SEEVIVIER

Beach Sunday

2012-01-29T23:51:00.000-08:00

We were meeting some friends at the beach today and for some reason, I chose Venice beach. For those of you who don't live in LA, Venice beach on a Sunday during nice weather is nothing short of gross. Somehow I'd forgotten this fact.

I was quickly reminded of it when we stepped onto the boardwalk to look for a restaurant.

However, after an hour wait for a mediocre lunch at one of the only outdoor cafes (why aren't there more??) we came upon the disco roller rink and suddenly all the rats/albino snakes/bad tattoos on peoples shoulders and smells of bad incense, washed away with the good times that were being had on 8 wheels.

Untitled from clare vivier on Vimeo.

Here's my iPhone video, check it out! I could have stayed here for a long long time watching these people. They are fantastic and talented and you cannot watch without a huge smile on your face.

I love the palm trees in this picture.

This lady's t-shirt read: Skate Lisa. Dogg Team 2012. You gotta love those skates. And if you couldn't tell, yes, she was a badass on rollers.

I coulda stayed an watched them all day, Oscar had other things on his mind:

like digging sand ditches with Diego. Venice beach is not that bad after all. Nor, perhaps, is a Sunday in late January at any ol' beach.

Recent Images I love

2012-01-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

Recently I've come across a few pics I love, some I've shared here before, but most I haven't: Lovely Matilde visiting from Belgium, carrying a pink CV fold over; white Trops under a Kyle Fields; the vitrine at Steven Alan Tribecca with CV bags front and center; a model with the blue suede Simple Tote; Kee and I shoe shopping in NYC; Heather carrying a turquoise flat clutch whilst wearing a fierce diamond bracelet; the linen, striped bucket tote; Jeana Sohn and Allison Miller shooting the new Wren/CV Spring reversible tote; Jesse Kamm striking a pose in a trench coat with a printed leopard CV fold over; Mar in her gorgeous white fur coat with her white knit scarf; and others, maybe they're not the best photos, but there's something about each one I adore- perhaps it was just the moment lived.

CV On The Move

2012-01-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

As the Eastsider blog recently reported, we've moved studios! Just two doors down from our old store front, we've temporarily moved our studio into our future flagship Clare Vivier storefront.

It's a beautiful, light-filled corner location in Silverlake, I'm so excited to be working here.

However, there are a few drawbacks to working in light filled spaces: from approximately 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. I cannot really work at my computer. A little issue of window coverings has yet to be addressed.

As you can see we are still in full set-up phase, but here's my desk, which faces out into the room and the work table covered with leather and

inspiration pictures for upcoming collections.

Still lifes around the space include our little hemp twine, rope and webbing collection.

A few lovely books on the drive-me-crazy-cute-green shelves.

Boxes are still being sorted through but everyone's hard at work. Opps! We need one more chair, it's true. Poor Ted!

Art work has yet to be hung, photo shoots happen on paper on the floor - work goes on, even in chaos.

When night falls, the palm trees are beautiful against the azure blue sky...I'm so happy working in this space as a studio, but it is going to be an amazing store.

GG Getaway

2012-01-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

It's a total accident that some of my favorite people are bloggers. But it just so happens to be true and this past weekend I got to spend serious quality time with one, two, three, four of my absolute favs during our weekend getaway in Ojai.

We were there to celebrate Jeana Sohn's birthday, which is actually today, and it was just the (much needed) rest and fun that we all craved.

Happy Birthday Jeana! The tire swing was magic.

Joanna wrote a pretty good synopsis of our weekend here, but she forgot that most of the time we just did this: devour fashion magazines while chatting away.

Heather managed to get in a little weaving time, (all the while counseling me about work.) I like her new printed pants, perfect weekend getaway attire.

A little bubbly toast to Jeana!

Cocodot in my Kitchen

2012-01-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Cocodot, a new website which champions all things celebratory and helps you manage your party, whether it be yours or one you're attending, came to my house yesterday morning to do a photoshoot with me. They'll be selling my bags come Jan. 16 and when they launch it, they'll include an editorial piece on me and the CV line, accompanied by pictures shot by Cocodot founder and photog extraordinaire Amy Neunsinger.

Here are my outtakes from the shoot.

It was so much fun to work with them, they were such a well-oiled team.

They prop styled my kitchen, but I get the feeling this is seriously what it would look like if I didn't have a husband and child to look after...

Photog, asst, prop stylist, make-up artist, and creative director - a real shoot! And everyone a pleasure to have in my home. I kinda didn't want them to leave.

They draped and drizzled CV bags all over the kitchen- on the coffee maker, hanging from the pan rack, over the fruit - it was so cute. I can assure you, Amy's pictures will look nothing like these. They were stunning. I was just trying to shoot some images to remember the day by, but the only real camera I had on hand was le Mari's newest toy the Fuji X100 and, while it's a pretty little thing, I had no idea how to set any preferences on it, so images are not the best.

That's Kate, the prop stylist, waiting for the shot. She came in and first thing in a.m. made a perfect stack of pancakes on my griddle for the shoot. It smelled so yummy, I can't tell you the last time I made pancakes. My poor son. In the shot of me, I'm holding the stack of pancakes on the griddle in one hand and my iPhone in the other. Ahh, the harried, working mom...

Pancakes, coffee and clutches, no better way for you to start the day.

I'm super excited to see the real shoot. Her pictures were amazing.

One of the funnest parts for me: make up artist! I may not be smiling in this shot, but I was thrilled on the inside! I tried to document my falsies she individually applied to my eyes. I cannot believe I had no where to go last night with all that fun eye attention. I wiped the rest of it off after the shoot, but I'm keeping the falsies for as one as I can.

The Last of Venice

2012-01-03T17:30:00.000-08:00

OK, these are the last photos of my trip, I promise. All but one of these I actually took - with my iPhone, the only camera I had on me the whole time. Try to guess which one was taken with a professional camera. At the end I will reveal the lone photo.

The most beautiful cafe in Venice, Florian. Well, I didn't go to all the cafes, and I know there are other amazing ones of course, but this one is pretty special. But I'm sure this was the best hot chocolate in Venice. ;)

Here are our Bellini's at Harry's Bar and these were the best Bellini's in Venice. Guaranteed. Fresh peach juice. I could have drank them all. OK it's too obvious. This is the one. :)

Sexy wooden taxi in the foreground. The Rialto in background.

This was taken at Murano island. Behold the calm Adriatic Sea.

It's called a Rio, not a Canal. There are two canals in Venice, the others are rios. I learned that.

The black laundry made me take this pic. I love that there's a goth living in this beautiful building.

Crooked door.

Classy doorbells.

Sunsetting on Grand Canal

Venetian New Year

2012-01-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

We're back from our European holiday in sunny, (too warm!) LA and massively jet lagged. It feels like we haven't slept in days, but we're trying our hardest to stay awake and go to bed at a reasonable hour so we just may sleep through the night. Le mari took some amazing photographs of Venice.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Oscar running through an alley, scaring off the pigeons.

Our favorite restaurant we stumbled upon. This pasta was tossed in the cheese wheel - it was so, so good.

These lovely sights are at every turn, it is so hard not to photograph everything.

Although is the most touristy thing to do, yes, we took a gondola ride at Oscar's begging. But we were so happy we did. It's such a lovely and peaceful (once you're off the Grand Canal) way to see the city.

These taxi boats are the sexiest taxis in all the world. Never thought you'd here those two words together, huh? Sexy and Taxi. Go to Venice.

We discovered a small leather goods company called Officine 904. One of the owners, Omar, who I'm talking to in this picture was interesting - he makes bags out of Italian leather in Italy, we make bags out of Italian leather in LA - it's a very different endeavor. He was excited that our one Italian store is Luisa Via Roma, because he said it was one of, if not the best store to be sold at in Italy. Yay. We just shipped them, so hopefully it will do well.

I also drooled over some better known Veneta leather goods stores...of this one in particular, I can't help it, I'm a huge fan.

This was the candy stand at the market on the square outside our apartment. I liked the lettering. Oscar liked the goods.

I love the way the red stands out on this dreary Grand Canal picture. It looks like a painting.

Oscar's look pretty much sums it up for all of us: we were in awe of this beautiful city with such a rich and complicated history it seems it would take years and years of study to understand the how and why of it all.

ABC - Amour Bonheur Chance

2011-12-31T01:14:00.000-08:00

After a few days in the French countryside with family, we spent one day in Paris. Of course I had to hit some of my favorite shops.

This is the big wall along the staircase at Merci. I thought is was perfect as a New Year's wish.

Amour, Bonheur, Chance.

Love, Happiness, Luck.

What more do we all need?

It was fun to see Merci in a winter setting.

I think they were selling these bands which hold the magazine together. I just liked this picture for the Numéro cover.

Here's me shopping in my new Capeline hat from Comptoir.

Isabel's storefront on rue Saintonge is so beautiful. I walked around Paris looking for inspiration for our new storefront. We're moving 2 doors down from our current studio. But more on that later...

The letters were spinning around saying Happy/Merry Annee/noel.

We went to Marant because I became obsessed with finding a pair of sneakers to wear in Venice after I saw these by Gerard Darel. After a wild goose chase, I found out they are sold out everywhere. And so to satisfy this sneaker urge, I had to buy these Isabel ones. Only I got them in black, and a hour after leaving the store I was kicking myself for having not gotten the whites. :(

p.s. these are NOT walking shoes for Venice.

This was the view from our hotel room. The fog was majestic and relentless. We never saw the entire tower during the time we spent in our room-with-view. This was taken just as we were checking out, 24 hours earlier we could see only the bottom slice of what you see in this picture. It was comical.

Speaking of majestic, this is my sister-in-law's apt in Paris. I mean, come on!

Because we stay in my sister-in-law's neighborhood, the 7th, it is a nice walk to see the Tour. No matter how tour-isty (ha! get it?) it's still massive and cool and breathtaking every time. Here though, I was probably scowling, because I never like my picture taken, but I do like my black messenger bag. :)

We all had pastries at the ridiculously cute patisserie on rue St. Dominque.

And then we were off to Venice. This is the boat taxi from the airport to town. I'm in awe here. More pics of this incredible place to come.

Til then, Amour Bonheur Chance to you all.

HAPPY 2012!

Christmas in France

2011-12-25T03:18:00.000-08:00

We arrived in France yesterday. Completely jet lagged and "on the moon" as they say over here, meaning completely out of it, we went to midnight mass at the local church to try to get in the Christmas spirit with song.

After midnight mass, the tradition in the family is to serve hot chocolate with brioche and croissants.

This was the table when we returned to my sister-in-law, Françoise's house. Her beautiful porcelain cups made by her talented friend Inès de Nicolaÿ and a little gift of chocolate in a wrapped box in front of each cup.

We took this picture to show the beautiful hand-embroidered table cloth. I was nervous to serve hot chocolate on such a pristine white table, but Françoise assured me that tablecloths were meant to be used, not sit in drawers and besides, all stains come out of white when you boil it. (Not for me, but I obviously didn't ace home economics.)

