La Vie En Rose

Getting My Fingers Dirty

No one can describe me as having a green thumb. More often than not, I massacre plants. But in an effort to meet one of my 2012 resolutions, I spent some time Sunday planting thyme, Italian parsley and oregano plants we picked up at the Hollywood Farmer's Market that morning.

I nestled the six potted herbs into the railing planters I brought home ages ago from A+R.

Admittedly, there was something kind of exhilirating today as I sat on my sofa looking out onto the balcony and I spotted one of the two planters I suspended there yesterday. For the brief hour it took to replant these tiny herbs, I enjoyed digging my fingers into the dark soil.

I'll certainly enjoy the outcome in Andy's hands when he gets to use a few cuttings in his cooking.

Fingers crossed in the coming weeks I do not forget to just add water!

Time For Tea

Tea time just got better. Andy just sent word through A+R that the stunning glass Teapot with Diffuser by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Kasper Rønn of Norm Architects and Design Studio for Danish brand Menu has dropped in price from $80 to $60!

Pink Martini+Pasta Fresco: Her Majesty Kim Hastreiter Holds Court in L.A.

By now, it should be no surprise, that if the inimitable Pink Martini is playing in Los Angeles or New York or even now Paris (more on that later), among the shifting ensemble of guest musicians and singers is one performer on the triangle who has become a near-regular: the equally inimitable Queen Bee of Pop (Counter) Culture and co-founder of Paper Magazine, Kim Hastreiter.

Pink Martini was on its annual New Year's Eve storming of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and so, too, Kim at her customary suite at the Hollywood Standard Hotel, home base as she juggled a slam-bam extended weekend of meetings for business and fun.

Kim hadn't seen Nina since our visit to the Paper Mag offices in New York in May, so we swung by after lunch at Food+Lab to catch up with her a few blocks over at Silver Lake's Sunset Junction. It was the day before the concert and, not surprisingly, we found her surrounded by a handful of cool kids in an art-filled loft with an enormous dining table, up the steps above Intelligentsia Coffeehouse. The space, along with this corner of real estate, including Cafe Stella, belongs to Gareth Kantner, who also joined the impromptu gathering. A supper for Kim's L.A. pals was quickly planned for a couple of nights later there, with Gareth promising to roast a porcetta.

But there would be no savory oink. No surprise, within the day, Kim's guest list grew beyond what the loft could comfortably seat. And so to Speranza, a neighborhood Italian restaurant nearer to my 'hood for the Monday night supper. And what a divine way to spend an evening it was, catching up with old and new pals alike over shavings of cheese, prosciutto and, later, a hot bowl of ziti all' Amatriciana which was worth blowing any aspirations of New Year calorie-cutting.

Among the new pals is baker Vanessa Lavorato, newly arrived from S.F. to L.A. and whom Kim has already put to work as a writer! Kim was especially excited touting the bon bons worthy of the White Rabbit made by lovely Vanessa, pictured above with performance art icon Joey Arias and Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale holding the beautifully boxed treats. 

I hadn't seen Joey since his show with Basil Twist shook up the RedCat in late 2010. A cameo player in Pink Martini, too, he spent New Year's Eve not at the Disney Hall with Basil, Kim and the orchestra, but bringing down the Chateau Marmont with his own cabaret show (had Andy and I not already planned on spending the evening with Barbara Bestor, who was also at the Monday night supper, I would've popped my gold turban-topped head at his gig). Two nights after the Chateau and sans drag, Joey made me dizzy telling me all he had going on for 2012, including a lengthy run of "Arias with A Twist" in D.C., recording with Pink Martini and—most exciting—the release of a film directed, costumed and produced by his longtime collaborator Thierry Mugler. Cannot wait to see that!

Another dinner guest with exciting news for the new year was Jeremy Scott. The project has not been announced yet, but suffice it to say, having been one of the first people who met the designer when he plopped down here in L.A. a lifetime ago, I'm so proud of him—especially the way he has managed to find sanity and success in this cuckoo fashion biz by writing his own ticket.

There were plenty of guests at Madame Hastreiter's table who are all about writing their own tickets—artist Adelle Lutz, publicist Jen Gross, photographer The Cobra Snake. Seated on Kim's right was Jeffrey Deitch who certainly keeps writing and selling tickets to the galas and exhibitions now under his care as the director of MOCA. He talked to me about the upcoming show on Rudi Gernreich that he's been madly collaborating on with Decades' Cameron Silver and inviting me to sit in on one of their rendezvous in the next couple of weeks. I just may take him up on it...

