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The holidays may be months away, but Tommy Hilfiger’s new campaign already has me equal parts excited and overwhelmed about sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family. For the Fall 2011 spread “Home with the Hilfigers,” the highly coordinated Hilfiger clan have packed their collection of tennis rackets and bocce balls into the trunk of their ’84 Mercedes wagon and have left the country club (the backdrop of the summer 2011 ads). They’ve now returned home to the grounds of their private New England estate for a family photo shoot that gives the Kardashian’s super-retouched, super-glamorous 2010 Christmas card a run for its money.
Reprising his role as the dreamy older brother, Noah Mills continues to make readers swoon in luxe turtlenecks and tartan trousers. Despite trading in summery margaritas and linen pants for vodka tonics and driving loafers, Mrs. Hilfiger looks as glamorous and intoxicated as she did poolside in the summer ads. Other beautiful members of the Wes Anderson-esque family include Iselin Steiro, Jacquelyn Jablonski, and Sam Way.
The preppy, American cool vibe essential to the Tommy Hilfiger brand is maintained throughout the new campaign. And by filling each frame with one too many models, photographer Craig McDean captures the chaos necessary for any good family gathering. Yes, Aunt Margaret is going to try to set you up with her neighbor’s son, and your cousin Henry is still going to pick you up and spin you around- even if you are wearing a skirt and are no longer wearing pig-tails. The ads suggest that dressing well (and keeping a cocktail in hand) can make the holiday season a bit more bearable and glamorous- or in the true WASP way, at least keep up appearances.
It’s a sad, sad day when reports on the workplace going casual make the five o’clock news. First, because there’s no breaking news of Kim Kardashian wedding drama. And second, because the report is true.
Honestly, I am sick of hearing the workplace has gone casual. I don’t disagree with the headline. Rather, I am upset with its validity.
For any doubters, I dare you to venture to Boylston Street on your next lunch break any day of the workweek. The evidence is easy to spot; it’s only noon and I’ve already spotted 4 pairs of flip-flops, 3 t-shirts, and 1 pair of cargo shorts.
Where, oh where, have all the strapping men in well-cut suits and women in classic dresses gone?
As the largest culprit of this shameful trend is early twenty-somethings, I believe it falls to me, a recent college graduate, to speak to my people. Finals are over, as are the days of Thursday night binge drinking till 2 a.m. at Tia’s on the Waterfront (well, at least no longer every Thursday).
Please, please, please, dress for your future- even if you’re sitting on your bed in your parent’s house searching Craigslist for a job. Look good, feel good, and you will land a job. (Or, at least that’s my current pep talk to my roommate.)
And for those rebels out there that must defy my preaching and will continue wearing your grossly worn out, leather Rainbow flip-flops, at least get a pedicure. Consider it your first post-college investment.
Unable to fall asleep in the sweltering heat (never mind my being a night owl), I distracted myself as best I know how: had my late-night TV on, channel dialed to E! for much-needed background noise as I typed away for some SB-lovin’-n-bloggin’.
Then it hit me: a mixture of awe and fascination at the new trend the all-tanned-and-dolled-up Giuliana Rancic was peddling. Genuine snakeskin manicures and pedicures. No, not a manicure to emulate this exotic skin. A manicure OF the exotic skin. According to the pointless pundit, they’re all the rage.
The ‘creator’ of this phenomenon, Terri Silacci, stressed that the skins are sourced ethically, all having been naturally shed. But frankly, that wasn’t the first question that came to mind, so much as: WHO THE HELL IS ACTUALLY DOING THIS?
For editorial (like the image above), it’s an incredible concept, bringing interest to one of the single-most neglected finishing touches. But what not-6’1″-and-five-lb-woman, here or anywhere, can you imagine strolling down the street with snakeskin on her nails?
Thanks, Giuliana, for another perfectly useless tip. Pun intended.
I’d like to think I’m not alone in my growing annoyance over the ceaseless hay-day the American press is having over Kate Middleton. To quote one of my all-time favorite movies, Mean Girls, “She doesn’t even go here.”
The incredibly shrinking Duchess of Cambridge has continued to make headlines this week due to her recent weight loss. Is it any real shock that with paparazzi documenting her every move she is going to lay off the cookies? That said, I’d like to divert your attention to another Middletongate story that was vastly overshadowed by the news surrounding her North American tour. Much as I’d love to hate her for a, her skinniness, and b, for ruining my chances of an happily ever after with Prince William, I have to come to her defense on this one… Continue reading »
You probably already know that the Museum of Fine Arts has opened the first gallery in the United States dedicated exclusively to jewelry. What you may not know is that the MFA was also the first museum to dedicate a curatorship to jewerly, as well. I caught up with Yvonne Markowitz, the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry , to discuss her role at the MFA, her fascination with Egypt, and her own jewelry designs.
