nobody knows her identity, but I know her stylists

Who wants to read another blog about the financial crisis, or watch our politicians carrying on, it's so depressing. We are all lucky to live in a country that has the resources, although mismanaged, to help us in a crisis. I hope and pray that is what will happen, these folks in high finance and in washington got us all into quite a mess, and they should do their jobs and approve plans to get us out.
And while they are doing that, we are anxiously awaiting the on-air shot of my necklace on the gossip girl.
It's a real drama, and I was not a big fan the first season, but this year I have to say I am sort-of into it, sometimes for the story and other times just for the scenery. I live where Serena van der Woodsen lives, and when we sit around watching the show, we love that Serena and her friends go where we go every day.

Of course, I've yet to see Serena, Nate Archibald or Dan Humphrey have lunch here! My father took us to hot dog stands for lunch when we were kids, told mom we dined at "joe's outdoor gardens". We can guess, as we listen to the omniscient yet unseen "Gossip Girl" (voiced by Kristen Bell) where they dine, but who knows, it's television. All I know is these folks all live for gossip and scandal, and in this neighborhood it really could be absolutey true.

The upper east side of manhattan is a mixture of new york's 'old money' families and their trust fund kids, and the rest of us, working families and professional people, gay straight and whatever. It's the part of town where 'the city never sleeps'. As you walk from the river towards fifth avenue, you get into the territory of the social register crowd, and the multi-multi millionaires. I'm not sure where our characters would live in real life, people like Dan and Jenny Humphrey probably live on my middle class block, but who knows, it's television. We have to figure that Serena, Eric and Blair live towards fifth avenue, where the grand old 'pre-war' apartment houses are filled with social register families whose ancestors go back to the mayflower.
New York was dutch before it was english, so to make the main character a "van der Woodsen" tells us this is old money indeed.

And it is certainly not a long shot for me to picture these characters running up and down these streets using their credit cards liberally in this neighborhood, as the fashion, shopping and partying is of the highest caliber. Of course, in real life you have to go downtown to find manhattan's trendiest hot spots, on TV it looks like the clubs are on the next block, but it isn't so! The nightlife in new york is amazing for sure, bars and clubs are open till 4 am, then there are the after-hours joints. But, the real hot spots are likely to be found in Vanessa's brooklyn neighborhood, an hour's subway ride away (it is quicker in a limo, though) but hey, this is television! At least the show is really shot here and not on a set in hollywood or toronto.

To get a better idea of their world, we walked around trying to find out from which balcony might come the gossip girl's blog, and tried to picture which store will be the source of the soon-to-be-notorious roberta chiarella jewelry.

In real life, the show's stylists went and purchased the jewelry at Henri Bendel, of course when we found out what it was for, a slightly deeper relationship developed.

We took this picture cause this was "Big's" church on sex in the city- is this a great neighborhood or what! When I spot my necklace on television, I'll let you know. BTW, if you want one, you can find it on my website. ciao!

world peace versus doggie raincoat

This is Chicklet. Our cute terrier who does not like to go out in the rain. Yes, that is a bracelet made into a dog collar, we jewelry designers do these sort of things!



With torrential downpours forecast for tonight and tomorrow, I realized that our little pup had to have a raincoat, or there will be trouble when she's got to go. So, it was off to the Ritzy Canine, a super-cool dog emporium located in a beautiful town house in midtown manhattan.

Normally a quick trip, but I forgot that the U.N. is in session this week, and the diplomats are everywhere. You've never seen so many bulletproof cadillacs, and you can't imagine the traffic. But chicklet needed her raincoat, so we kept going. The people of New York have a love-hate relationship with the UN, but this week you get to see the diplomats in their finest native attire, and the place is all dressed up with flags and fountains, and it looks impressive.
42nd Street is mostly closed, so the motorcades can come and go, the rest of the streets are choked.

The Ritzy Canine was open, thankfully, even though it is on a street that the cops and secret service closed off to use as their staging area. Note to potential troublemakers- these guys had a lot of guns!!!
I made it through, and got a nice yellow slicker for chickie. A customer in the store loved my chunky monkey bracelet, I pointed her in the direction of Henri Bendel.
I walked back towards first avenue to get a taxi to take me home, and I passed this promenade across the street from the UN, filled with tourists taking pictures.

