Beautiful Object: Chloé Sunnies

I've had two whirlwind trips to New York recently, as I've been talking about...and I've barely had a chance to SHOP while there! Not even while I was at the trunk show at Steven Alan. I was surrounded by beautiful clothes and shoes and hats and I didn't even have a minute to try anything on! But I did make one purchase while walking back from a meeting in Soho. I popped into one of the numerous high-end sunglasses stores looking for a new pair inspired by Heather's recent purchase of vintage Persol driving shades kinda like these.

No vintage Persols but I fell in LOVE with these Chloés. OF COURSE they were not the least expensive of the store and I kept putting them down then picking them up again. Then eventually, sighed, handed over the credit card and left with them shading my eyes from NY's bright cloudy day.

They FOLD for heaven's sake! How can you say no to that?

AND they travel in an egg, for crying out loud! Which conveniently fits in CLUTCHES of which I have many.

I'm very happy with my ONE New York purchase.

(p.s. Matilde, my genius Belgian intern, figured out how to make these images bigger!! Merci Mat!)

48 hours

Last Thursday, I had a super fun and wildly successful (by my account) evening trunk show in Los Angeles, left immediately afterwards on a red-eye flight to Connecticut for a birthday party on Friday night for two of my closest girlfriends, then drove to New York for a trunk show at Steven Alan Tribeca at noon on Saturday. That was 3 major events (in 3 different states) in less than 48 hours. Sunday was calm and then the subsequent 48 hours were spent trouncing (with the collection in a black roller suitcase - in the rain, again!) around mid-town Manhattan - luckily much of it at 4 Times Square - the Condé Nast HQ, riding the elevator from floor to floor. There's roughly a magazine on each floor, so you can pass a long while there if you schedule your "deskside" appointments wisely. (Thanks KK ;) )

Here are a few bag pics from the trunk show, hosted by Heather Taylor, Deb Kaplan, Marlien Rentmeester, and Dany Levy which was held at the exclusive and most gorgeous space in Los Angeles called the
S o h o H o u s e - West Hollywood.

The invite list was packed with incredible women and to my utter surprise, so many of them came(!) to look at and buy my bags.

This is Matilde (our new intern from Belgium) holding the CV canvas shopping bags for a shopper.

I like this close up of the medallion. Which reminds me, Matilde started a new blog for the CV studio over on Tumblr, check out the polishing of the brass.

Here's the new small weekender - I'm calling it the Sac Escale, because I think "escale" means "a little stop over" which seems appropriate for an overnight bag, but I'm not positive it makes any sense. Le sac Escale will be on website tres bientot - or really soon, I promise. (Mental note: must ask Le Mari if Sac Escale makes any sense before we commit to that name to stone...)

The pebble leather clutches (with dreamy tactility) flew out of the SH on the arms of happy women. I got one for myself which I'm pretty addicted to. These will be on website soon, too.

My mama and Matilde spent a few days making pompoms which decorated the bags for the night.

All photos Amy Theilig

Elle va bien

I liked this article on Elle.com today. Thanks Elle!

And as they mentioned at the end of piece, if you're in NYC this weekend, please stop by Steven Alan in Tribeca!

Closet Visit by Jeana Sohn

Jeana came over this weekend and shot some pictures of my closet and me in outfits, etc.

This is a new series the very talented painter, photographer, filmmaker has in the works and I'm her second subject.

Jeana said she calls the series Closet Visit because it's like a studio visit with an artist. Love.

I like the lighting on this picture and I love the serenity of my bedroom. (These pics of me are so serious. But really I smile a lot in real life. ;) )

She's got quite a roster of top notch Los Angeles ladies so this is one series to watch!! I think she should turn it into a book. Of course with her line-up of fabulous ladies to come I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make the book edition, but I'm soooo beyond honored that she choose to include me on her blog. And you can see more pics on her Flickr page.

People. The Editors are Raving.

Weekend in Reverse

The weekend - or long weekend rather, including Thursday and Friday in New York City, was a blur with business, here it is in pictures in reverse - starting on Sunday and working back.

We were invited to participate in Heath-LA's first annual Bazaar along with several other very talented LA artisans. Even on the tail end of two and a half crazy days in NYC, it was a blast of a day and it was such an honor to have been invited.

I love the entire decor of Heath's interior, but those Mexican wedding streamers add a bright, happy element.

The lovely girls from Treat Street showed up with an amazing set of baked goods in keeping with Heath's aesthetic sensibilities:

Post n Beam cookies, Meier lemon Rectilinears, Nelson Lamps globe cookies, you get the picture. Treat Street girls are majorly cheeky...

Saturday, I flew home from NYC but I had a few hours in the a.m. to hang with my girl Simone. She had a flower arrangement to do so I tagged along with her to the Union Square market and snapped these fruits and veggies. Radishes!! And Concord grapes-New York is the number one grower I overheard at the market.

On to Friday, at Karen's house...These are her shoes! They were amazing and she wore them all day (read: comfortable)...I had to capture them under the table.

We had buyers and press come and meet us at Karen's apartment all day long. Here's a beautiful buyer with a "laptop" clutch - worn as clutch.

La Trop hanging out in the living room looking pretty with a pom pom...

Black nubuck leather "laptop clutch"dressed up with grosgrain ribbon detail.

The same cute buyer trying on the black messenger with a pompom.

A happy buyer leaving Karen's after a personal purchase. La Trop found another happy home, I'm sure.

And Thursday, after arriving in New York at 6 a.m. from a red-eye flight, Karen and I hit the street for appointments at stores - it was the day with torrential downpours and flash floods, and we were dragging a huge suitcase with wheels containing the entire line - but that's how we roll, ha! Here's us, in a momentary dry spell outside of our Theory appointment - with dreamy Pastis in the background.

Look Mom, Mom Look

In a feat of epic bad timing, my mother arrives today from Minnesota for a visit (after a 2-year absence from California) and I leave tonight for New York. Humph!! I'm in NY for two day-whirlwind-trip (I'm back on Saturday) for meetings with buyers and press. It's okay she'll spend a few days with Oscar and le Mari and be well taken care of I'm sure.

My sister emailed me this picture of my mother at my request because Michael and Karen asked me to contribute to their new blog. I've written my submission, it's up now.

I'll be back over the weekend! xoxo

p.s. the title of this entry was my never ending refrain when I was little.