Further proof middle markets are the last to get on the trend wagon.

I just saw an article in the the Myrtle Beach newspaper about how skulls are a new fashion trend. A "new" fashion trend?? Most of us were wearing skulls three years ago AND have totally moved on from it. But I did think this piece was interesting purely from a social perspective. If Myrtle Beach is just now recognizing skull icons are cool, I wonder when the skull trend is going to hit a place like Albuquerque, New Mexico??

Bear Stearns for sale!!

So we all know about the Bear Stearns debacle that almost brought down our entire economy but did you all know I used to work at Bear Stearns? What's more, I hears a lot of ex employees have been putting their stuff up on eBay, which got me thinking- how much could I get for my old Bear Stearns swag?? For those of you who have had the pleasure of traveling with me, you know I pack VERY lightly and put everything in a Bear Stearns tote bag. I would never give this up, but in a pinch I bet I could get at least $100 for it.

My Bear Stearns tote bag

 

I am an obsessive list maker and usually put these lists on my refrigerator door as reminders. Traders would always execute their buys and sells via the computer, but the Bear Stearns supply room had these old school "Buy" and "Sell" tickets that were perfect for scratch paper or reminder lists. Notice these are from the block desk!! I bet I could get at least $25 for a package of eight...

 

How to dress in a recession.

Last week got a little bananas, but I PROMISED to upload my points about how to dress in a recession from my segment on Fox Business and here they are (finally). FBN wanted me to do this segment as a reaction to piece written in USA Today. The author made the point how in a recession, people should buy more EXPENSIVE clothes instead of staying in their means and purchasing cheaper pieces because they last longer. Um, newsflash- that's just not true. Why would ANYONE spend money they don't have on discretionary items especially luxe goods like a $2,000 Gucci suit?? I think expensive doesn't necessarily mean better quality, and if you: 1) Stick to the basics, like combining your old black or grey interview suit with a new cool accessory.

2) Adhere to the 80%,20% rule meaning 80% of your outfit is inexpensive and 20% is on the pricey side (for example, take that dress from H&M and wear it with a pair of Louboutins).

3) Tap into the past- it’s ok to wear clothes from last season, or even from decades ago!!!

India: the fashion hot spot.

And I'm not just saying that because that's the motherland for me. Women's Wear Daily is reporting an influx of overseas buyers at Lakme Fashion Week, which started today. I predict in the next five years, more western designers are going to be showing there, making it just as large at NY Fashion Week.

On Fox Business today!!

Talking about what to wear in a recession (yep,  there IS a different way to dress) . That's right- we are in a recession. I don't care what the president or Ben Bernake says. Our capital markets are totally unstable and the worst is yet to come. On that happy note, I will try and load the video for those of you that don't get Fox Business!

Spitzer style: first it was the red tie, now it's the blue.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JYEUhIobuk] I think it's interesting how Spitzer was wearing a red tie when he first apologized and today he sported a blue one. Seems like that's the color of choice when badly behaving politicians, chief executives, etc., have to publically put their tail between their legs and apologize.  Other dudes who had on a blue tie when the axe fell include, Stan O'Neal (Merril Lynch), Sam Waksal (Imclone), Andrew Fastow and President Nixon. Also, check out what Silda was wearing- the dark suit and scarf is gorgeous but she clearly looks like she's in mourning.

Oh.My.God. Chanel, Prada AND Vuitton sample sale!!!

Can Hautelook.com get ANY better?? This Wednesday, the high end, hi-fi sample sale web site is hosting ANOTHER sale with Decades Two.  The merch. includes Chanel, Prada and Louis Vuitton handbags and accessories!! Damn, where is my tax rebate check when I need it??

Stand by your man (wearing powder blue and pearls).

spitzer.jpg nn_costel_mcgreevey_040812_300w.jpg

 If any of you live in New York (or for those of you who don't and are CNN obsessed) you know our Governor had to fess up to a pretty sordid act involving hookers. Ew.

 I don't usually write about politics and fashion BUT I thought it was an interesting point Richard Blakely made on Boinkology regarding the outfits Dina Matos McGreevey AND Silda Wall Spitzer had on when their husbands (on two separate occasions) admitted to cheating on national television. Strangely, both women were wearing powder blue suit jackets with pearls!!! Apparently light blue is disarming!! And check out what Jim McGreevey and Eliot Spitzer were wearing- it's pretty much the exact same outfit!! I wonder if they "discussed prior" to Spitzer going on television. Just sayin'...  

