Timeless Beauty & Style

There’s something timeless about Paris. Regardless of the edgy street style it has become known for, the dirty sidewalks, the smelly metro, and the commercialization that has somewhat destroyed the uniqueness of Parisian life, I will always have an old fashioned, romanticized way of looking at Paris: graceful women, chic fashion, and sophisticated style. This fashion editorial further fulfills my idealized view of Paris. Vogue Paris shot the spread in the 1st arrondissement at the Place Verdôme, which is right above the famous Tuileries Gardens and right below the beautiful La Opera. Walk down Rue de la Paix (where you can grab a drink at the famous Cafe de la Paix ) and you’ll end up at Place Verdôme, home of The Ritz Paris and many of the most renowned French designer boutiques like Chanel and Dior. To me Place Verdôme completely embodies the glamour and romance of Paris and this shoot is just a beautiful spread. I miss Paris. 

This month 1940s glamour has made its way inside many of the pages of fashion magazines around the world. Whether magazines are eager to photograph Miu Miu’s sparkly high-heeled open-toed booties or Miu Miu’s World War II era dresses, its Miuccia Prada’s nicknamed line, Miu Miu, that has been receiving much deserved attention for taking us back to a more elegant period in fashion. 

(Vogue Russia October Issue)

(US Vogue October Issue)

(Grazia No. 40 October Issue)

For as long as I can remember, going into the city to see my grandma was always a big ordeal. The morning of, I would be yelling down the hallway for my mom to help me figure out an outfit to wear. Everything had to look perfect. Hair straight, outfit coordinated, and make up flawless to cover every blemish of my adolescent acned face. This primping was not done out of fear about my grandma’s opinions, but out of love. I always wanted to impress the woman that has had such a tremendous influence on my style. Well to be honest, also because she hated my curly dark brown hair. She always liked how the summer sun lightly highlighted my hair a golden brown.

My grandma’s traveled the world as a fast fashion buyer in her forties. She would look at what Bergdorf’s and Barney’s were selling and find ways to replicate designers at a much more affordable price. Besides looking at glamorous clothes all day long, her job came with another perk. She was able to travel to London, Milan, and her favorite city, Paris see what European designers were offering and most importantly what European women were wearing. She’ll now tell you fashion today is a disgrace and is nothing like the elegant clothing of the 1950s and 1960s. I happen to agree.

Her career in and love for fashion has rubbed off on me. As a child I played in her closet with my sister every time we visited. I’d put on her Chanel bag and my sister would frolic around in her Fendi. We’d wear her gaudy earrings and parade around in her Upper West Side apartment in her scarfs and vintage jackets. Well lets be honest, I’m now 22 and still play in her closet. Its fun being the granddaughter of Beatrice, or B for short.

This year my grandma turned 90. To dinner (at the Cafe Luxemburg where Old Hollywood starlets like Laura Bacall like to grab dinner) my grandma was as stylish as ever. Age does not deter that woman. She wore a tailored vintage Prada jacket with a crisp white blouse, black pants and gold vintage bangles. Her hair was immaculate having just gotten her gray scalp touched up to match her dyed-blond locks. Dark green eye liner complimented her gorgeous green eyes and pink lipstick was the cherry on top of the decadent cake.

I have an immense admiration for my grandma. She’s the cutest, most adorable grandma in the world and I am the luckiest granddaughter on earth. Happy Birthday Grandma, my fashion icon.

The pictures I took at dinner from my blackberry are awful but here she is two weeks earlier having drinks with my mom and her best friend Faith (right).

(Bravo to Lagerfeld for putting some cleavage down the runway!..you don’t see that everyday)

Pearls, fluorescent blues that resembled the scales of fish, sea foam greens, and light coral helped to capture an underworld of Karl Lagerfeld. 

Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy single handedly popularized the LBD when Givenchy was asked to dress Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. When I watched it again over the weekend, it wasn’t the dresses that caught my attention this time, it was the amazing array of hats. Don’t get me wrong, the dresses in Breakfast at Tiffany’s are simply gorgeous, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about why we don’t wear hats anymore. Although I must admit, over the last couple of years we’ve been getting a little better. The fedora has been a common accessory as well as the floppy brim hat. But the ones in Breakfast at Tiffany’s are timeless. I’d wear every one of them today, especially that red turban. I can’t believe the movie came out exactly half a century ago this year, and I’d still wear everything in this movie. Just goes to show that style is timeless.

I’ve seen Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Funny Face countless times, but I’ve never seen the one that really kick started her career, Roman Holiday, well until now. I’ve been on a classic movie kick.  Although this isn’t the original movie poster,  it is the cutest! I’m thinking of blowing it up and making it into a poster. 

Roman Holiday is about a princess who, while in Rome, runs away from her palace to spend a day as a commoner. While spending the day doing ordinary Italian things she falls in love with a reporter who wants to write an exposé about the princess and her wild behavior. It’s an adorable movie which will have you marveling at just how flawless Audrey Hepburn really is. 

I am currently taking a step back from fashion week and reveling in the past, particularly Woody Allen’s film Manhattan (1979). He was so create back then. That may be in part because his movies at the time were fresh and new to the film world. Today, he lives a catch 22. If he makes a film similar to the many he already created he’s just repeating previous work. But if he does something new, audiences are upset that its not up to par with his original movies. A true catch 22 I tell ya. 

But Manhattan has some of the most beautiful mise-en-scenes I’ve ever seen. Take this still for instance. It’s just so consciously composed. And one of the most romantic scenes of New York I’ve seen. And of course it’s impossible to mention Manhattan without mentioning the opening scene of Gershwin’s Rhythm of Blues playing to the montage of Manhattan shots.  

                       How to make yourself look bigger than you already are.