I joined them, and learned they all were waiting for the arrival of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. They tell me that he was in this limo, and that he was smiling and waving as the car went by (squinting through the viewfinder, all I saw was some guy behind the bulletproof glass). I hope they had a good meeting, and that they solved at least a few of the world's problems today.


So, our little chicklet got her new coat, made in Honduras, sold by a nice european woman and transported back home in a taxi driven by a man from Egypt. Funny, if it wasn't for the traffic I wouldn't have noticed anything different was going on today.

Buddhist monks, eskimos, men in kilts, we see these guys every day, even when the UN is not in session! This is New York, where people from all over the world live together all year long. I hope the diplomats take a look around, and see that, right here on the street, we are the united nations. Ciao.

co·te·rie : an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest

It's time for the coterie!!! This is probably the best fashion trade show in New York. It's a juried show so each designer must apply and wait for acceptance. I always get anxious, even though I've been doing this for years. Usually you need to be super-famous, or have great sales and be a hot hot line. Must have been one of the above, cause I got a great booth location in the Javits Center. Sometimes if they are not sure about you, the booth will be over on a pier near the hudson river.. ..


I love doing the coterie, which takes place twice a year. It's fun to set up the booth, to wander around the convention center and check out the merchandise that my fellow designers have on display. Like a family, the other designers and I get to see each other, get a cup of coffee and catch up. Sometimes it is not easy to find your way around, this event has over 1200 exhibitors. This year, around the exhibit hall they set up cute little 'lunch trains' that look like subway cars that served up some nice snacks. Customers come from all over the world, usually buyers for upscale stores although anyone with proper trade identification can get in to look around. This week, we saw accounts from Spain, Japan, Mexico and Dubai. The long distance winner was a buyer from New Zealand!

We are showing our bestsellers, a new line of earrings made with Crystallized by Swarovski Austrian crystals. The reception has been fabulous, and plenty of people have come over to the booth over the last couple of days. We're told that there will be 14,000 people coming through the doors, and I like to see as many of them as possible! Once the show is over, we head back to the studio to count up the orders and give instructions to the factory in Rhode Island. Then it's time to relax and enjoy the wonderful weather here in New York this week. And why not, it's the last week of summer. enjoy!

It still looks this way in my dreams

September 11th. A sad anniversary. I really loved going to the World Trade Center, loved the excitement that it brought to downtown manhattan. So many memories, of a wonderful, more innocent time. Here's a personal trivia fact! My brother and I were downtown one day way back then, and as we walked towards the trade center, we realized something unusual was going on. We came upon the filming of King Kong. When we asked the crew what was was happening, they told us that they needed a really large crowd, and if we wanted to be in King Kong's death scene we should stick around. Little did we know that the crowd had to stand there for hours and chant "KONG--KONG--KONG", and we couldn't leave till the shot was over, but we did it anyway. It was one of those 'only in New York' moments.
I sure miss the World Trade Center, and hope that, like me, you'll never forget.

The tent is up, it's fashion week in New York

I walked past Bryant Park last week, as the workers were erecting the giant white tent on the lawn, and realized summer is really over! The weekly movies shown at dusk are gone, and fashion week is here. The top designers (and a few well-funded others) are presenting their spring 2009 collections at what they are now calling "Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week". We get to see America's most recognized designers — Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan.



Today, I went to check out the action at Vera Wang's event, as the wedding styles she is showing will certainly need jewelry to complement her designs!

We have some other designers like Tracy Reese, Phillip Lim and Yigal Azrouël showing who are building their brands, and the Project Runway finalists will show their collections on Sept 12th. One of the show's former participants, Malan Breton, will have a show of his work as well. You might not remember him, he was kicked out after only the third episode on season three, but he is here with his collection this week. Christian Siriano is here too, with a maternity line, of all things.

