La Dolce Vita

One of the most inventive fashion designers from the 1930s is Elsa Schiaparelli.  In typical Roman form, she had fun with fashion and didn't take anything too seriously, often working with surrealist artists such as Jean Cocteau and Alberto Giacometti to create whimsical designs with a tongue-in-cheek appeal.  Perhaps most well known is the lobster dress, the result of a collaboration with Salvador Dali, and worn by Wallis Simpson (the future Duchess of Windsor) for a 1937 Vogue spread photographed by Cecil Beaton:

She made these quirky gloves, upon being inspired by a photograph taken by Man Ray of hands Picasso painted to look like gloves:

Schiaparelli also did some amazing embroidery and beadwork using metallic gold threads, mirrors, and sequins, which really inspire me:

embroidered Versailles cape

design collaboration with Jean Cocteau

I think Schiaparelli embodies the Roman design aesthetic perfectly - it's decadent, fun, and glamourous, with lots of bold color tinged in gold.  If anyone knows how to do over the top, it's the Romans!  

Her interpretation of the trends in art and culture during the late 1930s, along with all that intricate beadwork, really inspired my Rome collection:

Rome Necklace

Rome Drop Earrings

Rome Cuff

Hot Spots

It's cold.  Really cold.  Whenever it's this cold, I always start thinking about where I can go that's warm, sunny, and far away.  I grew up in Houston, and although I've been in New York for the past 10 years, I don't think I will ever get used to the cold.  Call me crazy (and many people have), but I actually like hot, humid weather.

During summers in Texas, it's so hot outside that every building you enter is air-conditioned as cold as the freezer section in a grocery store, and you have to wear sweaters inside.  After being inside such a cold place for hours, I would look forward to going outside and being embraced by a thick heat.  I had a ritual where I would sit in my car, all the windows closed, and absorb the heat until I got goosebumps and started to sweat.  Only after about 5 minutes of this intense heat would I turn on the engine and the air conditioning.

We've got a ways to go until it gets that hot again - at least 5 months.  Sometimes looking at photos of a warm place makes me feel better and forget for a second that it's 19 degrees outside, so here are some photos I took at various hot spots around the world.  Until I can get there again, I'll be dreaming about them...

Brazil - these were taken in Rio de Janiero, or on the beaches in Buzios, in 2006

Tulum, Mexico - these were taken at the Mayan ruins in Tulum, in 2004

India - these were taken last summer (2008), in Agra, outside of Delhi, and Bangalore