In My Bag

Jas MB Pocket Shopper

Aubrey Organics Rose Mosqueta Rose Hip Seed Oil  Moisturizing Nutrient

Oliver Peoples Shean Sunglasses

Portable Yoga Deck

Covetable...Sessun

Inspired by a trip to South America, French designer Emma François founded her Sessun label in 1996. Seeking inspiration from music, photography and art, François produces eclectic designs, with a feminine yet functional aesthetic, often collaborating with urban artists on limited edition pieces and accessories. Seeking to pursue an ethical stance, Sessun uses organic fibres and fair trade crops wherever possible. Expect simple silhouettes with emphasis on unique detailing in a palette of earthy tones. Buy stateside at Madewell, Steven Alan and online at asos.com, yoox.com, farfetch.com and shoppenelopes.com.

What I Love About....December

The Creatives: An Interview with Maurene Cooper

I have known Maurene for years and years. She is a great fine art portrait photographer and curator whose artworks and vision for art are highly original (and covetable). Working as an artist and educator in Chicago, she is inclined to provoke collisions between high art and mass culture whenever an opportunity is presented. For the past several years Maurene's photographic works have explored issues of feminine identity, race, class and aggression with in the urban Midwest. She has held residencies at Oxbow, Saugatuck MI, and Harold Arts, Chesterhill OH. She is a 2012-13 BOLT resident at the Chicago Artist Collation and exhibits her work nationally and internationally.  Maurene is also the co- founder and co - director of the two year old Azimuth Projects, a nomadic curatorial project that seeks to unite young professionals and young artist in the city of Chicago. A style icon in her own right, here are some of her thoughts on fashion at the moment.

What do you see trending in fashion now?

High wasted everything, ankle boots, breastplate necklaces, and tights with shorts, large framed glasses and tying long hair in a knot on the very top of one’s head.  I should mention that I teach college, so most of what I see is on 20 years old art students. 

When was the last time you had a fashion epiphany?

Last spring, I realized redheads can wear red and I fell in love with a red and an orange shade of Mac matt lipstick.

What is your favorite High brand? And your low brand?

I don’t really own high brands or if I do they tend to have been pick up at thrift stores unwittingly, I have a handsome coach bucket bag that I thrifted for $10. I just bough a sleek pair of ankle boots on eBay from Schuler & Sons for next to nothing, they go great with skinny slacks or skirts and tights. I love American Apparel as a staple, their leotards are a favorite: super flattering through the torso, they come in every color and can complement my massive, multiple season skirt collection.

How do you mix high and low?

Skinny black jeans from Urban Outfitters with my pastille snakeskin vintage Tony Lama boots, an oversized sweater and dollar stores earrings.

What is your go-to uniform for a day of work?

It really depends on what day of the week and what my job is that day. For adjunct teacher days its either, dark jeans, booties, a button down (various colors), vintage Ann Kline blazer and an animal print silk scarf or a demure 80’s elementary teacher school dress, big funky belt, simple cardigan, analogues color tights and black healed oxfords. My studio days tend to be for skinny jeans, swatters and large earrings.

The weekend?

There isn’t too much of a difference between what I wear on the weekdays to what I wear on the weekend except that I skip the blazer and button down.

What are you living in these days?

Outfits really depend on my mood and the temperature. I teach color theory and color photography so I tend to play with analogues color arrangements and use various splashes of complementary color when I come to accessories.

I like to mix flashy and reserved pieces together, I am fan of outlandish junk jewelry that can be bought in wig stores on Chicago West side. So currently, I favor skinny back jeans, basketball players wives’ earrings, a form fitting sweater or a sweeter cape, acrylic stiletto nails painted Chicago style, and red lipstick.   

What is your favorite ILR piece and why?

The East West earring in pink gold.  They are clean and classic. I love the artisan hammered look and the design detail of that tiny bit of tension where the back of the hoop doesn’t quite meet the piece that goes through the ear… its like a well framed photograph with the prefect amount of space between a subject and the edge of the frame.