Joyeux Noel everyone!

xoxc

Katie Loves the Red Messenger

2011-12-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I got a morning text from a friend: Katie Holmes is wearing your red messenger on JustJared.com! It turns out that she's been all over the celebrity sites the past couple of days wearing it. It is soo great on her warm-weather-winter, New York attire! I love it. We don't know where she got it, but we have a sneaking suspicion that it was the Steven Alan store in Tribeca where she frequently shops.

Even cooler that she bought it retail! Thanks Katie, you're cute.

From here

Out at night from here

Shopping with Suri from here

In Tribeca from here

From here

Happy Holidays

2011-12-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

CV by MB
We're heading into the home stretch of the holiday season. Thankfully, it's been a busy one for CV. In one week, I head to France with the family and from there we will finish the year in Venice, Italy. :)
We've had such an exciting year! With these treasured gold earrings, an early holiday gift from my lovely friend Maya, I'm set.
I wish you all the happiest of holidays.
xoxo

Scott, Garance, Jenna & Mickey

2011-12-07T19:56:00.001-08:00

New York Celeb sighting of the day: Scott and Garance - demigods of the fashion blogosphere, in the flesh at the J. Crew corporate HQ. I was so excited to be there at the HQ - I've admired this company since grade school when the catalogs would come in the mail and I'd fall down the rabbit hole wishing I were that kind of east coast, blue blooded beauty. They created a good dream and they commercialized old money, American preppiness like no one else. And more than I wanted whatever they were selling I wanted desperately the life of the person in the catalog.

(photo Jenna Lyons and Garance Doré from Stylecaster.com)

I was also excited to go to their HQ, not only at the prospect of working with them, but also at the idea of hearing the famous CEO Mickey Drexler over the loud speaker speaking to his court, er, his employees. I'd read about it in the New Yorker in last year's profile of him, so I was fascinated to hear the genius retailer speak. I could only catch snippets of since I was in a meeting and wanted to appear to be present for it, but there was one audible message: "Jenna, I know you're in a meeting, but please stop by my office when you get a chance, I have a really quick question for you - just need your opinion on something." Yep, I was at J. Crew. And mega-talented, J. Crew creative director, Jenna Lyons was in the building. My money was that she was holed up with Scott et Garance, non?

Mad Dash to NYC

2011-12-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

As of 7 a.m. today, I'm in New York for a little more than 48 hours jam packed with meetings.

Three holiday crafty-shows and one concert in the 3 days leading up to

Sunday night's red eye and here I am.

Saturday night we went to see Jane Birkin sing at Cal State LA.

I had no idea what to expect as, to me, she was always Serge Gainbourg's beautiful, sexy muse who sang slightly off key but it didn't matter because she was, well, impossibly beautiful and sexy.

But still, I work in a world where the most coveted handbag is named after her. And her daughter is arguably my favorite style icon ever, (and she had some pretty iconic looks herself). So if she comes to town, and le mari asks if I want to go, I don't question it, I don't say I'm tired. I just go. I go and and I expect to bow my head and pay my respects to an icon of style, of music, of an era.

So I was happily surprised that I actually very much enjoyed it.

With a tousled bob, she wore a crisply pressed white button down, buttoned down rather far, black tuxedo pants, and black flats with white soles. In other words, for a women of 65, very chic. She sang Gainbourg's songs all in French and spoke English in between. She was great - engaging with the crowd and very humble and charming. And the whole thing felt very authentic. She's. Jane. Birkin. For god's sake.

Now I'm here. My first of a few nights at the Ace in New York.

Stumptown coffee is in the lobby and as the line out the door at 4 pm attests, this coffee is no joke.

Delish. I almost can't wait for tomorrow am so I can get some more.

The Ace is cute. Here's my room.

The weather is very mild in New York right now, about the same temps as LA at night really.

But the Chirstmas decs are up all over - this is Macy's: tis the season indeed.

Hopping Holidazzles - Let The Sales Begin!

2011-11-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

You're all cordially invited-

For those of you in LA, I'm pretty sure there's no reason to step foot into a mall this holiday season.

I think there's an invite for everyone:

For the Hollywood area (which includes you, Los Feliz, Silverlake, & Echo Parkers) parents, there's the Oaks - an amazing line up of artists and vendors.

(I'll be loitering around the Duverger Macarons booth.)

For the Westsiders - there's the Resource Holiday Bazaar in Venice featuring two of my favorite artist/designers Victoria Morris and Jesse Kamm.

For the Eastsiders, there's our party at V+B. There'll be delicious food, 20% off CV and DC as well as a raffle. Who can resist a raffle? (One day, I'm going to win the free groceries at TJ's). Please let us know you're coming by leaving a comment here so we can have enough food and drink.

For the sophisticates there's the Studio 156 party on Casitas in Atwater.

They win prettiest invite for sure. Original watercolor? Fairly certain they win for sale with most comprehensive line-up of what-every-girl-has-on-her-wish-list.

I'm beyond excited to spend the day with our hosts (and 3 of my favorite people): Melissa, Simone and Joanna, and I'm super excited to be at a sale with Kelly Lamb and Hansel from Basel!

Plus, they win BY FAR the award for best entertainment - Sitar and Tabla music!

Consuelo Castiglioni Makes the Masses Weep

2011-11-28T23:50:00.000-08:00

Marni + H&M = dreamy

Most likely the best high/low collab ever.

I'm not the type to wait in line but, man, this would almost make me consider it.

Cyber Monday is almost over

2011-11-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

Click away!

Free shipping on CV with code:

CVshipsfree

p.s. I have serious hair envy of the girls I work with.

Back From Family Time

2011-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great long weekend with friends and family.

This is my family. And I had a lot to be thankful this year, my family number 1, and my business number 2. And it wouldn't be a business without you so Thank you very very much.

(I'm not in the picture, or I am, but I'm in my mama's belly.)

Yes, I'm the youngest of 6. And this is what family bike rides were like. A little like our very own Critical Mass. We just returned from visiting all of them in MN over the holidays and it was so good to be home for a few days. Now back in LA, we here at CV are soo ready for all the holiday sales we are doing and orders we are getting out! From here until I leave for France on Christmas eve we are jam packed. So I'm drinking my coffee and we are on it.

p.s.

Hey everyone! It's CYBER MONDAY.

As a thank you get FREE shipping on our site when you enter:

CVshipsfree

:) xox

Refinery 29 has exclusive CV clutches

2011-11-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

We made these 4 new clutches for Refinery 29.

This is the first time we printed leopard on leather - it turned out so cool - kind of twist on leopard and polka dots - both of which I'm in love with right now.

They are adorable. Who do you need to gift in your life?

This just might be the thing you're sister, best friend, mama, neighbor, teacher is dying for. :)

Isabel - en vrai

2011-11-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had probably the best celebrity sighting of the year, and we have a lot of sightings here in LA. But this one beat them all: Isabel Marant, herself, the person, en vrai, as they say.

I couldn't believe this famous Parisian was here, in LA and in our neighborhood, at LAMill cafe!

(Photo: Terry Richardson for Russh)

Here's the thing. I'm really not one for idolatry. Nor am I starstruck, but I did think it was cool to see her, because she's a rad designer, has crazy good style and she's wildly successful in the industry within which I work. Here's what she says the Isabel girl is in an interview with the Australian magazine Russh:

"think it’s just a woman who wants to have a strong personality but without being totally dressed up, who wants to be different but in a discreet way. And she’s usually a rather active, entrepreneurial woman, who needs to feel good in her clothes without trying too hard."

Precisely.

(Photo: Backyard Bill for Elle.uk)

Bref, je l'adore. I love her.

So I geeked out. Kind of how I geeked out when I saw Charlotte in Paris.

Here's how my geekiness manifested this time:

I spotted her and her awesome grey hair and killer leather jacket, outside at a table with her friend. There was an open table next to her, I sat down. In French, I said, excuse me, are you Isabel Marant? She said, Oui, in a shy? Embarrassed? Annoyed? Shy-friendly-way?

I have no idea, but it was enough of slightly questionable response for me to call off the millions of questions I wanted to ask her: What was she doing in LA? How long would she be here? Would she come by my studio/store because it wasn't far? Did she want to be my best friend? Come to my house for dinner at least? Geek. Instead I said, "I'm a big fan of your work." And then quickly turned my head and buried my head in my iPhone. And that was it until she left her table with her friend, she turned and said "au revoir." And I said, au revoir, Isabel. Marant.

So I didn't find out why she's in California but I did read here that she may stay for a while. So if I see her again, I'll update. :)

Zero Of A Kind

2011-11-18T12:17:00.000-08:00

I had prepared to blog about our latest Pochette on Of A Kind today to let you all know you should click on over and pick one up, but by the time I got to the studio this a.m. it had already sold out!

Boom! That is the best. We sent them 60 and they sold out in 90 minutes. That's a pochette every 1.5 minute and a record for us!

When we got the pochette back from our factory all the girls at the studio flipped, but I was still surprised by the quickness with which it sold. I guess people were in the mood for an animal print pochette today.

I love the way OAK editorializes their items with the good photo shoots and the interviews like my favorite neighborhood haunts.

This time they also did a "What's in your bag" item which is always my favorite feature in magazines and what I'd decided I want to make a regular item on this blog too, starring other people's bags.

So here's the first one - mine, and barring the flotsam and jetsam of receipts, stray business cards, an old gum wrapper that also inhabit my bag, this is real, this is what I carry in my bag if you looked right now, except my phone (because it's on my desk):

p.s. as I said in that What's in Your Bag piece - I bought the Steven Alan cashmere beanie hats for the girls here at the studio, here are Bri and Saehee wearing them yesterday:

True story.

Marannabes™

2011-11-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

Marannabes is not really trademarked, but my good friend Karen coined the genius term, so using it here I had to give her props at the start. It means those items of clothing or accessories which either copy or perhaps took their inspiration from the insta-cred designer Isabel Marant. Read the excerpt from Lucky editor Marlien Rentmeester's new must-read blog from her new style website Le Catch.

See, Marlien called it: It's true - I loved Marant's Dicker boot, but with it's utter simplicity, I found it hard to justify the $$$ price tag. When one night at a dinner party, Simone Le Blanc mentioned the Barneys Co-Op boots with glitter on the back, a la Miu Miu, that was it. Two of my favorite shoes of the season - combined. Sold.

So the other night, it was funny to be at my friend Greta's house and see Greta and Jeana both wearing the Dicker.

While I was wearing the glitter version.

Off the subject, but from the same dinner of the Dickers and Glitters at Greta's, I took this picture of her Heath soup bowls with the sliced baguette awaiting the yummy soup, I documented the sliced French bread "bunny phenomenon." I didn't know about this until I lived in France: Did you know that 99% of the time when you slice a baguette, the profile looks just like a bunny rabbit? Fun fact.

Here's another pair of shoes which I bought in Paris at Le Bon Marche a few years ago, before Isabel came out with hers, but in any case are, for the moment, quelling my desire to purchase another pair of Isabel shoes.

