La Vie En Rose

Delight in the Details: Encylopedia of the Exquisite

Of all the many things there are to give and receive, my favorite in either category is books. And on an ocassion when my list to Santa is growing with each latest release, topping my list to give (since I've already received my very own copy) is the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins.

Jessica took a page out of the compendiums on eccentric exotica and curious artifacts from the 16th century, and presented her own curation on aesthetics and lifestyle and everyting, wel,l exquisite—from the origins of the Japanese kimono (page 97), to anecdotal descriptions of lightening (page 109) and boudoirs (page 28), to a historical brief on the concept of a weekend (page 252)—all in a fashion that is vintage yet new, enlightening yet highly engaging. It's the kind of book that can be treated both as amuse bouche and dessert and (if there's the luxury of sneaking in a lazy late afternoon) everything in between.

I know Jessica from my years at WWD and W: I marched into the Los Angeles bureau as she was off to the main office in New York. She later moved to Paris to serve as W's European Editor, then wisely left the whole rat race-in-heels to get grounded in India before returning home, falling in love and settling in on the Blue Hill peninsula in Maine. Not that she has totally said ta-ta to all the glam. Like yours truly, however, it's about moderation: Jessica now writes for Vogue, and covered the collections this year for vogue.com.

But it's this latest bit of ink that's making its mark. Jessica dished out five for La Vie En Rose:

La Vie En Rose: In your introduction, you open with how you've been collecting exquisite treasures since you were a child. What prompted you to do this book now in your life?

Jessica Kerwin Jenkins: After many years in journalism, my file full of exquisiteness was getting bursting! But the project happened pretty naturally when I decided to put fashion journalism on the back burner for a while. When I was traveling in Southern India I went to see someone who does cranial-sacral therapy. (Why not?!) She asked what was my biggest passion in life, what I really liked to do. To my surprise, I said "research." Could anything sound more dull? But I do love sleuthing around in libraries and archives like a dorky Nancy Drew, hunting for strange and beautiful stories and unearthing amazing tales that make my heart thump.

LVER: Considerable research when into each, succinct entry. What was a surprising discovery?
JKK: Anything research that resulted in what felt like a dead end, or felt too predictable, got tossed out, and I hope that each of the 100 entries offers its own surprise. For example, there's an entry on Red Lipstick. We all know what that is, but the thing that was interesting to me about red lipstick was how it became a symbol during World War II. The Nazi party banned lipstick early on, insisting that every proper frau should remain plain-faced. On the other hand, the Allies did everything they could to maintain a steady supply of red lipstick. They believed that beauty was defiance, and that lipstick could keep morale high, even in dark times. I was thrilled to find evidence of that not only in general historic sources, but in the journals of a British housewife, who very consciously wore lipstick throughout the war.

LVER: And a favorite discovery?
JKK: I know that learning all about the Bon Chrétien pear (aka the Bartlett) and its royal French pedigree has changed the way I look at pears now. It's given that tasty snack a glamorous new identity and turned a rather democratic object into something precious.

LVER: For all its appearances as something of a vintage treasure, how do you see this book in modern life?
JKK: For me, this book, as an encyclopedia, is something like an anti-Wikipedia. The internet holds an unlimited source of knowledge. You can find basic information about anything you're curious about there. What felt more right, and more fresh, to me was creating a place for curated knowledge, limiting the scope and bringing a certain eye to that field of knowledge, but also tracking down the esoteric, fascinating information that you'll never find online.

LVER: What's next for you?
JKK: I'm beginning just now to work on a new project. I think in some way I was holding my breath, waiting for this book to come out, before I could move on. It's really exciting to get back into my research, especially as I have no idea where it's leading me yet. It's a bit unnerving, but also so magic.

Exquisite author Jessica Kerwin Jenkins photographed by Sinclair Scott Smith

Limited-Edition Brooks Salzwedel

 

Among the first works of art that Andy and I bought together were a trio of thumb-sized (various thumb sizes) graphite-under/on-resin images of parts of the Los Angeles freeways against the palm trees. Each one is framed in cut copper pipe. They are like peep holes into another world, at first idyllic because of the trees. But the haziness of the resin bespeaks of a manmade reality, a landscape both smoggy and striped by cars and concrete.

As we would come to know more and more over the years, the creator of those peep hole's, Brooks Salzwedel, has a relationship with the natural and manmade realities of our world that is both tenuous and reverential. The artist, who lives near us in Silver Lake, conjures his fragile, unearthly images by using graphite on layers of mylar, then cast in resin.

Not long after that first acquisition, when we first opened A+R, Brooks began crafting belt buckles, using much of the same labor-intensive techniques he uses in his fine art, yet with duplications of his images. Several collections of his buckles, all best-sellers, have followed. As his fine art has taken off at galleries from here to the UK, much of it selling out on opening night, Brooks has once again come up with a more accessible alternative: signed, limited-edition giclées, printed on 100% rag, matte, heavy-weight watercolor paper that is both archival and acid free. And once again, we're thrilled to be among the first wave of early adopters and champions of Brooks and is magical work.

