Wing (Chair) Nut

Posted on September 25, 2012 by emily

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that some of my “adventures” don’t always stick. After flying through the air on a trapeze, I didn’t run away and join the circus. Nor have I joined a synchronized swimming team (although I did think about it). One activity that I tried, fell in love with, and have continued is upholstery. I took my first upholstery class in the early days of this blog over a year ago. I was immediately drawn to the combination of creativity and design with sheer physical effort. Upholstery has it all: I could indulge my love of color and interior design while working my day’s frustrations out by ripping and yanking a chair apart and pulling and stretching fabric into place.

Many of you have read, and watched as I tackled my third, and most difficult project to date: a wing chair. I bought the chair (and its twin) on ebay for $99 for the pair (an amazing deal) and found the Albert Hadley fabric at Griswold’s fabric outlet (a real treasure trove). I had to rip the chair to shreds and build it back up, tightening springs, and layering cotton upon muslin upon burlap with a beautiful final layer of fabric.

I started working on this chair in January…so obviously I am not the speediest upholsterer. I had ups and down in the process (I even broke my chair’s leg on Valentine’s Day…I have that effect on dates), and I needed a lot of help, but I am finally finished!

Many of the activities I try for this blog are challenging physically, others are a test of confidence, or even emotionally demanding. This wing chair was a test of my patience. This was a long, hard process. I desperately wanted to be (very) good at upholstering. And while this blog has inspired an evolution of sorts — I am no longer afraid of being bad at something — the prolonged nature of this upholstery project really tested this evolved version of me. I can handle being bad at something for an afternoon or event a full day. But week after week…that was starting to get to me. I was learning as I progressed, but my teacher had to correct me often and I had to re-do elements of the chair often.

There was no real resolution to my frustration, but I was able to sit with it, come to peace with the fact that upholstery is a skill and art that people study for years. Who was I to expect to be good, or even proficient at it in just one year? But all that frustration melted away when I hauled my chair into the corner of my bedroom and saw how beautiful it is, how comfortable it is, and how accomplished I feel. And as I sit in my wing chair writing this post, all the hard work and frustration feels well worth it, and I can’t wait to get started on my next project.

For those who missed my previous posts, here is a step-by-step pictorial of my greatest upholstery accomplishment to date:

This is what I started with

My naked char after taking it apart

Then I broke one of the legs off…not the best day

Leg reattached, springs tightened, starting to layer cotton and burlap

More cotton…

It started looking like a chair

Almost done…

The finished product in my bedroom, the perfect writing perch

Great Expectations

Posted on September 19, 2012 by emily

So, as I have hyped over the last week, I attended my first fashion show in New York over the weekend, a true fashion adventure. As it turns out my expectations were a little too high. Don’t worry, armed with all of your great suggestions I managed to create a killer outfit (more on that later). My dear friend Jenna and I did our research. That is to be expected, of course, she is an accomplished journalist and I have not quite been able to truly shake that habit yet. We examined fall trends and the shows from last week. We even enlisted the advice of stylists, both of the professional variety as well as you, my citizen fashionistas. We were ready!

Our killer shoes

Honestly, getting ready for the show may have been more fun than the actual show. Closet fashion shows with girlfriends are tough to beat, aren’t they? We rolled up to the Waldorf and took our seats, not in the front row, but in the second (not to shabby).

With the show featuring couture, I expected the type of hyper-stylized and eclectic looks that we saw come down the runway. What I did not expect were the eclectic outfits of our fellow audience members. The ratio of fashionista to fashion victim was slanted in the wrong direction. I even spotted a banana clip with bejeweled interlocking “Cs.” Neither Coco Chanel nor Karl Lagerfeld OK’d that! Judging from the crowd you would think we had walked into an episode of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” It was a people-watcher’s dream.

We saw the work of three international designers. First up was Wendy Luzon whose work included sparkly chains dangling from bedazzled shoulder pads.

A good shot of the offending banana clip

Isabel Zapardiez showed some elaborate wedding gowns in hues of ivory and blush with distinct headwear that at times looked like tiny birds were taking up residence in the model’s nest-like hair styles.

Last up was Giovanni LoPresti, who dressed his models in masks and funky night club-worthy pieces incorporating leather and sequins. This was couture, so I don’t think anyone is supposed to wear the looks exactly the way they were presented on the runway, and that’s probably a good thing.