KCQ: Let’s start at the beginning: you’re a renowned specialist in Egyptology. What drew you to Egypt?
YM: It was actually a second career. I was an art therapist for many years and worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I burned out and my husband said, ‘Why don’t you do something that you really would like to spend the rest of your life doing?’ I always had a passion for Egypt, so I went to Brandeis because they had a great graduate program there. Then I came to work at the MFA.
KCQ: Where does your passion for jewelry come from?
YM: My specialty in Egyptology is ancient jewelry so I spent a good deal of time working on art-excavated collections of Egyptian ornament. Also, the Museum, along with Harvard University, spent several decades excavating tombs in the Sudan, which is ancient Nubia. Nubia and Egypt had a very close relationship in antiquity. We have a wonderful collection of excavated material from Nubia also. Basically that is how I spent my research days here.
KCQ: If you weren’t working at the MFA, what other profession could you see yourself doing?
YM: Well, I make jewelry. I like working with unusual natural specimens, particularly rutilated quartzes and clear quartzes that have pieces of needles made of copper and other metals. The way the needles are arranged in the stone gives the lens a certain type of geometric appeal to me, somewhat random but quite beautiful.
KCQ: Do you have a focus in your jewelry? Earrings? Bracelets? Necklaces?
YM: Primarily pendants or necklaces.
KCQ: Clearly, you get your hands on some of the world’s most remarkable jewelry. Do you have a favorite piece from the exhibition?
YM:I have a couple of favorites. One is the ancient Nubian Hathor pendant. It has the image of the head of the goddess Hathor, she’s the cow goddess. So her sundress is a sun disk with cow horns. Her head rests on this rock crystal orb and in the center there is a gold tube that probably contains a magical piece of folded gold with text on it or images. And I really like the Colt diamond necklace.
KCQ: Tell me about the latter piece.
YM: That was a necklace given in 1856 by Samuel Colt, the gun merchant, to his bride Elizabeth Jarvis, with matching earrings.
KCQ: As the first jewelry curator in the U.S. you are in charge of overseeing the Museum’s extensive jewelry collection. Could you expand more on your position at the MFA?
YM: I guess the most enjoyable part is I get to handle research and write about the collection. I also make recommendations for purchases for acquisitions. I work with donors, donors who are very generous in gifting us wonderful pieces of jewelry or providing funds for us to purchase objects. And I write books and I put on exhibitions.
KCQ: Having studied ancient and contemporary jewelry, do you have a preference?
YM: I like good design, all times, all places. If the piece is well made and the design is good, it appeals to me. Of course, I always have a soft spot for ancient jewelry because I spent a lot of time particularly with ancient Egyptian beadwork. But I like modern studio jewelry also. We have a wonderful collection of contemporary studio pieces, a collection that was given to us in 2006, the Daphne Fargo collection of studio jewelry that is probably the best of its kind in the United States.
KCQ: Do you have a favorite piece of jewelry that you own or have made?
YM: I have some pieces that are favorites because jewelry is unlike most art forms in that it is personal and most we often associate it with special events, rights of passage. So, the wedding band my husband gave me I value. It’s a simple Tiffany ring.
KCQ: Any others?
YM: There is a piece I made, a piece that I like a lot. It’s a piece with rutilated quartz that looks like an abstract landscape of sand dunes with wire grasses just because of the way the rutilation in the quartz are arranged. I put it in a simple bezel and where a sun would be I drilled through the quartz and a diamond has been set in that. It is a diamond sun.
KCQ: Any sources for fellow jewelry enthusiasts who may not have your access to such incredible pieces?
YM: Skinner. They have four jewelry auctions per year.
KCQ: As a keeper of jewelry, I’d think you must be quite conscious of where you place your jewelry. Do you store your unworn jewelry in a jewelry box?
YM: I actually keep each piece in an archival plastic bag. A wooden box is a very bad place to keep jewelry because the wood is acidic and it makes silver tarnish faster. I keep only archival museum-like conditions for my jewelry. And I store them in archival boxes. I have a box for bracelets, a box for rings, necklaces.
KCQ: What’s one piece of jewelry you’ve misplaced that you wish you could go back in time to retrieve?
YM: It was a bracelet that was given to me when I was a young child. It was a gold bangle and I wore it for many years. I thought I misplaced it in the house. But it was never found.
KCQ: When I’m having a bad day, I am guilty of indulging in retail therapy. Do you ever go on therapeutic jewelry shopping sprees?
YM: No, I think I am pretty calculated in the way I go about it. I am more likely to eat chocolate for therapy!
[Photo: Matthew Murphy]
Having just seen the extraordinary Elo Experience, I rushed over to the Boston Ballet headquarters to sit down with James Whiteside, a principal dancer, for a candid interview on chili-cheese fries, JBDUBS, and his favorite body part(s).
Multifaceted, indeed.
