decoration on a budget

“You know what? In this time, you can live well, but maybe you won’t spend your money on decorating,” Mr. Drake, a designer/decorator, said. “Maybe you’ll save it for a piece of art.”

“I think we just have to reinvent what we have,” she said, offering a decorating tip: instead of sculpture, consider athletic equipment. Ms. Bergreen used a surfboard and a saddle.

Last week, 32 designers and their assistants tweaked the rooms they had decorated for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, the 37th, to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. It was billed as a tribute to Albert Hadley, the Tennessee-born minimalist who provided a tether and balance for the English country house-style maximal ism of his partner, Sister Parish. Theirs was a slightly tense dialectic that played out in society living rooms for more than three decades. There was an implicit assignment to the decorators here to honor Mr. Hadley, now 88, in each of their rooms.


Bunny Williams's room included elements like a sisal rug stenciled with stars, lots of color and botanical gouaches, which seemed super-sized to fit the room.



An homage to the "Bocca della Verità" (The Mouth of Truth) in Rome, John Ike's room is a challenge to "be your truest self" in bed, he said. The bales of hay he used as side tables were "just an idea."



The panic room created by William T. Georgis, the architect who renovated the public spaces of Lever House, anticipated that the worst was still to come. There were nostalgic touches in this nearly black windowless space — a soundtrack playing David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” a motorized, twirling disco ball and “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” the Russ Meyer sexploitation film about homicidal go-go dancers, playing on the flat screen. Mr. Georgis had also included a stainless steel toilet from Gracious Home, a bearskin rug and an acrylic vitrine of fake semiautomatic weapons.



The wallpaper in Jamie Drake's room was hand painted by Alpha Workshops.


For being on a budget these decoraters did well in my opinion.
For those who are interested, I have talked about my fixation with window display before.

The Kips Bay Decorator Show House, to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, is open April 17 to May 17. Cost: $30; (718) 893-8600, extension 245; kipsbay.org.

no photographer - no problem

Sorry my love (my photographer hubby) but when you are not here and I got to have my picture taken and it is Spring time, I go to the K-Mart's mobil photo studio and get an instant portrait. All I got to do is do my own hair, make-up and styling.... et voila!

how to dress like a rock star?

"So tell me what's the ultimate rock star look?" people ask me expecting that I should have the answer, being the designer of that clothing line called "Fashion Rocks". On Google, the search term "How to dress like a rock star?" is very high on my list.

I am not a rock star myself. I put my rock idols on clothing because I think they deserve better than an old frumpy T-shirt and frankly, who said that a print of a rock star should be on t-shirts only? Why not an evening gown or a pair of pants and while we're at it on a skirt too? But anyway, I feel like I should have an answer to that question of what makes a star rock after all.

We are not rock stars and really don't now what it takes to be on tour all the time and rock out on stage at night, so it's a bit of a challenge to keep up that genuine look of rock star, I understand. So I've come up with a short list that should make it easy to meet that sort of challenge and if you just have at least 2-3 of these items handy, you're sure to have a rock vibe going:

• 1. THE SKINNY JEANS. Unless you are going for the hippie rock star look, the jeans must be the skinny type. Leggings will do. Also: nothing is worse than a fat rock star. Go on a diet, for crying out loud!

• 2. THE STUDDED BRACELET or anything studded. An easy way to say: rock 'n' roll.

• 3. DOC MARTENS BOOTS. It's the boot to have. Nothing rocks & kicks butt more. The Converse sneaker can be used during Summer instead.

• 4. EMBROIDERED ROCK PATCHES, frankly if your wardrobe is too clean it does not come across well here, so you need to spice things up a bit. The best way to do that is to add some patches to your jacket or pants, you gain instant rock cred.

• 5. MOTORCYCLE LEATHER JACKET. Yeap, it's true - without this rock essential your look just won't come together. If you must trade the leather, opt for denim. The Ramones proof this every day.

• 6. TOP HAT. No clue why this item rocks but it does. Put it on and see yourself transforming from a gray mouse existence to the glamorous VIP appearance. If you can't get your hands on one, go with a Fedora, that'll do.

• 7. PRINTED ROCK ICON T-SHIRT OR SKIRT. Try to hang on to a true rock star, that is a sure way to gain recognition for your look, don't be shy!
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• 8. THE HAIR. Although not a clothing piece, an essential. Must be long & full or short & spiky. It must be messy or else you won't qualify - no way! And don't forget to put on some shades...

