Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Puppies and Flags

I grew up in St. Paul, MN which I'm always proud to say because Minnesotans are known for being good people, nice, well-educated, nice, a blue state in a sea of red, (present GOP presidential candidates excluded) and did I mention nice? And so I was honored when the magazine Mpls/St. Paul wrote a small profile of me this month.
"People Who Do Cool Things" That's a lucky section to be in. It's a flattering piece with an opening about CV bags becoming the "it" bags of the post "it" bag era, that Oprah is a fan of my line which is amazing, but it also says I write about puppies and flowers on my blog. I really don't think the writer meant it in a bad way, but come on. One time. One time I mentioned the new puppy Paco but according to this article I might as well have a blog about rainbows and unicorns. Ha ha.
Last night in my adopted city as I sat in my box seats at the Hollywood bowl (as a guest of my very nice friend from MN) watching an amazing concert featuring Janelle Monae and starring Stevie Wonder, I was struck by the sight of the charming CA state flag billowing next to the jumbo screen. The bear, the lone red star, the simple red line along the bottom, and the sans serif font exclaiming California Republic, it is arguably the coolest state flag in the union. 
Now the writer could add flags. "CV blogs about puppies, flowers and flags." Unicorns and rainbows  forthcoming. :)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Weekend Theories

If you don't live in LA, you've been spared all news of the impending "carmageddon" this weekend. This oh-so-clever term blasting to us over all possible airwaves refers to when a 10 mile stretch of the most massively congested freeway in LA - the 405 - will be closed for two days. It begins tonight at midnight.
 Angelenos are being strongly urged to hunker down this weekend at home, chez soi, as they say in France. And that is precisely what most people I talk to are doing, except...moi. I'm taking a Summer Friday as the say in New York and am leaving early today to head to a party in Malibu. (Wish me luck, please or, even better, send me a helicopter, please.) And this is the summer Friday outfit I want to be wearing right now. 
 Or this. These two new clutches were part of an order we just sent to Theory yesterday. Available soon at a Theory store near you. Aren't they to die for?!
This was our largest shipment to them to date. Boy, Sergio our UPS guy, certainly had his work cut out for him yesterday. I hope he's taking Summer Friday today, too.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Cocken a Doodle Doo

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, one of the best parts of this job is the opportunity to meet the lovely people who carry our bags. Case in point: Lara Cocken.
 I originally met her at a Steven Alan Tribeca trunk show. She came by to see the bags which she'd heard about from our mutual friend Soren. Since then, she's become one of our most treasured customers. Her husband Jared is a creative director (and fantastic photographer.)
It's been such a pleasure getting to know this creative and smart couple.
Here are some pictures they sent to us of Lara in her camel Bando.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Home Again Home Again

As this picture of Oscar at LAX baggage claim will attest: 
we've returned from our mama-son New York Adventure.
The trip entailed, among other things: promptly losing my wallet with lots of cash, ID & credit cards upon arrival at JFK (actually left it on the airplane but was unable to retrieve it), then having potentially one of the most important phone calls of my career while still at airport waiting for the airline to check the plane one more time, with no money and a hungry child (nice!); a CV sample sale with Tucker at their studio; an important meeting (for me); a couple days with Moni and Rapo at a primely situated lazy motel in Montauk; McQueen at the Met; the 4th at an insanely cool rooftop garden in Soho; city water park slides and the Brooklyn Bridge public pianos with KK and Michael. All in all, a wonderful trip. 

Bike riding with Moni.
Since you can't see in my miniature video, precariously taken while biking, this was Simone's cute country biking outfit: Lemlem top, bikini bottoms, flip flops and a big straw hat.
Moni got one of the very very first Trops and look how fabulous it has aged. I love how dark it has gotten as she has battered this bag around NYC for a coupla years now. On vacation in Montauk with an Isabel outfit, it looks so posh-ily handsome. 
Oscar (and his little friend Smith) chasing waves in the Atlantic for a change.
Bad ass-est vintage shop on the eastern seaboard: Melet Mercantile - the Montauk outpost. The most choosiest selection of clothing and accessories from our past, at a serious price. It's like they've gone back in time and raided only the coolest people's closets and brought everything here.
The day after we went to the Melet shop, Bob the owner had his "epic" yard sale in Ditch Plains - so naturally we had to check it out - it was our chance to actually afford something. We thought it was a block from our motel, so bright-n-early we got our coffees and set out in jammies and bare feet to peruse the goods. Turns out, as we followed the hand-painted arrow signs at every corner, the "epic" sale was actually a good 6 or 8 blocks away and our feet were scorching on the already searing pavement - so one thing was certain, come what may I was buying shoes at that sale. Vintage royal blue, w/ light blue swoosh, Nike Roadrunners from the 1970s came to my rescue. 
We took a long, meandering walk through the park on the way to the McQueen exhibit at the Met. 
Oscar and Ava at the Hans Christian Andersen statue.
Oscars been drawing a lot of "fashion" lately, a response to a having a mother who works in the field and the preponderance of glossy mags around the house, perhaps? 
So I knew he'd like to see the McQueen show. It was a Sunday - there were endless lines to get in to see it. Not kid friendly to say the least, although not Clare-friendly either. However, I discovered that if you buy a membership for $60 you can bypass lines and get all your friends in too! Genius. I loooove bypassing a line. The show was exquisite and so worth it. Oscar loved it and got inspiration for some new drawings.