Here's me wearing them the other day - with an Isabel dress I'll have you know.

I'm not a complete Marannabe. :)

xox

there are 2 post scripts to this entry:

1. Joanna sent me this post from her blog about Isabel Marant - I think very worth reading.

2. I'm still kinda dying that Marlien called me a "fashion bellwether" because she has been my LA fashion idol ever since I met her a few years ago. I actually said one of my most embarrassing lines ever to her during our very first conversation: "Lucky got lucky hiring you." Yep, I said that - I've got a gift with words I tell ya. Bless her heart she still speaks to me.

Scenes From Week 45 at the Studio

2011-11-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

Seems crazy we're already week 45 of a 52 week year, no?

That means we're approaching those end of year activities otherwise known as The Holidays.

We're gearing up here at CV by shipping a tons of bags to stores - the black canvas weekender, best gift for your boyfriend, just shipped to Steven Alan. Speaking of Steven Alan, their first store in SF, in Hayes valley, is opening tonight with a party. Wish I could have been there. Fun!

This bright pink clutch will brighten up any cold weather doldrums. They've gone to Cananda. Holt Renfrew, phew they're gonna need it with those winters.

Don't worry Canadians, California sunshine is on it's way. :)

Hot Streak clutch as it has been named by Anthropologie has shipped.

I just saw this in their catalogue, I'd missed it the first go 'round. Cute.

More gift ideas to come.

xoc

An Anonymous Timely Gift

2011-11-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

I got home from 4 days in New York yesterday and found this book about street art [in general and political posters specifically] in Paris during the protests of 1968, was delivered to my door from Amazon - only I hadn't ordered it and it was delivered anonomously. Whoever sent me the gift had forgotten to put their name on it, so if was you, thank you so much. I love it.

It is one of the coolest books I've seen in a while and it fits so well with so many of my loves: French things, silk screening, text art, and politics.

The funny thing about this book is that, while I'd never seen it before, there's a wonderful food market in Echo Park called Cookbook where they have this poster that I love so much. When I saw it I had that conflictual simultaneous feeling: it was so perfect for that shop and, oh, how unfair the world was that that poster did not belong to me. So I was so happy to receive an entire book of posters just like that one.

It's amazing how much these posters resonate with what is happening today with the Occupy movements:

The Strike Continues.

The workers will win.

I love the book because the also show you how the artists made the posters - occupying an art school and taking over the silk screening facilities to make of of them.

Press - Do Not Swallow. Fox news anyone?

Workers United - Free Information

As Vermès points out in the intro to the book, they didn't have Twitter and FB back then. To get the word out they had to make actual placards to gather support. Imagine that.

Populist Puppets.

Yes, Factories Occupied

In New York news, I went to Vogue again, only this time actual editors met with me. Two of them! Meredith Melling Burke, market editor, and Rickie De Sole, accessories editor, both came to meet me and see the line. They were both lovely and MMB was even more glowing in real life. She was so chic in jeans, white sweater, camel coat and heels - I'd guess Celine:) - I would have never thought of her as underdressed but I over heard her say that they were all kind of dressed down at Vogue that day because Anna was out of town. Ha. Highlight of trip was when MMB actually responded later that evening to my tweet that I was on the up to see her. Cute!

A Week Went By

2011-10-30T23:48:00.000-07:00

A weekly recap of a few of my favorite moments:

Michael sent me this image yesterday from the Anthropologie catalogue that came in the mail.

I've always loved the Anthro catalogue: masters of prop styling, its always a visual feast so it's a big deal for me that we've got two items on one page! The striped clutch and the Weekender.

And a few days ago I'd snapped this pic of KB with the same clutch just before shipping a load off to them.

I like her high waisted jeans, her slightly transparent T and her Isabel boots.

Last Saturday night, we were invited to some of our favorite friend's house for a dinner party. In France, they are big on "plan de tables" meaning seating charts. You sit boy, girl and you never sit next to your spouse/partner. That night we had name cards drawn by their 8-yr-old, Diego - best friend of Oscar. I love mine. The girl. The bag.

Perhaps a testimony to our faulty parenting (or perhaps a good way to socialize kids, how will we know?), we brought Oscar with us and chatted blissfully away with the dinner set while he crashed on the sofa with my fuzzy vest.

Speaking of fuzzy vests, I seem to have a thing for them these days.

I just got this beauty from Space519 in Chicago.

We love this store - they sell CV and they are some of the most enthusiatic people on the planet. I saw this vest on their newsletter and had to have it.

My own private closet visit. Every week a shoe fairy comes to my closet and lines up all my shoes like this.

I love her way of arranging them. Hanging by the heels: Blahnik, Mius, Hardy. Cute.

The tan ankle boots found a shelf to chill under.

Barneys gold sparkles & suede are the newest addition to the CV shoe family.

I took this pic on my last trip to NY at a dinner at Odeon. Tomorrow, is Monday and I'm waking at a god awful hour to haul myself to a training session, then getting Oscar ready to go to school in costume, then working at the studio, then going trick or treating, then flying to NY (again) on a red-eye for meetings all week. So...see ya soon with new images from the week in Nueva York. Happy Monday, (Happy Halloween) and have a great week!

Community Collection

2011-10-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

Remember that website I talked about a few days ago but couldn't mention?

Well, it launched!

Community Collection is a really cool & benevolent shopping site which combines flash sales with giving a percentage of purchases to the charity of the designer's choice. You can read about it here on Vogue.com, on Blackbook and on Digital Journal.

Our sale is next week! Exciting. We're so happy to be apart of a new shopping concept and to be in such distinguished company! (That's me looking really serious. I'm serious about the ocean, yo.)

They offered these clutches to editors announcing their launch.

Accompanied by this card.

Two days ago we received this package as a thank you gift from them.

Two cookies came home with me for Oscar. Mental note: Send more thank you gifts. They are the best.

Shopping shouldn't have to hurt your conscience.

By the way, our sale may not be 'til next week, but for their Current Elliot sale they've paired our bags with CE clothes. I love it.

Images from around the Studio

2011-10-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

When I haven't blogged in a while you can be sure it's only because we're crazy busy around here...and I can be sure that I've just lost a huge portion of readers who'd given up on me - thought this was just another blogger's graveyard...

Well, it's not a graveyard - although there are many heavenly things happening around here,

like these white Trops for Spring. :) See, samples like these and others below come in the studio and I shoot them then a million things take me away and nothing gets posted.

Here's Saehee with the 8" white trop.

Cute Saehee with the 5" Trop.

The blue suede tote...

A pile of striped totes before heading out to Anthropologie

Here's a special order tote we made for someone out of Trop leather. I love it and we'll make it again for sure.

Masculine and chic and refined.

Special order yellow Weekender - it's sooo happy, wouldn't it be fun to travel with this? We'll add this to line for sure too!!

Silver Sac Bretelle hanging next to a Heather Levine mobile before it was sent to Japan - the bag, not the mobile. The mobile is still available at the store along with other exquisite Levine pieces.

OMG CANDY colors!!! Striped Pochettes for a store special order - I'll let you know as soon as they are ready for you...

These are just to die for, I'm sorry now you must die...(JK!)

Here are some pochette samples that pulled up to the studio - we're testing colors and recipes for the ink. I want these particular ones - yellow, orange and blue to go to a certain store: Steven Alan opening in San Francisco in early November, I don't know why. I just think they'd be cute there. By the way, the Steven Alan store isn't privy to this vision of mine but if they don't take them we can find another home. :)

These pink, white and black striped Pochettes shipped to a very cool, brand new online store which I guess I can't tell you until Monday. That's what they told me.

I can only tell you that this is a store you're going to love...I have high hopes for it!

Look who stopped by yesterday:

CARLOS

Yea, that's right his name is Carlos. Don't wear it out.

I think he and I are going to be good friends.

I cut therefore I am

2011-10-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

I like to joke with my friends that I have a cutting problem, no, not the self-abuse type, but more like the wardrobe-enhancement type...It's all been documented on this blog somewhere, I cut boots, boots, and boots, inches off dress hems, pants and after reading this I think Garance has taken a page from my book :) and I'll be trying that fur sure sometime soon...

But one thing I hadn't dared until this weekend was cutting my own hair. There's something a little reckless, wild or maybe desperate about the idea of cutting one's own hair.

Visions of women on the lam (Salt), or needing to become a man (Joan of Arc), or just simply losing one's mind (Britney Spears) come to mind.

I assure you, it was none of these. Just the feeling that I couldn't stand my long drab hair for one more minute, the impatience to wait for an actual appointment from my regular hair person, and the confidence that I could actually do it made me grab the scissors during Sunday cartoons.

It would be cool if this were a do-it-yourself instructional post where I could teach you how to cut your own hair. Alas, I would not recommend doing this at home. I think it is one cutting job that should actually be left to the professionals.

It is good enough for my wavy hair that you can hide a lot of imperfections in although there may be a few straggling hairs here-n-there that I haven't found yet. It'll be a work in progress - as haircuts should never be.

But the worst part about it was clean up!

We are Striped

2011-09-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Me and the new striped tote. Available here. The tote. Not me. :)

Fetish Un Peu?

2011-09-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

After delicious lunch at LV (see below), Kee and I made a trip to Edon Manor shoe store in Tribeca last week.

After reminding myself that I really wouldn't be dining at Valentino's country villa any time soon and wouldn't need the perfect winter boot for the occasion - my very sensible side beat my fantasy-glam side down. Alaia leopard = no. A Wang ankle boots = CV love affair.

Living for Fall

2011-09-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

I went to NY during a terrible heat wave in LA with a suitcase full of sweater vests and trousers that never saw the light of day because even though I tried really hard to exploit every tiny breeze Manhattan mustered, ultimately, it was just too early for fall and mostly it was just a boggy late summer clime that made my hair frizz. Alas, I hear this week it's actually cooling off back east and autumn is in the air.

Fall is my favorite season. It's the coziest. The food is rich again, the wardrobe is the best (boots and scarves!) and as a kid I always loved going back to school.

So I was thrilled when my mom told me yesterday that my brother told her (who's wife told him) that my bag was in October issue of Living. I went right out and bought it. Yay! To have La Trop be featured in Editor's Choice page is such an honor...Thanks style editor Tanya Graff, I concur, it is the perfect work tote! And so happy I got the mag - look at that cover: it's got "cozy" written right on it and there are some yummy fall recipes I'd like to try. Now, if only Mother Nature could summon a little chill for LA...

Red Bike Days

2011-09-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

While in NY for one week, I had the good fortune of eating at:

smith and mills 2x

odeon 3x

locanda verde 3x

cercle rouge 2x

cafe cluny 1x

That's right, for one week, I barely left the neighborhood. With the exception of maybe Cafe Cluny, these are all in a one mile radius of Steven Alan showroom where I'd spend my days, and KK and Michael's apartment where I'd spend my nights.

Yesterday, I had my last lunch before heading back to LA this am, with Simone at Smith & Mills and upon leaving, I was introduced to her newest mode of transportation.

How gorgeous is this ride?

