W articles from February 2003

W archives from February 2003

W personal shopper. (Reader Service).
February 1, 2003... As your Personal Shopper, contact me at WPersonalShopper.com or call 1.800.428.1151. What better month than February to embrace love and all the joy that goes along with sharing it. To celebrate this St. Valentine's Day, I've decided to...

The month in fashion: as the Warnaco bankruptcy saga concludes, Calvin and linda make their deals. (News).
February 1, 2003... Designers have always been sensitive name-calling, but one big fashion company is pointing its finger back a~ the critics. * CALVIN'S BIG PLAY It might have taken an eternity, but Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz finally found their...

Time change. (News).
February 1, 2003... The competition in luxury watches has been ticking away with new model launches last year from Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Hermes and Yves Saint Laurent. Now Christian Dior is winding things up even further with a new jewelry and timepiece...

State of Grace. (Flashback).
February 1, 2003... Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco held a great fascination for the public at large, both as Philadelphia-born movie star Grace Kelly and in her later, royal incarnation. But on the international social scene, she got mixed reviews....

On the list. (Letter From the Editors).
February 1, 2003... February Last March, when we introduced our first Hollywood A-list section and announced our intention to make it an annual effort, we secretly reserved the right to change our minds and never publish another one. Not because the section...

Letters.
February 1, 2003... Readers React Blue Notes Writer James Reginato really brought Joni Mitchell to life for me ("The Diva's Last Stand," December). I've loved Mitchell's music for years but am dismayed at her sense of feeling "undervalued." For decades,...

Hirst in space. (Uncensored).
February 1, 2003... Darmien Hirst's art has always had something of the laboratory about it (think of the cross-sectioned cow and the shark in formaldehyde). But this spring, Hirst is taking his science projects to the next level. The artist has designed a...

Penthouse forum. (Uncensored).
February 1, 2003... Most of the real estate chatter in New York these days is about the crumbling top of the market. But if there's one apartment at the top that plans to stay there--and that's being chattered about anyway--it's the 34-room penthouse atop 740 Park...

Lucia in the sky with diamonds. (Uncensored).
February 1, 2003... Ana Lucia Adam, one of the three fabulous de Teresa sisters of Mexico City, has gotten all worked up about jewelry--her own. The 30-year-old heiress is the latest socialite to join the working world--following Marie-Chantal of Greece, Lulu de...

Moving mountains. (Uncensored).
February 1, 2003... The hills are alive with the sound of hammers. St. Moritz, for decades the happy skiing grounds of everyone from the Rothschilds to Claudia Schiffer, has a new look this season--just in time for the 30th anniversary bash of the legendary...

Duchess dearest. (Uncensored).
February 1, 2003... It looks like Sarah Ferguson is preparing to do a Chelsea Clinton-style makeover on her two daughters. Sources in London say that the Duchess of York has been shopping for an image guru to save Princess Beatrice, 14, and Princess Eugenie, 12,...

A fashionable cover-up. (Uncensored).
February 1, 2003... Italian designers couldn't have picked a touchier time to train their eyes on the Middle East. But that's what happened when Villa Moda, the chic Kuwait boutique, commissioned a group of them to design custom caftans for its well-heeled Arab...

Retro grade: Ring-a-ding-ding. Swing into a fabulous Fifties moment, from fashion to food. (Trend).
February 1, 2003... Fun, flirty, fabulous. Whatever adjective you want to tag onto the Fifties, one thing is certain: The decade is an inspiration gold mine. These days, Fifties facets are everywhere--in movies like Far From Heaven and The Hours, in the retro food...

Fashion front; if honesty lies at the heart of true friendship, then here's the litmus test: am I fat? (Fashion Flash).
February 1, 2003... Here's a little piece of advice from me to you," the newly flourishing prison vixen Roxie Hart says to down-on-her-luck Velma Kelly in the film Chicago. "Watch the caramels." Bitch fest or a harbinger of true friendship about to develop? I...

Special delivery: Tuleh's Bryan Bradley gives the ladies what they want--high chic with a personal touch. (Fashion Flash).
February 1, 2003... Couture is a big word, rule-bound and tamperproof. But calling the fleet of fabulous dresses Tuleh designer Bryan Bradley has turned out all season long "made-to-order" has a dry ring to it that deprives his work of its due. Bradley is...

