{ grazia }

i'm currently writing to you from milan, where i am honored to be a guest of grazia magazine for fashion week. before coming over, they asked me to shoot a story and share a few words for their website on the topic of grace ('grazia' is the italian word for this). it's a trait i certainly aspire to exude, albeit one i don't always achieve. anyway, in case you don't speak italian (me neither!), i've included excerpts from the piece i wrote below:



{ karen walker sunnies, primary blouse and skirt, forever21 cropped cami, gifted corello bag, alexander wang shoes }

GRACE. Grace is a virtue that’s far-too-infrequently celebrated these days. It’s not about stature or prominence or even glamour. Grace is elegance. It is deference and authority in equal measure. It is good manners, it is kindness and it is a sense of propriety.

But grace is not stuffy. It is being comfortable in one’s own skin, while conscientiously allowing others to feel equally at ease around you. In fashion, this means dressing in a way that is appropriate to your lifestyle and surroundings. That is, embracing your age (at any age!) by combining femininity with a dose of mystery, plus a necessary nod to functionality.



{ nine west sunnies, club monaco jacket, kelly framel necklace, vintage dress (last seen HERE), corello belt, yves saint laurent shoes }

Happily, graceful is the perfect word to describe this season’s long-skirted look. Full and pleated, or languidly bias-cut, it matters not. Either way, the look is simultaneously timeless and contemporary. It harkens back to the silhouettes of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, but can be paired just as easily with a utility jacket and wedges as a trench coat and pumps. Modern mid-length skirts can veer fairly formal or incredibly casual – this is not a 1950’s sort of femininity. It’s current in that it’s comfortable and it’s elegant because it works in nearly any situation. You’ll rarely feel under-dressed...



{ juicy couture sunnies, halston heritage trench, meg dress, gifted corello clutch, lamb shoes }

please CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article and see many more pictures of these looks on grazia.it. then, CLICK HERE to check out my up-to-the-minute updates from milano!!

{ snakeout }

my uniform of late// gifted nine west sunnies (worn in clear acrylic HERE), scarf & pants courtesy of portmans, kelly framel necklace, theory blouse, rebecca minkoff clutch (last seen HERE), stuart weitzman shoes

{ reflections }

{ gifted nine west sunnies & juicy couture sweater }

{ interpreting inspiration }

this morning, i had an exciting appointment with fred allard, the dashing creative director of nine west. after previewing their fabulous fall line (more on that to come!), i finagled my way into his team's trend room ~ where walls are covered floor to ceiling in inspiration, and box after box is filled to the brim with vintage belts, hats, prints, clutches, shoe lasts, bits of antique beading, and other assorted day dreameries. entering a room like that is akin to stepping inside the creative mind ~ made three dimensional.

whenever you have multiple people collaborating on any one collection or thing, it is important to create this sort of concrete code to define your direction. a designer like mr. allard travels the world to cull references for his vision; putting them together in one place both metabolizes his message and broadens the visual vocabulary of his team as a whole.

recently, vogue.com made similar studio visits around new york city in anticipation of fashion week. below are their photos of three different designers' mood boards, followed by images of the resulting collections that i felt best reflected the imagined intentions. in any art, the process is always at least as interesting as the outcome.

mr. de la renta described this season's energy as: "polished and elegant ~ a celebration of modern femininity." more specifically, he's translated art deco references and a cinnamon and pumpkin palette into beautiful beadwork, chic cocktails and indulgent daywear.


for phillip lim, "fall is the tension between disco and punk, a classic wardrobe worn by a girl who would cut her dress." with shades of debbie harry and halston, this became an incontrovertibly covetable collection.


the designers of rag & bone looked to "england in all its colonial glory, in contrast with the people of the himalayas." this collection brilliantly illustrates how a little styling can go a long way toward evoking an inspiration, so that the clothes themselves don't get too costumey.

{ moodboards via vogue.com / runway photos via style.com }