Behind Design: Hillary Kerr’s Bookshelves
Style’s not just a fashion thing. Hillary Kerr, Editorial Director and Co-Founder of Who What Wear, opened up her L.A. office to us — namely, her beautifully curated bookshelves. She gave us her tips on chic book display and talked books, books and more books. See the companion piece to our story on Who What Wear’s new sister site, Domaine.
Goodreads’ Elizabeth Chandler On: Good Reads
Reading might seem like a solitary affair — you, curled up in a chair, with a good book — but as Elizabeth Chandler’s proven, it can be pretty social too. With her husband Otis, the former journalist co-founded Goodreads, a popular social-media site for book lovers, where you can review, share and recommend your favorite reads. So what’s on Elizabeth’s literary roster? A little Tolstoy, a little India, a little horse riding and…oh, keep reading to find out.
Author Lea Carpenter On: The NYPL & The Written Word
When compiling a list of the iconic destinations that make New York New York — Central Park, the Met and the Statue of Liberty — we would be remiss to overlook the place where literature lovers can seek refuge from the bustle on the street: the New York Public Library. As a nonprofit institution, its vibrancy and survival are due, in large part, to champions like author Lea Carpenter. For more than 15 years, she has been supporting the landmark through fundraisers, reading programs and by co-founding its Young Lions group. We asked Lea about her passion for the library and the written word (her new book, Eleven Days, is out now) and using books as positive reinforcement.
Pamela Fiori On: Getaways & Being a Bibliophile
If you’re looking for a good getaway, Pamela Fiori is your girl. She’s written a host of books for Assouline on the world’s best leisure locales, from St. Barths to Palm Beach. She gives us an inside guide to its latest entry In the Spirit of the Hamptons, for which she wrote the forward, and shared more travel and literary recommendations, too.
Behind Design: David Netto’s Bookshelves
What is it that makes David Netto’s collection of books in his Silver Lake home so appealing? We think it’s the perfectly curated combination of everything we love — from historical to biographical, Old New York to Old Hollywood. And since David put it together, you can count on it looking chic as well. Here, the designer and architect gives us a glimpse at this personal library and shared his tips on chic bookshelf design, too.
Kate Foley On: Fashion Reads & Haute Havisham
As an Opening Ceremony buyer, Kate Foley has already proven herself a pro at spotting what’s new and what’s next. So we wanted to know: What are her picks for best fashion books and who’s her literary style icon? Hint: She lives in an attic and her wedding dress.
Tory On: Her Favorite Books
There are those books you wish you could forget so you could read them again for the first time. Then there are the books that deserve repeat-reads five, ten, twenty times. Tory loves reading — old books and new, classic and obscure. Here are just a few of her go-to reads — including her all-time favorite, Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. From there, it’s about heroes, humor, stories you just can’t forget and then some.
To Do: Mario Testino’s Alta Moda
Alta Moda means high fashion in Spanish. It’s also the name of Mario Testino’s exhibit at his nonprofit MATE art foundation in the photographer’s native Lima, Peru. The show features a series of images that pay homage to traditional local dress, showcasing its brilliance in vivid color, print and embroidery. “I tried to fit as much time and history into each frame as possible,” says Testino, “from the traditional and festive clothing to the Chambi backdrops to the Peruvian people in them.” For those who can’t make it before the exhibition’s closing in September, Alta Moda is hitting New York this fall.
Street Style: Small Wonders
As the saying goes, good things come in small packages. Chic things, too. Case in point: mini bags, which are a big trend in accessories right now. They’re the perfect style for girls on the go, like Mexican-based stylist and producer Betsy De La Vega Tay, who paired Tory’s Thea crossbody with Maison Martin Margiela for H&M Lucite-wedge booties and a printed Club Monaco jacket for a look that’s both simple and coolly graphic.
As Seen In: Vogue & Elle
Many thanks to Vogue and Elle magazines for tapping our Tanner Flat as one of the shoes of summer. We love Tanner’s little details — pink gradated stones, a little Lurex — and its free-spirited vibe. And it’s one of Tory’s favorite sandals — it adds a great hit of color against white jeans or mixed in with a printed tunic or summer stripe. In a word, it’s fun.
Pre-Fall 2013: Lookbook
Simple shapes, special details — that sums up our Pre-Fall 2013 collection, which takes its inspiration from a vintage officer’s jacket Tory’s mother passed down to her. The military influence plays out subtly in clean lines and pared-down silhouettes, full of embellishment and textural treatments — stripes made of beading, for instance. Throw in a soupçon of Seventies and tough tomboy elements and you have our chic solution to between-season weather: stylish pieces to wear now, layer later.
See the Lookbook or Shop All Looks now.
Tory On: Pre-Fall 2013
The pre-fall collection is here — and if you’re wondering what that means, keep reading. Wearing the Misty Blouse, Tory breaks down the industry term and tells us about the season’s inspiration.