Another reason why I love Diane von Furstenberg.

dvf2.jpg It has nothing to do with her wrap dresses, prints, her ability to revive her brand. It also has nothing to do with her willingness to make time for and do ANY interview with me, or the MAJOR influence she has had on my career as a journalist (for those of you that don't know the story, I will tell you another time.) I love DvF because I just read in Women's Wear Daily she is contemplating writing a book about her late mother, a survivor of three concentration camps. von Furstenberg got the idea after she came across a note written on a piece of cardboard her mom wrote when she was first arrested. Her mom had thrown it on the street with instructions to deliver it to her parents. "It read, (said von Furstenberg to a crowd at her Manhattan studio) ' I don't know where I am going, but I want you to know I am leaving with a smile."

Now that put everything in perspective, doesn't it?

More info. on the American Living commerical.

Just spoke to my close friend Shane Sigler. For all of you out there that had questions about the commerical this is what he said: "We filmed in Irvington, Virginia  just south of Richmond and the main song used is called "Killing the Blues" by Allison Krauss & Robert Plant, but they also used "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez..."  

Economists state the obvious when it comes to apparel spending.

Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte Research and auther of the group's Leading index of Consumer Spending tells Women's Wear Daily, "People's spending on apparel isn't likely to pick up anytime soon." Gee, ya think Mr. Steidtmann?? Maybe it has to do with that little housing crisis we are experiencing, or gas prices reaching (in some areas) to $4 a gallon, the rising prices in staples like milk and eggs or what about the fact that there are no jobs???  I sometimes wonder why we need a 50 page report to tell us what people in the middle of America can tell us in one sentence... 

The next fashion trend: private equity

roberto-cavalli.jpgRoberto Cavalli SpA is the latest fashion house to embrace private equity, reports CNN Money. The group is latest in a string of designers who are on the P.E. band wagon including Peter Som, Valentino and Hugo Boss. Designer and owner Roberto Cavalli says the company is looking to sell a stake in order to finance its development abroad. Buyers include US and UK funds Permira, Cinven, Carlyle and possibly Blackstone AND according to Cavalli, he's not accepting any offers that value the company below 1.4 billion euros. 1.4 billion euros??? OBVIOUSLY that Cavalli Vodka must be selling REALLY well!!

New blog: Little Red Book

Yeah I hear ya. It seems that every single yo-yo out there is blogging about fashion. But I have to tell you my friend Myra Joloya's blog Little Red Book is one to keep in your favorites. Yes it does have a plethora of runway shots, yes it does feature socialistas giving their take on fashion, but what I love about it is that the pieces Myra chooses to feature are well edited AND she interviews interesting tastemakers for her site (and I'm not just saying that because she interviewed me last night for today's posting!!). Anyway, definitely check it out.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Inside Their Strange World

They built an empire as child stars--then they grew up. Now, at 21 with money to burn, the Olsen sisters are living in the fast lane--and still clinging to each other. Even for die-hard New York City clubbers, it's a late night. But although it's nearly dawn, Mary-Kate Olsen is still going strong. The 21-year-old actress has been on her feet for hours at Manhattan hot spot Beatrice Inn, celebrating Valentine's Day with her boyfriend, artist Nate Lowman, 29, drinking Stella Artois beers and vodka and sodas, chain-smoking Marlboro Reds and, every once in a while, ducking behind a booth with pals for privacy. She's ordered her three bodyguards to give her space, so they keep their distance, waiting for the night to end. Only it doesn't. After the bar closes at 4:30 a.m., Mary-Kate spends an hour in an upstairs lounge before heading to another club, telling pals, "We're going to keep partying."

Not so long ago, the names Mary-Kate and Ashley were synonymous with good clean fun. But these days the Olsens are arguably better known for burning the candle at both ends. Fixtures at exclusive nightspots like the Beatrice Inn and L.A.'s Chateau Marmont, Mary-Kate and her more low-key sister are at the center of a bicoastal, bar-hopping party scene in which insiders say drugs are common. It is the same fast-lane lifestyle that ensnared the young actor Heath Ledger, whose Jan. 22 death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs is now focusing attention on the Olsens--and particularly on Mary-Kate, who casually dated Ledger for three months before his death (she was also the first person notified by Ledger's massage therapist, who found his body, and she sent three of her own bodyguards to his loft). And in the wake of Ledger's death, the Olsens don't seem to have slowed down: Just two days after the tragedy, both sisters were out together hitting clubs on Manhattan's Lower East Side. "They are young girls, they have money, and they like to party," says someone close to the Olsens, who turned 21 last July. "I wouldn't call them out of control, but I've seen them get pretty wild."