She's pretty cute, too in her Tucker dress, fancied up with a colorful belt.

Simone got her bike at the independent bike shop Adeline Adeline and she has put the shop owner Julie and me in touch to perhaps do a bike bag collabo. One day when we have the time, we'll get to that.

Look at that classy Brooks seat.

Simone, being the floral designer for Babbo, will often be seen around town with a basket full of these.

Add a little nicely aged Tropezienne tote and this makes me want to live in a city where we ride bikes more often. :)

Très Attachant le défilé de A Detacher...

2011-09-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to attend a fashion show during fashion week and it was one of my favorites!

A Detacher.

We were front row at the end of the line - best seats in the house because it was where the models would stop and turn - too bad my iPhone's shutter was a bit sluggish! It was a stellar show, just lovely pieces from start to finish. I was so excited to get to see a show and a line I actually love as well! But please, don't take my iPhone pics for proof - go see the style.com shots.

Small Town NYC + Sneak Peak

2011-09-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

I'm in New York presenting new bags for Spring 2012 market at Steven Alan showroom and can't believe what a small town it can seem like here. I've run into good friends the last two nights and I've been having great meals. Here's a sneak peak at the bags along with gastronomic details of my past few days.

After FNO at SA on Thursday night (which was so much fun and get over there right now to get an exclusive back-to-school CV canvas bag if you haven't already been there), I went to Odeon with KK and Michael and we ran into Lara and Jared so we ended up getting a large table for all of us - new friends were made. Friday a.m. I had a breakfast date with my new friend Julie at Locanda Verde especially for their ricotta grilled toast.

After that for breakfast, I really thought I'd never eat again, alas I had business lunch date with Mr. Alan at...Odeon. Ha! I had to eat something to not be rude so I ordered yummy tomato soup. It was all I could handle after a truckload of fresh ricotta, and it was perfect with a glass of rose Sancerre.

Last night, Simone and I ate a delicious dinner at Annisa. Chef Anita Lo just published her first book in which she mentions Simone's husband in the preface, so that was fun to read. After that we strolled towards the Bon Appetit / Rag & Bone party at Frankies Sputino 570, but before we got there we stopped to sit on the benches outside Cafe Cluny and ran into Michael and his friend Peter so we had a glass of wine and chatted for a bit while they ate succulent chicken.

Then on to the party where there more than a few gorgeous types like Karolina Kurkova and Gucci Westman, and I had the pleasure of running into Mr. Andrew Rosen who owns Rag & Bone and Theory and I met his wife and we got to chat about how my bags sell at his stores. Small town NYC.

Steven Alan l Fashion's Night Out

2011-09-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

If you are in New York please come check out the exclusive Clare Vivier canvas bags!

Late Summer Bowl with M. Gainsbourg

2011-08-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

It was a back to school night of sorts at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday. A tribute concert to Serge Gainsbourg ensured that pretty much every parent from Oscar's French school was in attendance.

I went with Heather and Alex, and my date, le mari, was there working for French tv.

We brought a perfect summertime yummy picnic - prosciutto wrapped figs stuffed with feta, salumi, rose, etc...

The show was interspersed with interview clips with Serge. Alex caught this quip in the subtitles - nice quote! Ah, the gay French!

The show was unfortunately a bit oddly cast, with sometimes random, non-French singing people seemingly pulled from the street to slaughter the most revered French songs but Victoria LeGrand from Beach House was a welcome voice. Not only could she sing well (and in French), she had just the right amount of Beautiful Awkward, which made me think of Serge's daughter Charlotte.

I recently saw her new video and I love it! Love the clones, the outfit, the leather jacket, the dancing, and the right amount of creepy.

Speaking of Charlotte, while looking for this Terrible Angels video on the web, I came across this interview with Charlotte that le mari shot! How cool! It's on her website, click on the "interview" link.

Here's a pic of her parents just for good measure.

And an interview with her parents.

And for another good measure, I love this picture of her mother with her famous basket bag posted here strictly for idol-atry purposes. :)

Photos from the Bowl courtesy of ADC

New Shoes

2011-08-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

Adriana's Friday

2011-08-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's Adriana's last day.

She's been so helpful, and she's such a doll, I thought I'd introduce you to her before she goes.

Those are Ray Bans if you wanted to know.

Smile Adriana! It's back to school time - senior year at USC. Best of luck.

CV bags get around

2011-08-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

As the summer is coming to a close, I have to face the fact: for the first time in 15 years, we are not going to France for a month this summer. Sure we've had a few nice trips to make up for it - New York and Lake Superior, but it's really felt like something was off this year with us not spending time with le mari's family and not getting our dose of the beauty of France. This year it would have been impossible to leave the growing CV company for a month. It's a good reason not to go, but even a good reason not to go ultimately means you're not going all the same. :) So instead of sharing our own pictures from France this summer, I'm sharing a few stellar pics of CV bags from around the globe from friends' travels.

A few times this summer I've truly felt like I'd rather be one of my bags. Is that wrong? :)

This photo of the floating iPad case came in from Bret Lama. It was taken at the Copenhagen airport about a week ago. So cool.

When I say I wish I were one of my bags, I'm really saying: I wish I could be one of KK's bags. Here she is walking the streets of Rome with Ava and a black messenger. This one and following 2 are taken by her husband, the photographer Michael Edwards. If you click the link, I'm not responsible for the many shades of green you will turn spying their Italian getaway.

Here's the silver bando heading for some gorgeous beach on the heel of the boot or Puglia.

Silver Bando again roaming the Roman streets. Ha. Cute pink shorts!

Here I present to you the Overnighter in green on a beach in Greece. I love how the two spots of yellow in this pic - her bikini bottom, the mystery object in the foreground, bring out the green in the Overnighter. I also love Caitlin's Euro toplessness:)

Here's Caitlin in Greece again, this time with the black messenger.

Here is Lea Moret pictured at 1, calle Reina Victoria, Barcelona taken by her father, my friend François, and published on his blog Sunday Memories. She is holding the silver flat tote.

Lastly, from Jeana Sohn's blog, here is the Overnighter getting ready for a trip to Big Sur with Jeana and her girlfriends.

Super Friday

2011-08-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a super smile for your weekend. This is Samantha. She's a journalist for a Singapore style site called Think Maven which has recently launched. I met her when she came to do a video profile of me here at the studio/shop. It is here if you'd like to take a look although I'm an extreme goof (read uncomfortable) in front of the camera.

Anyway, Samantha tweets under the name sosupersam, and I think that's cute. Or she's just cute. She came in at closing time yesterday with her shoes that she bought because of me :), and wanted a clutch to match. She got the foldover in blush and she was on her way. P.S. she bought the last one - but luckily Theory purchased a whole bunch of them which they'll be receiving asap! Today, she sent me the link to William Yan's blog when he caught her with her black messenger and I thought this would be a good way to close my work day.
Have a great weekend!

Senior Picture

2011-08-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

When I was a senior in high school, it was mandatory that we had to all get our senior pictures taken for the year book at the same photography studio - someplace akin to a Sears picture place, which made us all look like your typical senior dork. I had super short hair and in the picture looked like a small, timid, boy child.

These days, I've learned, that they allow students to get them taken by whomever wherever, so while up at Lake Superior last week, my soon-to-be-senior niece Sophie (you may have seen her on Closet Visit) asked le mari to photograph her for her senior picture. She's so gorgeous and such a sweet, smart and feisty girl. I'm very proud to be her auntie.

I wanted to share some outtakes. Because, unknowingly, the outtakes turned out to be a possibly amazing ad campaign for the messenger bag.

Of course it could also be a hot ad campaign for Sperry Top Siders and Ray Bans and whatever else she was wearing that day. :)

Here we are walking to our "location" for her shots. She's a pretty good rack for CV bags. Silver bando anyone? :)

Somehow I doubt Sophie will every think her senior pics are dorky.

Superior Days

2011-08-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

The family is in Blue Fin Bay on Lake Superior this week.

Blog posts have been sporadic, but with these surroundings, as well as, my very large family - siblings, cousins, aunts uncles, nieces nephews, you get the picture, it's hard to post.

Today we went sailing on this gorgeously ginormous lake which contains 10% of the Earth's fresh water. (Learning lots of fun facts about the region.)

Yesterday we spotted these two girls jumping off a pier into the cold cold water.

It's like a dreamscape sometimes.

Even these random sculptures on the shore are magical.

When traveling, I never forget to partake in the fashion of the region (read: I like shopping) - yesterday I bought these locally made Minnetonka mocassins. Some of them are still made locally at least. Of the massive wall of Minnetonka shoes at the general store in Grand Marais, I noticed that some of them were marked "Made in Dominican Republic" (!) but still some are made in here, I made sure the ones I bought were made in MN.

Local eating too: they fish this smoked trout and herring off the shore. It was delicious.

As dreamy and remote as we are, I'm still working every chance I get - answering emails and keeping up with the very busy time at the CV HQ. It's ok though because I do loooove my job.

But at sundown, it's all family time and for that I'm so grateful. :)

Puppies and Flags

2011-07-26T00:48:00.000-07:00

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. :)

Weekend Theories

2011-07-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Cocken a Doodle Doo

2011-07-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Home Again Home Again

2011-07-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

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.

Metallica in Toronto

2011-06-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

Oscar and I are on the plane heading to New York. He's reading Bone and I'm...blogging, iChatting, er, working!!

These pics of the special order metallic messenger bags we made for Gee Beauty store in Toronto popped out at me while looking through my pictures. I love them but we only got to see them for about a minute before we had to send them to Canada. Gee Beauty appears on the website to be only a "beauty" store, but they also have a very chic boutique next door. I've never been to Toronto, but my lovely friend Jessica, who grew up down the street from the store assures me it is tops.

I think they turned out fantastic. If you're in Toronto, stop by Gee and pick one up for summer!

More from New York in the next couple of days. xoxC

New York You Nork

2011-06-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

If you live in La Pomme Grande, that's New York to you, please stop by and see me and my table of sample sale goods at Tucker studio at 413 W. 14th Street. Wed and Thurs 9-7. Good Deals!! xox

Au revoir Matilde

2011-06-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Today is Matilde Pamela Riccardi's last day of work at Clare Vivier. So to honor her, here are some of my favorite pics from her year here:

She leaves for her home country Belgium on Monday.

She has been such a huge part of our growing company this last year, it is really hard to see her go.

A year and a half ago, when my friends asked me if I could use their friends' daughter as an intern, I had no idea how much she would turn out to be such a good and necessary fit: As a really hard worker,

for comedy relief,

for fashion inspiration,

as a dear dear friend,

as part of the family,

and part of our team!

J'adore ma Matilde!!

Message to Mat: Adieu and godspeed (look it up:) ) You're destined for greatness. And come back whenever you want, you've always got a job with the company you helped build! xoxoxc

LA in Bloom CV giveaway madness

2011-06-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Heather Taylor at LA in Bloom, has started many a frenzy for our clutches with her chic pics of her exclusive CV clutches, like this one below. No, it is not available. It was 1 of maybe 6 that were ever produced from a fantastic remnant leather we found. After she posted this photo on her blog we got a flurry of requests, only to regretfully say, "No, I'm sorry it is no longer available."

