Twelve Hunderd... that's reasonable..

You've seen it on 60 Minutes (which, by the way, is the only TV program I watch on CBS besides Big Bang Theory....) - how Morley Safer grilled nuclear Anna Wintour. How everybody from Karl (my Daughter's God..) to John Galiano bows to Anna Wintour. People may not know Anna Wintour but probably know Miranda Priestly aka Meryl Streep.

During the interview, Anna Wintour comments to Alex Wang that $1,200 is very reasonable for a dress - which, of course, shocked Mr. Safer. This made me think.

If you go to the Barneys and the Bergdorf, $1,200 for a designer dress is not just reasonable - it's a darn bargain - especially by a designer who puts out runway shows every season - where each show costs at least around $50,000 (for a 30 min show with no fancy special effects or goody bags!). Any one of those Prada skirts will cost around $1,500-2,000 and that covers only 1/2 the body!

Some of the pieces (uhmmm especially by Alber Elbaz aka Lanvin) can make some sense - the way some of those clothes are cut, designed, embellished.. makes you believe it is a piece of art that happen to function as clothing.

Because I see these "designer" pieces and their "retail" price tags frequently (my Daughter even creates her own "look-book" by cutting out her favorite clothes and accessaries out of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar) I am getting immuned to these numbers.

The way I see numbers - if a person believes that a certain piece of designer clothes is worth how many hours of your labour which is shown on the tag at full retail.... go for it! Because without them, I don't get to see unreasonably beautiful clothes and accessories - just to appreciate!

For me... I wait until after the Second Markdown--- those 75% off from the Barneys and the Bergdorf - the Last Call from the Neiman. Then if those numbers that used to look really sad at the full-retail, suddenly start to smile at me - then I will contribute to lift our sad retail environment!

How many hours do I have to work.... to get my Zang kilt... and Cucinelli coat..... I need to concentrate.....

An Apple a day will keep your retirement away.....

I am feeling betrayed and used. How can Apple do this to us??!! It's not even been 11 months since they came out with iPhone 3G. Now it's iPhone 3G S... and I have to pay $200 extra per phone if I want it on 6/19/09. That is WRONG!

Just when I was moping around on this injustice ... I also noticed that Apple made new MacBook Air - for less $$ than my MacBook Air from Feb 2008 (when I had to sacrifice the emerald green Lanvin shift dress to get the Air...) - cheaper, faster with bigger hard-drive. That is WRONG!

So I decided go to my local Apple store to protest. I just forgot one fine detail - the fact that this is my another "drug" store ... Yet another mistake. My stern stomping soon change to a yet-another happy skipping, where your common senses will be completely disabled... you are hypnotized.... "Mac.... Pretty.... for Smart People.... ". Before I knew what I was doing, I was back in my car with new MacBook Pro, and pre-ordered new iPhone 3G S (with $200 premium for 'early' upgrade...).

I guess I, again, have to say "no" to Lanvin blue/black leopard dress.....

Trunk Show Updates - Temple and Hester

My friends know - that on top of Hermes bags, Hermes scarves, and Lanvin.. I am addicted to Temple St Clair Jewelry. Everything she makes is stunningly beautiful. After I started to collect her pieces, I learned why. Temple loves Italian Rennaissance art - She loves Byzantine art - a lot of her Jewelry collections are inspired by the art-period I love.

So it was quite a day in early May - when Temple came to Seattle - and I got to spend hours trying her new collections.... Such a happy place filled with beautiful gems - oh the beautiful acquamarine, red spineli, deep blue tanzanite, mesmerizingly firing opal...... they are addictive - yes, they are my own drugs (or using my daughter's favorite line .... "my personal brand of heroin" ). I ended up taking another mortgage to buy a yet-another necklace... whey do I buy more - when I have only one short stubby neck... I don't know....

After feeling guilty spending $$ in recession.... I decided to stay away from my "drug" boutique. I really did - but when I decided to bring in some chocolates for my Parter-in-Crime to cheer her up... I stumbled into Hester's trunk show. Hester is actually two-person designer. 1/2 of Hester is Tasha Green - from our area (Bainbridge Island, to be exact....) and used to be an editor at Men's Vogue (which was the Loquacious' favorite magazine until it folded....). Like I said, I really did not mean to spend $$ - but again, I could not resist supporting a new designer from "grunge" Seattle - and of course, their shift dress was simple, beautiful, practical - and very affordable!!

So now I have no $$ in my account - I have to sell my MacBook Air...... because.......

Facebook and Twitter

What do I have in common - with Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi and Papa Raz - and millions of others? - Facebook.

I rarely write anything - but I have enough friends who keep me entertained everyday with updates and photos. I thought e-mail system has simplified and sterilized our lives - along with annual update letter (with desktop publishing software...). Now you don't even have to send anything to anybody in specific - just spill it out on Facebook and all your friends are "updated".