Even in the rarefied, celebrity-driven world they inhabit, the Olsens are seen as mysterious wraiths teetering on high heels, seldom removing their sunglasses or speaking to anyone outside a clique of old friends--many of them the children of Hollywood moguls. Most of the dozens of friends and associates interviewed for this story (the Olsens declined comment) say there are only two people allowed full access to their inner circle: themselves. "They are cold," says a pal. "They're not mean like Paris or Lindsay, but they are really only close to their boyfriends and each other. They're kind of emotionally uninterested in friends. We aren't talking about normal people here."

Then again, theirs have hardly been normal lives. At 9 months, the two Sherman Oaks, Calif., natives were sharing the role of Michelle Tanner on the family-friendly sitcom Full House, a part that helped make them Gen Y icons. A lucrative series of home videos and licensing deals followed, creating a billion dollar entertainment empire--and a combined net worth of some $300 million for the Olsens--all before they turned 18. "The work we did wasn't about acting," Mary-Kate told ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY last September. "It was about pleasing people and making kids smile." By the time both young women enrolled at New York University in 2004, cracks in that facade were starting to show. After a family intervention, Mary-Kate Olsen spent six weeks at Utah's Cirque Lodge rehab center to treat an eating disorder. Both sisters soon left NYU--and became better known as bizarrely garbed fashionistas with a penchant for dancing on nightclub tables and subsisting on cigarettes, sweets and Starbucks lattes. "They both changed a lot; they got real crazy," says someone familiar with the twins. "They definitely started going a little bit hardcore."

Isolated from peers by their vast wealth and fame, Mary-Kate, the edgier sister (she is known to write dark poetry and has seen the S&M romantic comedy Secretary "a hundred times," says a friend) and Ashley, more laid-back and stylish (she interned for designer Zac Posen), have had separate apartments in Manhattan as well as homes in Los Angeles. Older by two minutes, "Ashley tries to be mature," says a source. "Mary-Kate is more amped to party." At one recent event, Mary-Kate "was dancing with her arms up in the air, doing this spastic move with her arms," says a source. "She was the only one dancing and everyone was looking at her." At around 5'2", the pint-size sisters are dwarfed by massive bodyguards when they duck into Manhattan boutique Jeffrey, where they have a personal shopper, and Barneys, where they hit the basement spa for regular $90 eyebrow pluckings.

Yet they also spend a lot of time in their Manhattan office, working mainly on their three clothing lines (their Mary-Kate and Ashley line sells at Wal-Mart, while their two newer lines, the Row and Elizabeth and James, are more upscale and, say sources in the industry, likely to be successful). Ashley is more focused on their fashion businesses, while Mary-Kate "is really trying to make the acting thing work," says a friend. She played a Bible-thumping pot dealer on the TV show Weeds and a young hippie in the indie hit The Wackness, both to critical acclaim. "She came in with no entourage, very professional," says Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. "She was a very natural actress; she earned the role."

Perhaps the most startling change in their lives is that the Olsens have, says one source, "drifted from each other. They have major issues as sisters. Ashley thinks Mary-Kate follows her too much. Ashley is like, 'Get your own life. Get your own friends.'" Lately Ashley has been hanging out with her new pal, designer Estee Stanley, 38; the two partied in Aspen over the New Year. Yet despite their differences, the Olsens do still lean on each other. After Ledger's death--"a devastating blow to Mary-Kate," says a friend--Ashley flew to New York City to be with her sister. "If they didn't have each other, they wouldn't be where they are now," says a source. "They are best friends."

What's more, neither sister seems interested in changing her ways to satisfy critics. Designer Jenni Kayne, who knows both Olsens, shrugs off reports about their wild behavior. "I don't see that," says Kayne. "I see their clothes hanging up at Bergdorf's and Barneys. I see success. And everyone else should see that too."

What the Olsens see is a world only they can fully understand. In 2004 Ashley told PEOPLE about an essay she wrote for her NYU application, which compared her chaotic life to the abstract painting "Number One" by Jackson Pollock. "Some people look at it as complete mayhem, or just paint splattered on a canvas, and yet there's so much emotion behind it," Ashley explained. "Some people will never, ever get that. No one knows what it's been like for us, and we don't expect anyone to know, good, bad or amazing. But we do expect people to respect the decisions we make."

"They are young girls, they have money, and they like to party.... I've seen them get pretty wild"

--A FRIEND OF THE OLSENS

"They say they don't want attention. But fame is all they know"

--A SOURCE

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Worth hundreds of millions, the Olsens are VIPs at some of the most exclusive clubs and expensive stores in New York and Los Angeles.