Notes from a 48-Hour Micro Trip: Arches, Curves, Icy Blue, and What's Brewing on The Bench

Last week I took a 48-hour trip to San Diego, I am calling it a micro trip. 48 hours was just enough to get a swift infusion of inspiration from the change of scenery. 

I went out with my business partner in my PR Agency for the launch of Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys at the Museum of Contemporary Art. If you haven’t seen this collection, it’s a whole mood. This is the second time I saw it, the first was in Atlanta on the way back from Portofino and Milan for the Vicenza jewelry show last year. 

Back to the museum for a moment, as we pulled up, I couldn't help but notice the oversized curved, arched windows on the building.

It’s about proportion 

Not just curves, proportion. The base of an arch is wider than it should be. The top swoops. Somehow the whole shape holds itself up like it’s barely trying. That tension between the parts is what gets me. A straight line could never. 

Once I started seeing it, I started seeing it everywhere. In what I’m wearing, what I’m buying, what’s moving on the bench. 

What I wore to the after-party 

Maybe the most fun I’ve had getting dressed in a year. For the museum after-party, I wore an icy pale blue satin mini skirt with exaggerated hips with a sheer tonal turtleneck in the same color, finished with my favorite Prada Silver Shoes. Icy. Cool. A little spacey. Spacey is ALWAYS a vibe. It also gave a nod to the 60’s.

I’m so into pale blue shades right now. Icy blue, frost, glassy silver-white. It feels modern in a way I haven’t felt about a color in a while. 

Inspiring me lately

The curves pulled me down a mid-century modern hole, which naturally had me craving a Mad Men rewatch. That show always feeds the visual appetite, Manhattan and mid-century modern, the two things I draw endless inspiration from. New York is my hometown. The well never runs dry.

It has me leaning toward dark cherry woods. The classic Manhattan spots. Monkey Bar is my favorite, if you haven't been, do yourself a favor and try to get a reservation. A walk through Central Park and then up Madison Avenue, which is having a real resurgence right now. They even opened a new Kujten store up there, obviously, snag yourself a bandana scarf (this one is my favorite) and then sit at the Mark Hotel's bar for a tea or a drink. AND of course, stop into Bergdorf Goodman, not only to see my line, but to entrench yourself in classic New York City fashion and shopping. PS: The Jewelry gift card event starts TODAY.

Every time I pop back into New York, my creative energy skyrockets. I cannot wait to show you what's brewing.

Other things on the moodboard 

The Pierre Paulin Pumpkin chair I’ve been saving on my phone for three years and may finally commit to. Vintage Italian mushroom lamps. Hand-thrown ceramic bowls with round, heavy bottoms. A Hockney pool on a friend’s wall in the West Village, all rectangle and curve and that exact baby blue I keep finding everywhere. 

The connecting thread: Big shapes. Volume where you don’t expect it. Proportion all the way down. 

On my nightstand 

You Are What You Hate by Sarah Yehudit Schneider. Dense. Slow. Definitely not a beach read. It’s a Kabbalah text, and I’m taking it in tiny pieces. The central idea is that the things we reject hold pieces of ourselves we haven’t dealt with yet and has been knocking around my head all month. I keep thinking about it at the bench. The sketches I almost throw out are usually the ones I end up making. 

The Scent 

Madame Grey. The one from Cassandra Grey at Violet Grey. I’m obsessed. 

The bottle alone is reason enough, soft undulating curves, more sculpture than perfume bottle. Of course, it just had to land in my life the same week I started thinking about curves. The scent is plush, a little smoky, very grown. I always say it reminds me of the back corner table at The Polo Bar in the city on a cold winter’s night, getting in a black car (be clear, a black car, not Uber) and heading uptown to Bemelman’s at the Carlyle. If you don’t live in New York City this may sound completely absurd to you, it's okay. Anyway, try the travel size before you commit, either it’s your soulmate, or it isn’t. 

In heavy rotation 

My current hit list for fashion:

Baby blue Longchamp aviators I just bought, thrown on with everything. 

Barrel jeans, these specifically.

Big rounded jackets. 

Yves Saint Laurent Mombasa   bags, curvaceous and round. A play on the old hobo bag.

Exaggerated pointed shoes, currently in a love affair with YSL (Saint Laurent, YSL, whatever, you get it...will always be YSL to me. ) 

And, confession…tortoise shell hair clips. I’d written them off years ago. Now I’m reaching for one every morning. 

What’s happening at the bench 

I tell collectors all the time: my pieces come from what I’m looking at, not what’s selling. 

There’s a new collection of rings taking shape right now. Thin bands, large charms. That’s all I’ll say. The proportion is the whole point, the band almost disappears, the form on top has room to breathe. Solid gold, made to order in NYC. A little more sculpture than jewelry. 

Not ready to show yet. But close. 

If you want first look 

The newsletter is where these pieces are landing first, from sketches to studio photos, the chance to claim a piece before it hits Instagram. If you want first look at this collection, the newsletter list is where to be.