Shoes with a Statement

Heard of GTH pants? Well, here’s a lovely pair of Stubbs and Wootton slippers wishing you the same sentiment.

It certainly takes the right personality to pull off wearing such a pair of slippers, wouldn’t you say? I think I’ll go with the equine version or the velvet or plaid versions in the pics below. A little more my style.

Happy Monday, y'all!
Images from Stubbs and Wootton

Blame the Winner

Yesterday's Breeders' Cup was a heartbreaker. Zenyatta, that amazing mare, almost took the crown, but in the end, it was #5, Blame, that edged her out.

Cheers to you, Zenyatta. You are a majestic horse and we've enjoyed your prancing, dancing and amazing racing skills. We'll miss ya, girl!
Photo from The Courier-Journal

Savor Thanksgiving

I know it’s tempting to immediately jump right into discussions of the holiday season, namely Christmas. Especially since red and green invaded the stores before Halloween even arrived. But, I always feel that Thanksgiving should have its due. Seriously, why would you speed past a holiday that is basically an homage to food? You can still keep up your harvest decorations, enjoy the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade AND plenty of football on TV; then eat yourself into oblivion, knowing that (for many of us) you don’t have to work or go to school the next day. How great is this??

Really, savor this day. Don’t rush full-force into the Christmas shopping season. Give thanks and enjoy your feast with family and friends. Then, for those of you who shop the day after Thanksgiving, get up early and hit the ground running. I’ll still be asleep in bed and will join the online shopping masses on Cyber Monday.
Image courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Blog feature: ‘Be in Style’ 

Looking for a good style blog featuring the latest news in beauty and fashion trends? Then check out Be in Style, part of the Pocketchange network of blogs.

Be in Style also features the latest blogs that are making a splash with readers in blogland. It’s a great way to check out what people are saying about common interests you may share. And for those of us in our 30s and 40s with kids, it’s a gold mine of helpful information.

The World of Gloria Vanderbilt

The new biography of Gloria Vanderbilt, “The World of Gloria Vanderbilt,” written by Wendy Goodman is out. What a fascinating woman Ms. Vanderbilt is and an incredible life she has led, both with plenty of good and bad throughout. Now in her mid-80s, Gloria Vanderbilt has left quite a legacy, yet it’s probably her son, Anderson Cooper, who is more well-known these days.

David Patrick Columbia of the New York Social Diary recounted his first meeting with Ms. Vanderbilt almost 20 years ago:

“She’s the only celebrity I’ve ever met – and I’ve met scores, even hundreds – whose charisma remains large and intact at all times. This is not an act of pretense but rather just the magic of the woman’s personality. Furthermore she’s a beauty, and although age has made its transformations as it does with all of us, with Gloria, you get the feeling that (aside from a little help from her professional “advisers”) that age transforms with her. “That subtle charm that makes young farmers desert the farm,” to borrow from another Cole Porter tune, is hers.”

Fifteen-year-old Gloria Vanderbilt is featured in Harper's Bazarre.

This photograph features a baby Gloria with her mother, Gloria Mercedes Morgan Vanderbilt and her father, Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt. Her father was in his early forties when he married the teenage Gloria Mercedes Morgan. Mr. Vanderbilt died the year after baby Gloria was born.

I recall watching a miniseries about the life of Ms. Vanderbilt – the custody battle between her mother and her aunt; growing up as one of the wealthiest children in the world; multiple husbands, her designer-jean empire and the list goes on and on. Like any good soap opera, I was drawn to the screen. Yet, this was a true story.

Gloria with her third husband, director Sidney Lumet, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. 

Goodman’s biography has the stamp of approval from Vanderbilt herself, and the forward is written by Cooper:

When you have lost, as a child, a father, a mother; when you are raised with the terrible knowledge that nothing is what it seems, and nothing can protect you, you come to understand that anything is possible, anything can happen. Great pain, great pleasure. There is no safety in guarantees.”

My mother learned that lesson early on ...

Gloria lounging with her fourth husband, Wyatt Cooper, father of sons Anderson and Carter.

The book’s art design is by Chip Kidd, probably best known for his work on “True Prep” with Lisa Birnbach. Having received good reviews in the literary world, I may have to add this biography to my Christmas wish list.
Images from The New York Social Diary and Amazon

Cover Up in Style

Love the Russian-inspired coats that Anthropologie is featuring this winter. Many of these would be great for the holiday season and to any fancy parties you attend well into the winter (anything to brighten those gray days and dark, cold nights).
All images from Anthropologie

The Karelia coat, inspired by Russian tapestries. (I can also see Auntie Mame wearing this one, can't you?)

The Friend of Faux Coat

The Phlox and Coral Coat



Vote

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
        - John Quincy Adams

Break Out the Autumn and Winter Hats for Breeders' Cup

This coming weekend, Nov. 5 and 6, the Breeders' Cup returns to Louisville. So, the who’s who of the horse world will again descend upon our fair city. I have a chance to go to the preview races on Friday, but I’ll have to see how my schedule shakes out.

With the cooler weather, Breeders Cup offers a different take on the fabulous finery at Churchill Downs. Instead of straw hats and Lilly Pulitzer-inspired colors, the fall meet features wool cloches, leather boots and more earth tones, yet some vibrant colors still manage to get thrown in the mix. These hats from Susan Van der Linde are simply gorgeous.

Très expensive, but gorgeous nontheless.

The Breeders Cup only makes it to Churchill every few years, so when there’s a chance to wear a great hat in November, be sure to jump at the chance.
Images courtesy of taigon.com