In Which I Prove Materialistic

Is this not the most awesome watch you have ever seen? Well, that's how I feel about it at least, and when I first spotted it a couple years ago on some website or another, it was wrist lust at first site.

I printed out its picture and specs, and taped it within easy view in my office at the time. At $500, I wasn't about to run out, buy it and slap it on my wrist; no, it was a dream of ultimate multi-timezone design perfection. More an inspirational image than anything else.

And then I got this boyfriend. And this guy (I'm thinking) understands or at least flatters my infatuation with international travel, and for Christmas this landed on my wrist. Granted it's been a few years, so the price has come down as the deadstock hit online auctions and such, but I doubt I still would have made the jump to buying it on my own; that's how elevated this product had become in my psyche.

The good news is that it's everything I ever dreamed it would be; it blends so well with my style and is shockingly more understated than my other watches, a Turin Olympics-edition Swatch and a concrete grey Alessi piece with a dead battery. And the even better news is that now I have a little connection to New York City, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles--the cities I chose to occupy the five faces--on my wrist, instead of declaring allegiance to just one. It's the best aspirational product ever.

My Year In Cities, 2009

I'm going to round up 2009 the best way I know how: by travel. So taking a page from the playbooks of TheVole and Kottke, here (chronologically) is My Year In Cities, 2009.

• Toledo, OH*
• Chicago, IL*
• New York, NY (also Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island)*
• Jersey City, NJ*
• Hoboken, NJ*
• Philadelphia, PA
• Boston, MA*
• Hong Kong, SAR*
• Macau, SAR
• Atlantic City, NJ*
• Detroit, MI*
• Baltimore, MD
• Berlin, Germany
• Los Angeles, CA
• Milwaukee, WI
• Grand Rapids, OH
• Saint Lucia, West Indies
• Worcester, MA

* Denotes multiple trips throughout the year.

For 2010, I'm definitely scooping up London, Bruges, Edinburgh, Reykjavik, Las Vegas and possibly Dubai, Oslo, Stockholm.

Celebrating One Year Of Being Free From Office Work

...Technically over one year and three months, but who's counting? So when I'm not ignoring this, my personal blog, I'm posting up a storm over at three other sites and, before I start up here again, I'd like to give them their proper due. So bear with as I show off a few of my favorite stories from the last month or so.

Just do understand that when I blog--as Editor at Jaunted.com, and almost two years as Contributing Editor at HotelChatter.com as well as a contributor at Racked.com--I put research and time into it and usually my own photos and video. What I'm getting at here is that it's not personal stuff, like some sort of LiveJournal, but work and I've been frustrated lately with those who flat-out plagiarize my articles.

Keep in mind that I do tons of timely and newsy pieces everyday, but the following are the fun features that end up taking off. Now on with the show:

At Jaunted:

• Neighborhoods To Know and Go: NYC's Astoria
• The Top Ten Gross Things People Do On Airplanes
• The 2009 In-Flight WiFi Guide
• What NOT To Do In Venice: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes
• What NOT To Do In Paris: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes
• Five Great Phrases For Swearing Your Way Through Italy

At Racked:

• The 38 Essential New York City Shopping Experiences (12 of them)
• An Insider's Guide To An Apple Store Opening
• Merry Department Stores: The Top Five Most Festive
• Collabs: Inside a Rodarte for Target Dress

At HotelChatter:

• Afternoon Tea at The Plaza Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be
• Ma Peche Restaurant Opens at NY's Chambers Hotel, and We're So There
• Inside Jade Mountain in Saint Lucia
• We Ate 'Whipped Chlorophyll' at The Peninsula Chicago's Avenues

A Masstige Not For Me: Reflections On Jimmy Choo for H&M

Tomorrow, with the release of their Jimmy Choo collaboration, H&M can cut another notch into their masstige bedpost. Personally, I think this is the second-to-worst collab from H&M, with Madonna's tracksuits more than earning the bottom rung. For the first time in several seasons, you won't find me outside an H&M tomorrow as I think each and every piece is far too clubby/LA and far overpriced for being a hair above Zara.

