Yes I'm still here. I'm just thinking of something good to write is all.

We interrupt this longer-than-usual (record-setting?) blog silence to bring you one of these test pattern "best of" posts. Admittedly, it is a stall tactic while I wrestle with such issues as, "Why has Facebook robbed my blog of my musings?" and answers like, "Oh, because I get instant feedback on Facebook, and it's nice to get feedback on your thoughts, because, let's face it, feedback is sort of inspiring." Well in any case, it's time to put up a new post, instead of that Twitter is Bleak one, because that's a bit on the depressing side of things. So here goes.  Please enjoy my recent faves from the recent archives, more autobiographical in nature, but still interesting. To me.

Oh, and Happy New Year!!

1. 52:32!!!
2. Outfit Flashcards
3. Venus, Goddess of Love
4. Thanks Apartment Therapy
5. Cake Stalk

For more archived faves, click on the .gee logo to the left.

We interrupt the blog silence to bring you one of these test pattern "best of" posts. Admittedly, it is a stall tactic while I wrestle with such issues as "Is blogging kinda sorta dead?" and "What will be the next thing?" I do love blogging despite the possibly out-of-fashion nature of blogging. Where else could I publish my musings after all? I still have them. I've just been publishing them on my Facebook page instead, where admittedly, I love the feedback. I love a good audience.

I have a more than a few musings to publish; in the meantime, please enjoy my recent faves from the recent archives.

1. I Think the Line Goes, If I 'Were' a Rich Girl
2. My Quest for the Golden Paddle
3. High-Brow Pretzels
4. Snowy Musings on Bags and Things of That Nature
5. Alicia K Had a Group Show Back in October
6. Wimbledon Anyone?
   

For more archived faves, click on the .gee logo to the left.

Now I've built it up in my mind too much and am having blogger's block. Hopefully stay tuned. I'll start slow and build.

Okay okay, I am getting ready to post some posts at last. So get ready.

I always forget my blog's birthday! Can you believe, as of December 15, I've been writing this thing for four years? Well I can't. That's a lot of blogging.

It's time to tell you what I've been thinking about (well not by any means all of it, because that would get boring), so I will be doing some haiku-style posts, until I can manage to write a whole in-depth thought about something again. I blame my lack of recent posts on Facebook. And the end of language. And that sort of thing.

Hey it's better than nothing, right?

In spring!

[image from magicmolly.com]

I have recently discovered a blogger that appeals to me, by way of the Urban Outfitters blog of all places. Her posts, on a fashion Website, are not about fashion, but about art. Playful art. Amusing musings. Yes, her sensibility appeals to me for obvious reasons.

I did some research on Molly today, and found out a whole bunch of interesting things. Like this blog post from another fan. And this interview. So she taught herself HTML. And went to Brown. And made this Website. Her writing is pretty great. I am tickled by Red Bean Cake. I think you will like it too. I reproduce it here without her permission. She should be contacting me soon, asking me to take it down.

RED BEAN CAKE

Let's talk about bean cakes.

Bean cakes have three textures that are almost pleasant
but not quite. There is a pasty (not creamy) filling; a
glutinous (not fluffy) pouch of dough; and a gritty
(not crunchy) coating of sesame seeds.

No matter how vigorously you chew, the bean cake will
reassemble itself in your stomach like a little universe
in reverse Big Bang motion.

A bean cake is the most liminal food ever. Is it good?
No, it's "OK". Does one eat it for dessert? Breakfast?
Snack?

You want answers to your questions, but why draw
lines? A bean cake is all of these things at once. It
is like a mythical multiform creature-- centaur, griffin,
chimera-- made real.

Usually I do one of these test pattern "best of" posts when I am stalling for time while I think up new ideas. But today, after the exciting lunch hour I just had, I am bursting to post! I just have to wait 'til I get my firewire to upload my pics! Later, you can expect to read all about Miss Softee's latest light 'n sweet cherry meringue creation, gawk at the fabulous Fashion Week people, while I gawk at them, and also get a tip on a hot iron. Or a hot tip on an iron. You'll see.

In the meantime, please enjoy my recent faves from the recent archives.

1. Southwest Porch at Bryant Park Opens Today
2. Cookie Road Opens Today!
3. Aureole Opens Saturday!
4. Shower Curtains
5. Best in Show: Wobbly Plates by Brigitte Bouquet
6. Bonita Closed? (yes)
   

For more archived faves, click on the .gee logo to the left.

I have a confession. (I'm full of them today. See my Twitter page.) I have lost the ability to write. Please forgive my lack of posts, but at least now you have a reason.

My friend Bill has the best Facebook Status Bar Comments. I like to visit his profile to read them all in succession. It makes for a nice poem. Please enjoy. From Bill's Facebook page, in reverse chronological order, without his consent in advance.

Bill is suspicious about how quiet it is today...
Bill is putting my to-do list at the top of my to-do list.
Bill is just sort of wondering when Portland's infatuation with big, bushy beards on men is going to end in tears and recrimination...*
Bill is typing.**
Bill is hitting the road.
Bill is having a day.
Bill is taking all feedback with a grain of French sea salt.
Bill is waiting to see what it all means.
Bill is glad there's olive oil.

*Perhaps Bill is reading my blog?
**Perhaps Bill is reading my Facebook Status Bar? See EP, 2.18.09, "Elaine is typing her status into the status bar on Facebook."
***Perhaps Bill will not appreciate this tribute.

my new Blogger Profile. Please read. hee.

I don't know why I didn't update my Blogger Profile until 3.5 years into Blogging. Why ask why. Just click to view! Gee.

Yes, I am on Twitter. As of yesterday. After much tinkering, I am satisfied with my page. Take a look! I am still tinkering with my left margin --> over yonder. There is a lot of custom set-up involved.