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• 9. RUFFLED SHIRT OR BOW TIE SHIRT. This type of shirt reminds everybody of Jimi Hendrix or Prince and is sure to add rock star flavor, especially on a man.

• 10. SOMETHING GLITTERY. That can be make-up (together with a nice dark eye) or a sparkling fabric. Always remember: sparkle is glam.

Alright then, you are ready to go out and be a star! A rock star that is.

susie bubble style

susie bubble, photograph by nick hartley

If you have not had a chance to meet or know about Susie Bubble, you are not much of a fashionista nor are you that knowledgeable about what's happening on the fashion blog front. Without a doubt: You are missing out.

...susie posing on her balcony in london...

You can thank me now for hooking you up with this post about this ever so stylish and savvy fashion blogger Susie Bubble (a friend in primary school started calling her that, because she saw her living in her own kind of world - a bubble!). You could be a changed person after you learn about her blog Style Bubble because I know for a fact that you will be tempted to check it out weekly until you realize that she is posting in such a tempo that if you don't wanna miss too much, you should actually check in daily.



There is so much to say about Susie, here is what she says about her interests:

Interests are overrated BUT since I have to occupy my oodles and oodles of time with some kind of activity I guess I have to say shopping for all the things that make me happy: 5 pound vintage dresses, macaroons from Laduree, Amelia's magazine, Penguin Classics anniversary books, feathers and lace, shoes with a good sturdy heel and shimmery make up. I like eating anything with red beans, garlic butter and nuts (not necessarily all at once). I like seeing films that have killer lines, killer gigs, art shows with killer paintings or artists with killer instincts and all things killer. Oh, and I like looking at the sea, because the sea likes looking back at me!!



Fun - I know - but I personally think she is absolutely at her best with her own style of which she is constantly taking pictures (she claims the photographer is her BF (boyfriend??) but I have yet to see a picture of him anywhere on her blog... so....) however she does it; that picture taking; she has yet to run out of options of style combinations...

Yeap, she has a humongous closet - must have!!? At one point after London Fashion Week ((that is where the Hong Kong born - mostly mistaken for being Japanese or Korean by her fellow Hong Kong'ers - lives and works (for Dazed Digital) when she is not blogging or rather the other way around...)), being a self declared neat freak, she evaluated her outfits for each day of Fashion Week and came up with this graph:



I was impressed. It categorizes the percentages of types of sources of her clothing worn during a run of about 2-3 weeks. I think this is about the perfect balance of the mix of sources which everyone of us should have: it supports a very unique kind of look because you bring together so many different pieces. Needles to say, you should have a very good eye for things when you shop like this, and you will still have to put them together in some way.

Anyway, Susie managed and has been managing her looks just fine, see for yourself:



...now it's about time you headed over there and check out all of her endless incredible styles and her observations of trends and any fashionable happening in London and elsewhere!

Salve Susie!
All photos courtesy of Style Bubble.

lil' kim wearing my shirt

Woha! I just saw this picture online: Queen Bee in my chiffon bow shirt! Hot!! She looks like Michael Jackson??!! Lil' Kim truly rocks though...

...me in my black bow shirt, photo Carl Posey...


...my pima bow shirt...
...read my post about my favorite piece of clothing ...


...me in my white pima cotton bow shirt...

...what a bow shirt day! :)

to be posted bin

I am currently bound to my bed with a sinus infection. Don't worry about me though, it comes around every 2- 3 years or so and after gallons of hot tea and that Mucinex medicine or my favorite Sudafed Non-Drying, which brings the whole headache into a flush of slime running down from your hurting head... well, I am sure you don't want to hear the whole picture, it'll make YOU sick.

So, I am already a few days into this cold and I start to be able to think again and this is a good time to go through my "to be posted' bin of stories I have not been able to put out yet.

So let's see...

...here are a few more recent Etsy treasuries which include some of my Fashion Rocks items:

...the rock 'n' roll treasury featuring my elvis presley cotton rockabilly gypsy dress...




...the mod treasury featuring the nico the velvet underground portrait print sheath dress...



...eyeball treasury with my the residents mr. eyeball with top hat printed skirt...




...the renaissance treasury featuring the elvis presley face printed petticoat skirt...

Look at some more treasuries featuring Fashion Rocks items.

Hopefully you enjoyed this little post and forgive me for laying back down a bit, in order to cure my cold, in the hopes that I will be back a 100% tomorrow or shortly after.... hatchiiyya!