We had a pretty incredible weekend, and I can’t wait to share it with you! I’m off to edit some photos and write a few posts but, in the meantime, here’s a little sneak peek of what’s to come on the blog this week…
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Happy Autumn
Living a More Beautiful Life…
Always keep fresh cut flowers around the house. They make everything feel brighter and add a touch of glamour to every day.
A few tips:
– Keep a good assortment of old jars (from jelly, juice, moonshine) around the house. They make great vases and don’t cost anything extra.
– When you bring flowers home from the store, trim the ends and put them in room temperature water. If the water is too hot or too cold, it may shock the flowers.
– If you put in any of those little packets of preservative, don’t use the whole packet for one vase. Use a little bit and mix it well with the water before putting in your flowers.
– Buy what you like. Consider them a gift to yourself and to the mood of your home!
Cocktails: Thin Man Style
Most days I feel as if I’m living in a Thin Man movie… beautiful clothes, martinis, and a witty husband & loveable terrier that always keep things entertaining.
Life is what you make it! So for your midweek touch of glamour, I thought I’d share a few cocktail recipes. Now if only our lives called for more evening gowns and silk!
A Tale of 2 Michaels
For those you that follow me this isn’t news, but, for the rest of my lovely readers, I should probably give some background. I have been flying back & forth between East Tennessee & NYC all summer as Husband does an internship with Michael Bastian. It has been an absolutely amazing opportunity that I’m sure I will elaborate on at some point, but, now that Fashion Week has come to an end, we are heading back to Knoxville so he can finish up his MBA in December. However, before we come home, I couldn’t resist sharing some of my favorites from Michael’s two Spring collections: his flagship and Gant by Michael Bastian.
The thing that caught me the most off guard about Fashion Week really had nothing to do with the fashion at all. It was the feel. Every event we entered had a different feel and no 2 were more contrasting than Michael’s presentations. The runway show was enveloped in white: white walls, bright white lights, even a white carpet. And when the music started and those models walked out, we were transported into several minutes of white-hot sexy. The cuts of the sweaters were bold, the beachwear was hot, and the suits were owned by those men. (When the linen dinner jacket entered the room there was literally a collective gasp from the audience, because it was that perfect.) The man that wears Michael Bastian knows exactly who he is, where he’s going, and what (or whom) he’s going to do when he gets there. Umm… did I mention Husband has ordered several of these pieces? Lucky me.
Snapshots from the third row of the Michael Bastian runway.
Fast forward 3 days, and there was a party going on in the west village complete with greenery, dancing models, and an insanely tasty rum cocktail. The pieces I simply cannot get out of my head? The bold new takes on the Southern belle’s favorite: seersucker.
Party in the Galapagos
I cannot possibly express what an amazing whirlwind of a week it has been. This entire experience has been absolutely incredible both for Husband and for me. To think that a short six months ago, I had never even been to New York. We were reading fashion magazines and dreaming of being a part of that world. When Husband started the MBA program last Fall, Michael Bastian (fresh off his CFDA win) was his favorite designer and the *ultimate* internship to put on top of the dream list. Now we’re lucky enough to call the Michael Bastian crew friends. Isn’t that just crazy? As my momma always says, “God works in mysterious ways.”
But alas, all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow we will make the 12 hour drive back to Tennessee and reality. See you on the other side!
The Launch of Social Primer
Have you ever met someone via Twitterland and known immediately you would be friends? Well, that’s how I felt about Cooper Ray. I just couldn’t help it. When I first met Cooper in person, he was a month out from his now much-lauded premier presentation, and he was a true force of energy. Cooper is one of those rare people that can pour you a glass of scotch, invite you to sit down at his table, and immediately make you feel like you’re one of his oldest & dearest friends.
