KK Is The New Black

Here are some beautiful pictures my friend, Michael, the star photographer, took of my bags a couple of weeks ago when he and his wife Karen and adorable daughter Ava, were staying at our house. Karen used to be the fashion director at Real Simple and she's recently started a new blog called KK Is The New Black where she'll be collaborating with her husband and featuring other hot fashion stories. I'm honored to be her first original content - this is gonna be a good one - keep posted.
Years ago, Michael and I were waiters at the the venerable, but tiny Universal Cafe in San Francisco, back when it was first opened by Bob and Gail, the chef was the amazing Bernadette, and the interior got a ton of attention designed by Jeff and Larissa. Working there was a crash course in design, food & wine snobbery for the both of us.
I dated one of the cooks in the kitchen, a guy named Ivan, who was half Russian and half French and had long hair. It was the only time in my life I dated a guy with long hair. But he was the reason I moved to Paris. He used to show me old French movies like Jules and Jim and Pierrot le Fou, and that was the start of my infatuation with France. Our long distance relationship lasted about 1 minute, I think he slept with my hairdresser (appropriate) as soon as I left and I, very soon after my arrival, met Le [future] Mari, who had short hair.
Michael dated another girl at the time, too. He told me that she and her friends used to make fun of me by calling me Eclair - only that's not even funny.
Michael moved to NY and we grew apart.
Years later I found out that he ended up marrying Karen who, it turned out, was friends with one of my besties, Greta and we've all become friends again. The world is small.

All images via tellmewherethisis and more images of me in my studio and such on his proper site.