The invite I would so love to accept, however, is joining Kim in Paris come March when she and Pink Martini ring in the anniversary of the house of Lanvin. In that delciously dry way Kim has of retelling a story, she told us how she had to twist Alber Elbaz's arm to come see the band when they played Paris this last fall. He would only go, he insisted begrudgingly, to see her perform. Before the concert was over, Alber was apparently on stage singing his heart out with the band and a booking for the grand party this spring promptly followed.

Paris is likely not in my cards for March, so instead I'll make due with the parting gift from Kim that evening, a copy of PM's latest "A Retrospective." Get it.

You're Invited To A Current Affair: Booksigning+Vintage Togs

In spite of a career as journalist-curator-retailer based on endlessly ferreting the Next Big Thing, I've had an equally consuming passion for the past. What people wore and surrounded themselves in served as a intuitive mnemonic system for me to recall my school history lessons, thanks in large part to growing up with a mother who frequented dusty antique shops and garage sales and filled our family suburban home with stuff a century-plus years old.

As a budding clotheshorse, I used my allowance to buy my very first piece of vintage fashion, a pair of kitten-heeled black pumps with a severely pointed toe. I was 10. They reminded me of the pair that Debbie Harry wore along with a striped jersey dress when Blondie performed on TV. I had my mom quickly make me a dress like it, of course. Into high school, I wore vintage clothes, lingerie, jewelry, stilettos and even dead-stock silk stockings almost exclusively, and what I couldn't find, my mom continued to whip up in time for me to hit the clubs each night.

Three decades later, I continue to mix my vintage with modern, like so much of the world does now. I love that the very thing that the Heathers of the world used to mock me for in grade school is now the chic girl's badge of style. My friends who live in London, Paris, Barcelona and New York tell me that Los Angeles remains, bar none, the best place on earth for vintage.

With resources such as this weekend's vintage marketplace A Current Affair, who am I to argue?

More than 30 vendors of vintage fashion, jewelry and accessories will come together at downtown's Cooper Design Space for the 
two‐day 
pop‐up
, the brainchild of 
Joey 
Grana 
of 
Scout, one of the city's best retail resources for new and vintage fashion, 
and
 Richard
 Wainwright 
of NEW/FOUND, the innovative appointment-only vintage concept studio.

This weekend's installation is especially exciting for me because Joey and Richard have invited me to participate as host, as well as sign copies of my latest book, Fred
 Hayman—The 
Extraordinary
 Difference:
 The 
Story 
of 
Rodeo 
Drive, 
Hollywood
 Glamour
 and
 the
 Showman 
Who
 Sold 
It
 All.

Part of my hostessing duties involve curating a selection vintage holiday frocks and frippery from the many vendors that will be showcased and available for purchase. What a fun opportunity!

The showcase, along with the booksigning and yours truly will be there for the opening festivities Saturday night, from 6 to 10 p.m. It's a great party, with music, bevvies and a turn out of some of the city's most fashionably turned-out vintage enthusiasts.

Stay tuned...I'll be giving away free tickets on my Twitter digs.

See you there!

A
 Current
 Affair:
 Pop
-Up
 Vintage
 Marketplace takes place this Saturday, Dec. 4 from 6 to 10 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cooper Design Space, 860 South Los Angeles Street  Los Angeles 90014-3311.

Gwen Stefani On Target With Harajuku Mini

Malcolm Maclaren could very well be turning in his grave. Then again, the grand poobah punk provocateur might find the sight of pint-sized schoolchildren clad in skinny tartan bondage pants hooked with pleated half skirts and multi-buckled boots courtesy of a mass retailer utterly subversive.

Mini-me versions of these once-rebellious togs debut today in Target stores as part of the new Harajuku Mini Collection by Gwen Stefani, following a playfully whimsical launch party Saturday afternoon at the Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood.

The grand hall was transformed into a kind of Japanese kawaii Mod girl fantasy-meets-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But the tall glass jars overflowed with Japanese candies as this is the uber cute and uber cool world Gwen has cultivated with her grown-up girl Harajuku Lovers line. That label launched in 2005, a year after her primary collection L.A.M.B. and named after the style-obsessed zone around Harajuku Station in Tokyo.

This peewee incarnation for Target proves this mother of re-invention has only scratched the surface of possibilities.

The walls of the studio where the party took place were swathed in projections of a cartoonish Tokyo, and massive blow-ups of Gwen's Harajuku characters suspended overhead like those in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

There were plenty of activity tables for the many kids who turned out with their parents: a station where they could draw and apply Harajuku Mini stickers in blank books; a beauty area to have their hair done and dressed up with hair clips and poufy hair bands from the line; a DIY fashion stop, where the tiny guests earnestly embellished T-shirts and bandanas from the line with studs, buttons and other details.