On Time: Mad for Uniform Wares' 100 Series

Just posted the 100 Series collection (and the spectacular 200 Series) from the London-based wristwatch maker Uniform Wares. Streamlined and no-nonsense, these watches come in such fantastic colors as Battleship Grey, Swiss Red, Marigold Yellow and Racing Green. The London design firm focuses on high caliber timepieces intended for daily use, intentionally pared down in form, fashion and finish. I need a teal one. And a gray one. And maybe...

Gregory Parkinson Remains Our Prize and Joy

Nominee Gregory Parkinson with ballerina Jessica Saund

The coveted Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund prize may have gone last night to Billy Reid, the Alabama-based men's and women's designer with a penchant for old school Americana. But in the prestigious annual contest, the only west coast entrant, Gregory Parkinson, remains a standout for creating a signature style that is all his own, season in and season out.

It's anyone's guess how much the downtown L.A.-based Gregory (by way of the north of England) would've benefitted from this year's prize of $300,000 for his business and a year mentorship with a leading industry professional. Or for that matter, the prizes the the two runners-up, jewelry designer Eddie Borgo and fashion designer Prabal Gurung, took in the way of $100,000 and mentorship.

I'm just proud to have featured him in this year's 2010 California Design Biennial, and even before the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists were announced. He's been playing it slow and steady for years now, and, as we know from our childhood fables, in the end, that's how the race is won.

Photo Courtesy of Sherly Rabbani and Josephine Solimene/Style.com

Mad for Maison Martin Margiela Objets

Love the ghostly objets from the new Maison Martin Margiela capsule collection made in conjunction with Paris design house ENO. So have our shop visitors, who have nearly bought out the giant glittering snowballs (which contain nothing but glitter and require both hands to hold!). Also hits are the Bic Pins, branded with MMM, and tipped with a massive goose or ostrich feather, and the matryoshka dolls, those nesting toys from Russia.  Get the connecting theme here? MMM transformed otherwise prosaic objects (a Bic Pen, tourist souvenirs such as the dolls and snow ball) and elevated them by  erasing the superfluous (including any color). A nudge and a wink at minimalism.

In Paris last January, we placed our order for the line and, it appears, we might be the only ones in North America to have received our order before ENO sold. Andy chased down the rest of the collection from a new source, which we will be receiving before too long, including a magnifying glass that resembles half an eyeglass frame. We ordered both the left and right!

Off Our Seats for Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation

Thievery Corporation at the Gibson Amphiteater Sunday night

Sunday night we traded seats in front of the tube for those behind the soundboard at the Gibson Aphitheater for Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation. It was Massive's second trek through L.A. in recent months to mark their newest album, "Heligoland," and we were there because of our old pal Miles Siggins, who's known the boys in the band since their early days.

The trip-hop godfathers didn't disappoint, and the staging—specifically, a light show that spelled out some thought- and smile-provoking current affairs—made the show. But we were already on our feet because of a funkin' fabulous set by Thievery Corporation.

Thanks Miles for a good night.

What to See at Esquivel House Today

Thrilled at sight of everything assembled inside Esquivel House on Third Street in L.A. I've snapped a few photos to tempt you into checking it out today ONLY. We're here through 5 p.m. Swing by for a drink and to check out what L.A. style is really about.

East of the Beverly Center at 8309 W. Third Street, Los Angeles 90048

Inside Esquivel House

Jewelry by Gabriela Artigas

 

Gabriella Artiga's new luxe collection. Swarovski on leather. Absolutely stunning and modern.

 

A view of Cheryl Dufault's vintage-cum-tribal-like jewelry

 

Salt Optics. Great hand and weight and I've been wearing them for a couple of years now. Love them.

 

Don't step on Esquivel grey or tan suede shoes...I couldn't resist.

 The patio at Esquivel House. An absolutely lovely and civilized way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

SEE YOU SOON!

Swing By: L.A. and London Style at Esquivel House

From 1 to 5 p.m. today, 11.6, I will be joining stylist Miles Siggens and shoe designer George Esquivel to present a showcase of accessory lines from Los Angeles and London. On tap are some of my favorite lines: Bremont luxury watches from the UK, and from L.A./O.C., Gabriela Artigas jewelry, Esquivel shoes and Salt Optics.

It all takes place at Esquivel House, George's lovely studio and patio on Third Street near the Beverly Center. Swing by for a drink and nibble and to check it all out.

Esquivel House, 8309 W. Third Street, Los Angeles, 1-5 p.m.

Rufus Wainright+Pals Lap Up Cherry Vanilla

  
New author Cherry Vanilla reads from her sensational biography, Lick Me.