Today, Heather has announced that she won't be the only one with the summer's newest hot clutch - aqua blue with neon zip. You could have it too! For free. Here's how:

Just leave a comment on her site saying which is your favorite style in our collection.

Like Clare Vivier on Facebook.

You can also increase you odds of winning and gain extra entries if you:

Follow Heather on Twitter

Follow me on Twitter

Spread the word by tweeting about this giveaway (make sure you tag it with @heatherbethtay!)

Step Right Up Ladies and Gents

2011-06-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a little photo shoot Mat and I did the other day did of a new bag in the line. The bags were in our possession exactly 2 hours, during which they had to be photographed, before they left us to go to the Steven Alan showroom. I thought the contact sheet looked cool so I screen captured it. These bags are majorly lovely and they are suede.

A take off of our Simple Tote, it is slightly larger, with a shoulder strap, magnetic closure, and, did I mention it's made of suede? It'll come in killer colors - camel, tobacco, grey, royal, and purple. Boy do I wish we could have had them for longer at the studio. They are available for Spring '12, crazy, I know, seems like forever away. I want one now.

Here's what it looks like on. This was after I was interviewed for a Singapore-based lifestyle blog. I'm wearing my Pour La Victoire shoes which apparently the journalist who interviewed me, Samantha, on left side of pic, bought as soon as she left. Maybe she's buying them right at this instant on her phone. :)
The dress is Isabel Marant.

Also Isabel Marant are my striped, denim, cropped trousers.

While shopping for a HBT wedding outfit at Barney's, DKap and I had no luck finding outfits for the nuptials but we did find a few Isabel pieces. Including these pants and I had one of those experiences where when you're shopping at Barney's trying on Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, Celine, getting used to those prices in and around the 1 to 2 grand range, that when you finally end up on the COOP floor and see prices like Isabel's you have the delusional feeling like, 'what a deal!' So I ended up with these pants and while I love them, I kinda feel like I have fashion victim written all over my face when I wear them. It doesn't help that when I asked Oscar, my seven year old son, whether he liked my new pants or not, he responded with all innocence and sweetness, "I do like your pants, mama. They look like you work in the circus." Oooh, Ouch. Circus Chic. Not. The Look. I was. Going. For...

Triage Team

2011-06-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

I call them when I'm approaching the studio from our production. The situation is that my car is full with heavy bags full of bags, and there's a San Francisco-like parking scenario in our hood. So I call and I say to Matilde, Jocelyn or Scott: Can you send someone out?

I did this today after spending a long afternoon at our production. And, like an episode of any hospital drama where the doctors are waiting for the ambulance to arrive and the triage to begin, this is who was waiting for me when I pulled up: Jocelyn and Matilde. Dressed like this and beyond ready to run to my car and snatch the heavy bags from the trunk with the swiftness of foxes.

I see these two everyday. In fact, I'd already spent the morning with them. But when I saw the two of them running to the car with such vigor and dedication, looking more like fashion models then heavy-lifters, my heart skipped a beat and I said, I've got to photograph you. I wanted to remember this vision. The vision of my small beautiful, hardworking, and committed team.

Matilde wore a bright purple, silk jumpsuit to work today. Oh bonjour. The bar is set high.

Like another member of triage team, Scott was inside preparing the operating table for the massive delivery of bags full o bags, this is where we attach the logo tags, gold stamp every piece, stuff them, pack them and then very quickly Get. The Bags. Out. The. Door. again to our waiting customers.

p.s. This picture should be called: Matty loves Scottie

Superextremities

2011-06-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

"Superextremities" It's a real word. It means the terminus point of a something. On my arm, that is my clutch. And here is my new one - the Grande Pochette. Or it used to be my clutch. Someone bought it off me as soon as it came into the store. So it is mine no more...until we get more made.

It started with a call from a magazine editor. She wanted La Pochette for a shoot she was working on, but I had the feeling that she wanted something bigger, so I said, how about we make a larger one for you? It'd been on our mind already, so this was the kick in our pants we needed. Above is the mock-up I cut of the leather to test the size.

Then we turned it into this. I love it. It was purchased before I could even shoot it with a real camera. But this picture, aside from making me impatient for more of these Grande Pochettes to get back to us, made me look at my other superextremities - the rings, the bracelets, the watch I wear everyday.

On the left side: my wedding rings; the "Je t'aime" silver bracelet I purchased years ago which has literally been floating around our house for ages - kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, you name it, I've seen this bracelet there - found it's way to my wrist; the neon pink string (with wooden bead unseen) bracelet by Oli & Me; and my odd diamond Rolex Datejust which was a gift from my dad. I say "odd" because I never thought I'd be wearing a diamond watch. It's just a bit, I don't know, ladies-who-lunch for my taste. But there's a funny story* behind it and I've grown to love it so much, probably because it was a gift from my dad, that I am naked without it.

On the right side: Here's a closer look at Grace's Lion ring I spoke about in my last post. I'm becoming very attached.

*Here's the funny/odd story: My dad has a thing for watches. When he was in town visiting me a few years ago, we decided to go to some of the vintage watch places in Beverly Hills. He had wanted to get me a gift so we were looking at 1980s stainless Rolexes, which I thought would be understated but cool. As we were in one store ogling the gorgeous pieces, a young, beautiful woman came in with her watch she wanted to sell. I happened to be standing right at the counter as the dealer examined her watch, determined its authenticity, and then told her he'd give her X amount for it. She responded that so-and-so-BevHills-watch-dealer down the street said he'd give her a couple hundred more. He said he couldn't do it, because he already had the same watch in a case. So lovely young woman and her watch left the shop en route back to the previous dealer. Out on the street, the l.y.w. happened to be parked behind us, so we struck up a conversation with her. To make a longer story shorter than even longer: We ended up buying the diamond Datejust from her - right there on the street - for the wholesale price instead of the price the dealer would have turned around and sold it for. She was an actress, who at that moment was about to have her first film come out - a Wes Craven number. She told us she was getting out of a terrible relationship - selling off all the gifts the ex had given her, the watch being one of them. And that the story of Why I Wear a Diamond Rolex. Not the understated-cool I'd hoped for, but cool schmool! It's a diamond Rolex, sister. I. Cannot. Complain. Thank you for reading. It was longer than I thought. :)

Orange Crush

2011-06-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

I was about to post a mega blog, but my pictures aren't loading. After these 3 pics, blogger just decided to stop accepting my uploads.

So I'll just go with these three. I LOVE my nails. I have a serious crush on them it is true. I don't care if I'm too old for this color as was uttered last night (not towards me but a friend of mine said her manicurist dissuaded her from this color because it was too young for her. She's my age.) Moving on.

Jeana Sohn took these pics of my hands texting yesterday at our photoshoot for an exciting new little venture which I cannot write about yet, but Jeana shot it for us. (No, I'm not talking about the Closet Visit film which she is also shooting right now. She is the busiest woman on earth.) I also think my Oli & Me jewelry looks stunning. That's the lion ring (which is my newest piece of Grace Lee's, the woman behind Oli & Me, and is part of her new collection not yet available on the site), along with her black diamond bracelet and the gold cuff bracelet. Gorgeousness. I'm a lucky girl to know these talented people.

Another talented person I know is Jasmin Shokrian. She made this bright green, silk circle dress pictured above. I was going to wear it to HBT's wedding yesterday, which you can read about here. But I put it on, approximately 10 min before I was to leave the house and I realized it was too casual for the elegant wedding I was attending. I freaked out because I didn't have a back up outfit and I was reading a poem at the wedding which meant that all eyes would be on me for a solid 3 minutes for sure. Aye! So I called my go-to fashion rescue friend Deb Kaplan and said, "Help!" I sent her these snaps from my phone and she agreed it was too casual with the nude shoes/belt combo (picture 1). She told me to try and dress it up, which I tried with my vintage YSL jacket (picture 2), it wasn't quite right. Then I tried my own wedding day dress - the one I changed into after the ceremony. I hadn't tried it on since 2002 when we got married. It was good, DKap said but I definitely couldn't wear the white jacket with it (picture 3), or I'd look too bridal. So I wore the white lace dress over a black slip with a black blazer and it worked. If I find a pic of myself with final outfit, I'll post it. But I was in such a hurry that when I found something that worked, I flew out the door instead of snapping another pic.

P.S. how gross is my mirror? That's from Oscar brushing his teeth in the hallway mirror, I was in a rush to get fashion advice, I didn't have time to clean it. Sorry.

Change of Scenery

2011-06-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm so tired of looking at the cut-off jeans post - here's a change of image: from our Mem Day weekend at El Capitan.

Start the day with Scissors

2011-05-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up thinking I didn't have the right pair of pants for the day.

You know how it goes, you've got, oh, 30 or so pairs in your closet, but not one is the right one. What I needed was a pair of high-water flares, yep, that's what I was in the mood for. Since I'd recently bought two pairs of long flares, one of them was going to become high-waters.

I have a very scientific method of cutting off jeans, see above. I decided that roughly two widths of my wood floor would be the correct amount, lay them on the floor and cut straight along the crack.

Voilà high-water flares. Gosh, I love an ankle length. I know people think Isabel Marant has brought them back, but I'm sorry I've always felt more comfortable in them. And I love to call them "high-waters." Is that Minnesota? There's also "floods." We used to call them that too. As in waiting for a flood. High-waters. As in...you get the picture. And there's "petal pushers." It all sounds a bit country.

As a matter of fact they did feel a bit hillbilly-ish when I put them on. Like I need a stalk of wheat to chew on to complete my outfit.

So I counteracted this bumpkin-ish feeling by pairing them with a white blazer, a pebble silver fold over clutch and some fierce python wedges and just like that: it was hick-be-gone.

Later in the day, the very cosmopolitan (read opposite of hick) Sophie Assa came into the store with her extremely chic and worldly mother. Both of them had CV clutches to match their outfits.

Sophie paired her old school Camp Vivier canvas clutch with army green skinny jeans and old Alexander McQueen sandals to die for...

I love this clutch. I think we'll do more canvas clutches. "Screen printed with the CV chain link", Jocelyn just said. Yes, great idea.

Here's her mama, Gabby. An seasoned fashionite, she is beautiful and German but lives in London. She worked with Katherine Hamnett in London during the heyday.

Now she reps lines like Current Elliot throughout Europe and wears all white outfits (avec high-waters no less) with Chanel ballerines. Chic mama. As with the last entry about Coryander, the most amazing thing for me with this business is still actually seeing people carrying the bags. I'm so honored! Cool mama/daughter combo wearing CV, that's It.

Coryander Friend

2011-05-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

That is really her name. Coryander Friend.

So I think we can all agree that she possesses the best name in the world.

She's also gorgeous & a set decorator & has great style.

I met her at a Mohawk Gen Store party. It was a winter evening and she walked in the store wearing a red plaid, ear flap hat à la Elmer Fudd, a ridiculously chic black wool coat, a lovely warm smile and a bright green CV clutch that went so well with all of it.

