Scenes from the 'Bul

In the two days I've been here, so far I've seen Istanbul late at night, early in the a.m. and from a driving vehicle. Yesterday we spent all day, and I mean alllll day at a factory on the outskirts of town. 

Late at night we found a local restuarant and passed by a few markets, like this one where I bought nuts.

And candy I don't know of what origin.

 This is blurry, but they were so cute and happy I love this picture. They were in love, sitting in the middle of a crowded pedestrian street and posing for a tripod, self-timed picture of themselves smiling.

 Heading home from factory in an astonishing Istanbul-istic traffic jam we passed this lovely waterway which joins the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.

 From our hotel rooftop you can spy a million mosques lit up.

 Turkish flag fluttering in wind.

 On an early morning walk this building caught my eye.

 I love these items in my hotel room.

Here's what I looked at all day today. But I'm done with work now about to head out and actually be a tourist - I fly home in less than 24 hours, I've got a lot to see!

Istanbul Nights and some odd bits

Pinch me, I'm in Istanbul! 

I've never been here before.

I'm here on business. This is a big deal for me - a large European retailer flew me here to see samples of a line I've designed for them. I arrived tonight and have a whirlwind of a trip and come home Saturday!

Truth be told I haven't seen much of the city yet. I arrived at 7 at night worked on the computer til 9 then went to the rooftop restaurant here at the hotel for dinner alone. But the energy here is palpable and from the text ride here and from the roof top view it is so gorgeous. 

Here's my cheese course from dinner. That on the right is walnut butter. Um, so good. We must start to make this in US. Move over almond better. Also, please note the thinness of the bread served. This must be how Europeans stay svelte. And, yes, that is a rock holding the slices.

Backing up a few weeks to the opening here're a few pics I never posted. I wore Barneys sale Balenciaga shoes to the soirée but I also couldn't pass up these striped Manolos. Cute, right??

We had some pretty awesome coverage of the party, Vogue (!), WWD, Style.com, Daily Candy and Pure Wow  among others!!

So amazing! At the party I wore a J Brand leather shorts/Theysken's Theory blazer/Balenciaga shoe situation, but what most people didn't know was that I was also wearing the skills of make-up artist extraoridinaire and super mom-friend-from-school (her daughter and Oscar are in class together) Pati Dubroff on my face and legs. Yes, legs. I had a bruise and Pati said, 'let me take care of that.' She assured me that all the stars do it before the hit the red carpet. Jeez, who knew?!

Here's Pati's artillery dumped out on my dinning room table. 

I tried to pay attention so I could do it to myself the next time, but I had to face it, I just don't speak make-up language - it's like trying to pay attention to someone speaking Mandarin to you - doesn't soak quite in.

I had some pretty awesome hosts to the dinner after the opening party and to be expected, they all had on some awesome foot ware: Clockwise from top:

Shiva in Louboutin, Marlien in Louboutin, me in Balenc, Minnie in Marni.

More from Istanbul tomorrow!!!

xxoxc

CV Flagship!

The day has arrived! I can't believe it, it's actually here. I haven't been writing a lot lately as we've been real busy with this project here:

 Our very first stand alone, flagship, CV store has a soft open tomorrow! Soft means you can come in but we may not quite ready. Forgive us. Saturday is the hard open - meaning we better be ready.

I can't believe we've gone from this:

To this.

When the buildout was finished it looked like this: with, from left to right all the people that made this happen: Christian and Marshall, the builders, Erin and Barbara of Barbara Bestor Architecture, and Greta our store manager.

And now it's this:

When facade/sign painter extraordinaire was painting the windows

 To this very cool lettering on top windows.

Now we've got product out like this:

 And like this! So exciting, please come by!

We're at:

p.s. before we made this into our store we used to work out of this space! It's so beautiful now. I'm so happy to add it to our lovely neighborhood and so thankful to all the creative and talented people who made it happen!

Lucky Day

Another Lucky daily deal is happening! This time it's this beautiful croco embossed leather with the red and blue zip! 

I've been using the sample so I can personally attest to its cuteness. 

It only lasts for 24 hours - it'll be over when you wake up. So don't sleep on this one. You're supposed to sign up for their newsletter to get in on this exclusive deal, but I'll just let you know: this link is here and the code is "luckydaily3."

-xoclare

New CV Blog Star

Greta started working with us here at CV last week and she passed her first week with flying colors.

She jumped on board, quickly took on several projects, and was a sartorial inspiration to us Monday through Friday. Here are two examples of her stellar spring trousers.

This is the exact type of eye candy that I relish at the work place. Well, relish or covet. Covet, yeah, it's pure desire-to-own.

Here're her two work bags on the left - a black bando and neon striped tote we made for Anthropologie. That's my chain link canvas work tote hanging out trying to make friends while rocking it's new flair - the fancy sailboat pin on it's lapel.

Here's the scene on Greta's desk: a few empty water bottles, an Obama mug, a Malin and Goetz cannabis candle and most importantly, a linen bucket tote (with flair to spare) hanging from the temperature control panel.

Up close of sailboat flair.

Up close of champagne and female diver flair.

We're onto Greta's week #2 and I'm sensing she's not going to stop sporting envy-enducing, blog-worthy attire so stay tuned.

Mini Minnie Day

I had the pleasure of spending some of the day with the designer Minnie Mortimer today. 

I hung out in the courtyard (along with a few other designers) and sold a few bags in celebration of Minnie and her friend Natalie's store opening in Brentwood.

MM made off with a CV striped simple tote, and a neon striped grande pochette. 

I love them combined with her mariner stripes.
photo credit: minniemortimer on instagram
to follow me, I'm at seevivier on instagram

New Store News

While in New York last week, le mari texted me this picture he took while driving by our store. Having moved into our new studio, 3339 Sunset Blvd is free for the work of turning this space into our first CV store to begin! 

That's exciting news to be sure, but wait, let's just take a closer look at this painter. Umm, did someone call central casting and hire a "cute French painter"? He's got a mariner shirt on, white painters pants, blue gloves and what appears to be a beret, but I'm sure it's just some sort of equally cute proper painters cap.

 A couple of days later he sent this picture on French painterman's progress. I see he's taken off the mariner shirt but still in proper all white painters gear, I fully approve of this guy. And lovely work to boot. French blue. Check.

Here's what's happening on the inside. That's Marshall on the right he's in charge and moving quickly.

I found these chairs for the store at the PCC flea market on Sunday. They're a little beaten, but I love them. I hope we have a space for them. They will be our [what is officially called the] "boyfriend" chair (s) in retail-speak. Did you know that? So while you shop your boyfriend can sit and every now and then look up from his iPhone and tell you how good you look in that clutch or that Trop or that blue Messenger bag?

Speaking of boys...yesterday, we were featured on one of our most favorite blogs Tomboy Style. Lizzie Garrett came by the studio and charmed the heck out of all of us. By the time she was done we wanted her to come work out of our studio so she wouldn't have to leave. She's just published a book inspired from her blog, please check it out. Every page is a girl with cuter style than the last. I want to be all of them.