So when we got the invitation to his show, an invitation “from the men of Social Primer… to join the brotherhood,” it was not only an invite to a New York Fashion Week presentation, it was a chance to support Cooper. If you read his blog, Social Primer, you know Cooper as an etiquette expert, a successful businessman, and a designer that has recently partnered with Brooks Brothers to produce a line of reversible bow ties & the classic tailgating blazer. (Can you tell he was raised in the SEC?) You will also know him as a quintessential Southern gentleman, born and raised in Alabama, and now hailing from ‘the Holy City’ of Charleston, South Carolina. If you follow him or read him, you know him. So it should come as no surprise that when he put out the call to his band of faithful followers to invest in the future of Social Primer, they responded by the thousands. ($25,742 to be exact)
You see, there’s just something about that spirit… maybe it’s Southern, perhaps it’s preppy, maybe it’s ‘the brotherhood,’ but, whatever it is, Cooper has it. He didn’t just give a presentation, he gave a presentation in one of the most venerable settings in the city. As guests entered, we were handed a book of “Pledge Rites,” a special edition of his Bill of Rites for the American Man and a Scotch. (Note: I’m sure there were other drinks, but for the Southerners in the room, that was all that we needed.) And, as we walked over to view the collection, we were greeted by none other than his *lovely* mother, a sweet lady donning pearls and beaming with pride. The looks were fantastic as modeled by a ‘pledge class’ rotating intermittently on risers. I’m still swooning over one particular red sport coat. The contrast fabric ties that made him famous are really cranked up a notch. His details were spot on: notice the SP tshirts… his logo was even embroidered on the shorts. But, of course, you’d expect nothing less… That’s just how Cooper does things.
Rocky Top in the Big Apple
I was born in Tennessee, but, for the first few years of my life, my family didn’t actually live here. Then, when I was 9, we moved to East Tennessee. I was less then thrilled at my new surroundings, and this was only exacerbated when, on the 1st day of school, I was shoved into a large group of singing 4th graders. They had just burst into a song about a girl that was ‘half bear the other half cat’ and something called ‘corn from a jar.’ I was appalled.
Husband and I in 2005. We actually used this picture for the ‘guest book’ at our wedding, and it now hangs in our bedroom.
Fast forward 18 years and my husband & I are both UT graduates, two of our best friends actually said their wedding vows on that ‘hallowed hill in Tennessee,’ I have been known to partake of ‘corn from a jar,’ and I have seen for myself the original written lyrics of “Rocky Top” hanging in the home of the esteemed former Pride of the Southland director WJ Julian. (For the record, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant literally crossed a few other animals off the list before deciding she would be ‘wild as a mink but sweet as a soda pop.’)
Now, I will be the first to tell you that football is not my thing. Sure, I love picking out a cute outfit and tailgating for a couple of hours up the hill from Neyland stadium. I appreciate the spirit & talent of the SEC, but the main reason I go to football games is to see the band form the Power T. I am known to leave football games after the halftime show because, by that time, I have usually lost interest whatever it is those boys are doing on the field.
However, today, football may have been just what I needed. Around 4, Husband and I made our way to a bar in Midtown Manhattan called Traffic and watched the game with a room full of other Big Orange fans dressed, of course, in orange and singing “Rocky Top” loud and proud. In a week full of high fashion, busy streets, and hot subway rides, it was exactly what I needed. New York City is fun, but it can get overwhelming and make a southern girl like me feel very alone. Isn’t it funny how a song that at one point in my life I found so alienating can now make me feel so at home.
And we’re off…
Hopping on a plane this evening & heading to “The Wonder City of the World” to meet my amazing Husband.
On tap for this trip…
Celebrating our birthdays together in the city.
Attending our first Fashion Week!
Finally returning home together next weekend after a summer of traveling back and forth.
Labor Day, oh Labor Day!
This weekend, we threw a little dinner party to say goodbye to those summer outfits we will miss the most. As you can see, we also sipped a little whiskey cocktail to soothe our downtrodden hearts.
I must admit, here in the South we say goodbye to summer half-heartedly. When September 4 is usually in the mid-90s, it’s hard to get too enthusiastic about saying goodbye to our lightweight seersucker skirts and unlined blazers. However, I will be the first to remind you that rules are rules for a reason. By not wearing white linen after Labor Day, you are really showing the world that your mama raised you right! You are showing respect for the seasonal dress codes that come with good breeding. And, perhaps more than anything, you are hoping to will Autumn into being. When it is 95° on September 28, let me just remind you that were it not for the fact that you are wearing smart red chinos with a few layers on top, people may not even know it is Fall! Changing over your closet on Labor Day is really just a Belle’s civic duty. You are reminding people to stay strong; Autumn will come eventually. Mother Nature has promised us cooler temperatures and, with that in mind, I suggest you turn on a box fan, pour yourself a sweet tea, and go clean out your closet. Solidarity, sisters!
What about you? What item will you miss the most from your summer closet?
For me, it will be my madras skirt.
