Blood. She was the youngest person to win an Academy Award and wore this amazing Elfin/Pixie outfit which you know she picked out herself.

Here she is (above) wearing one of our Miss H necklaces. Below, her at The Oscars.

I went to San Francisco to continue the presentation. We decided to create a video that described the process of design, a short bio and showed the editorial press collection for Fall 2011.

Introducing Michael, he works in our SF store. Here he is styling a cuff we designed for Lady Gaga.

An amazing crowd who were really into the presentation.

Joy Bianchi, a fabulous socialite in San Fran who has an incredible charity called The Helpers that’s designed to benefit the developmentally disabled. I love her organization and she has been running the show since 1953. The Helpers have been dedicated to participating in the fight for those suffering with developmental disabilities and connecting new resources in organizations to join the fight and make a difference.

Mingling in the store.

The San Francisco team: Kerry, Erica, Paula and Michael.

Just got back from a whirlwind tour of our stores in L.A. and San Francisco. We presented the Fall Collection and had a little party. Here are some photos of the L.A. visit. Above is Pascale Cohen with a very chic customer.

Here I’m having a conversation with Arianne Phillips. She is one of my favorite stylists. She is incredibly down to earth and supernaturally creative. From styling the movie “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” to “Walk the Line” (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award) to working with Madonna for 10 years. She just styled Madonna’s new movie “W.E.”.

The lovely Elizabeth Matthews from the Costume Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Some young fans. Check out how styled the guy on the left is. It made me smile and reminded me of me as a kid.

A very chic couple.

The great escape…

The island of Ischia is INCREDIBLE! It was exactly what I needed. It was removed from people and the perfect blend of beach, food, sun and culture. I was trying to think if there was some place like it the states but couldn’t come up with anything. The above picture is the entrance into the island.

This is my good friend Lori enjoying her lunch after she shamed me by out swimming me to another cove and then jumping off a cliff into the water. I had no idea she was such an athlete! I refused to jump because I was so scared. She, however, kept jumping and jumping. She was a bit butcher than me.

Jeff sitting on a bench pissed off that I’m taking his picture.

This is me feeding the horses. They seemed to have deep psychological problems being chained to this cart.

I have decided to continue to bridge the gap between art and fashion by showcasing  some of my favorite artists on our website. Hopefully it will help expose artists to other sectors of the world that might not necessarily be familiar with them.

I’m starting with Ari Marcopolous…born in Amsterdam but living in New York. Ari truly understands NYC, youth, color, fashion, reality and sexuality. He is one of the early pioneers from the 80′s like Jack Pierson, Nan Goldin and Cindy Sherman who has shaped the direction of where photography/art has moved to.

When I see magazines like Nylon, Self Service, ID, and V, I’m struck with the impression that these photographers from the early 80′s have made on fashion. All of them were artists and not involved in fashion but overtime they became the artists that stylists and fashion photographers would come to emulate.

When I look at American Apparel’s advertising I see Ari. This man has helped shape youth and fashion but few people know his name.

In addition to fashion Ari really demonstrates and exposes youth culture for what it is. He understood it all: way back when the Beastie Boys started rapping.

All along Ari has documented the transitions of what youth are interested in.

My hat goes off to him.

Check out his blog by clicking here.

So… I’ve been asked why I have designed this piece. I don’t want to sound like I’m on a high horse and you can chalk this up to an opinion of a crazy artist, but… What the hell are we watching?!

As I have stated in the past I am not hooked up to cable but I do watch DVD’s and movies. When I travel I get to catch up on TV and I feel like a kid without  parent supervision surfing the channels.

Last week I was in my hotel room when I came upon a show called “To Catch a Predator”.  I couldn’t believe it! We stooped even lower than “The Swan”.

Here is a show that uses a girl to entrap pedophiles and then the pedophiles are scrutinized and arrested on TV. I have so many issues with this…

Do we as a society get such a thrill out of watching people’s lives become a train wreck? Even “The Housewives” or  “Mob Wives” is shocking to watch, people with so little integrity stoop so low to get on camera. Not to get too political, but I think we all need to start looking at this and taking a stand. If we do not, the next generation will pay the consequences.

Ok, so enough of that, let’s talk about fashion…