And, of course, there were photo booths like those so favored by Japan teens, where users can choose from a range of fun and silly backdrops and symbols such as hearts, stars and cute creatures to decorate photos. Nina and I lined up as soon as we arrived.

Both off and on the runway, the hall was filled with cute kids. There were several folks I hadn't seen in ages, and here we all were, decades after scoring our own bondage pants at NaNa's, toting around our tiny tots. C'est la vie!

On the catwalk, the mini models sported some fantastic hair thanks to Danilo, a longtime collaborator of Team Stefani, which includes costume designer/stylist Arianne Phillips. She turned out to celebrate in the fruits of her labor in the craziest jacket she picked up in Tokyo, decorated with patches of pandas illustrated in Ace Frehley make-up. 

Gwen's sons Zuma and Kingston were among those who scampered and posed for the crowd and cameras, and they returned to the runway for the finale bow with mom, who was dressed in a psychedlic patterned suit from her label L.A.M.B. and a whopping Indian-style necklace.

From the creatively assembled sushi displays to the Japanese vending machines serving up juices, the bash was flawlessly executed. With the nonstop ska and rock steady courtesy of our deejay pal Scott Oster, Nina certainly was loving every moment.

The collection is for kids ages 1 to 13 and accessibly priced from $4 to $30. I only hope there are a few things left when I finally make it to Target tomorrow. It's online—but only for viewing. Ugh!

Arianne Philips gives her approval.

 

Jeremy Scott and Nina Griffith

 

Designer/stylist Andrea Leiberman and son

Face painting table

Japanese-style veniding machines with Japanese juices

Another shot of Kingstone and Zuma with mom

Bullseye! Jeremy Scott, Gwen Stefani and Arianne Phillips

Read All About It! Partying 90210 Style

As seen today on Style.com!

 

Nearly 24 hours after we christened the new Caulfield's in Beverly Hills with a party officially launching The Extraordinary Difference, and I'm still too shattered to do a proper posting on the night.

What a fabulous turnout! THANK YOU everyone who came out to share in the festivities.

Thankfully, many of the fellow journos who were there managed to go live today. And what lovely things they had to say:

Style.com

WWD

Paper Magazine

Style Section L. A.

PopSugar

The Daily Truffle

Champagne and Heels

THANK YOU THANK YOU.

And, Dear Reader, this doesn't excuse me from my own coverage. So stay tuned...

"Extradorinary" Shout Out for the New Caulfield's, Yours Truly in THR

A great plug for my second book and upcoming party in this week's The Hollywood Reporter. "Where the Young Turks Go To Drink," is a two-page feature by Alexis Johnson and Degen Penner spotlighting the new wave of hangouts caterting to the entertainment industry's rising power players.

From the story:

Another hotel is getting a hip reboot. The Thompson Beverly Hills (9360 Wilshire Blvd.), which shut down its BondSt restaurant last year, is reopening the space as a 125-seat bistro called CAULFIELD’S. The first event is a private book party Nov. 9 for fashion writer Rose Apodaca’s biography Fred Hayman: The Extraordinary Difference, hosted by Oscar-nominated costume designer Arianne Phillips (Walk the Line) and fashion designer Jeremy Scott. We hear that the management, which poached a VIP ambassador from the Standard Hotels, is consciously going after Soho House’s young creatives crowd and planning to open a second-floor lounge as well.

I'm absolutely honored that Caulfield's owners Ron Marino and Laurie Mulstay are rolling out the carpet in celebration of my book (Fred Hayman - The Extraordinary Difference) with next Wednesday's party. The pair are also behind bar Chloe in Santa Monica and Magnolia in Hollywood.

The name of this latest place is a nod to the protagonist in Catcher in the Rye, and the gem in the space is a mural with the faces of the blacklisted writers. Such amazing company.

You're Invited: Talk+Booksigning for The Extraordinary Difference

Consider this an open invitation to my first talk/reading and booksigning this Thursday for Fred Hayman - The Extraordinary Difference: The Story of Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Glamour and the Showman Who Sold It All at the downtown campus of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

While his landmark store and fragrance Giorgio Beverly Hills were enough to earn Mr. Hayman the moniker Mr. Rodeo Drive, his contribution extends beyond the borders of 90210 to the way Hollywood dresses, Los Angeles parties and the multi billion-dollar global beauty industry does business.