Who are your style icons?

Anyone woman who has big curly hair and refuses to flat iron it or shows a since her humor with her clothing, or plays with costumes or is flashy. Everything Melody Anderson’s character wears in Flash Gordon, The ladies from the Advanced Style blog, Lisa Bonet from her days A Different World, Susan Sarandon from Bull Durham and the Witches of Eastwick, middle aged Elizabeth Taylor, and young Joan Crawford.      

  

Jewel Box Tour: Laure Biron Part 2

Covetable... Everlane

It’s an exciting, collaborative and experimental effort. 

No physical stores, no middlemen taking their cut and no crazy brand markups. Luxury basics sold exclusively at EVERLANE.

What I have been reading....

I am a serial reader of creative non- fiction on lots of different topics, but creativity and the mind sets for imagination are two areas that draw me in over and over again.  The latest book by Jonah Lehrer called Imagine is excellent.  And every bit as good as his two earlier travels through the brain "Proust was a Neuroscientist" and "How We Decide." Check out Christopher Chabris' review this book for the New York Times and add it to your beach reading this weekend.

Let the Gifting Begin!

Until midnight tonight, you can receive a 20% discount on all  items on my Etsy site! Just enter the coupon code BlackFriday at checkout.

What I love about November....Happy Thanksgiving

The Creatives: An Interview with Kassie Lefakinis

Whether she is planning the perfect getaway for her chic clients, jet setting about to far off and oh so exotic places, or hopping back and forth between New York and L.A., Kassie does it with effortless style and grace.  As Marketing Director of Valef yachts in Greece, she designs and delivers excursions to paradise for the well heeled. Lucky her, lucky them. And when I want to know what is trending abroad and about, I reach out to Kas.  There is no one else I know who better combines the best of European chic with effortless downtown luxe style.



What do you see trending in fashion now?

I think we are entering a period where you can be a bit wild and playful - I see retro styles (80's and 90's mainly), kick-backs to the 20's & 40's and long gone eras (Baroque!) and futuristic/modern styles/angles all mixed up. The feminine is back in a sexy bold way - sheer, peek-a-boo cuts, bit of lace, tassels, midriffs, bold colors, texture. I sort of feel whatever goes this season. Flair pants or skinny jeans, flats or heels, cropped tops or long ones. Still the atelier clothes and shoes look is in, fine tailoring and craftsmanship. Patterned fabrics; geometric print, tribal, ornate, etc.  Plain nails. Decadent jewelry.  Wrist cuffs.  Black & gold. Wild spandex pants. I think it’s about really merging what you want to wear and having fun with that.  I’m refreshed by this 'whatever goes' and playful mood.
When was the last time you had a fashion epiphany?

You can have a total style makeover by reimagining what you already have, adding that extra thought when getting ready, and just picking up a few fresh pieces for the new season.
When my mother came to visit me in Greece, bringing hoards of magazines in tow, I flipped through the pages realizing that not much separates the apparel on the pages with pieces in my closet.  How many eclectic pieces I have that have yet to be realized in a good combo….  I should mention that in no way is my closet full of designer wear, I keep a lot of the clothes I’ve acquired throughout the years and never buy too trendy (often purchasing something I’m drawn to if a good deal that I may not even wear til some point down the road).  I began deconstructing the looks on the mag pages to see what pieces I have similar and how I would think to wear them at first glance in my closet vs. what combinations have been assembled in the mag.  The difference to a good outfit and look is all in the combinations.  However hassle free I like to be in getting ready, a little bit of extra effort is needed to make something really ‘work’ and feel better.  

What is your favorite High brand? And your low brand? How do you mix high and low?

