Weekend Review

No rest for the weary. We spent the jam-packed weekend working hard on new designs for cm and dividing and conquering to catch up with friends, celebrate birthdays, and enjoy the city.

On Saturday, while J was at the Big Brothers Big Sisters "Race for the Kids" with her little sister, H had brunch with a friend and then stopped by the new fashion exhibit at FIT “Japan Fashion Now.” After a brief evening catch-up with each other, we split up again that night for birthday parties.

J headed out to Brooklyn to celebrate skeeball style at Full Circle Bar while H celebrated a friend's birthday in the city over drinks at Merchants Cigar Bar in the Upper East Side and ended the night meeting up with friends who were visiting from Seattle.

On Sunday, J met up with a friend to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and explore the new Amsterdam Market down at South Street Seaport where the old fish market used to be. Local and sustainable businesses join there to peddle their honey, bread, vegetables, wine and cheese. They had a brunch of delicious pork sliders, jams, scones, pasta and lobster rolls galore.

We ended the weekend with more work on cm. Get pumped for the fall 2011 collection...

3.5 out of 5 apples on the Big Apple weekend review radar.

xx H&J

J with the birthday girl at Full Circle Bar in Williamsburg.

Walking the Brooklyn bridge!

New Amsterdam Market

Pork sliders. Yum!

Shopaholic signing!

The best selling author Madeleine Wickham, also known as Sophie Kinsella, recently made a trip out to New York City for a shopping and signing event celebrating her most recent release in the Shopaholic Series, Mini Shopaholic. A friend & I are huge fans (having read all books written under both pen names) and couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet one of our favorite authors and hear her read from her newest novel.

The event took place at the Limelight Marketplace in NYC and was set up as a shopping event (I mean, the book is part of the Shopaholic series...) with cupcakes and sponsorship by the website Big City Moms. I was able to purchase a hard cover copy of the book and have my copy signed by the author!

xx H

H in the beautiful new Limelight Marketplace.

Madeleine Wickham reading an excerpt from her new book, Mini Shopaholic.

H & friend Q with Madeleine!

Lingerie & bikers. There's nothing I love more than a stark contrast when it comes to fashion. Even better when you add in beautiful cuts & draping like Marios Schwab showed for Spring 11. Love it.

xx J

D-I-E for L-I-C

As much as we're city girls at heart, we do venture out to the boroughs at times, so last night I went out to Long Island City, in Queens, to visit a dear friend of mine I've known since long before we were both fabulous and living in NY. We enjoyed the beautiful fall evening with a pasta dinner al fresco with a backdrop of the Empire State Building and the whole of New York City at our taking. After dinner we took a stroll along the piers, enjoying the beautiful view of the skyline and marveling at how lucky we are to have made it to where we are, struggling every day to conquer this big behemoth of a city, while loving it all along the way. Sometimes you need to take a step out of the heart of NYC to appreciate the beauty of this city and all that it has to offer...

xx J

Candlelight dinner. Skyline view.

Beautiful.

Weekend Review Timeline

Friday 11 pm: The Blind Barber, East Village. Dance party at our new favorite going-out spot. Barber shop by day, vintage cocktail lounge with an impromptu dance floor by night. Great crowd, rockin' music, unpretentious environment, awesome times.

Saturday, 12:30 pm: Hell's Kitchen flea market, Hell's Kitchen. Love checking out all of the vintage jewelry, clothing & home accessories. H couldn't stay away from the racks of sequin clothing while J was pining after a vintage Woolrich coat & the awesome gilded mirrors.

Saturday, 3:00 pm: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Upper East Side. Doing research for the carol marie fall 2011 collection. Details are under wraps, but we did spend a fair amount of time in the armor hallway...

Saturday, 7:00 pm: Le Singe Vert, Chelsea. Dinner of Bloody Mary's and an iceberg wedge salad (our new obsession) at a chic French restaurant that feels like an authentic brasserie.

Sunday, 5:00 am: J's kitchen table, Chelsea. Came back to J's after dinner and segued into one of our infamous "kitchen table sessions" marathons that lasted until the wee hours of the morning involving conversation about cm, love, life and the pursuit of happiness. Oh yeah, & lots of vodka.