Last week, she stopped by the store (wearing a black CV messenger) because she had to find a replacement for her beloved green clutch which she'd worn so nearly to death, she brought it to a shoe place to try to bring it's life back. A week later when she went to pick it up, she found the same well-loved and worn bag only now with a boatload of green shoe polish all over it. She wanted to cry.

Instead she decided to come get a new clutch.

What ensued was an epitomic bag shopping episode, every girl knows well:

She loved the bright peony colored foldover...

But the pebbled grey was sooo fantastic...

But the peony pink replaced her badly missed green by being another burst of brightness.

Oooh, but the gray was just suuch a good neutral.

This is the mirror she was reflecting her choices in...I swear none of this is acting I was documenting Coryander's real shopping dilemma.

Dilemma being the operative word as then she saw the royal blue pebble and all hell broke loose in the decision process.

Grey pebble was then shoved to the back burner and the race was now between oversized royal blue pebble and peony pink.

Peony pink won.

After all, it was Coryander and she was looking to replace a dear bright Friend.

Pink is a Relative Word

2011-05-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Greta went to Zara the other evening and shopped for me with text pics.

She bought me this double breasted, very pink blazer. Or, I told her to buy it for me rather, from a text photo and when I saw it en vrai, it was definitely not the color I thought. In reality, it is more purple-y pink-y than the neon-y pink-y that I'd have liked and I couldn't deal with cheap-y looking the gold buttons. I wore it into work to get the colleague opinion anyway and Jocelyn had the idea of covering the buttons with pink gaff tape to get an idea of what it would look like sans buttons. With the different pinks, we did not get an idea of how it would look without buttons, however, it looked kinda cool in a punk sorta way with the taped buttons. Matilde loved it. However, when I had to go out later in the day to a movie set to deliver bags, I occurred to me that maybe I was a bit too old to have taped buttons, no matter how avant-chic it looked. We all have to draw the line somewhere. So I cut off all the buttons and I was off to Hollywood in a purple-pink haze.

We also received a plethora of pink pochettes on Friday from production. Is one of them yours? I hope so!

More random pictures from around the studio. The clutches will never get old for me: zippers+leather+CV medallion = cool photo.

I never cease to be inspired by the people with whom I work. Here's Scott cutting twill tape for our hang tags, the most pedestrian of duties and yet he does it with such style! xox

Au travail

2011-05-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

Back to work.

Scott, Matilde, Jocelyn and I are back to work with a fury. Not that we ever stopped, but we had a major opening party sponsored by the very generous Veuve Clicquot on Saturday night (I'll post pics soon, but already you can see some on Mondette and Refinery29 and even here, on Fashion Intel ) and that is always a bit, er, distracting to say the least.

We received wonderful flowers from our friends and family for the opening, like this purple one from Anne and Francois.

This terrarium from Heather and Alex

These amazing yellow I-don't-even-know-whats from Holly and Becky at Holly Flora. Is that a peony from heaven? I had more then these even: thank you mom, thank you Bo and Kevin and thank you Jessica, among others. :)

One good thing about a party is that is forces you to get your decorating done! We all know this is true: that curtain you've wanted to change for months in the guest bathroom? Try having a guest. That'll get it done. Knowing that a hundred or so people would be at our studio on Saturday night? As you can see with the top photo, it got me to hustle (with a little help from my friend) and get these Simone Shubuck pieces framed and hung.
How amazing is this one above? It is my favorite. But that changes everyday because I love them all so.

This is a very early piece of hers. It is a Fendi Baguette - very appropriate art work for a bag maker's studio, no?

I wish I knew the name for this piece. It is a head with flowers and people and leaves and intricate minute characters. These oeuvres are over my desk in the studio, I'm so happy I get to look at them all day long. :)

Opening Shop Today

2011-05-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

We've accomplished a lot in the month and a half we've been in our 1404 space:

We put together furniture,

David built us a wall,

Richard painted us a sign,

Thomas painted us a rug,

Scott shaded our windows,

Heather hung art work,

we've got a Frohawk Two Feathers,

a large Kyle Field (along with a mirror built by David,)

and 5 small Kyle Fields, along with other artwork from Taylor De Cordoba artists like work from Jeana Sohn and Timothy Hull,

Kathryn had a twig cast in brass to hang my bags on,

to finally get to the point where jewelry is displayed and

bags are out and

we are ready for people to come visit.

Vivier and Bentley is open today. Come see us!

1404 Micheltorena at Sunset in Silverlake.

Lucky Shipping

2011-05-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

I wrote about our "massive" number of orders for Lucky. Here they are going out. I love posting the process of the things...So here goes:

Scott loading the clutches into their sleeping bags, ie manila, padded envelopes, to go camping with UPS until they get pulled out of slumber in their new cozy homes

Waste. Sorry it has to happen sometimes. How can we reuse the back sides of UPS labels...?

They move from behind the wall (our workspace), to in front of the wall (our store) in prep for the UPS guy to pick them up.

I love the used and abused United Parcel Service boxes. They looked like neat and tidy soldiers all ready to go.

When I was taking these pictures the UPS guy said to me, "May I ask why you're taking these pictures?" I felt mildly stupid for a second, thought about and then told him the truth:

"Because I'm a really small company and it is still a big deal for me to have this many orders go out." He smiled and said, "oh, I get it." It was nice.

Mom's need a hand...

2011-04-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Come to Brentwood Country Mart Post 26 today. Say hi to Clare and get a gift for mama.

P.S. OK. That was easily the worst post ever. I do not know what happened to the image for the Post 26 event - this is what is was supposed to be. But anyway it is over and it was great. I love that store. And the Country Mart is a lovely place for an afternoon shop.

Day in the Life

2011-04-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

Good morning Monday. I arrived to work with a blog in my head and stressful emails in my in-box.

So first, I thought I'd finish the blog: I've been taking a lot of pictures around the studio lately, finally I get to share some.

On a typical day at the studio these days, there might be Scott very skillfully hand-painting stripes to our Pochettes.

These have been getting a lot of blog love lately, among everything there's this: from oh joy and this from simplesong.

They are amazing...

This could be Mat's desk. We got a massive amount (for us) of orders for our cognac clutches with orange zippers from our Lucky deal of the day.

She is often adding finishing touches to clutches.

When she's not doing that she may be packing bags for shipping - like, the first batch of clutches to go out to lucky Lucky customers. But, besides that, how cute is Matilde? I say it all the time, but really! She's wearing vintage pumps. Phshaw $700 Isabels! Although, I do really want them ;)

And to top off all the things we have going on around here...On a typical day there's also Paco. He's Oscar's new puppy and while O is at school, Paco will be hanging out with us at studio for a while. Ummm, yeah. He's a major muffin. A little lamb.

And after work, some days, I might just go see PRINCE, during one of his 21 nights in Los Angeles. And I might just wear a gold studded, black jumpsuit.

A la 1985 when my big sister was going out to First Ave in Minneapolis to actually hang with Prince. I texted her on the way to concert (during the 2 hour sitting in traffic there was ample time to text safely), that I was wearing a tribute outfit to her, but that I was missing the headband she would have been wearing. She wrote back that it would have been a fedora. Ha! Touché.

Holly Flora

2011-04-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune to co-host a brunch last Sunday afternoon.

I was responsible for setting the table and I was pretty pleased with the lovely glasses, my colorful napkins, nice silverware, etc.

Then the flowers girls of Holly Flora came in with their floral delivery for the fete and I was completely blown away by not only their ridiculously beautiful choices of flowers and the artful way they arranged them,

(which was simply exquisite, I mean, come on!)

the handmade pots they were in,

but also the fact that they went above and beyond the call of flowers and made arrangements to match the Mexican theme of the brunch with bowls of roses mixed with cacti, and even long wooden vessels filled with black beans, pinto beans, tomatillos, garlic, etc.

They knocked my simple table setting to a crazy whole other level.

I was really in awe. Holly Flora is owned by Becky and Holly, two young women who have established a very successful independent business on their own, building their clientele on talent and acumen alone.

I'm so happy to know them personally as they are true inspirations to me.

p.s. These pictures were taken with my iPhone and there were many more arrangements I didn't even photograph. If you ever need a florist in LA, these girls are serious masters.

(p.p.s. my mother just emailed me that I'd written "to" instead of "two" :) )

Sign Painting Makes it Real

2011-04-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Master sign painter Richard has at it!

It was cool to see someone skilled at an old art form - hand sign painting.

He set up scaffolding, outlined letters

and had it done in a matter of hours.

The drop shadows are sick, as the kids say.

Eh Voila. The sign makes it real...Opening May 7, 2011.

Le Weekend

2011-04-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we hung out at Siren Studios for Lucky Shops LA. The sale was a big success. The event was set up like a nice department store, with these big clear orange signs with the designer's name over their area.

It was my first time seeing such a big sign with my name on it! I was excited. We even had good placement right across from that other little bag designer Kate Spade, kitty corner from Foley & Corinna, and a few feet from Steven Alan. I should have asked if I could have my sign as a momento. Wow. Dork out. :)

Matilde and, our newest edition to the CViv crew, the fabulous Scott, held down the fort for most of the weekend. Mat looks like a veritable clutch rack in this pic.

Lots-o-CViv clutches

We had 1 Trop at the sale. It was gone very fast.

As soon as we closed up shop on Saturday, I headed over to Taylor De Cordoba gallery for their 5-year anniversary. Each of their artists has one piece of art work in the the show. I was so honored to see a bunch of really lovely ladies carrying CViv that night. Above, is Lady Simone LeBlanc with an orange foldover clutch and Wren white blazer. Nice. KB had a clutch in her hand too, but you'll have to trust me on it.

The artists were in the house, for example, this is Jeana Sohn with her CViv blue pebble oversize clutch. Jeana's piece sold that very evening. Not surprising though, she's unstoppable.

Gallery owner, and soon-to-be-bride, Heather Taylor with blogger extraordinaire Amelia Morris. Yes, that is a navy minisac slung across Madame Bon Appetempt's torso. By the way, if you haven't already read Amelia's post In the Kitchen with Grandma, you've really got to set aside a moment to treasure it.

I met Meghan Pickrell, above, at the gallery and she was carrying a black pebble clutch she'd coincidentally gotten at the Lucky sale the day before and had met Matilde! The world is small. But wait! What's even crazier as that man she's with is her fiance who just happens to play soccer with le mari a few times a week. You know, one of those weird-o men's soccer leagues where they don't actually know one another at all, and don't try to be friends with one another either - which would never happen to a group of women as we'd go out for drinks after and tell each other about our entire lives. Anyway, I met Meghan, a lovely girl carrying my bag at the gallery and it turns out her Carlos knows my hubby - but only in soccer shorts and cleats and calls him by the name "Henri" (which is not his name) as he's French and a soccer player, comme Thierry Henri, mais bien sur! Very small world.

Jeana Sohn and Lauren Soloff looked so chic and their big smiles are really the best accessory, well, after their clutches. ;)

It's a Lucky kinda week

2011-04-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't see this and you're in the market for the perfect cognac clutch with bright happy zipper contrast for a steal of a deal, go here.

