About a Girl...Olivia Gorman

Olivia is a junior in high school, a top ranked recruit for woman's college basketball, a promising young sculptor, and has a shoe collection that would make you cry.

What gets you excited about the future?


The future is so exciting to me because it is a mystery and anything can happen. The future allows the imagination to run wild because the possibilities and opportunities are endless when you have a dream for the future and you work hard to achieve that dream.


Who are your heroes?


I would have to say my parents, but also my brothers and my grandpa. The qualities and ideals that exist in them have shaped me. They have shown me that there are times to be serious and hard working, but there are also times when it is important to have fun and enjoy life. My parents have also shown me that an essential part to a happy life is good food.


How would you describe your style?


My style is all about the shoes. An outfit is not truly complete until it is finished off with a pair of shoes.

Love Your Mom (and yourself) This Mother's Day!

Visit the Ilsa Loves Rick online shop to see the new spring 2014 collection and pick up a little something for spring at 20% off now trough May 15.  Use coupon code LOVEMOM at checkout.

Ilsa Loves Rick at Verdalina, Richmond, VA

I am thrilled to announce that the Ilsa Loves Rick line is now available at Verdalina in Richmond a meticulously curated online shop dedicated to cool glamour and sustainable style.   Deborah Boschen opened Verdalina in 2013 embracing the slow fashion movement.  Slow Fashion represents all things “eco”, “ethical” and “green” in one unified movement.  Her 100 square foot shop caters to a clientele that prefers timeless pieces over market trends.  You can read more about Verdalina in a piece written for Richmond Magazine by clicking here.

In My Bag

1. Jas MB Canvas and Leather Shopper Tote
2. Measuring tape for all sorts of things.
3. Cucina Hand Cream. Smells so yummy.
3. Bamboo Stylus for my iPad.

Studio Tour: Bonnie Levinthal

Last year,  I featured a home tour of Phildaelphia painter Bonnie Levinthal's perfectly appointed and gracious Chestnut Hill home. Tucked away on the third floor is her painting studio, the jewel in the crown if you ask me in a home chock full of jewels. Not only because of its glorious light, but because it reminds you of a European pied a terre, simple, humble, and utterly perfect for the serious work of artists. As a fine art photographer specializing in large scale silver portraits, I have always envied my painter friends toiling away in daylight while I slogged it out in windowless darkness. Ok, the darkroom red light is pretty captivating as is all the running water, but ten hours in a darkroom suspends time, oddly, while ten hours in a painters studio allows the unfolding of light, how it moves through the day, changing color and intensity, its own kind of miracle. Bonnie's work has always been (among other things sensual and psychological) a treatise on light. Light as atmosphere, light as form, light transforming land, and light illuminating the psychological vagaries of the mind. You can see more of Bonnie's work and follow her blog by clicking here.

Covetable...The Anna Necklace Ledge

A while back in a Home Tour post, I featured residential designer Mel McDaniel's fabulous apartment in West Philadelphia. Since then she has been hard at work training with a master welder to develop and hand build a line of must have accessories for the home.  Perfectly proportioned with plenty of pegs for hanging all of your Ilsa Loves Rick jewelry, this object-exercise in form meets function can be yours by contacting Mel through her blog home, I love you.  The Anna Necklace Ledge (named for a favorite character in literature),  $160, 20" wide with a 3" ledge and 13 pegs. Custom sizes available.

Ilsa Loves Rick at Eloise in Charlottesville, VA

I am thrilled to announce that the Ilsa Loves Rick line is now available at Eloise in Charlottesville, VA, one of my very favorite stores!  The first time I stumbled upon this perfectly curated shop was in the fall of 2006 when they were still located in Charlottesville downtown walking mall and I was smitten at first site.  Carrying Tila March bags before they had a toe hold state side and Clare Vivier bags before they took the market by storm, there isn't a season that goes by where I don't wish I lived within driving distance to do some serious shopping.  Owned and operated by mother-daughter duo Cyd McClelland and Amy Kolbrener, Eloise takes its name from Amy's favorite childhood book.  Eloise has been setting the standard for Charlottesville fashion since 1999.