Book of the Week: Sol LeWitt

The Centre Pompidou-Metz in Paris has been holding a major retrospective of Minimal and Conceptual art pioneer Sol LeWitt, complete with 33 of his massive wall drawings. Now Stateside fans can immerse themselves in the artist’s oeuvre with the upcoming U.S. release of Sol LeWitt. An in-depth monograph that covers his career from start to finish, it’s an eye-opener, especially if your LeWitt 411 is limited to those oft-quoted grids and cubes. For instance: Did you know his first gig out of school was manning the photocopy machine at teen glossy Seventeen? Yeah, we didn’t either.

Irregular Grid, 1999, by Sol LeWitt

Tory Entertains: Caviar Blinis

Blinis, blins, blinchikis — whatever you want to call them, these fluffy siblings to the crepe are delicious and a great bite-sized starter to any party. Get Tory’s favorite recipe here, courtesy of Chef Dana Minuta.

10 Minutes with an Entrepreneur: Peek’s Ruzwana Bashir

Impressive doesn’t even begin to describe Ruzwana Bashir’s CV. Not only does the Brit have degrees from Oxford and Harvard Business School — and was a Fulbright Scholar at the latter to boot — but after working at art start-up Artsy, she went on to launch her own travel site: Peek, where you can be inspired by, discover and book awesome vacation plans. Here, Ruzwana shared her advice for the would-be entrepreneur and talked travel with us.

What’s Your Sign? Aquarius

We’re finally in the air sign of Aquarius (January 19th – February 18th), but what does that mean for you? Get the scoop, straight from our astrology expert Susie Cox.

Playlist: May Kwok

New York DJ (and fashion girl about town) May Kwok shares her party playlist for the new year. And from Azealia Banks to a little Angel Haze, it’s pure grab-your-dance-shoes fun.

Tory’s Playlist: Get Ziggy With It

We were all so pleasantly surprised last week when David Bowie (on his birthday, no less) released a new song. Not only did it make our day, but it prompted us to go on a Bowie binge, from which we may not soon emerge.

A new album is coming in March, so in the meantime we salute this dynamic character who has broadened not only our musical palate but also endured as a fashion trendsetter and icon for so long and done it so well. We will have more to say and show before The Next Day comes out, but here is a playlist of some of our favorites, old and new.

Street Style: Boy Meets Girl

Girls can have it all. For resort, they can work the masculin-féminin look in more subtle ways. Keep it clean and simple and find a tailored basic that pops with feminine print and color — like our fuchsia floral Brach Short. Here, art lawyer and Aphra Behn designer Jelena Kristic pairs the style with one of her own crisp button-downs for a vibe that’s fresh and totally tomboy.

Best Dressed: Zhang Zilin

What does it take to become Miss World? In addition to the usual combo of beauty, grace and poise, 2007 winner Zhang Zilin also happens to be quite the athlete (she was a track-and-field star in college) and a budding singer, with a love of Chinese folk music. Since nabbing the title, the first from China to do so, the model’s added actor to her CV too — check her out in 2013’s The Monkey King with Chow Yun-Fat. We chatted with Zilin, wearing Tory’s Eliza jacket here, about Far East fashion, Bora Bora and Butterfly Lovers.

Cat’s Meow: Ben Brantley

Few critics wield the power of Ben Brantley, chief theater critic for the New York Times — his reviews can make or break a show on the Great White Way, as brilliant and perceptive as they are witty and withering. Woe to the production under Ben’s crosshairs, but boy, is it fun for the reader. With his recent book on Broadway musicals, we asked the North Carolina native — who also worked at Women’s Wear Daily, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Elle — to gives us his thoughts on what to see, what gets him excited and how all it takes some times is a little Bond.

Word of Mouth: It’s a Girls Thing

The Girls are back! We’re talking Lena Dunham’s quartet of 20-something New Yorkers, Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna, who are returning for their sophomore season on TV. All we know is each girls’ new year’s resolutions. “I resolve to not flirt with my boss,” reads Jessa’s. “I resolve to meet a young financial planner,” goes Shoshanna’s. Of course, the fun is not in whether they do or don’t, ultimately, but in the way they agonize over every little thing as they figure it all out.

In the meantime, the Girls soundtrack has been on constant shuffle here. A new song by Santigold, along with the likes of dance floor favorite Robyn, got us thinking about some of the other great girls making music. So here’s a playlist in homage of the new season, including our two favorites from the show’s soundtrack. Hannah, we hope you approve.

Book of the Week: Where Chefs Eat

Looking for a restaurant recommendation? Go straight to the experts — and we’re not talking about food critics, bloggers or the 101 reviewers on Yelp. We mean chefs, the people who have studied, perfected and made a career out of all things culinary; nobody has palates like theirs. Which makes Where Chefs Eat the ultimate restaurant guide. In it, over 400 chefs — including David Chang, April Bloomfield and Wylie Dufresne — offer up their favorite haunts, from 14-seater spots to the place where Eric Ripert gets his budget bites.

Video: Getaway With Simone — 1 Cardigan, 5 Ways

A cardigan is the perfect travel companion. We picked one of our most popular styles — the Simone — and showed just how much this versatile layering piece gets around.

Shop the looks from the video or shop all Simone Cardigans.

José Ramón Reyes On: A Clean, Clever Closet

Photographed by Mimi Ritzen Crawford in New York We all have a few (or more) items in our closets that we look at every morning and decide not to wear for whatever reason. Even the most seasoned shoppers and fashion insiders can suffer from closet chaos. Which is where José Ramón Reyes comes in. He […]