I am supposedly a "supporter" of Sarkozy and Berlusconi - and for just in case my friends wonder if I had a lobotomy - I will clarify here - that I am a fan of their wive's/women's fashion and I just like to see their women's on photos and videos. I hear that Sarkozy is upset that Berlusconi has more "supporters" on Facebook.

I also a fan of Papa Raz - just to check if he is still wearing Prada Sports shoes - or decided to upgrade to Bontoni.

Now I have decided to peak into the world of Twitters. I don't even know how to "update" myself - I just "follow" people. I can see my "friends" on my iPhone and read their updates. My very notable "friend" on Twitter is Karl Langerfeld (aka God, according to my Daughter). I hear that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a tweeter also.

I am constantly reminded these days - that I am surrounded by people who never used typewriters (let alone manual typewriters) - or used dial telephone.... I thought sending telex was cool back in the early 80's..... It certainly is more difficult to keep up with technologies - as you near AARP age....

and then Zang and Dilly came to Seattle...

Then... Zang and Dilly came to visit Seattle. Since the last time I saw Zang, he became a bit more "known" in the media world - thanks to his appearance on Real Housewives of NYC.



As always, it was a fun visit. Later, I heard other non-suspecting users inside "the facility" was shocked to see a man wearing "skirt" and tights... standing in front of.... you know what...... (well, I don't since I don't use it...)

And, I ended up asking him to make me his kilt (=the skirt mentioned above) - just like the one he always wears (and bikes...) and just like the one he gave to Lance Armstrong after last year's fund-raising (yes, Zang again raised the most amount!)

That day was "double-feature" trunk show - next to flamboyant Zang was elegant Dilly (Elizabeth Blair) with her beautiful, beautiful collection of Pearls... If Robert Wang is the King of Tanitia Pearls - she is La Rein. My daughter had the best time with Dilly - asking about pearls, etc. My daughter was very engaged - engaged enough I could sneak out to get myself a strand of beautiful pistacio pearl necklace - withoug her demanding a set for her!

Day like this makes 3+ month of life in dungeon tolerable.

February in Copenhagen (because there is no April in Paris)

Every year, I go in hiding between end of January through April. This year was no exception. Pretty much, my life was... summarized..... work, work, Superbowl Sale, work, Copenhagen, Illums Bolighus, work, work, work, work, work.

All during January, I stalked My Partner-in-Crime... because I was after one specific jacket by Loro Piana... that I needed to get this on Superbowl sale day with deep deep discount. I needed this jacket because I was going to Copenhagen in the middle of freezing February - hence the Partner-in-Crime and I named this jacket, my "Copenhagen jacket". At the end of the day.... I love the jacket and enjoyed every freezing day in Copenhagen (so, so, off-season, I got to live like the locals.. eating Japanese food everyday). Although Copenhagen is not Paris - it has Illum Bolighus. I pretty much lived in the store - surrounded by practical, functional art objects.

While I was in Illum heaven, Loquacious was in tall-Danish-women-heaven. Everywhere you turn, you see slim, tall, beautiful Danish women - riding on her street bikes, in the freezing weather, skirts, tights, and tall boots. He loved this very small pharmacy he went in (well, technically this is in Malmo, Sweden) - has been around since 1571 - even before Pocahontas met John Smith in our New World.

My daughter loved Kronborg in Helsingor. It was love at first sight... with Holger Danske.

And we all loved.... Sushi in Copenhagen.

Almost reaching AARP

New Year=Older me = almost AARP. I just learned that Michelle Obama is about a month younger than I am. It's very irrelevant but because I am older - I think I can dish her style.

I know it's boring but.. she flopped on 1/20/09.... i.e. that Fluffy Dress. Why did she choose this fluffy silhouette.... instead of sleek, simple elegance - say like Carla Bruni in Dior?

I know Michelle has to wear American designer - remember... Hillary and Laura both solicited Oscar de la Renta (and he probably would not have lost the White House account if it were Mrs. McCain=First Lady....). So for Michelle to wear Toledo, and Wu - that's already 200% improvement - at least she is out of the box - and a bit more respectable than J Crew. And I always loved Toledo and Rachel Roy - especially at 75% off at the Bergdorf.

But then.... French Elysee Palace has unfair advantages over La Maison Blanc.... Carla can wear Dior and Hermes and Lacroix and Chanel - and of course, The Divine Lanvin. Compared to that... what do we have here? Wu, 2 Wangs, Lim, Toi... besides the obvious "pedestrian" Kors, Klein, Lauren (aka Ralph Lipschitz) and Karan. Even though Hollywood/Richard Gere made him famous, Armani is Italian.

One thing in common though..... both Carla and Michelle have to protect their treasurers from their hubby's cigars/smokes!