Get your shop on!

2011-04-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm figuring out that opening a store, moving a business, running a business, while trying to maintain a semblance of a family life doesn't leave much time for my blog! I'm so upset about this. Just when I was on a roll...oh well, soo we'll be at LUCKY SHOPS LA. Apparently this has been a really great sale in New York for a while now and this year they are starting it in Los Angeles. Some really good lines will be there, like Kathryn Bentley ;), Wren ;), and many, many others...

And I've been obsessively trying to find inspiration for the store. It's coming along, but far from ready. I'll post some work-in-progress pics in a bit, but until then, here are a few shops I've found inspiring. When I look at these pictures I start to get really excited to have a shop! I've never thought of it this way, but they're great places actually. At their best they are dreamy spaces where things are perfect, and clean and everything is beautiful all the time - respites from the crowded street and world outside. I'm excited to provide that for people coming in off Sunset in Silverlake. :) We have projected early May as our opening time, but we'll be at LUCKY SHOPS starting tomorrow night through Saturday. Buy tix here and come get your shop on!!

Must Clutch It

2011-03-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

If I hadn't received a very nice comment on the last entry with this link from RF29, I'd have missed it completely. Google alerts, wake up!? In any case, I'm so happy they listed Theory as the place to pick up your must-have Spring accessory, as we are about to send them lots-mo-clutches for Spring.

Shipping navy...and

white tomorrow. They are lovely and soo crisp for your Spring & Summer weekends on Iles d'Or, France, or, er, Any Town, USA (like me.) Imagine how they would look with this outfit - I. Want. And wait 'til we ship the dahlia purple - it's a must-er-have for sure. Pics to follow.
p.s. I'm loving all these outfits on Theory's site put together by various stylists. Kate Lanphear, please come to my closet. Stat.

From theory's blog

2011-03-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

from Theory's blog!

First Days in Our New Digs

2011-03-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Matilde returned from 3 weeks in Belgium so our team is back intact. We are in our new space and so excited to be working with Kathryn Bentley and her little team too. We're busy trying to ship orders, people are coming in to visit (like Bo from Mohawk, who bought KB and CV for her shop yesterday:) ), and we're still decorating/unpacking! Here are a few pics from around our studio yesterday.

Our new leopard print clutch!

My birthday gift Roger Herman ceramic bowl, filled with Santa Maria Novella pot-pourri makes our space smell sooo good.

A look at the space, this is the back area - our work shop with a sample, moss green Bando bag front and center. I love it. We will add these to site.

Royal blue pebbles being shot. I'm wearing my NY tennies, I spoke of in last post. :)

Bo trying on a black Bando, with grosgrain ribbon detail which was then packaged up and sent to a customer in New York.

A new sample of our leopard clutch! Game changer. Will be on site shortly, I promise...

A lovely yellow oversize clutch we made and sent to Lucky Magazine. Can you say Springtime?! Yowzaaa. I want this bit of sunshine. Once again, it will be on site soon. Hopefully my web guy reads my blog and will follow suit on all these promises. :)

I'm beginning to think that it is my specialty to put things on my blog which are not yet available on the site! I apologize, just trying to keep up with all the balls we have in the air. But have you seen the new site?!! At least you can clearly order clutches of all colors! The Simple Tote in leather!! The "triple threat" Sac Bretelle!! This is huge for us. I'll just say it for you: Welcome to 2011 Clare Vivier :)...xoxo

Randomly Catching-Up

2011-03-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

These are all pictures I've taken with my iPhone over the last month. I've left the million or so I've taken of Oscar out, but here are some of my other favorites.

This same ol shoe sitch happened in New York on my second trip as on my first (of 2 trips in February.) I was walking somewhere, somewhere everyone told me was not far, just a little bit east then a little north and a few blocks further. Right, right, got it. Only I was wearing these lovely, Christmas gift, Rachel Comey's which don't appear to have a high heel, but man, walking the streets of NY reminds us non-newyorkers how little we actually walk - in heels! I should say, to sound a tad more sympathetic, I had walked A LOT already in the Comey's that day.

Anyhow, I searched out the closest shoe store. This time, no such luck as a Saks 5th Ave on the corner, nah, this time it was one of those very random sneaker emporiums with barely a name - something like "A-1" maybe, but they sell every brand of trainer you could ever care for. Last year's models, but I wouldn't know the difference. I was going to get some simple Chucks. But they didn't have my size. Undeterred, I was not leaving that store in-Comey, then these bad-boys caught my eye. I thought they were nuts, and thought maybe I was too old for them since I am out of high school but I bought them anyway, but now I LOVE them. Neon! Cute!

I've taken pictures of a few pieces of mail I got recently. This one for the GORGEOUS hand-script. I'm slightly addicted to it. I may have a hand writing fetish. And I love the little way it is torn and ink blotted for added character. I kinda want to frame it.

I got this letter from a customer who sent her Trop back to be gold-stamped, because somehow it went out with out it. Ooops. However, they way she addressed the letter is just priceless. I would like to always be addressed this way: Dear Lady Miss Clare, please.

OR, you could address me as "Player" Vivier, they way this company did. I was so excited to get this package, I thought it was from a friend, only one friend could get away with calling me this - Simone. But alas it was an honest mistake from one of our vendors - player rhymes with Clare over the phone, you see. Oh man, we got the biggest laugh out this around the office. Even better when we had to translate for Matilde what a Player was, unfortunately when she understood she laughed a bit too hard, ahem, but I'll let that slide. Now Jocelyn likes to say, "s'up 'Player' Vivier?"

Went to see the Clare Rojas show. :)

Our new studio space - at nightfall. Slightly romantic vibe, no?

On a cloudy day in Los Angeles, a little less dreamy. Thankfully we only have 3 cloudy days a year.

Ahh, there's our sky. I can't stop taking pictures of it. This is it's "street" look, with grill down, don't mess with it.

Exposed beam ceilings = warm + industrial.

Perfectly beat up cement floors and lovely windows.

K.B. got really good at constructing our saw-horse desk bases.

Jealous of our Knoll offices chairs off criagslist? They are one of the things I'm most excited about.

Merci K.B.

This weekend we make the real move. Internet arrives over there today and ideally we are working in there on Monday!! Come see us! We're open by appt only for while, until we get really rolling. xoxo

1404 Micheltorena - Silverlake. Coming soon.

2011-03-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

So much is going on...there was this Ghost Project for Kartell, I was doing last week.

See the chair I'm sitting in?

We had good studio visits all week at the old CViv HQ, with lovely ladies in CV like Jeana Sohn.

Designer Jesse Kamm

Jeweller Maya Brenner

Ginger-headed beauty Kimberly Muller.

But most of all, what's happening is: Bye bye all the wonderful ladies who visited us at my home studio.

We will no longer be accepting studio visits at the Vivier residence.

Because we got a STOREFRONT! Yep, with studio space too!

We are now proud Silverlake business owners - sharing a space with the talented miss Kathryn Bentley.

Opening in a moment's time.

More to come.

Can't wait to see you there.

xoxo

Vogue.com + Royal blue = Love

2011-03-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

Each morning, when the sun or Oscar wakes us up, before maybe we even open our eyes, le mari et moi turn to our respective nightstands and grab our ipads and check email that came during the 6 or 7 hours we've been disconnected, er, I mean asleep. And, yes, I'm aware that this may sound crazily techno-addicto to some, but remember, we both have our own businesses where many things can come up on different timezones. Besides we're all just doing the best we can. :) This morning, my iPad emails revealed an anonymous comment posted to this blog that read "More press! Love your clutches" with a link to Vogue!

Lawren Howell, contributing editor at Vogue, bought this clutch at one of our holiday sales. I sent her an invite and was thrilled to get a response saying she was planning on stopping by. She bought this clutch, a pebble red clutch for her sister and a Tropezienne for another gift. She's just gorgeous and I'm pleased-as-punch to see her wearing it. It really makes the outfit come together, right?

Sometimes iPads can be lovely things to wake up to.

Grace goes to Paris

2011-03-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

Grace came over yesterday because she was leaving for Paris only a few hours after hitting my studio and she absolutely needed a Simple tote in leather for her trip. I've written about this phenomenon I call "women on the verge of departure" before, so I completely understood.

She left her two young daughter's for the first time and went to Paris for the first time (exciting!) for a very coveted meeting regarding her jewelry at a GREAT store in Paris, so she needed the perfect outfit and I think she's got it. Well, she's covered in the bag department :) and I know she'll pull some chic winter-y thing out of her suitcase to pull it together.

She picked up an orange clutch too which might as well be called the "Jeather" clutch for the demand that Heather and Jeana's two blogs have created for this color.

I love my creative friends. Everyone wish Grace good luck at her meeting in Paris! xox

Cute girl in Nylon Magazine

2011-02-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

I like this girl - her hair, jacket, gloves, skirt, tights, le total, quoi. But I especially heart her bag. :)

A few days in the showroom

2011-02-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

I spent last Thursday and Friday at the Steven Alan Showroom meeting new stores and teaching the staff about my line. It was so fun to meet all the new buyers, and of course, so nice to see the buyers who've been with us for a while-

like the Japanese store GALERIE VIE. It is always such a pleasure to come into contact with these buyers. This time they brought me the new GV send-out, catalogue. It is very special to be featured in the mailer because there aren't many pages in it. So far we've had the good fortune to be featured two times.

I love the simplicity of their styling. An egg with our silver Bando bag! Cute.

We also had some darn stylish women walk through the showroom and try out the bags! The black pebble laptop clutch looks great with this Marni coat, right? And can you peep those Isabel Marant hidden platform sneaks on this girl? I was dying.

This stylist picked the royal blue pebble clutch which managed to make her already adorable ensemble even a-door-bell-ier!

The very hot, (in more ways than one, it was very warm in the showroom) Evelyn from Diavolina in Los Angeles, picked two things she would like: Our new bando bag in Tomato and black laptop pebble clutch. :)

One of my favorite things about this blog is the people I've met because of it and Kee Edwards is a perfect example of that. Long story short, because she liked my blog she emailed me out of the blue, told me about her line Loup Charmant, I loved it so we met for coffee in New York the next time I was there and we've been friends ever since! It turns out that her line of lux organic leisure wear was just picked up by Steven Alan showroom this season as well! We were so happy to find we'd both just joined the same showroom. Then, when we saw one another on Thursday, we were kinda surprised to see we were wearing very similar outfits - fluffy, fuzzy white jackets

and vintage Italian boots!

I'm Magda, The Motherf-ing Queen of Spain

2011-02-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

It is my first portrait by an artist ever, it is by Frohawk Two Feathers currently at Taylor De Cordoba gallery in Culver City. I "sat" for him a few months back in his backyard while he photographed me with all sorts of props in my hands like knives and machetes and proper hand-fans for effect, I was sitting in for Magda, the Queen of Spain in the late 1700s for heaven's sake and security was no joke. People in power were bad-ass and showed it or they were eliminated, but the weapons did not make it into the portrait. Frohawk went for the facial tattoos instead. That is my hat though - remember it from here?