My first fashion show was a great experience, even if it didn’t quite live up to my Oscar de la Renta fantasies. I had been a little nervous about being overdressed, underdressed, or not dressed just right, but I was also expecting a scene out of “The Devil Wears Prada,” with stick-thin stylists and editors fighting over seats in the front row. This was certainly not that, but I didn’t know that until we got inside. Outside the Waldorf, my anticipation gnawed at me as my heart beat faster and faster. But walking in with my friend, I put on a confident smile, added a little strut to my steps and sauntered in like I belonged…then exhaled in relief as we sat down — the realization sinking in that we were not the ones who should to feel self-conscious.

Crazy fashion show lighting, but our smiles are obvious

Now to the good part, my outfit: the dress was my own, by tibi. My leather sash and clutch came from the closet of Whitney Dayton Brunet and those amazing shoes are Luxury Rebel courtesy of Jenna Lee, my date for the evening. Thank you for all your suggestions, I incorporated many of them into this ensemble.

I can’t express enough appreciation for Molly Galler and Wheeler del Toro for sending me to my first fashion show. It was quite an experience and I am now prepared for when Oscar invites me to his spring 2013 show in February (pretty please).

My Nightly Adventure

Posted on September 17, 2012 by emily

As you all know I was in NYC this past weekend to attend a fashion show (more on that in the coming days), and it turned into a very auspicious weekend trip! As regular readers of this blog know, sometimes my adventures take me on the road (New York, Minnesota, and Chicago, that post coming soon, to name a few). Being a self-financed blogger, I’m always looking for ways to cut travel costs.

This past weekend while in New York, a producer for NBC Nightly News asked me to offer my observations on trying to find deals on hotels. Of course, I was happy to oblige! Click here or on the image below to watch the resulting story.

Having spent a large part of my career in TV, the interview felt like going home. Much like New York itself, the news industry is a wonderful place to visit, but I am really enjoying this new life adventure of mine. Thanks to all of you for coming along with me, and enjoy the show!

Front Row or Bust

Posted on September 10, 2012 by emily

My celebration of Fashion Week rolls on with a surprise opportunity. Thanks to Molly Galler, the great blogger behind PopBopShop, and Wheeler Del Toro of 3 Scoops in Brighton, MA I will be going to a Couture Fashion Week show on Saturday. What more could a fashionista like me wish for?

The picture that won me Fashion Week tickets. Courtesy of Kara Kochalko

These tickets were part of a giveaway that Molly hosted. To win we had to submit a picture of ourselves in our most front-row-worthy outfit. As you all know, I never do anything half way, so I took this as a challenge. I grabbed an armful of fun items from my closet and pleaded with the talented Kara Kochalko to capture me doing my best Anna Wintour impersonation, minus the bangs. The result you can see here, and the rest, as they say, is history.

This is going to be a challenge of confidence as opposed to the majority of my other escapades which tend to be challenges in a physical or emotional sense. I have to strut into the Waldorf Astoria (hopefully on a carpet in some shade of red) looking like I belong there. Now, I know and love fashion, but couture? Each of these pieces will be made to order for its future owner who will no doubt spend thousands of dollars on each piece. I, on the other hand, will be spending $25 on a Bolt Bus ticket to NYC.

I always think about what I am going to wear on my adventures, but this time it actually matters! Black is always safe in New York, but for the theatrics of a couture show, a little extra may be necessary…maybe one of Marie Galvin’s fascinators? The clock is ticking for me to perfect my double air kiss and to find the ultimate Fashion Week ensemble.

Here’s where you come in: I need your help and will take any and all suggestions on what to wear. Leave me a comment, send me an email, tweet, instagram a picture, send a carrier pigeon, anything! I will be headed to NYC on Friday afternoon so be sure to weigh in before then. Keep in mind that if I fall in love with your idea, I have to be able to find it in Boston this week, or with little time to spare in Manhattan on Saturday afternoon.

I will, of course, document every moment of my fashionable adventure so you will get to see whose suggestions I take. Ciao Darlings (I am practicing already)!

Many thanks to Kara Kochalko for being generous with her time and her camera. She also took my profile picture, so as you can see she is very talented. Thanks also go out to Molly Galler and Wheeler Del Toro of 3 Scoops for making this would-be fashionista’s style dream come true.