The pink difference: in the forties, pink gold was all the rage in jewelry. This spring it steps out in sultry, strap-happy sandals. (Accessories Flash).
February 1, 2003... Pretty in pink? Absolutely. But that most feminine of colors has a racy side as well, especially when it's laced with metallics. Just ask any Gucci girl who will go wild for Tom Ford's glittering pink micromini dress for spring. Now shoe...

New customs: talk about exclusivity. This spring's must-have bags are so rare, they're irresistible. (Accessories Flash).
February 1, 2003... The It Bag. Over the past decade, luxury houses and designers have pursued it like a fashion grail, longing to hit upon that elusive "must have" of the moment. Whether Fendi's Baguette or, more recently, Balenciaga's Le Dix and Yves Saint...

Berchy Keen: catch the wave. The new accessories are bubbling with color and sporty details. (Accessories Flash).
February 1, 2003... Surf's up. And it's making major waves in collections such as Miuccia Prada's Miu Miu, which celebrated a preppy surfer girl, and Nicolas Ghesquiere's Balenciaga, with its neoprene minis and under-sea prints. Now accessories are getting in the...

The beauty buzz: Jane Larkworthy sniffs out the latest news in the beauty universe. (Beauty Flash).
February 1, 2003... Luxury Lather Having borrowed from its extensive skin-care technology Lancome has entered the hair-care market for the first time with Hair Sensations, a problem-specific line divided into four categories: Nutrition Intense (for dry or...

Bank-breaking beauty: a slew of new skin-care products promises complexion perfection, for a sky-high price. (Beauty Flash).
February 1, 2003... Back in 1995, when the economy was as peppy as a puppy, the buzz surrounding a new skin-care cream called Creme de la Mer spun the beauty-obsessed into an utter frenzy. Creme de la Mer, it seemed, had all of the elements worthy of such...

The fab five: forget makeup modesty--these gorgeous finds are made for flaunting. (Beauty Flash).
February 1, 2003... Paper Chase Since blotting papers have become essential in many a purse to erase skin shine, it's hard to believe that actual makeup using the same delivery system took so long. Lancome gets an A for its new Blush Papier Nacre Shimmering...

Critical eye: the Cat comes back...Wolfli at the door...and a romantic Dahliance. (Reviews).
February 1, 2003... MUSIC Fashion muse and downtown antidiva Chan marshall, known as CAT POWER, is as famous for her cathartic, soul-bearing concerts-cum-nervous breakdowns (like the time she became so distraught at a show in New York that her band left the...

Night riders. (Eye).
February 1, 2003... As the weather cooled, the social set in Paris ushered in an installation of "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years," at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. In London, the JAR show at Somerset House was a hit. And New York gave a warm welcome to...

The Wrong idea. (Eye).
February 1, 2003... Tucked between a scuffed basement door and another made of glass, the Wrong Gallery is the smallest art gallery in Chelsea, and perhaps the world. It's 40 inches wide, 12 inches deep and 93 inches high. But the concept that curators Maurizio...

His and hers: Rick marin and Ilene Rosenzweig have turned their stylish life together into a mini-media empire. (Eye).
February 1, 2003... There was Chloe, the CIA candidate; Betty, the dental hygienist; Kim, the Canadian fit model; Tiina, the Finnish restaurateur; Lynette, the exotic dancer; Tabitha, the intern, and Audrey, the foodie. They all get some play in Rick Marin's new...

Globe-trotters. (Eye).
February 1, 2003... The party heralding the arrival of San Francisco's Victoria Traina in New York, thrown at Jimmy's Downtown by her doting mother, Danielle Steel, and her brother Trevor Traina, wasn't exactly the 19-year-old's official debut. But it was her New...

Sketch pad. (Dining by Design).
February 1, 2003... Mourad Mazouz--the Franca-Algerian restaurateur better known as Mama-has just completed his most ambitious project yet, but he's in no mood to celebrate. The chunky sugar cubes in the downstairs brasserie are too big, the doors on the white...

China syndrome. (Dining by Design).
February 1, 2003... Supechef jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Jean Georges, Jojo, Vong and so many others, is known as the man who fueled Franco-Asian fusion. But with this month's opening of 66, the merry trickster of multi-culti cuisine has turned traditionalist,...