While in the US in September I noticed various pieces that I liked from the label Bar III at Macys, low brand.  Zara is an easy go-to, inexpensive and huge variety here in Greece.  Aqua and BCBG as medium brand has always been a favorite.  I was just introduced to All Saints- I’d call them med-high brand although the prices are very reasonable.  The clothes are very sexy, edgy, and a bit rocker/biker yet quite refined and classy. Stella McCartney is a high brand I respect; she does some sporty looking stuff for everyday wear that looks at once modern and vintage and feminine (insert Millie tweed and wool-crepe dress).  I always blend high and low brand.  I don’t generally follow brands and labels so most of what I wear and compile is a mix of everything.


What is your go-to uniform for a day of work? The weekend?

A bit tricky as the season just changed (it’s been summer til now).  I know however from now it’s definitely gonna involve my new short, nude color, Frye boots.
For the office the boots with a short knitted empire waist dress with a chartreuse and gunmetal grey geometric design or my black skinny jeans, snug shirt & silk scarf. I do not see clients at this period (summer over) so my office attire really is whatever goes.
For the weekends it’s been a loose pale pink blouse with butterfly sleeves and ruffled sides, pale flair jeans or my new long pleated black skirt, boots or Tory Burch snakeskin flats, hair in tight top knot, collarless zip-up moto jacket in beige or black, and one statement jewelry piece.  I’ll add more color and texture the deeper in to autumn we go!


What is your favorite ILR piece and why?

This season I’d say the couplet ring!  I love that it’s bold and yet subtle, elegant and a bit rough.  The hand-forged metal is fabulously textured and the 14k gold goes with anything.  It looks care-free and yet you know it took time to make!  I think I like it best worn on the middle finger.

Who are your style icons?

My Great Aunt Helenitsa who recently passed at the age of 92 was always the epitome of grace and elegance.  We used to visit her in summer in her house on the hill at the island of Spetses, the big windows all open to the lemon tree scented air and the motion of sea in her step as she opened the large front door.  She was an artist and intellect and looked every bit that. She would greet us in long silky gowns with bold prints and patterns, in black and white or in bold colors and I had the feeling she dressed just so everyday, visitors or not.  She always had the most unique hand crafted jewelry on, mainly incredible large twisting rings with big rocks which accented her artistic hands.  The weight of the jewelry didn’t stop her at 92.  She painted icons and saints on stones and her house was full of them in glass cases.  Her hair, light blond towards pearl, was always down and soft and styled, above her shoulders.  Gorgeous portraits on the wall, poets photos framed in silver and trays for limoncello and mastiha liquer at the door and in the salon helped set the perfect environment for her. When I think style, I think of her, sweeping over the marble, a sharp look in her eye and grace in her step, Anne Bancroft in Great Expectations without the insanity!
Also Gwen Stefani.

Jewel Box Tour: Laure Biron (part 1)

Introducing The Lariat (in Petite too!)

Scenes From... Pumpkin Pond Farm, Nantucket

Must See: The Century of the Child

The Century of the Child: Growing by Design at The Museum of Modern Art through November 5 is one of the best surveys of design I have seen in a long long time.  It is a vast survey of the most cutting edge design of the last 100 years and how it worked its way through the objects of our childhood, complete with the not-so-subtle sociological messages of the times.  Julie Iovine writes an excellent critique of the show in the Wall Street Journal.  Read more about it here.

Ilsa Loves Rick at Welcome Shoppe in NYC

I am thrilled to announce that the Ilsa Loves Rick line is now available at the Welcome Shoppe, in New York City  nestled in the heart of downtown where the East Village meets the West  at 36 East 11th Street.  Stop by to see my new ring designs or to pick up a Kiss Cuff or two. You will also find perfectly curated wares from local and international emerging labels with a commitment to small scale production. Shop owner Robin Weiss, is the style genius behind her own line of utterly fabulous  knit - tees Small Trades made in Pennsylvania that you can find at the shop which specializes in interesting eclectic pieces that you wont find everywhere from clothing to jewelry, bags to organic nail polishes, with shoes set to arrive for spring! 

Scenes From...Aoki Launch of Ilsa Loves Rick for The Cure