SAG besties!

the color keeps on splashin' on the red carpets this season.   second to the Oscars, my heart goes to the SAG awards.  they feel more legit from an actor's standpoint, and i honestly feel like all the ladies kick it up a notch in how they dress.  like a full dress rehearsal for the Oscar red carpet, if you will...

the ladies who ruled the carpet like queens?  in no particular order, just rolling out of my head as they come -

Tina Fey nailed it in Oscar de la Renta.  i love this funny lady.  she had me at Mean Girls.  somehow (perhaps you need a consistent stylist Tina?  i am so here for you...) she is a bit hit or miss on the carpets.  (obvs not in the acting that gets her there, because lady is on a LOT of red carpets!)  this one - HIT.  she looks crackin.

Sofia Vergera...sigh.  my GOD this woman is beautiful.  it's almost too much.  it's almost absurd. add to it that she is absolutely hilarious, and it pretty much just blows your mind. so what's a woman like that to do?  pour herself  into this gorge cobalt Roberto Cavalli dress and go and explode hearts and minds.  that's all.  just another day at the (not)office....

Natalie Portman is one of the prettier human beings on the planet.  add to it that she has the lovely glow of carrying a wee one, being in love,  and oh yes...the fact that she is blasting away all competition this award season...  not a whole lot of pomp and circumstance needed.  a simple but perfectly embellished Azzaro column dress will do the trick.

lastly but never ever leastly.    my current major girl crush - Mila Kunis.  love her, love the Alexander McQueen dress.  love the simple but absolutely perfect in every way hair and make up.  apparently all i have to say about this is "LOVE".  so there it is.

next stop - Oscars -- woot woooot!

allow me

to introduce you to my new style persona.  the slightly reclusive, distantly european royal, glamourous starlet.  i wander 'round my estate all day, dressed to perfection in the event that anything spectacular might happen at any given moment.  these are the clothes i will be wearing.  this is what Elie Saab's couture collection did to me.  my initial reaction was just being knocked breathless at the sheer loveliness of it all.  but it's impossible (at least for yours truly) not to begin forming very specific and detailed fantasies when things are this beautiful.  so if you will pardon me, i must get back to my little dream world...

 photos:  GoRunway.com

Chanel, si belle!

by nature, couture collections are generally an amusement park ride of imagination.  a trip inside our female collective "i want to be her" fantasies, brought to life on a runway.  not usually the sort of clothing you immediately relate to in a "i could totally wear that to lunch" sort of way.  this Chanel presentation teetered on the tightrope of being fantastic AND wearable.  there were loads of signature styles.  classic tweed jackets mixed up with unexpected bottom pieces like a sequined skinny pant.  OUI.   beautiful, fluid fabrics layered in longer, softer looks.  a number of early sixties shaped coats and shift dresses with gorge detailing that separate the sublime from the mundane.  LOVE.  lots of eclectic, fun, modern layering.  some of which was a bit "not sure which pieces to go with, so i will go with all of them" and some of which was spot on perfect Chanel chic.  most of my favorite couture shows end with me deeply entrenched in a new character fantasy which will wind its way into wearable pieces in my closet.  this show has me deeply entrenched in the desire to immediately win the lottery so that i can run to Paris and stock up on closet-fulls of Chanel.

when old is new, a la Dior

i love a good dose of old fashioned glamour.  not that there is anything wrong with modernity, i do love to see what is new and upcoming.  but sometimes a girl likes to feel like a girl.  the Dior couture show in Paris was all that with a cherry on top.  at times theatrical, always pure lady-like glamour.  a number of  looks were very reminiscent of the New Look of Dior, nipped waists and flared skirts.  LOVELY. all of the looks were drop dead CHIC.  the fabrics, the colors, the silhouettes, all if it just oozes the sophistication of  ladies in Paris in days gone by.   here's to dressing up and here's to ladies looking like ladies.  let us all join in a chorus of "oui!"

all photos GoRunway.com

unders for less

as with life, the perfect outfit begins with the right foundation. underneath it all - you need to feel wrapped up and taken care of!! Hanro has mastered this art. and those of you that share with me the giddy thrill of a quality item marked down will be pleased to know it is clearance time!! now didn't that make a chilly to the bones Monday feel just a little bit better?

