They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But, when you have famed American portrait photographer, Annie Leibovitz, behind the lens, it’s probably worth a million. My office in Soho looks out into this alley that has recently become my favorite place in the city to people watch. Literally everyday everything from a fight to a photo shoot is going on in the alley. Today, however, I got the true New York experience when an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot broke out in the alley. If you don’t know her, you probably know her pictures. She’s most famous for the Rolling Stone cover she shot of John Lennon the day he died and her photograph of the pregnant Demi Moore in Vanity Fair.
If I ever get engaged, I hope Annie Leibovitz is available to take my engagement photos. I adore how she always manages to capture a person’s true identity at that exact moment. From what I gather, today’s Leibovitz photo shoot was also for Vanity Fair featuring some of New York City’s most prominent Internet entrepreneurs including Arianna Huffington, FourSquare co-founder, Dennis Crowley, and who I believe to be one of the Gilt Groupe founders. Mayor Bloomberg also made an appearance for a few shots, but left after less than five minutes. Watching an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot from start to finish was truly an exciting experience one which makes paying crazy Manhattan rent totally worth it. As more and more security, agents, PR people, and paparazzi showed up, the anticipation of who would be the subject of this shoot grew and grew. However, I must say that the most baller moment of the day was when Leibovitz decided she didn’t want a stop sign in the shoot and within 10 minutes the city came and chopped it down proving New York to truly be a city dedicated to art.
Here are a couple of my favorite Annie Leibovitz shots:
Scarlett Johansson as Disney’s Cinderella – Cinderella was history’s first Aspiring Socialite.
With all of New York’s splendor and glamour, we often forget that this is a dangerous city. A place with so many people is bound to have just as much good as it does evil. If you watch Law & Order: SVU as much as I do, then you totally know what I mean. Saturday night, my neighbor and I went to see the dark Lars von Trier film, Melancholia, starring Kirsten Dunst in SoHo. What started out as a classy artsy evening in one of Manhattan’s trendiest neighborhoods could have potentially been ruined had I not recovered my wallet after a criminal attempted to steal it right out of my Elliott Lucca purse. I was climbing up the stairs to get off the crowded subway and there was a man in back of me carrying tons of shopping bags filled with boxes that looked like Christmas gifts. As I walked further up the stairs, I noticed that his bags kept hitting me. Nearly all the way up the stairs, I felt something strange and looked down at my bag to find it wide open and my WALLET GONE!
I stopped in my tracks and turned around at the people behind me screaming that someone had taken my wallet. That made everyone stop and give me their full attention. That must has scared him and made him drop my wallet because a girl found it on the stairs and handed it back to me pointing at that guy with all the bags. We all yelled at him and called him a pick pocketer to his face. At first he denied it and tried to blame it on someone else. But, other people getting off the subway had seen him try to take stuff from them. We yelled at him some more until he finally left the scene of the crime (luckily without my wallet.) I guess only a true New Yorker can get pick pocketed on the subway and get their stuff back two seconds later.
Even though I had gotten my wallet back, I was so shaken up about the whole thing. After the movie which was an interesting depiction of the end of the world, I locked myself in my apartment with a bottle of wine and tried to calm down. Perhaps, my impeccable fashion sense ultimately caused me to be the victim of theft. I must have done an excellent job dressing up last season’s boots because in reality, I’m not the ideal candidate to steal from. Remember to always stay fabulous and be on guard, especially in crowded places. The more people there are around you, the more crazy people there are around you. Keep your purse close at all times with the zipper in front of you because having to cancel all your credit cards and report fraudulent charges is super annoying.
Last week, I attended a party with ELLE Magazine at the Burberry store in SoHo. With all these events I’ve been attending, I’m beginning to believe that sipping champagne amongst designer clothes is a full-time hobby within itself. During the party, my picture along with shots of other Burberry fans, were prominently displayed on a huge screen in the store as part of an Instagr.am competition for the best picture with your favorite Burberry items.
Here are some of my favorite styles currently at the store this holiday:
Macy’s Impulse is coming out with yet another line this time by famous fashion man Karl Lagerfeld who tweeted today that, “Luxury is the ease of a t-shirt in a very expensive dress.” I for one could not agree more with that statement. Predominantly filled with different shades of pink and black, Lagerfeld’s Macy’s line adds a socialite flare to an office ready outfit. These looks combined with comfortable fabrics will have you feeling business casual when you are actually business dressy. Besides, it never hurts to wear something that says “Karl Lagerfeld” on the tag.
In honor of this new very flirty Fall 2011 Capsule Collection that of course I got to preview before anyone else, I ventured downtown to the Yellow Korner on Wooster St. where the clothes were being shown on live models. Aspiring Socialites are always looking for new ways to bring the socialite life into their everyday activities. Karl Lagerfeld’s Impulse collection for Macy’s is line that shares that vision. These outfits are Happy Hour chic while still being completely Midtown office appropriate, a must if you are going to live the Manhattan double life. If there weren’t enough people already in Manhattan, many of us also seem to lead multiple lives comprised of commonplace office work by day and A-list parties by night. I guess that explains why I am always so busy.
This 45-piece collection is set to hit Macy’s stores on August 31st. Lagerfeld described the collection to Vogue as “a coup d’oeil to the dresses I designed for Chloe and the girlish, more romantic mood of the seventies.”
Love this pink and black color combo seem throughout the collection. This my favorite outfit in the line by far. It’s very office chic.
More of the collection.
Popping bubbly! Champagne is a classic part of every fashion event.