Sunday, 1:30 pm: The Sunburnt Calf, Upper West Side. H joins editor friends for eggs benedict and unlimited drinks at one of our favorite brunch hots spots.

Sunday, 8:00 pm: The Half King, Chelsea. cm business meeting with potential LA sales rep over beers & french fries with our favorite chipotle sauce. Perfect way to end the weekend.

4.5 out of 5 apples on the big apple weekend review radar. Great weekend, hoping the week will be just as productive & fun.

xx H&J

The Blind Barber.

HK Flea Market. Lots of great vintage finds!

H studying the ancient armor.

At the Met for research!

Le Singe Vert. Delicious.

NY Fashion Week Recap

It's been fashion week here in NY, which means we've been busy, busy, busy with shows, presentations, events & parties galore! Here's a photo recap of some of the week's events:

J & high school friends, S & N, at the presentation of N's clothing line, Madame (N was also a Project Runway contestant)

Fashion for Passion party at the uber chic Good Units.


Porter Grey presentation. Adorable & wearable - want it all!

H & J at Porter Grey.

Standard Grill for late night snacks & muchos, muchos glasses of wine.


Betsey Johnson show at the new & improved tents in Lincoln Center.


Betsey leading the models down the runway after her signature cartwheel.


At the Amanda Pearl presentation - tons of baubles, bags & amazing headbands against a floral shop background.


Alice & Olivia extravaganza!

After party at the Griffin followed by late-night food fest at Pastis.

xx H&J

Luck be a Lady

As if I needed any more fodder to increase my undying love for my favorite design label, Proenza Schouler, the creative duo behind the label have brilliantly tackled a subject that I never thought would work for me. For spring 2011 they took the tweed suit lady look (a style that is the opposite of everything I could ever try to be) and added their usual spin for a look that's downtown girl doing uptown chic in a way that I couldn't be more obsessed with.

xx J

Theyskens' Theory

It's not often that a collection comes along where every look shown is something that I'm dying to wear. Leave it to Olivier Theyskens (former designer of Nina Ricci & Rochas) & his new collection for Theory to accomplish just that. And at just a slightly higher price-point than the regular Theory line, Theyskens' designs are now (almost) within my reach. I've got until spring to save my pennies.

xx J

Weekend Review: Summer Send Off

"I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away. There's something very sensuous about it - overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands."
- The Great Gatsby

And so we tried to enjoy the last days of summer hanging around the city (the first weekend we've spent together in the city in what seems like ages) - enjoying the peace & quiet of the last hot days of the year. We hit up our favorite local haunts, spent a day at the beach, and spent time working on cm (it wouldn't be Labor Day without the labor...).

With Labor Day weekend behind us, summer has undoubtedly come to a finish in NYC. Summer shares in the Hamptons have ended, there's a hint of crispness in the air, signaling that fall is just around the corner, and the frenzy of fashion week is just days away. That's it kids, summer is officially over.

3 out of 5 apples on the big apple weekend review radar (minus points for working on the holiday weekend specifically created to give workers a break).

xx H&J

At the beach!!


Shopping for chain for our Spring 2011 collection!

The Half King! Gotta make time for summer beers & french fries with our favorite chipotle mayo sauce!

Having the back patio at Half King all to ourselves - our favorite secret spot!

Let Prepdom Reign

Although I consider my personal style a little more edgy, I've had a long-time fascination with the preppy fashion and lifestyle. It stems from a mix of amusement, admiration and curiosity. Having grown up in southern California, skate shoes and board shorts were far more prevalent than top-siders and seer sucker, but the longer I spend out here on the east coast, I find myself becoming more and more versed in the ways of L.L. Bean, Brooks Brothers, Jack Rogers and CK Bradley.

This mild fascination led me to an extreme obsession with the book "Take Ivy" a few years ago. The book is full of candid photographs of students around Ivy League universities in the 1960s shot by Japanese photographer T. Hayashida. Hayashida approaches the prepsters the same way that I do, which is why I think I adore the book so much. He studies them - observing but not judging, fascinated but not intruding.

The book had been out of print for decades & original copies are hard to find, but powerHouse just released a new English translation. My name has been on the waiting list for months so I couldn't have been more excited when it arrived in the mail today! The images do a beautiful job at capturing a style that eternally transcends time and trends.

xx J