best in show

i apologize for not being the early bird with this Golden Globes post. i was out in the country without (gasp!!) even having access to any red carpet shows!! while on one hand it did make me have heart palpitations for a moment, i have to be honest. the peace and quiet was worth it! but here we are now, so let's just have a look at what i loved the most, shall we?

there was a bit of green on the carpet. i love a good dash of color when it's done right. when it's done wrong a person looks as if she is wearing a chenille bedspread. i name no names there. i am more of a neutral person i must admit - so it does take a killer dress for me to love it. and i LOVE Angelina Jolie in Versace. she rarely does bold color and this was a gorgeous departure from her norm, while keeping to her signature slim sexy silhouette. love the sparkle and adore the low back exposing her tattoos. haute couture sexy bad-ass. LOVE.

my most recent girl crush also hit the mark in Vera Wang. Mila Kunis wears this dress perfectly. it almost feels like a "coming out" dress for her as a serious actress. the shape of the dress is gorgeous in and of itself, fits her to perfection, and the texture of the fabric hurls it over the edge into the absolutely fabulous
realm. brilliantly played.

over to the other side of color... another clump of ladies rocked the nudes. with varying success. a number of dresses got a bit lost in the details. what could have been perfect was way over-worked. rising above this was the absolute genius simplicity of Emma Stone in Calvin Klein. she was spot on PERFECT - just abs gorge. she wears it like it's her own skin. everything about her is perfectly pulled together here, and she beats out my girl crushes for my favorite of the evening.

cheers to all the winners and nominees at the awards!!

holy sh...oe!

this needs to be placed front and center in the "how in the HELL am i just now hearing about this?!?!?" file.  if you recall, i posted a few months back about a sandal shop in Sicily where you have your shoes custom designed and made for you.  heaven.  now, struggling with finding the perfect shoe to wear at my wedding i keep thinking "why am i not friends with Manolo or Christian?" so that i could just have what i want made for me. then BOOM this morning i discover this little gem of a website Milk & Honey.  the company was started by 2 sisters in 2009 who encountered same said problem - finding the "just right" shoe.  so they made a you-design-it-we- will-make-it website.  genius.  you can choose fabrics, styles, heel height, add-ons. (think of the above shoe, gorgeous as it is, as a blank canvas...)   it's bloody brilliant. the only problem is going to be finding closet space...

oooh la la

quite a number of years ago, when my casting job had me traveling round the world, i developed a duty-free Chanel make up habit.  i had developed a duty-free candy habit in my youth traveling back and forth between England and the States, so this was just a logical age driven upgrade.  i became psychotically obsessed with a nail polish called Opaline.  i knew it would not last, so i amassed a RIDICULOUS amount of bottles of the stuff, and i have exactly one left.  i was starting to feel some pangs of fear as to what would happen when it ran out because as high and low as i have searched, i have never found anything like it.  these days, Chanel has cornered the market on the "must have" color every season.  it's like they put crack in the nail polish.  here and there i succumb to the siren call.  i rocked the Khakis all fall, and will keep Khaki Rose in my regular line up.  for spring - i felt the pull pretty hard for the Black Pearl.    a) the gunmetal holographic opalescent color is BEYOND.  b) i happen to love black pearls and c) it appeals wildly to my captain jack sparrow pirate sensibilities.  and so off i went to welcome it into my home.   in doing so i got blindsided in the most extraordinary way.  another spring color -- Pearl Drop -- is literally the closest thing i have ever seen to my old flame Opaline.  my heart started beating and i got a little woozy (again, i really think there might be crack in these formulas)   my treasure chest will once again be filled with pearl delights.

spring a ding ding

i'm over winter already so i'm going to focus on all things spring.  if any dire cold-style concerns arise, you can always email me and i will post not entirely against my will - i am here for you after all, dear reader.  anyhoo - spring always makes me happy.   and the spring lookbook from Asos made me way happy.  a little while back, Asos at last launched a site for all of us here in the US of A - it's one England's best one stop shop sites - tons and tons of goodies for the gettin'.  cut to now, and i'm just a bit swoon-y for the GORGE floaty dresses coming for spring. there are maxis and minis and pants, oh my!  i'm still well into my maxi fixation - and though i had previously stated that i might not add to my collection, let's just say right here and now that i have changed my mind on that.  i am particularly partial to the cream number - that one will very likely be calling my closet home... and the orange for my honeymoon... and...