Holiday Party Dressing.....

Getting ready for HOLIDAY! Look at these festive duds. The team that showed up to model great ROCKPORT shoes, JC PENNEY clothes and I SKI and BANANA REPUBLIC sunglasses, were a stellar group! A true New York posse: Tavish, Margeaux, Emily, Michael and Eve. The clothes ran from casual (Southpole 8180 Jeans and Snorkel jackets) to formal-fabulous (Mango dresses at JCP) and all suited the moods of the models wearing them.

In the many years of appearances on CW11 Morning News, we have never taken a photo on set or even behind the scenes (even though I think I have made more appearances here over the course of my career than anywhere else) so it was nice to grab a snap or two. Whoever said the economy was going gangbusters must have been watching the foot traffic on Fifth Ave (my personal barometer for New York Holiday Chaos Scale) as when the weather is good - as it was - New York always works up a frenzy early.

And it wasn't even Thanksgiving. But as exciting as the big city Christmas lights may be, there is nothing, I repeat nothing as beautiful as our snowy wintery wonderland back here in Colorado. Just don't tell anyone else about it, (except a few skiers -- we cant be that selfish!)

Fall Fashion!

Yep, here we go. Fall Fashion on a budget. Well what else would we do at this time? It was good to bust down to Denver to get back on CW2's Morning News show, it's a great Colorado network and I love their large modern TV studios. Lucky for me my gorgeous girl pal Kendra busted out of the mountains with me and brought her hot bod and happening hair skills (being a prime hair primper in Aspen) and modeled some groovy Equestrian style for me along with the kids from Maximum Talent. Other things on show? Neat Ugg boots, Carerra and Gucci sunglasses, JCPenney animal prints and Southpole jeans for men under $30! Hot studio shots, kids.

Cavalia!

Oh wow! What a spectacle. Perhaps one of the most touching and moving horse and human performances I have ever witnessed, it truly almost brought me to tears. Cavalia, known as the 'Circe de Soleil with horses', is at the Pepsi Center in Denver thru Oct 17th (after that it moves to San Francisco) and I was lucky enough to witness it up really really close and personal. Incredible pure bred stallions, mustangs, quarter horses, Spanish pure breds, so many diffrent breeds infact, all working in synch with human acrobats, trapeze artists and musicians for divine dressage, trick riding and stunning group moves. My absolute favorite was the Grande Liberte set, eight gorgeous white horses all communicating with trainer Sylvia Zerbini, showing their love and affection for her and each other. These horses are trained to a level that is really hard to comprehend, especially those of us who know how a herd naturally behaves turned out in a pasture. It's corny to say, but her set was pure poetry in motion. I could see this show over and over.

Night riders

Oh wow. I'd never ridden my horse before at night. I mean, in the pitch black. Its a whole totally different experience. Collin and I took Gracie and Jessie up on to the ridge of the mountain at Owl Creek, under the full Harvest Moon. That was, until the clouds came across the sky and created a blackout for part of the ride! The horses, were spectacular. I gained a new respect. Instead of us telling them where to go and which trail, we handed our trust over to them. Calmly and serenly the two mares took us on a midnight adventure, with a gourmet soup, chicken salad, wine and chocolate fest at the picnic table at the top of the ridge. Their surefootedness in the dark, on the rocky ridge, was stunning. Sobering even. And I bonded with my little horse on a new level. Even Bonzai, Collin's Boxer dog stuck close and guarded our trail. I know, this is the stuff of corporate 'outward bound weekends' and that's the farthest thing on my lifestyle list, but the effect was the same for this self employed sex in the country girl. Give and take, trust and listening are a huge part of horsemanship too.

Home on the Range.....

Ahhhh so good to be back home in my beloved Colorado. The leaves are peaking and the colors are just unbelievable. Jessie is going so well and enjoying all manner of trail trips, be they rides up to hunting camp on the mountain or out at night by the light of the full Harvest Moon. Its a stunning time of the year to be home and the temperature is just perfect. We have the best climate in the whole of the USA. The horses are lounging by the pond all day, sunning themselves and their reflections are just so beautiful.

Polo on the Runway

The perfect storm arrives at Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week.Fashion and equestrian style! Yay! A show of purely Argentinian designers in a collective hits the tents and opens with the stunning La Dolfina presentation. Crisp whites, gorgeous boots, luxurious leathers.......all march down the runway. Just see the stunning result. Goal!

Douglas Hannant

Having always loved Douglas Hannants show, I was psyched to go to the grand ole Plaza Hotel to see his runway show. Sneaking a peek backstage poke around, we snapped some of these great shots and then ran front of house just as the lights were dimmed in time for the show to commence....a line up of deliciously feminine separates, day dresses and gowns, referencing florals, easter pastels and petals. Loved it.

Make up by Napoleon Perdis

Writing partner Karen Brooks and I hit the backstage area of the LaQuan show, just in time for a moment with one of our faves in the beauty world, Napoleon Perdis. Yep, hes the guy with his own line in Target and the Aussie drawl. While Napoleon instructed his team to apply gold leaf to the models lips, to complement the disco greens and shimmer, he headed off downstairs to another suite to make up tennis giant Serena Williams. Shine on Napoleon!