The talk begins at 12:30 in Room 500 at the FIDM campus, and is followed from 1:30 to 3:30 with a booksigning at the FIDM Museum&Galleries bookstore downstairs.

It's also a great excuse to get to the museum's two newest exhibitions, "FABULOUS! Ten Years Of FIDM Museum Acquisitions, 2000–2010" and "Parfums Lucien Lelong." Both collections are rich with beautifully crafted, highly whimsical objects, ephemera, footwear, accessories and couture. Not to be missed! And it's free to see it.

Hope to see you this Thursday.

FIDM is at 919 South Grand Avenue, Suite 250, Los Angeles. Talk is 12:30-1:30; Booksigning 1:30 to 3:30. Admission is free.

Writing...It's Not Always Pajamas and Slippers

If it weren't for my days in the store and the odd outing, I would live in either leggings and crazy shirt or small-sized men's pajamas.

Today was not one of those days.

As I near the end of writing the manuscript for Dita Von Teese's beauty book, I met with Gregory Arlt, senior make-up artist for MAC and a great pal of both Dita and mine, who is lending his expert insight to the copy. We met up at Magnolia in Hollywood this afternoon, and after a lunch juicy with a medium rare burger and tales exchanged about dancing with Diana Ross, Tom Ford's new eyeshadows and our next projects, we got down to editing chapters.

Gregory snuck up and snapped the above image when I was interrupted reviewing Chapter 11 and on the phone to A+R.

Another Link for Gabriela Artigas and Me Sipping Agave Blanc

Saturday night is alright for fighting, Sir Elton once told us, and I'm certainly fighting the urge to close this laptop and head out to a late-night birthday bash for Gabriela Artigas somewhere in Hollywood at her sister Tere's place. 

I met the striking Artigas siblings late one night, in what seems a zillion years ago, at Diamond Dogs, the too-fast-to-live, too-young-to-die nightclub at H'Wood in Hollywood, thrown by my pals Bryan Rabin and Kelly Cole. After an insanely fun night in my vintage leopard YSL with pals such as make-up artist Gregory Arlt and Dita Von Teese, at 3 a.m. or so I found I needed to make my way back to Silver Lake (mind you, this is before motherhood became a reality).

The Artigas, whom I'd only met briefly before, offered to wheel this crazy old lady in the red fox chubby jacket home. Enroute, I learned the trio split their time between their native Mexico City and Los Angeles. (Since then, I've also learned their uber-chic mother, Teresita, also visits now and again.)

When we arrived in front of my house, Gabriela turned to me and wrapped my neck with a fat sparkling braid of silver chain. This was like the one she made for the runway show of my friend J.C. Obando, she shared. She was a jewelry designer, and, I suppose this was one way to get my attention. It worked.

We now carry her collection in the store. Only her chain rings are online so far, but the rest should go up shortly since it's been such a hit. (Handsome brother Alex, who was behind the wheel of the BMW sedan that night, is a furniture designer. His pieces should finally be instore at A+R soon enough!).

So I mentioned Dita and Gregory specifically as my party co-horts that night because they are with me tonight, in spirit, and the reason why I'm at my desk at home. I'm burining the midnight oil to complete this manuscript for Miss Dita's beauty book. And so I must skip out on celebrating Gabriela's birthday.

Tonight's topic is red lipstick, whose transformative powers I first discovered on my last day of junior high... Admittely, I can't say that I feel too sorry for myself: I'm doing what I love to do. Write. And about one of my fave topics, no less.

My laptop is open. My wet hair is in a turban, while I sit here in a softly worn pair of Viktor&Rolf for H&M cotton men's pajamas, and at my left (because, I am left handed, after all), a glass of clean, silver agave tequila called Ixa.

Such is la vie of the writer on deadline, Dear Friends!

Break over.

FNO Postmortem: DOA or Live Another Day?

Ok, so Fashion's Night Out was a great pretense to initiate a thought-provoking installation in our window, mark the launch of six new collections and see old friends who drove all the way from the eastside to the westside.

Revelers were certainly spending money in L.A. Vogue left coast head ed Lisa Love popped by with Balenciaga's Katherine Ross and shared that she'd just been telling her NYC counterparts that while the hordes there might be out in the streets and stores in party mode, Angelenos were carousing and shopping.  

And we weren't the only ones on the lane inspired to do something more than just throw open our doors in the name of fashion. While Cast of Vices plies its madcap ideas in the form of jewelry cast as pharmaceuticals and disposable plastic bags cut from luxe lambskin, co-designer Chris Glancy came up with the installation in our window that questioned art and commerce and the very idea of FNO.

