Exploring Southern California Through Architecture and Fashion
A shadow shawls the playground of ruins like a protective parent. Everything is pallid, dark—except for a temple. The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, which sits in Forum Romanum, was built back in 141 A.D. and later converted into a Roman Catholic church in the seventh century. It’s basking in a rusty, age-old golden sunlight…
Read More
Close-to 17 years later, I think of those earrings when I arrive at an open house and cocktail party thrown by Swarovski. The occasion? Previewing the luxury crystal maker’s fall/winter 2020/21 innovations and trends with the theme: Love All.
Read More
A little over a month ago, I had the pleasure of spending an evening at the Los Angeles Opera. It was the closing night of a Verdi classic—La Traviata. Still slightly buzzed from a pink gin cocktail I sipped on earlier, I was feeling everything a little extra that evening. (I had the drink at…
Read More
“I meant to ask you, have you ever been to Redbird?” I direct-message my friend-slash-fellow-journalist Kristin Vartan on Instagram. Aside from a knack for words, we also have a mutual respect for places with a past— museums, old residences, historic restaurants and cafes. Redbird, I discovered, is that sort of place, and as it turns…
Read More
It’s hot. I walk with a sense of urgency, my heels pinching my middle and little toes every time they smack the pavement. In an utterly predictable bit of kvetching—because I always seem to wear uncomfortable shoes on days when I have to do the most walking—I tell my friend Kristin Vartan how my kicks…
Read More
I stretch my neck forward to look up at the sky through the front windshield, and for a second there, I lose all heart in the work I’m about to do. It’s gloomy, and the sun is showing no signs of ever breaking through the thick ceiling of congregated clouds. When I first discussed the…
Read More
Anyone who knows me will tell you that, more often than not, you’ll find me wandering the museum grounds at The Getty. I love art, and I love places that make me feel like I can cross continents and time periods through art. My second favorite art mecca? The Los Angeles County Museum of Art,…
Read More
I turn around the corner, and my breath catches in my throat when I see it. It’s almost like the curtain parts, and I’m treated to a grand, extravagant production. Guo Pei’s exhibit in Santa Ana is somewhat like a visual aria—beautiful music wrapped in overheated drama, punctuated by a masterly command of whispered emotions.…
Read More
Not too long ago, I was approached by one of my editors to work on a guide to Orange County for Ayres Hotel Magazine. At face value, the task seemed easy enough. After all, there’s no shortage of things to do in the area. So, obviously, without skipping a beat, I said yes. After all,…
Read More
How big is fashion in Tbilisi? Well, possibly bigger than the country itself. The story of how this off-the-grid, Eastern European nation became a fashion hot spot is long one, and undoubtedly worthy of a post of its own. (Although, in case you were wondering, it sorta started with Vetements, or more precisely, its head…
Read More