Well anyway, stay tuned for more Fashion Tweets to come from me. Follow me on Twitter! This should be interesting. I have to say, it is fun to follow Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, MoMA, Shepard Fairey, and of course, Midtown Lunch (who is very clever in that he has readers Twitter on his behalf). Hmm. Food for thought.

Let's see what Deb is doing over at Your Destiny is Stone Golden, shall we? Yup, she is blogging, just as I thought. Hey, I saw that Marimekko dish towel this weekend in Williamsburg. Well, I'll be back tomorrow with a post or two. I think.

I want to get a bumper sticker that says, "My Other Blog is a (Jaguar equivalent of a blog)." Or a more catchy version of that sentence... As I think I might have mentioned, I write another blog, which is taking all of my good ideas lately.

There are so many things I want to talk about with you. New pizza places that have opened recently, new chocolate truffle stores hidden in banks, the cool tour we took of the New York Public Library, the new season of Flight of the Conchords, Eugene Mirman performing next week, a new cool design Website I found, the Stephen Sprouse Louis Vuitton joint venture that launches tonight. But it is all going to have to wait until I get my thoughts organized. Okay, I feel better now. At least I got it out in some form.

Peppermint Candy Cane Marshmallow & Bonbon Oiseau jewelry
[image from Cannelle et Vanille]

I have been thinking about this all day. I read this post on Bonbon Oiseau's blog this morning. And clicked through to Cannelle et Vanille to see what the shoutout was all about. I must quote here, because Aran of Cannelle et Vanille says it best. What a beautiful story. And such beautiful products by Deb and Aran. I am so inspired.

This is the story about another blogsphere friendship that developed over some matcha diamant cookies. It's about the lovely and super talented Deb and her delicate jewelry Bonbon Oiseau and my interpretation of what her pieces represent.

I have admired Deb's work ever since I found her blog "Your Destiny is Stone Golden" a few months ago. We started exchanging emails and as time went on, we decided that one day we would collaborate somehow. Deb asked me if I could photograph her work. Her necklaces are very delicate and almost angelic. I didn't know if I would be able to capture her essence, until I decided to pair them with something that I made. Suddenly, marshmallow entered my mind.

So here is my ode to you Deb, my ode to your fabulous work with some peppermint candy cane marshmallow.

It was over 100 degrees in New York today, and it is just too hot to blog. While I gather my thoughts, please check out my recent favorites from the archive.

1. Japanese Granny Fashion
2. Bag Trend: Structured Yet Soft & Slouchy
3. Participating in Art with Eduardo Sarabia
4. Shopping on Franklin: Jan & Aya
5. Shopping Trip: The Gucci Flagship
6. John Derian's New Furniture Collection Debuts
7. A Bold Statement Bag to Say the Least
   

Enjoy! For more archived faves, click on the .gee logo to the left.

Need a daily dose of cheerful color to help you get in the mood for Spring? Have you checked out the Hostess with the Mostess yet? I can't get over how gorgeous and colorful her blog is each and every day. A feast for the eyes.

The 5th Avenue display window of the new Gucci flagship,
with "resurrected Gucci crest" front and center. The crest is a
recurring visual symbol throughout the store.

The women's collection on the third floor looks spacious in this photo,
but the dark carpet and the low ceilings make the space feel ponderous.
I just did not get that "exhilarated" shopping feeling.

The fixture choices -- gold racks, black and white striped walls -- are not
exactly a neutral backdrop for the clothes. What if a collection was composed
of cool tones and silvers?

The men's shoe collection on the second floor with the city as a backdrop.

Can you believe that Daniel Saynt of Fashion Indie apparently complained his way into the Gucci party at the UN? If I had only known that were an option... According to WWD, when Saynt "complained on his blog, to broad pickup around the Web, that actual New York-based bloggers had been shafted," he received an invite to the lavish party and attended a bloggers-only tour of the store hosted by chief executive Mark Lee. I decided to take a trip to the new Gucci flagship today, uninvited. Here are my observations, unsolicited.

After viewing the new store, I would like to say this: bring back the sleek, sexy, clean lines of Tom Ford's Gucci. The new flagship, which occupies the south-west corner of Trump Tower on 5th Avenue and 56th Street, employs design details that are reminiscent of the Miami in the 70s, and are rather, well, garish. I can't help but feel that the aesthetic of the Trump brand seeped through the walls and into the store; but I think the preponderance of gold is just a coincidence.

Three elements repeat throughout the store: gold, lucite, and high-shine dark wood. Gold and lucite tubing accent the back stairways. There are free-standing gold display cases accented with high-shine dark wood, the same dark wood that lines the inner walls. The ceilings seem to press downward. There are only three floors of retail space. (I expected five. That seems to be the minimum number of floors for flagships these days.) Access to the fine jewelry store through an elevator on the 3rd floor is convoluted. The only time I got a feeling of excitement about the Gucci brand was is in the shoe departments, which are bright with views of the street.

At a time when luxury retail design favors a blend of technology and innovative materials, high-shine white, glowing light boxes, flat panel screens, and etched glass glowing partitions, the dark Gucci flagship feels of the past. As I recall my experience of the store, it becomes more and more like a labyrinthine cave. For me, the store did not convey that feeling of optimism or excitement or exhilaration. I had no shopping high.

The back stairs: dark grey marble treads, alternating gold and lucite
vertical tubing give a glimpse into the selling space. The stairs at
Chanel were much more exciting.

Mannequin (no comment) and a closeup of the ubiquitous tubing.


The handbag collection display on the first floor is too dark.
The flat panel screen doesn't even add any light.

This is my 1000th post! I decided to go with Roman numerals for the graphic.