The Rhoda to Perfection.

Posted on December 15, 2009
Filed Under Around Town, Events, Women | 1 Comment

Last night I stopped in to the Capitol File holiday-issue party, which Hilary Rhoda attended as the issue’s cover girl and guest of honor. Just a few observations, in no particular order:

- The blonde is her mom. Yup.
- Hilary was wearing Stella McCartney. I knew you’d wanna know.
- Hilary is at once totally normal-looking and intimidatingly model-perfect. It’s sort of weird. Just when you’re like, okay, she is like kind of normal-skinny and girl-from-Maryland, you snap a photo like the up-close one above and realize again why she is the face if Estee Lauder. She…is…gorgeous.
- I want her eyebrows.
- I want her eyebrows.

Read an interview with Hilary Rhoda here, or check out the new Holiday 2009 issue in stores.

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Cool + Creative

Posted on December 10, 2009
Filed Under Around Town, Events, Only in Washington | Leave a Comment

Last week I attended the “Cool Creative Christmas” party at the residence of Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Peterson. The house itself is filled with incredible mid-century modern design – including some gorgeous oversize lighting fixtures you can see here. But for the party, the already fabulous residence was completely transformed into a fairytale-inspired winter wonderland – and green, to boot – at the hands of students from the Danish School of Design and our very own Corcoran College of Art + Design. It was amazingly gorgeous and even more amazing to think of the months and months of work that went into making the thousands of lush paper flowers (from, among other things, coffee filters!), wreaths, floating lights, and more. Just like a fashion show, hours and hours are put in to create a brief moment of pure, indulgent fantasy. Speaking of fashion – each of the students, above, was a total fashion plate in her own right. Look at all of the amazing headgear! Inspiring, inspiring, inspiring….This photo above + more here.

And if you want a piece of emerging-art-talent for yourself (or for someone else…it is that time of year, isn’t it?), don’t miss the Corcoran College of Art +Design’s Off the Walls Sale starting TODAY (til 9 p.m. tonight, perfect for after work) through the weekend.

Guests were treated to a lavish buffet of incredible Swedish dishes prepared by Chef Trina Hahnemann (including some insanely amazing and crispy pork rind…yes). I left with a copy of her cookbook, which I devoured (in the figurative sense) snuggled up on the couch Saturday, when I woke up to that first snowy, winter day. It’s more like a coffee-table book than a standard cookbook in that the photographs are stunningly beautiful and, like the recipes that accompany them, evoke the pleasures of each season. The winter images were particularly meditative.

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eBay launches a magazine – and comes to Washington

Posted on November 19, 2009
Filed Under Around Town, Events, On The Street, Only in Washington | Leave a Comment

eBay recently launched a new style/culture/shopping Web site (check out the NYT article here) – The Inside Source – the idea being a fun editorial online mag that sources the cool stuff on eBay so you don’t have to. I’m proud to have represented Washington through a street-style set.

I teamed up with McLean over at Deacon Does DC, who shared 10 great picks for holiday shopping and fun in the District (can’t wait to check out #8!).

It’s all a part of eBay’s Mobile Boutique Tour, taking place TODAY AND TOMORROW inside Union Station, offering a unique virtual shopping experience for everything you’ll be looking to buy this holiday season – for yourself or for others on your list. Shopping stations will showcase the most coveted items on eBay, so you can find top items purchase right on the spot. I only recently began shopping on eBay – and it’s very rapidly becoming a problem – so I’m loving the site, chock-full of great fashiony articles, like this one on pairing tough and feminine items, and especially this piece on ideas for an “antiquarian Thanksgiving” through the words of one of my very favorite bloggers, Hollister Hovey.

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Style Score.

Posted on November 18, 2009
Filed Under Around Town, Events, Men | Leave a Comment

Lost Boys owner Kelly Muccio knows great clothes, and she clearly knows what men will look great in them – namely, the droves of Washington men who shop there – and now, the (very attractive and ahem, agile) men of our hometown soccer team, DC United. Muccio gathered the team, some of the best new clothes of the season, and shot them for the store’s fall lookbook – being unveiled tonight, in just a few short hours, at the Georgetown shop. The details on the party: Rodney (top – love this look) and Devon (love the fingerless gloves! not so sure about the cargos, but he had me at the lumberjack shirt) will be there with the team starting at 8, and then the crew heads over to the Degrees Bar at the Ritz, where the boys will guest bartend in style.

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The Rules Rule.

Posted on October 28, 2009
Filed Under Around Town, Men, Only in Washington | Leave a Comment

Thank the waitstaff.

Last night I attended a party celebrating the release of Walker Lamond’s book, Rules for my Unborn Son, at the at the amazingly gorgeous home of his friends Meg and Chris Ferguson on Dumbarton Street. Walker’s been here on the blog a time or two, and over at Washingtonian, and now he’s well, everywhere. Walker’s one of my favorite men in town, and such success couldn’t have come to a nicer, cooler person. The book is witty, useful and full of life tips for not just how to be a good man, but how to be an interesting, charming person. The advice goes far beyond rules for men – anyone can and should take notes. A sampling of wisdom:

Be subtle. She sees you.
Know the proper time to wear a tuxedo. It’s more often than you think.
Dance with your partner, not at her.
The best thing to do in the rain is be quiet and listen.
Don’t show off. Impress.

For fun, I asked Walker to give a Rules spin to a few questions and fill-in-the-blanks (those are fun, don’t you think? I’d like to see more people bent over Mab Libs on the Metro in the morning…):

Every guy should own CORDOVAN WINGTIPS and know how to TIE A BOWTIE and BAIT A HOOK.

Every girl should own BICYCLE and know how to RIDE IT IN A DRESS.

Guys should lay off the DISTRESSED JEANS AND GRAPHIC TEES.

Girls should lay off the GROUP PHOTOS.

Favorite online sites for men’s style inspiration: A CONTINUOUS LEAN

List of men who inspire great style: BOBBY KENNEDY, THOM BROWN, BASQUIAT, JACK EVANS, YOUNG WOODY ALLEN, DAVID LYNCH, BING CROSBY, GRANDFATHERS

I could go on, but you should probably buy the book instead (for yourself, a holiday gift, the guy you’re dating). And conveniently, there’s a book signing today at the Borders in Friendship Heights from 7-8 (I’ve begun thinking in rules as I write this: – perfect your signature).

Next up, Rules for My Unborn Daughter-?!

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At Crafty Bastards – Saturday

Posted on October 5, 2009
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I adore these nattily attired animals from Ryan Berkley Illustrations.

And this pretty much sums up the demographic – from top to bottom: “Beards Not Bombs”, “What Would Tom Waits Do?” and “What Would Amy Sedaris Do?”

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Immortal Beloved

Posted on September 21, 2009
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The salon Immortal Beloved celebrated its opening Saturday night in a converted warehouse/garage space on Church Street. Well-coifed/tattooed/dressed attendees munched cupcakes from old-school bakery Furin’s of Georgetown, drank white wine sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and beer chilling in sinks at the individual styling stations (so convenient, really…hair salon=ultimate smart party space…). Guests fell into two camps: current clients who gushed about the stylist techniques or curious guests who considered cheating on their own stylists for a hot, mussed fling.

Co-owner & man of the hour Kelly Gorsuch (formerly at Urban Style Lab) and Redeem’s Lori Parkerson, who contributed clothes for the site’s photo shoot.

Victoria Kurzweg, who modeled for the salon’s site, and Matty Taylor from the local band Tennis System.

flash…

…or no flash? Loved the hipster-poet look on the stylist from Salon Blu (center), and this woman’s embroidered tunic – her mother’s – was totally fantastic.