Mercedez Benz Fashion Week Spring 2011

I find myself in the Big Apple for SHOWTIME! The madness remains, even though the location has changed. Now located at Lincoln Center on the West Side, the tents, theater and stages all provide the backdrop for the offerings to come next year. Best in show? I vote Monique Lhuiller's incredibly beautiful restrained and elegant RED CARPET and celebrity looks. For a daytime movie Junket or film festival? Separates in tomato red and nude and linen pants cut with precision. Acessorized with a hint of added glamour (skinny gold belts). And for night? A breathtaking array of ruffled gowns, some alluringly one shoulderd, others strapless. One after the other crafted and honed to be infused with enormous details yet somehow understated on the show-off scale, each of these gowns were perfect to show off the natural beauty of Hollywood's most refined celebrities. If more than a large handful don't end up on the bodacious bodies of our screen sirens come Oscar time in March, whether the floral print versions or bold solids, I will be very surprised. They were BEYOND.

Hooray for Hollywood!

What a fun trip to LA! Shooting at KTLA on Sunset Boulevard was a blast and what a cool set they prepared for us! Scooters, a school bus, desks, chairs and astro turf. I lived in Hollywood some time ago and its always fun to revisit. Infact, I felt so nostalgic, I had my pal Suzo take a photo of me directly after the shoot, standing with the Hollywood sign in the background. About ten minutes later we were tucking into a Hollywood diner breakfast at Mels just like old times. After a brief visit to the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank for a quick go-see with pal Dora, we headed on to Westlake Village to visit old friend Ron Suppa before busting back to the beach in Santa Monica via glorious Malibu. When finally home in Colorado, I looked up the CISION clip for the LA shoot and like all good Hollywood movies it had great production value! The models looked kick-ass good in their JC Penney duds and the Scooters that they got to ride on enhanced the colors wonderfully. Now everyone's Back IN School, the fashion parade will continue very shortly, no doubt, with Fall Fashions. Watch this space :)

Good Morning Texas 2010

OMG! What a rock star kind of tour have I been on this last three weeks -- from NYC to Atlanta, back to Aspen, then to Phoenix (a second time) then bouncing back to Aspen before taking off again to Dallas. J C Penney sent me on a whirlwind outing with their best Back To School offerings and the models in Texas were so cool, I just had to post them on the page. So thanks so much to the gorgeous Valerie, Peter, Zac and Amber who were the sweetest kids in all the cities and credit to Kim Dawson agency for booking and sending them along. They showed up, all smiley, willing, chatty and open and cute and handsome as any I have come by. It was really thier attitude and energy that made me love them so much and made my job, as Style Commentator, the most fun on this outing. Sometimes with all the airline snafus it can feel like I live on United Airlines, but this trip, once we've picked out the Arizona Jeans, Olsenboye bags and Converse sneakers for them all to wear everything fell into place. Now, ahead of me, just two days to enjoy being back in Aspen before hitting Hollywood! Watch out KTLA Los Angeles, you're next!

Birthday Girl!

The weather was cool and comfortable and it was a perfect day for a photo shoot. Lucky me, my friend Rob brought his camera and fancy lenses to take Birthday shots of me and Jess as a memory and celebration of the day. Jess had a pampering bath the day before, and I used that blackening shampoo that tones any red in the hair to dark brown and whitened her sock, and she was very good at following my instruction not to mess her hair up too much in time for her close-ups! The shoot was really about getting portraits of the pony as a gift to me, although I snuck in on a couple of frrames (hence the not-much-attention-paid-to-my-styling) and yes, hence, I am riding in a skirt! But I think the results were terrific and some worthy of blowing up really big and framing forever. (I've always known Jess was an equine supermodel --and with her impatient temperament too!) And Owl Creek was a lovely place for a shoot -- right in the horses paddock is about as picturesque as any scene in all of Colorado. It was hard fighting off the other horses -- some of her friends and foes seemed to be jealous of the attention she was getting -- I tried to tell them it was a 'closed set' but they tried to get in on the action anyway! Here are some of the highlights.

One of the best dogs ever!!!

Wrigley came into my life at a very special time.....with my feet nicely immersed in the freezing Roaring Fork river every day, I tap tap tapped my way to the deadline that was my book 'Just Try It On! during the summer of 07. Dog sitting was the perfect antitode to the antsy-ness that becomes a writer who gets the urge to go do ANYTHING except finish a book! But Wrigley kept me together. He sploshed in and out of the water, in the garden of Mike Faktor's Aspen apartment where he lived, and together he and I ploughed through the tricky chapter about Style Icons and Celebrity Style (all while wearing the same stinky river shorts) -- well, at least three days in a row... Oooh, the irony! Wrigs is in the huge bone filled doggy graveyard in the sky now, but dutifully, I must pay homage to one of the finest K9's around.....leashless and whistful, one could never stay in Wrigelys presence for too long without falling in with 'Wrigley Time' -- his own personal biorthym of eating, drinking and exercise. Even the cat and and he got along famously *whom I took with, for the dog sitting week, on a whim. In fact, one day, while I'd been out, the two of them were lying around langoriously in the shade of the afternoon. There was a guilty look on the cats face but Wrigs just looked smug. On closer examination, the cat food tin had been tidily rescued from the garbage and licked sparkling clean, abandoned on the ground. Just wish Id had a security video to capture the culprit and the accessory to crime!!