Behind Design: Meet Art Director Anna Karlin
Perhaps you’ve seen Anna Karlin’s design work on the digital shopping magazine Shop Ghost. Or checked out her petri-dish installation for the New York City boutique Story. Or maybe you’ve had a drink in the mugs she designed for Coffee Republic while reading the newspaper she created for Thompson Hotels? Here, we spoke to the multidisciplinary art director…who has her own furniture collection, too.
Word of Mouth: TBF’s Tweet Life
Just one click — that’s all it takes to connect to our one-stop resource for all things entrepreneurial, from business advice and news updates to inspirational interviews and quotes from leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Glamour’s Cindi Leive. We’re talking the Tory Burch Foundation’s Twitter account, of course. Follow us here and we’ll help you navigate the world of start-ups, networking and business loans.
Deborah Schoeneman On: The Psychology of White Jeans
White jeans, friend or foe? They’re not as tricky a style statement as you might think. But don’t just take our word for it. Now that we’re past the Memorial Day mark, we enlisted writer Deborah Schoeneman — whose CV includes stints at HBO’s Girls, The Huffington Post, The New York Times Sunday Styles and New York magazine — to do a little sartorial investigating with Tory’s white jeans. Here, her full report.
Tory On: Tomboy Chic
Tomboy style lends itself easily to the summer season — it’s easy, comfortable and chicly effortless. We talked to Tory, here wearing the Noa Ankle Chino with the Brigitte Blouse, and got her take on what she likes about the look and how she wears it.
Look We Love: The Getaway
Calling all day trippers and getaway girls. Travel chic and in comfort with easy basics that strike a stylish, graphic chord — like printed scarves and striped tees and dresses. Bonus? They’re easy to pack, too. And if you can’t decide where to go, consult our city guides for great escapes both near and far.
Shop summer stripes and prints here. Go to Tory’s City Guides here.
Tory’s Playlist: CFDA Awards 2013
The CFDA Awards are one of the biggest events of the year in fashion and last night’s show was no exception, with an appearance by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (presenting an award to Oscar de la Renta). Here are some of the songs that popped and helped the night groove along.
Listen now on Spotify.
Book of the Week: The Sunshine When She’s Gone
What would you think if your husband escaped for the weekend, to Barbados, with your six-month-old daughter, but led you to believe — through missed voice mails and texts — that he was simply giving you a rest while they went upstate to see his family? That’s the premise of Thea Goodman’s compelling In The Sunshine When She’s Gone. The novel explores the fantasy in the mind of every sleep-deprived mother — the idea of time alone — while tracing the way our lives transform when we plunge into parenthood and how, under pressure, marriage can both falter and blossom.
To Do: Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes
The Ballet Russes is more than just a storied ballet company from early 20th-century Russia. It defined an era and aesthetic, mingling East with West, and this summer it’s getting a massive exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Founded by Serge Diaghilev in 1909, the company was a cocktail of crossover collaborations — common today, not so much then. So among the exhibition finds you’ll discover everything from costumes by Henri Matisse, Coco Chanel and Pablo Picasso to Giorgio de Chirico set designs and illustrations by Léon Bakst and Jean Cocteau.
Costume design for Vaslav Nijinsky as the Faun from The Afternoon of a Faun, 1912, by Léon Bakst; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund
Word of Mouth: Giorgio’s at The Standard
Every decade or so you get the perfect party storm — the right location, the best playlist ever and an eclectic crowd that brings all walks of life together to dance the night away. From Chez Regine and Les Bains Douches in Paris to the ultimate gold standard, New York’s Studio 54, they all had one thing in common: no one could resist. Now, it’s all happening again with Giorgio’s: A Modern Discotheque, party guru Bryan Rabin’s Saturday night bash at The Standard hotel on L.A.’s Sunset Strip. The talk of the town, it’s where celebs, socialites, drag queens, roller girls and the fashion set alike get their disco dance on.
To Do: Barbara Vaughn at Dolby Chadwick
It’s easy to lose yourself in Barbara Vaughn’s photographs, on view this week at San Francisco’s Dolby Chadwick Gallery. They toe the line between digital image and Abstract Expressionist painting — at first glance, you never know if it’s one or the other. Those undulating strokes and arty swirls à la Gerhard Richter or Jackson Pollock are actually water reflections off the Aegean and Adriatic coasts taken with a long-lens Nikon D7000. Can’t make her current show? You can catch Barbara’s work again at Sun Valley’s Friesen Gallery starting July 30th.
Spotlight On: Perry Guillot’s Pools
In landscape artist Perry Guillot’s hands, a pool is more than just a pool. It’s a breathtaking scene in which to idle the summer away, like at this private residence in Locust Valley, New York. The beauty is in its tranquility — simple scallop-cornered low yew hedges; American boxwood shrubs at the corners (“as quiet accents to complete the garden setting,” he says), and a less-is-more design approach free of paved surfaces or structures. As for seating, that’s fluid; Perry notes you can place it wherever you want on the open lawn.