New York's fashion week is a major stage where new and established designers will make a statement. All kinds of other statements are made as well, with protesters on Sunday taking issue with Donna Karan's use of fur,
and some non-anorexic women were out on the sidewalk, angrily taking issue with the fashion industry's fixation on thin bodies.
Chanting, "Curves on the catwalk," they had signs saying "Hire Me! I Can Walk!". Today, in addition to fashion, there is Reverend Park's bible crusade going on in Bryant Park, which looks so beautiful this time of year. His supporters (in stylish attire, of course) mingle with the fashion crowd, handing out invitations to passers-by.

Karan's show was remarkable for the presence of (hold your breath here) jumpsuits and rompers. These garments have been seen in the spring 2009 collections from others, with some on the runway of BCBGMaxAzria and Yigal Azrouël. The actual look is different from runway to runway, but you have to wonder what's up with these clothes?

Donna Karan's show on Sunday was a celebration of 20 years of DKNY, and featured some modernized looks from the '80s. She showed a number of romper-like shorts that were fluffed out at the top of the thigh. They were cute, but nobody I know over 20 can wear these.

The rest of us enjoyed the jumpsuits that would look and feel better on an 'adult' body. Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham unveiled a short, boyish new haircut to go with her new fashion line this week as well. Her small collection is made in a London atelier and will be produced in very limited quantities. I kept thinking-Wouldn't she look great wearing my earrings!

Another hot ticket is for Justin Timberlakes runway extravaganza. With celebs like Jessica Simpson and Jessica Biel wearing their William Rast jeans, his show will have one of the most star-studded audiences of the week. If you are here in town, it's fun just to walk by the tents, the music is throbbing, limos come and go, and you can probably get a glimpse of a star or two, rushing in or out of the fashion event of the year. Ciao!

Unbridaled

This lovely couple is unbridaled, but that's not what this story is about ! We're in the studio producing some exciting pieces that will be given to guests at one of the hottest wedding events in NYC. The wedding channel will soon be having it's annual couture show and I was approached to produce a jewelry piece to be given to the guests at the show.
You know, I have always been drawn to the beauty of Swarovski crystals, and use them liberally throughout my jewelry collection. In my house, there are crystals everywhere, jars of them, samples adorning my dog Lulu's collar, crystals used as paperweights, decorations on wrapping paper, and even crystals made into a giant christmas wreath, that will (i can't believe the holidays are already drawing near) soon be on the mantle of our fireplace.

These crystals just get more and more popular, and you can see many designers using them in their work. In fact, when Swarovski looked around, there were enough designs out there for a book. So, they made one, and I was lucky enough to be a part of this unbelievable project. The book is titled 'unbridaled' and will be presented at the wedding channel's couture show on October 18-20th. There will be a special event for the books unveiling, and I will supply one of the gifts for the guests. We're making these by hand, and so far, it is going great.

The book is a knockout, featuring pieces chosen by Swarovski that signify 'the marriage of tradition and avant garde'. It is another showcase for the Crystallized Swarovski Elements brand- their product line of crystals that are really the best of the best when it comes to color and sparkle.
In addition to the book, the show will feature the Winnie Couture diamond label- unbelievably beautiful fashions for the bride and wedding party. Between Winnie and Unbridaled, I couldn't help myself, hence the equine couple at the top who don't wear earrings or gowns and won't be at the event, but aren't they such cute horses !



Maybe I'll see one or both of them at Saratoga Race Course one day, where I'll bet on them for sure! It is so inspiring to work on this project, I've had such a great time on weddng designs, and to be chosen to work with them for this book, and this show is unbelievable.
For those planning to attend the show, this is a new event- Swarovski will be making a first time showing here. You'll be able to view one-of-a-kind "Haute Couture Designs" daily created for the new book UNBRIDALED at an exhibit in the Astor Ballroom of the Barclay Hotel.
You will be able to Discover how the sparkling and dynamic crystals add to bridal fashion, in order to fulfill the dreams of creating a wonderful look for modern brides. Here's a sneak preview, I did a headband for a younger member of the bridal party in one of the sections in the book. Enjoy!