The actress: Jennifer Aniston may be coming back for one more season of "Friends" (and that seven-figure paycheck), but she's already made the leap to big-screen stardom.
February 1, 2003... Were Jennifer Aniston's life a movie, she'd be on the verge of some very big trouble. After all, as every filmgoer knows, it's always just at that glowing, warm-fuzzy moment when the heroine seems to have found success, true love and a...

The studio: when three of Hollywoods biggest names announced plans to start a new studio naysayers abounded. Then came all. Those Oscars. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... Just off the 405 Freeway between Marina del Rey and LAX, there lies an unnamed asphalt road lined with neatly spaced palms, which terminates in front of a chain-link fence. Here, an empty guard station marks the spot where the most successful...

The soap opera: from Russell Crowe to Kylie Minogue. The Australian soap "Neighbours" just keeps churning out stars. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... In London promoting Gladiator in 2001, Russell Crowe was recalling an early highlight of his career in Australia that had largely escaped international attention. "I did four episodes of 'Neighbours' in 1987," Crowe explained on a morning TV...

The retirees: ceramics at noon, poker at 3--and a screening with Tom-Hanks at 8. At this retirement home. Hollywood is more than just a memory. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... It's not yet 4:30 p.m., and the sun is still blazing high above the San Fernando Valley, but at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, California, a crush of wheelchairs and walkers is already clogging the...

The producer: what happens when hollywood's most admired social spouse becomes its hottest indie producer overnight? Rita Wilson is about to find out. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... It was all well and good when Rita Wilson was simply an A-list Hollywood wife. A fixture on the charity circuit who put her time--and her checkbook--behind women's and children's causes, she was also chief muse to her Oscar-winning husband, a...

The divorce lawyers: when the romance fades from a hollywood marriage. Dennis Wasser and his daughter. Laura, get the call. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... In a land where the coupling of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who scratched and clawed their way through two marriages and two divorces, is revered as a great love story, it's no wonder that Dennis Wasser's phone number is on the speed...

The decorators: five leading men compete to design Hollywood's most fabulous houses--even as the stars and moguls vie for them to take the jobs. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... In Hollywood, there's a short list for everything. Just as Tom Cruise and George Clooney head the roster of prospective leading men, a small, coveted talent pool of decorators attracts the top people in town when it becomes necessary to hang a...

The psychics: seeing births, deaths, marriages--and film deals--psychics are Hollywood's most trusted advisers. (A-List).
February 1, 2003... When William Goldman wrote that no one in Hollywood really knows anything for sure, he was clearly referring to the town's filmmakers and executives--not to its psychics, whose omniscience is beyond dispute. Psychics in Los Angeles are like...

W Personal Shopper. (Reader Service).
February 1, 2003... As your Personal Shopper, contact me at WPersonalShopper.com or call 1.800.428.1151. I'll be happy to help you with all your what-to-give, where-to-buy and where-to-go questions. Design & Technology Converge Last November, LA's fashion...

Mixed company: call it tongue in chic. Mix the manicured with a hint of the unruly in Frisky, Shapely looks.
February 1, 2003... Ready, steady, go! Prepare for a season of unexpected combinations. There are charming day and evening looks, for example, with Fifties-style volume--narrow waists and full skirts--and a touch of toughness and androgyny. It's all in our feature...

South bound: think Southern Gothic--literally--with old snapshots and moody, brooding looks shown in the mysterious Louisiana bayou.
February 1, 2003... Akris Punto's microfiber trenchcoat, at Akris, Boston; Helmut Lang's cotton and latex tank, at Helmut Lang nationwide: Rick Owens' rayon and cashmere sweater and cotton shorts, at Linda Dresner, Henri Bendel and Barneys, New York. Martin...

Graceland: fashionicon, cultural barometer and unapologetic cat lover, Grace Coddington reflects on 30 years of defining style.
February 1, 2003... In the spring of 1992, Grace Coddington had one of the quiet successes she likes to make even quieter by waving it off altogether. Having phased out Tony Mazzola, the longtime editor of Harper's Bazaar, the Hearst Corporation hunted Coddington...

Playground: the sultry and sporty meet in racy cutaway swimsuits, brief coverups and tiny minis. Let the games begin.
February 1, 2003... Calvin Klein's white cotton corset and blue Tactel-and Lycra spandex bikini bottom, at Calvin Klein New York and Dallas Mokuba ribbons; Louis Vuitton shoes. Prada's brown rayon pants and backless top at Prada nationwide. Marclaoobs shoes....