I hope you are all snuggled up with your loved ones for the Holidays.

On Monday, I went to James LaForce’s Christmas party. I’ve missed it the last few years and had forgotten how fun they are.

This year it was staged at 5 Beeckman Place which is an abandoned building, 10 floors high.

I was impressed from the minute I walked in. He had some balls to throw a party in such a massive (but gorgeous) abandoned building! It brought me back to the “old NY” in the 80′s, when the streets were still dangerous and there was a real underground.

Now grown up, the same cast of characters were all at the party, Lady Kier from Dee Lite (remember the song, Groove Is In The Heart?!) was the MC with Billy Beyond.

The space was spectacular in its old metal detail and Venetian like interiors.

James had staged little Xmas ghoul vignettes around the party and a there was a runway that you could Vogue on if you felt like it.

Impressive.

Crystallized African masks with golden spears, punk Native American turquoise corded necklaces, psychedelic flowers in fuchsia and yellow, 80′s new wave- aka Devo/ Tom Tom Club , all comprise the mood for Spring 2013.

Here’s a selection of images from our Lookbook.

Last week, with the news of the horrific shooting in Connecticut, I went through a string of emotions.

At first, I was horrified and saddened for the families and children of those who were affected. Next, I had a weird recognition of the fact that I am getting used to hearing about mass school shootings. And then, after 2 days, I was sickened from the extent of news coverage. It seemed that where ever I was, there was a minute to minute coverage of every detail.

I started to feel my rage boil at the manipulative and bottom feeding nature of the news industry.

To me, there seems to be a profiteering from the news channels, using any drama that they feel the public is freaked out by. At the same time, I have to wonder, do other people think it’s sickening to have 24 hour coverage for days on something like this? Doesn’t it seem wrong on so many levels? It drives me crazy watching news casters acting like specialists who care, when really (it feels like to me) they are sensationalizing for ratings.

I was talking about it with my boyfriend and he said it’s hard to know what comes first, “the chicken or the egg”. Are people wanting this kind of coverage so the news delivers it, or, is the news delivering it and we accept it?

I can’t believe I’m the only one troubled by it. I also can’t believe that it can’t be changed in the future if enough people talk about it.

Let’s hope…

This last Sunday I woke up and it was dreary and cold. I was hoping to squeeze some gift shopping and Holiday cheer in but the weather was terrible.

Fortunately,  I had tickets to see The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. I hadn’t seen it for 6 years and was reminded that it embodied the “Ye Old Christmas” I love.

Because it was a matinee,  it was full of young girls who were living their fantasies of being a ballerina. Some were dressed up in their best outfits and some, well,  were in matching sweats (a sign of the times). I was sandwiched in between them all.

The ballet started and I was instantly enchanted and sucked in. The production is meticulous and all members of the cast are perfectionists. The costumes, choreography, music and stage are all perfect. It made me appreciate the amount of team work and diligence that goes into something like this, to have everything be so timed and also visually stunning.

After watching for 15 minutes, I felt that I had time traveled somewhere between 1900 and a childhood dream. I wanted to stay in it for longer than it lasted but, beggars can’t be choosers! Plus, I was happy with what I had experienced.

Pure magic!

Here’s a list of my top 10 favorite old movies… just because.

Let the games begin! Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke wearing the Miss H spear necklace. Get the look here.

Last year, Lady Gaga wrote in V Magazine a small article that made a big impression on me. She rebuked Cathy Horyn’s review of Alexander Wang’s collection and in it she basically said that the internet and blogs have taken the power away from critics.

In essence she was right, the world is a more democratic place where all points of view are consolidated on the internet for everyone to see. The critic’s power is significantly reduced because now everyone’s opinion counts.

In hindsight I thought it was pretty impressive to discount what was one of the most influential critics publicly and at the same time shed light on everyone’s power at their finger tips.

I know my commenting on a article that was written awhile ago seems dated but…. who cares.

The Rolling Stones recent documentary was  amazing. The combination of the personal footage that was taken by the band in the 1970′s and the actual story, which was narrated by the band, was powerful. It gave a unique perspective of the band’s thoughtful impression of their trajectory both in the Rolling Stones and their personal lives.

At the same time, it showcased the creativity in the fashion of the times. The explosion of individuality that emerged from the 60′s-70′s, the experimentation of gender identity with the way Mick Jagger dressed, and all the gorgeous girls who flocked to see them, was definitely something worth watching.

My mom was always a fan of Christmas. In our small apartment in Bay Ridge Brooklyn we made our own ornaments out of dried milk pods with glitter, antique etchings encased in miniature frames and dried cranberries. Of course she would buy ornaments, but she had a real knack for finding ones that looked like they came from an attic in the 1800′s. Needless to say I was completely sucked into the Christmas spirit and could not wait for my gifts.

To add to the excitement of Christmas coming, we had an advent calendar. I was obsessed with it. I got to open a little box each day and there would be a beautiful picture in it. The countdown would start and then end with the presents on the Dec 25th.

My parents were both public school teachers, which sadly for our country, are never the best paid professions, but they still gave my brother and I a magical Christmas… Until I was 13 and forced into realty.

Anyway, I decided to have our own advent calendar this year where we showcased a few of my favorite items. To make it even MORE special, when you buy the item of the day in one of our stores you get a $35 gift certificate to use on another purchase before the 25th. (The promo is only good in store, can’t be applied online. Contact one of our stores for more details.)

I got a chance to step out of the hustle and bustle and go to Puerto Rico for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

There is something to be said for having the sun beat me into submission to the point that I am catatonic. It’s a feeling I live for after a heavy workload.

Now I won’t go on about my love for Puerto Rico since I’ve already done that in past posts over the years but, I will discuss the amazing fascination Puerto Rican men have with tweezing their eye brows.

I am dying to do a short documentary on why men tweeze or over tweeze their eyebrows. I’m fascinated. Some of these eyebrows are pencil thin and at the same time the guys look like macho gangsters. I don’t get it! Not that I need to get it, it is just my opinion, but it does seem like a riddle that’s dying to be solved.

How did it start? Who perpetuates it? Is it their girlfriends making suggestions? How is it decided that a pencil thin eyebrow is desirable? Do they think it looks feminine or masculine?

Maybe someone can explain the origin to me. If so, that person and I could do a quick documentary and submit it to Sundance Film Festival. What do you think?

Every year I design a quick capsule collection of jewelry that we sell to our customers online for a true bargain. This year we called it our Online Sample Sale.  It’s our way of giving back to our customers and only last for 5 days.

The design team gets to use components that we no longer work with and we design something completely new from them. Its kind of a mini Project Runway. This year it includes faceted tourmaline, hand cut amethyst in shades of light and dark purple, custom hand made Baroque flowers, hand carved lucite links, onyx that’s been hand cut in geometric shapes, nuggets of Rose Quartz and much more. The values are amazing and I think this selection is better than ever. I hope you enjoy them.