Mona Moore used the evening for its own support of artists with the opening of “Ideal Woman,” a provocative installation by L.A.-based feminist artist allie pohl. And, up the street, the avant-garde fashion salon Guild opened its exhibition of sublime mixed media imagery by the Czech-born artist Kamil Vojnar.

Still, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that, shopping or not, the party was over. In three turbo years, FNO has become a company unto itself, with an array of branded disposable product and hype tie-ins. By its very existence, it was always a commercial enterprise. Now it feels institutionalized. And that feels forced.

We enjoyed the evening, for sure, and our band of shops on Abbot Kinney who commemorated FNO seemed to enjoy the experience. We all stayed open late—until 10—yet it was a much more manageable, civilized affair than, say, the pandemonium of First Fridays with the gourmet food trucks or even the upcoming street festival which is more about the crafties setting up their tables of home-spun wares for the day than it is for the brick-and-mortar stores who make it work year-round.

It certainly attracted a better dressed crowd.

Will we return for a fourth FNO? Probably. I always enjoy a good revival.

Vincent Ehly, lynchpin of the chicest footwear and bag shop Mona Moore, tells us how he feels about FNO

 

Mona Moore's Sara Van der Mijnsbrugge (far left) and husband Rembrant with his fellow-staffer at Obsolete, Max Zinser, the lovely Sonny Ruscha Bjornson and another friend.

 

Feminist artist annie pohl's neon installation at Mona Moore

 

Andy Griffith and, yours truly, Rose Apodaca inside warm and fuzzy A+R

 

Jewelry designer and craftsman Jay LeCompte of Cast of Vices

 

A+R manager extraordinaire Gina Gardner

 

Jewelry designer Gabriela Artigas showcased her new "Raven" collection of brass pieces

 

We also showcased a new bag collection from Frankfurt, Airbag Craftworks. Most are unisex bags roomy enough for a laptop or LPs (the designers are deejays).

 

A+R is the first outside Paris and Stockholm to have the revolutionary Mutewatch. We already had a waiting list thanks to viral reviews on the Stockholm-designed timepiece.

 

 
Design afficianado Raymond Lee

 

Cast of Vices' Chris Glancy and his lady love Tiffany Horn

 

Cast of Vices "ID Access" bracelets in lambskin and gold-plated brass

 

The Classics: Cast of Vices Rx pendants and cigarette carefully cast in sterling, 14k and porcelain

 

Vicodine pill rings from Cast of Vices on my first-aid bandage display

 

Unflagging A+R champ Natasha Kaplan and husband Todd  Maurer

 

Across the way in front of LFrank, these vintage wheels signaled the presence of the delicious Juicy Greens Juicery cold-pressed elixirs inside jewelry designer Liseanne Frankfurt's gem of a shop.

 

Heist owner Nilou Ghodsi (dressed in Gregory Parkinson) snuck out of her corner shop early on in the evening to visit LFrank. Most of us store owners managed to swing a visit to some of our neighbors's places at some point during FNO.

Yes, it's a very good-looking collection of independent shopkeepers on Abbot Kinney.

 

Designer Kendall Conrad, our stunning A+R neighbor. In her space, among the handmade luxury bags and accessories, the epitome of high craftsmanship of tequila, Los Dragones, was being served up in Reidl stemware. Nice.

Tonight at A+R: Meet Gabriela Artigas, Cast of Vices Dudes and Raise a Glass for FNO2011

In case you've been lounging under a rock these days, you already know tonight is Fashion's Night Out—worldwide.On Abbot Kinney in Venice, A+R is celebrating with the U.S. debut the revolutionary Mutewatch from Stockholm, the John’s Phone from Amsterdam and Airbag Craftworks from Frankfurt.

We're also celebrating the Fall 2011 collections from Uniform Wares watches of London, Gabriela Artigas Jewelry of Hollywood-Mexico City, and leather bags and porcelain jewelry from Los Angeles’ Cast of Vices.

In fact, you'll be able to meet in person Gabriela and, from Cast of Vices, Chris Glancy and Jay Lecompte, as well as see the madcap installation by CoV in our main window.

It's a night of Modern Fixations: Time, Remedy and Expression. Get a first peek at fall and whet your whistle this evening from 6 to 10 p.m.

A+R is one of the AK8, a collective that extends 10% off or more at participating shops, as well as valet parking (available in front of LFrank and Pamela Barish).

See you tonight!

xAndy+Rose

A+R