Unplanned as the moment was it couldn't have been better scripted: As Cherry Vanilla recounted the late night when a Ziggy-era David Bowie dropped his glittering drawers for her, out of the opposite corner in the salon at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont came a howl, not so much in scorn as much as esprit de corps, from a silver sequin-sheathed Angie Bowie, who, after all, was still wed to the glam god when he popped Cherry's official role as his publicist.

The extent of Cherry and Bowie's lovey dovey connection rebroadcast in full Technicolor many evenings after, and they live on in Cherry's hot new memoir, Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla. So are her truly wild child adventures as part of Andy Warhol's gang and in Warren Beatty's bed, partying and performing at Max's Kansas City and in London's fledgling punk scene, and as a singer-songwriter through all the downtown debauchery across two continents.

She's regaled pals, especially an enthralled younger set, over the years, including devotees Rufus Wainright, who hosted Wednesday's night intimate gathering and penned the forward to the book, and Bryan Rabin, who organized this L.A. celebration and next week's New York dinner hosted by Tim Burton.

After Cherry, clutching a handful of typed pages, entertained the group of us with the bedding Bowie tale (punctuated a couple of times by Angie's friendly and amusing outbursts), Rufus sat down to the beaten piano and performed a couple of his signature beautiful yet wrist-slashing songs. The whole cherry-colored moment of it all was, indeed, as if we'd died and gone to rock 'n roll heaven.

 

 Buy the Book: Metalsmith Michael Schmidt hides behind the covers.

 

Rufus Wainright tinkles the ivories for the 60-odd (and I do mean odd!) pals gathered in the salon at the Chateau Marmont.

 

Badass Linda Ramone looking chic as ever.

 

 Fashion writer Linlee Allen

 

Still one of L.A.'s best fashion designers—and best-kept secrets, an always turned-out Magda Berliner giving us all a white-hot shock with her newly platinum hair.

 

Commune creative heads Steven Johanknecht and Roman Alonso flank another of L.A.'s standout rtw designers, Jasmin Shokrian.

 

Fine Young Cannibals: Pals Azia Crescenzo and Cherokee Neas keeping glam [rock] electric.

 

Yours truly, Rose Apodaca, with Constance—drag performer, artist and Robert Mappelthorpe muse—who begins a weekly Wednesday cabaret engagement at Palihouse in WeHo November 10.

 

Tatiana von Furstenberg, Francesca Gregorini and Cherry darling

Getting schooled on his namesake, Bowie Smallcombe and mum Malin

My star sister, fellow Gemini and beguiling chanteuse (what a voice!) Morganne Picard. She's off to Santa Barbara on Saturday to sing for a Ferragamo event, then joining Constance at Palihouse on November 17.

 

Handsome Kristopher Houser

Brian Gainey and doyenne of downtowners everywhere Annie Flanders

 
Lensman Greg Gorman and designer-artist Tere Tereba, who, like Cherry, is a fellow Warhol Superstar.

A man of many tales, Roy Oldenkamp

 

 Cherokee Neas and Rufus Wainright

 

Cherokee's ma and pa Susan and Tom, who used to wield his lens at all of club-going kids in the rockabilly, punk, ska and goth scenes in the 1980s and chronicle them in his 'zine More Mayonnaise. Tom is recording Cherry reading her book. Cannot wait to hear it!

 

Mr. Fuentes and Howie Pyro, he of the amazing Intoxica radio show

 

   
The man behind the evening, Bryan Rabin

Catch Cherry Friday night, November 5, as she reads from her book at the fabulous literary series hosted by Erin Tavin and Steffie Nelson held at Tavin, 1543 Echo Park Avenue, Los Angeles 90026. Reading starts at 7:30 p.m. sharp and sustainably farmed Wente wine on tap.

 

All Photos by Rose Apodaca, except for: Cherokee and Rufus by Tom Neas; Cherry Vanilla, Rose and Constance, Tatiana von Furstenberg, Francesca Gregorini with Cherry, Greg Gorman and Tere Tereba, Roy Oldenkamp, and Bryan Rabin are all by David Crotty for Patrick McMullan Company

One Night Only! Gr.Dano @ A+R

 

The wearable, seasonless ready-to-wear of San Francisco’s gr.dano has become my go-to line since I was introduced to it before this summer's California Design Biennial. In my quest as fashion curator for the show, I was connected to designers Jill Giordano and Brian Scheyer, an affable pair with a heap of talent. They manage to take otherwise sophisticated styling and pattern construction and, combined with their love of fabrics, they materialize clothes that are intelligent without being stupidly priced; sexy without being salacious; modern without being silly.

We might not stock clothing at A+R, but we do love sound modern design. So this Friday, November 5, from 3 to 8 p.m., our A+R flagship will showcase gr.dano with a trunk show and a tipple.

Join us: A+R 1121 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, 90291. Parking at San Juan (below lofts).

Enough Said

You can't bitch about the system if you don't exercise your right vote. It takes less time than you think, so get yourself to your polling place as soon as possible today. If you're not on the voter list, ask for a provisional ballot.