Read a very informative review of the show and Frohawk's works here.

Mile High Bloggers Club

2011-02-16T13:16:00.000-08:00

I'm on my way back to New York. (Literally on my way, in flight blogging. Thank god for wifi.) Two trips in two weeks, phew! It's better than the alternative of staying away from my family and work for 10 days. Last week it was for magazine desk sides, a fashion show, a Theory appointment and a few potential showroom appointments. Our little company is growing and it seemed to be the time to outsource a bit of work. As of now, our retail accounts will no longer be handled in-house. After visiting showrooms in NY and LA, we decided Steven Alan was the best fit. I'm very excited to see what this new partnership will bring. This week: Thursday and Friday buyer appointments in our new digs.

xoxo

My Trip to 12

2011-02-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

So here's the back story of that photo below: Last week, I cold emailed Filipa Fino, accessories editor of Vogue, asking if I could have the honor of presenting my bag line to her (well, that's almost how I said it) and got a response from one of her assistants immediately. Yes, I could come to Vogue, at 4 Times Square, and show my collection.

So, on Thursday of last week, I woke up my first morning in New York and put together - out of a hastily packed suitcase - an outfit worthy of Vogue. Miu Miu coat, vintage leather skirt, black tights, Miu Miu boots and a lovely silk, Gucci scarf.

When I arrive on the hallowed 12th floor of Condé Nast,

I'm instructed by said assistant to lay my wares out in the lobby. Yes, lobby. So I do. And they look beautiful. They ended up keeping white things from my line for a story they were doing. That is to say, a couple white clutches and a white iPad case made especially for them that day in Los Angeles and FedExed for the following morning. By my account, it was a pretty good initial meeting with Vogue. As I leave the building dragging my suitcase full o bags, I notice my reflection in a window at Times Square and think it's pretty cute with my giant Alpaca hat purchased at one of the only non-chain stores at the Mall of America, I think actually called the Alpaca Store, at Christmas time, so I snapped a picture. I love how you can see the black messenger bag on my arm, too.

After Vogue, I have a few other meetings around town. When I'm finished, I'm back out on the Manhattan streets with my suitcase promptly at rush hour. Something you learn very quickly while trying to hail a taxi in NYC with a large roller suitcase: cabbies don't stop for you because they think you're going to the airport and they only want to go to the airport at very certain times of the day. Not rush hour. So I'm freezing, extremely uncomfortable in my very high Miu Miu heels, when I discover that not only I've been walking in the wrong direction(!) but that I'm now on the corner of 5th avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue and I am about to cut my legs off at my feet if I don't purchase another pair of shoes immediately.

So I drag my big ol' suitcase through the very lovely aisles of SFA. Here I am waiting for the elevator. Observation: Hard to be classy with a black roller suitcase any place other than the airport. When I got to shoe department I tried on many sensible pairs of shoes.

But I settled on these. Sensible? No. More sensible than Miu Miu 4" heels? Yes. Thank you. I'll wear them out of the store. And, no I do not need the box, thank you.

With the new "sensible heels" on my feet, I stride back out onto 5th Ave with my mega suitcase in tow, and still no taxis stop. So when the 25th gypsy cab stops for me, instead of shoeing them off like the rest, I say yes, thank you very much, jump into my 80's stretch limo gypsy cab and arrive chez Simone many dollars lighter but very happy to be home away from home.

These are the types of flowers Simone keeps chez elle.
Ahhh, pour me a glassa!

I'm in NY

2011-02-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

More here when I return,

more here for now.

Magic Hour

2011-02-06T15:15:00.001-08:00

We have a magic hour most days in Los Angeles around 4 or 5 o'clock. It is the most beautiful time to be at the beach, at Soho House for cocktail, hiking Runyon Canyon, or if none of those are options, on my front porch. Last week was extremely busy for us over here - we shipped big orders to Steven Alan and Theory - and deftly kept multiple other balls in the air, but we always have time for a little photo break at magic hour.

And even the pros got to see our golden time last week: I was interviewed and photographed for Swedish Elle! Cool, right!? The editor-in-chief, Hermine Coyet Ohlen, herself came to interview me. And local (rockstar) Swedish ex-pat photographer Sarah St. Clair Renard came to shoot it. That's us above.

Jocelyn got her spring on with a fix of a new red CV foldover clutch.

Matilde scored a pair of never-been-worn vintage pumps from my closet (still in box!)

She's so in love with them, I don't think she's taken them off since I gave them to her, except to pack up Theory. :)

Also, pop over to see what I did tonight - it was another type of magic. :) xoxo

Red Lipstick Break

2011-01-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

It is Sunday, Jan 30, 2011. Which means that tomorrow is Jan 31, 2011 and tax day for me. It was a rainy day, so I at least didn't feel sad about not being outside if I was to be at my computer all day crunching numbers to get to one big, fat, dollar-amount-owed at the end. But when ennui and dread were felt down to my bones I decided: I needed lipstick.

Last night, I went to the pre-opening reception of All Of This And Nothing at the Hammer Museum, and being that I had approximately 10 min to get ready in order to be there on time, I managed a pretty fierce outfit which involved black VEDA leggings with leather panels, a black leather quilted jacket, and towering black sandals (with socks.) But when I got to my friend's house to pick her up, I realized to my horror that I'd left the house without a stitch of make-up. I don't wear a lot of make up, but a lil mascara, a lil eyeliner, a lil blush, a lil SOMETHING at least. Luckily my friend came through with the full-proof savior in this situation, RED LIPSTICK. No make-up? Red Lipstick will make it look intentional. So today, in my tax purgatory, I figured a good break would be to buy some new red lipstick.

This is not to say that I don't own oh, I don't know, 5 or 6 red lipsticks already, which run the gamut from Revlon to Nars, but still I'm searching for the perfect red. Why is it sooo illusive? My dream is to have a magic make-up artist say, "THIS is your perfect color for you wear it and don't ever change." I'm not sure it's right, but I love orangey reds on me, so today I got Julie Hewitt's Belle Noir. Can't say if it'll be the perfect one yet, but it certainly brought me out of my tax-depression for a while.

30 Of A Kind - sold out. BOOM.

2011-01-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

I had the good fortune of being featured on a relatively new site called Of A Kind yesterday. OAK, the brainchild of former magazine girls Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur, is a site that asks designers to make a special, limited edition product or introduce a new product and sell it only on their website until it sells out. They do lovely stories about the designer leading up to the sale which goes live every Wednesday. Essentially it's a way to introduce somewhat new designers to another audience and provide the customer with something special. So we designed an elegant envelope wallet called La Pochette and it SOLD OUT in a matter of hours (or as OAK's tweet said at sell out time: "our @seevivier wallet is sold-out. BOOM.") Yay!

La Pochette is dreamy:

And we will sell a few versions of it on our website soon - probably when we launch our new website. (Which is finally nearing completion. F*&^%! heck! Websites are a lot of work. :) ) Anyhoozles, I thought I'd repost those stories, as they did a bang up job with them and I know it wasn't easy to get me on the phone to do the interviews. Merci Erica and Claire. If you haven't already, I recommend you signup for their updates because they've got some good people lined up to design unique pieces for their site. xoc

14k Niceness

2011-01-23T22:05:00.001-08:00

While touring Vuitton a while back, I learned that they coat all their hardware with 14k. So I thought: I want to do that. I can dream, right? Well, I may not be able to coat all our hardware yet, but I was able to swath our name tags in the lovely metal. Our first shipment arrived on Friday and they will start gracing our bags starting Monday.

Heather took this pic the other day of the orchid on my mantle in the red Heath vase she'd given me for Christmas. I love the fuchsia and red together.

Then I realized it fits right in with the pics from Jil Sander I was just pouring over on Style.com for Springtime color fix.

Coral anyone? We made wonderful Spring/Summer sample clutches for stores with brights - including a few beautiful reddy-orangey-pinky. Like this one:

And this pompom:

ALL the Jil Sander brights make me happy and excited for the coming months.

We are very excited to announce Clare Vivier at Jenni Kayne boutique in West Hollywood. What a lovely store! I'm very honored to be in it.

(Jil Sander pics from style.com)

Elite is not a bad word*

2011-01-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

I had the amazing privilege of a private tour of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA today by none other than the new MOCA director himself, Jeffrey Deitch.

True story. Okay, stay with me while I geek out for a minute:

This morning I was reading my book, Steve Martin's An Object of Beauty, which is all about art and specifically about the art world and the key participants (like Deitch) when my phone rings and it's a friend I hadn't heard from in a while calling me with a last minute invitation: Would I like to join her and a couple other people on a small, Deitch-led tour. Yes, I did want to join her. The tour group turned out to include celebrities, art world darlings, daughters-of-very-famous people, and me (!?).

One of my favorite parts of the visit today was the "Latin American Artists in the Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space." Here's me in the blue strings part of the installation. Suffice it to say, I felt honored to be invited on this tour today, it was an extremely illuminating experience to have with the enthusiatistic and intelligent Mr. D. I'll leave writing about art to those people who actually can, like Mr. Martin and the people who write for MOCA's website:

Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space, is the first museum exhibition to situate pioneering Latin American artists among the international canon of those working with light and space. The exhibition presents Latin America as the source of new ideas about the nature and function of art through the re-creation of important large scale installations by five highly regarded and influential artists: Carlos Cruz Diez, Lucio Fontana, Julio Le Parc, Hélio Oiticica and Neville D'Almeida, and Jesús Rafael Soto. From: here.

And, maybe because of my metier, I also adored Amanda Ross-Ho's giant "My Bag (Cigarette Burn)" piece.

(Here is some perspective on how is how big the bag is above.)

I love the Six Degrees theory and I'm always looking for it, usually I find that it's less than 6 with everyone. So no, this picture of Elton, Diana and Cher wasn't at the museum today. But Ross's beautiful and funny daughter (with whom she was reportedly pregnant in this picture) was on the tour with us. (And Matilde saw Elton the other night at the Plan B concert at the Troubador.) And Cher, well Cher just looks so hot in this picture! But I love to make connections with everything life, or at least I love to have that sensation of bringing it around - to make stories come full circle.

To that end, I found this picture of Diana Ross and Steve Martin next to one another at the Kennedy Center Honors. They were honored the same year, 2007. There you have it. I woke up reading Martin's book on the art world elite having no idea that I would spend the day with Ross's daughter on a very cool art tour with art world elite. Full circle, in a way. :) Gosh, I'm sorry, was that crazy? I'm tired. Bonne nuit. xo

*Paraphrasing Aaron Sorkin's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes tonight.

"Elite is not a bad word", he said to his daughter,

referring to all the

smart talented women in the room.

Flowers for my birthday

2011-01-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

There's something really magical about being sent flowers.

It feels kind of old fashioned but after this birthday I thought, I really have to do it more often for people.

It's thrilling to have someone come to the door with an anonymously given bouquet - that little card peaking out revealing the source.

J'adore.