But these beliefs didn't stop me from doing my job of checking out the products at the H&M 5th Ave as they sat, guarded, in the window. After some "ha"-ing to myself over what hype they've managed to generate from such not-that-great stuff, I walked up a block before turning around to head south to my subway stop. It was when I walked by the H&M this second time that a cute little scene played out in my path, and now sticks in my head.

Scene: (Fifth Avenue sidewalk, rush hour at dusk)

I am dressed in all black and walking south at a fair clip, navigating the tourists on Fifth Ave when I approach a clearing at the entrance of H&M. I hear a man calling out "Bunny! Bunny!" and the odd name causes me to glance to the source of the voice. It is an older, well-fed man in a tailored black suit, with whisps of grey hair that calls to mind Bernie Madoff. He is holding open the rear passenger door to a black towncar, parked at the curb directly outside of H&M's doors.

Standing on the sidewalk, frozen squarely between the towncar and H&M's doors is a an older woman with excellent posture, poised to take another step towards H&M. She has silver hair, pulled back into a tight and perfect ponytail, and she's dressed in a well-tailored black skirt suit, with a little swing to the skirt. It suits her excellently and she just oozes money. I look from her back to the man at the town car, and then back to the woman. In this second, her indecision is palpable; whether to ask the husband to wait a moment while she inquires about the Jimmy Choo in the window, or to retreat and go home.

The woman does exactly what I expected and hoped of her. She briskly turns on her heel and climbs into the towncar, essentially wiping away her curiosity of the Choo and H&M connection. That is all, and that is how I too feel about this--meh.

Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 [Was] Upon Us

...and it's travel-themed! I have to admit that my heart fluttered a bit at this fact; are they appealing directly to my sensibilities? Thank you IMG Fashion for this theme; my eyes will be drinking it in all week.

[Update: Fashion Week is over; the full list of my attendance is below. But won't you read alll the lovely stories and liveblogs over at Racked under Fashion Week Spring 2010.

Speaking of this week, I'm going to use this post to keep tabs on my show attendance. Won't you follow along? I'm covering Fashion Week for Racked.com, as I've done for the past several seasons as well, considering as how I've been writing for Racked for almost two years, a length of time surprising in the blogosphere. If you'd like to see the stories, liveblogs, and tweets that accompany these shows, you can find them there and @racked and @jetsetcd on Twitter.

Now the list of what I've attended and covered:

- Jenni Kayne (presentation)

- Target/Anna Sui Pop-Up (Party)

- Ports 1961 (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Yigal Azrouel (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Cynthia Rowley (Runway, Gallery)

- Nicole Miller (Runway, Gallery)

- Cynthia Rowley After-Party

- Charlotte Ronson After-Party

- Rag & Bone After-Party

- Christian Siriano (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Band of Outsiders (presentation)

- Y-3 (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Custo Barcelona (Runway, Gallery)

- Carlos Miele (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Jill Stuart (Runway, Gallery)

- Thakoon (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Badgley Mischka (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Willow (Runway, Gallery)

- Alexandre Hercovitch (Runway, Liveblog, Gallery)

- Anna Sui (Runway, Gallery)

- Norma Kamali (Runway, Gallery)

- threeASFOUR/Yoko Ono (Runway, Gallery)

And other shows I've been involved with covering:

- BCBGMaxAzria

- Charlotte Ronson

- Brian Reyes

- Max Azria

- Nanette Lepore

- 3.1 Phillip Lim

And the list of observations:

- You might be in the middle of Manhattan, but nowhere seems to have any good 3G or even cell reception. As a result, I have said "fuck" far too much and too loudly today.

- Apparently if you want an endless stream of catcalls, just wear heels.

- Model's thighs do touch; I watched it happen when the screens showed the Rosa Cha show

- Older men who get to enter the Fashion Week tent because they are sponsors or something, are most likely there to prey on the Asian trendspotters who speak little English. It's gross to watch.

- Free stuff is a burden. Actually I learned that last season.

- Fashion parties are not too different from regular private lounge parties, except that the guests are usually wearing a higher percentage of black clothing with more zippers and leather.

- The tents are often more full of aspiring stylists and hangers-on than they are with actual clients, press, and established fashion people.

- One of the reasons I always look forward to the Y-3 show is because it's a breath of fresh air. The characters of the tents aren't there, the venue always has plenty of space and organization, and they use a really wide selection of models, of all ethnicities.

