Month: August 2013

On the Street: The Plaza Hotel in Self-Camouflage

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A few days ago, I passed the Plaza Hotel on 5th Avenue. I did a double-take and then I took this picture. Look closely: on its front facade, the Plaza is wearing a cleverly fitted covering, designed and detailed to look like the building itself. Apparently the hotel is under construction; the side facing Central Park, visible at the right in this photo, has its own mesh-like cover to protect passersby from falling debris.

I don’t know what the view from inside the Plaza must be these days, with all this work going on, but the trompe l’oeil tarp is a nifty way to deal with the exterior.

CB I Hate Perfume’s Call for Benefactors

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I’ve admired perfumer Chrisopher Brosius since the mid-1990s, when his original Demeter line was first launched in New York. I’ve continued to follow his career and his work, collecting samples and a bottle or two for my own collection and—in recent years—making regular visits to his I Hate Perfume studio and gallery in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.

(You can read a post I wrote last year about Brosius and I Hate Perfume here.)

For all these reasons, I was distressed to learn that Brosius and I Hate Perfume are being forced to leave their Williamsburg storefront. I don’t have the details, but everyone knows that New York City real estate, particularly in a neighborhood like Williamsburg that has recently seen an influx of high-end development, is a tough business… Continue reading “CB I Hate Perfume’s Call for Benefactors” →

Covet: Book Skirt from Garnet Hill

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I usually wear dresses, rather than skirts with tops, but if I were looking for a new skirt for autumn, this one from Garnet Hill would be at the top of my wishlist. Why? Because it has a print of bookshelves. The catalogue suggsts that each row of books also “looks like an urban skyline.” Sure, why not? Two of my favorite things.

5 on 5: Ways to Get Your Bosch On

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I remember the first time I saw Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (1500-1505), or rather a reproduction of this (in)famous painting: I was a college freshman, and it was printed as a full-color fold-out in my Janson’s History of Art. Like most people who are familiar with this enigmatic masterwork, I still love it and I still don’t understand it. I don’t think the historians of Renaissance art have figured it out yet, either.

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Alexander McQueen’s final collection (2010) included a dress printed with details of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and his Temptation of St. Anthony. (There was also a matching handbag.) And the house of Carven has recently copycatted this idea.

Even if you weren’t able to scoop up one of McQueen’s Bosch dresses or bags (hah!), there are ways to incorporate bits of this enigmatic work into your own look…

Continue reading “5 on 5: Ways to Get Your Bosch On” →