Dawg Days!

This year I actually got a Mother's Day text from a dog. It thanked me for being 'the best mother to furry things' which is good as I'm not the mother of anything human!! It came from a Great Dane, by the name of Terra -- whom, I think, borrowed her Mom's phone. (That would be my friend Geneve.) I love dogs... always have, and before I moved to the USA, owned a dog walking agency in London called 'Dog Ventures!' But as much as I love them, I don't have one, but if I did, it would look like Terra here. She's the Architectural Digest of dogs. The reason I don't have a dog (mostly) is that dogs are not allowed in my current places in Aspen or New York. But when I can next have one, if I get one, it will be hard to decide on the primary function it should have. Should it be a dog that can run ahead of the horses to alert wildlife and be a ranch-type dog? Er yes, well then a Great Dane is no good, they don't even walk far enough to get to the mail box. Would I want a dog that can lay on the floor in an outdoor restaurant unrestrained and be patient and not yappy while I eat? (er yes it sometimes is allowed in Colorado). Then the big slinky is dog is just great. And when our snow comes? Well, what better than a dog designed to lie by the fire guarding the room in a castle! Its perfect for a Rocky Mountain-style home -- (with a little contemporary art styling in the mix, Terra's gray and white is sooo unutterably chic.) I understand all the small bouncy doggie things -- cute cuddly, take it to the groomers, bathe it, sleep with it, travel with it in the baggie and pop under the seat in front of you on the plane, stick it under your arm and smoosh it with kisses. I do know some top dogs whom regard me as aunty, and I've done all these things with them! And I do love a good Black Lab for their sheer enthusiasm, unadulterated loyalty, intelligence and willingness to go get you the paper etc. But for now, a super-leggy supermodel-y dawgy is my pick. So here, in the following posts, tributes to some of my favorite dawgs. But who won't agree, Terra takes pageant title.

Hairy!

It occurred to me as I was bandaging my poor horse Jessie's legs, that I spend more time thinking about human and equine dermatology and trichology than anything else. In other words, Im just about always fiddling with either her hair (the horse) or mine, or her skin (or skin conditions) or mine! She has the Vet, I have the dermatologist and Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon as well as Salon Tulio. The pretty blue bandages in the photo are covering up the wreck that her 'white' socks have become due to a fungal infection, the likes of which the vet and everyone around tells me is due to the organisms living in the soil. Ugh! Its like daiper rash/athletes foot/excema all at the same time. Poor girl! Its owwweeee every time I walk her to the wash stall to pick off the scabs and scrub with anti-fungal shampoo. She really hates this and does a dance that makes it even more difficult, so Ive learned to bribe her with a feed bucket to distract. (Well, a little sugar always makes the medicine go down better, doesnt it?) But seriously, by the time we're done with that procedure and Im done feeding her vitamins to make her coat shine, and grooming her, bathing her, clipping her, its time to get me to the beauty shop all over again. The roots, the highlights, the color needed for the month 'in between', the waxing, the cutting, the blowout and so on. And that's without even a mention of my skincare, dermatology and manicure stuff or hers for that matter -- the shoeing, the trimming, the hoof oil. Just two very high maintenance girls!! One blond and one brunette....

Yawn...zzzzzzzz!

Yaaaawn! I am so so tired today and for Colorado, we have an unusually muggy feel to the weather. I am working in an Ella Moss sundress that I picked up from Neimans Last Call whenI was in Dallas last trip and its as comfy as pajamas and cooler. Maybe the best thing is to give in and take a nap. This reminds me of the day that I went to check on the horses at The Marlborough Man's ranch, and, strolling over the paddock I panicked and thought they had all gotten sick as almost everyone was lying down. Turns out they were all just taking a snoozy 40 winks! And so I snapped the photo.

Xtreme Makeover!

Yesterday was an "Extreme Makeover" day! It took three people (plus the carpet installers) almost twelve hours to give the Original Curve hovel a funky rustic vintage overhaul. I have to admit, I was not a pretty sight at the end of the day's dirty work (sigh!) I was covered in paint, my (poor skin hates paint chemicals) and my hands and nails? Fuggedaboud it. But the end results are very cute. And now it's rented through next June 2011. Yaaayy. Someone call HGTV and tell them I should get my own remodelling show. We'll call it 'DONE IN A DAY'!!! Spa anyone? I'm thinking Remede at The St Regis.....