- There are people that work in fashion who do not know how to pronounce designer names like "Max Azria," "Herve Leger," and "Anna Sui."

- I think I might be the only person (aside from the rest of Team Racked and already established fashion folk) are aren't trying to foist a portfolio or business card into the hands of people who look influential.

- I'm definitely one of the "I'd rather be heard and not seen"-type of bloggers. That does not mean I'm ugly. This could be a whole other post entirely.

Steak Dinners And 'Famous' Rooms: NYC Of The 1950s

Update: I did the series, and as promised had fun with it. I don't think the Jaunted half went near as well as the HotelChatter half, since I've continued on with HC posts on the topic even after the week of stories. You can check out the series here:

VINTAGE NYC HOTELS --HotelChatter

NYC IN THE 1950s -- Jaunted

Just a sneaky peek inside of this amazing NY Tourist brochure from 1953 which my uncle sent to me for my birthday just passed. (Click the picture to see in detail). It makes me thirst for Canada Dry ginger ale more than I normally do.

With this brochure, and its very chic little ads inside for everything from lobster and steak dinners to dancing in the Rainbow Room, I'm working on a series of stories on Retro NY tourism for Jaunted and HotelChatter. It'll be great, it'll be be visually interesting, and it'll hopefully be inspiring, Mad Men-fever and all. Stay tuned for a huge reveal of this booklet of vintage fun...

Canal Street Counterfeiters: The Bane of My NYC Life

Just over a year ago, I snapped the above picture of a policeman in the doorway of a Canal Street perfume shop being raided for selling counterfeit goods. My resulting story of watching the raid is here, and since even before then I have been resistant to walking through this area.

Some days however, I find myself having to confront Canal and the unrelenting black market bagmongers who crowd the corners and stealthily say to you "miss bags louieweetongucciprada louieweetonguccipradachannel?"

Since I'm typically the girl who charges down the sidewalk, face stonily set with a "don't fuck with me" directness, any obstacle in my path makes me extremely annoyed. I can forgive strollers and confused tourists, but not these bag men.

Today, for the first time, I talked back to one of them. As I attempted to make a right turn on the sidewalk, he blocked me to release his stream of "louiewuittonchannelpradagucci" and I loudly replied with a deep and pained "Nooooooo." A second after, leaving him in my dust, I realized how powerfully cathartic this exclamation had been.

Generally the rule in dealing with these counterfeit street salesmen is to be silent and continue walking, or reply with a simple "no." But today's heat, and the sidewalk crowding of Canal that always forces me to walk in the street, with traffic, kicked me to a new level of annoyance. Not to mention that I am also offended that the salesmen would look at me and think that I would be interested in their wares. Like I've said before, I've seen fakes in the slums of Shanghai and I've seen the same conditions behind the scenes in New York, and this whole business is deadly.

If all of a sudden my face appears on a milk carton or on a missing persons flyer, you should start by questioning any number of the gangs that operate the counterfeiting business in Chinatown. I plan to continue talking back.

Want v. Need: July Edition

Starting now, I am going to do a monthly round-up of five random items that I come across online, which deserve a small spotlight as life-improving things or events. Nonetheless, can't have everything, so I've got to make decisions...

• Want: To see the "Kodachrome Culture: The American Tourist In Europe" exhibit at the National Geographic Museum in DC.
• Want: Nice furniture inspired by graffiti, like this dripdrop sideboard that takes Krink's work and adapts it to somehow be both minimalist and contemporary--not to its expensive appearance.
• Need: The patience and attention to detail that made it possible to turn an Italian beach into a sand castle ode to Dante's Inferno.
• Need: A compact camera that is waterproof, drop-proof, temperature change-proof, and sand-proof, and yet takes HD video and 12.1 megapixel pics with face detection and shake reduction. Lord knows I take a load of pics everyday for the blogs, in all conditions (almost ruined my old cam with Saharan sand, even, but then it succumbed to the surf in St. Maarten) and I am the perfect person to put this Pentax to work.
• Want: If I had a backyard (or any yard), a eco-pod would be an ideal home blogging office, not to mention a hammock oasis during inclement weather. But at £17,630 plus VAT, people might as well just buy a small second house in a bad neighborhood.