Fascinating Fascinators

Posted on September 6, 2012 by emily

Photo courtesy of FameFlynet Pictures

The past year and a half has been full of new experiences for the Duchess of Cambridge (the former Kate Middleton), as well as for those who love her from afar. The “Kate Effect,” as the infatuation with her fashion choices has come to be called, has influenced style across the globe. Dresses that she is seen wearing sell out in hours and the demand for them has even crashed lucky retailers’ websites. I have to admit, that I am one of the many who are obsessed impressed with the future queen’s style and grace.

The one element of Kate’s outfits that is most striking to American audiences is her headwear: we Yankees love those Brit’s hats. There was a parade of fascinators worn by nearly every guest at the royal wedding last year and Kate has dazzled us with her choice of fascinators from her first trip abroad as a royal to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. As Americans – and specifically Bostonians – get more familiar with the different ways to top off an outfit, the demand has grown for toppers themselves.

Photo courtesy of Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Europe

Boston’s only trained milliner (I tried to find another and was unable, which is why I have deemed her the “only,” speak up if I’m incorrect) has been the beneficiary of this spike in fascination with fascinators. Irish-born Marie Galvin of Galvin-ized Headwear has been making hats in Boston since 1998, and has been in her current location in the city’s South End since 2007. She started out in fashion design (her grandmother was also a designer), but was struck by the power of a hat.

“You can go from drab to fab in a couple seconds,” Marie said cheerfully on the late summer afternoon I spent with her. She says a person stands taller when they wear a hat; they walk with more confidence and with an extra bounce in their step. I tried it, it’s true.

Marie was already living in Boston when she started her love affair with hats. She could not find any schools or milliners to learn from, so she bought old books on millinery and taught herself. Many of the materials and equipment she needed were not available in the States, so she had to order them from the UK, the mother land of millinery. It was a hard road, but hat-by-hat she got better and better. Today she executes her designs in the back of her boutique which looks like the Santa’s workshop of hats with Marie as the one and only elf.

Marie makes all sorts of hats: chic and warm winter hats, berets, fascinators and couture pieces for weddings and special occasions. Her creations are whimsical and playful, they can be sexy, and sometimes practical, but are always beautiful. Her shop is the place to go for Kentucky Derby toppers and increasingly spring and summer weddings.

Marie steaming the felt

To celebrate the start of Fashion Week and because we are inching our way into fall (I am shedding a tear as I type this), Marie thought I should try my hand (literally) at making a beret. Marie makes each of her hats by hand and it can take days to complete one piece. For this beret we started with felt, sounds simple enough right? Wrong! The felt, has to be flexible enough to be stretched over a form. To do that, Marie steams the material until it becomes malleable. Marie holds the fabric over a steam machine that spits out boiling vapor, which can be a little tricky…seriously…I scalded my fingers. Next, Marie and I stretched the fabric over the beret form and pinned it in place. This typically has to sit overnight to fully take on the appropriate shape. Much like a morning show cooking segment, Marie had berets at different stages of development set up for me. So instead of coming back the next day, we cut off the excess felt and moved on to sewing a thin wire to the edge of another beret that had already been left overnight. We used a huge needle because the felt is so thick. Much like my upholstery projects, it was one of those moments that I wish I knew more about sewing. The wire gives the beret shape and we then covered our work with piece of glossy black grosgrain ribbon.

On the mold

The hallmark of Marie’s pieces is the attention to detail, one look inside her shop and that is clear. For the beret we were working on Marie showed me how she hand-stitches beautiful jewel tone feathers to the top. This beret is perfect for fall and a perfect way to wade into the waters of fashion headwear. The beret fastens around your head with a thin piece of elastic that disappears into your hair, even my ginger locks. I was so happy to learn that this is how Kate’s hats stay so perfectly in place.

The process of making a hat – even a relatively simple one like the beret – is complex and takes a great deal of time. And Marie does all this after she has designed the hat…in her head she says. The real testaments to her talent are the fascinators on display in her shop. I am dying to get one, specifically the navy one at the bottom of this post. I just need the right party or wedding to which to wear it. Hint, hint my friends. Millinery is a lost art, as is, perhaps , the wearing of these elegant accessories.

My Beautiful beret

The making of this beret, and I am sure it is the case with all of Marie’s creations, requires a lot of my patience (a virtue that I am gradually acquiring week-by-week), it is similar to upholstery in that way. My generation of post-feminist daughters, were in large part spared the “Home Ec” classes that our mothers and grandmothers suffered through (or took joy in, I am not judging). As a result, I have had to get comfortable with sewing, cooking and other domestic tasks that were once considered women’s’ “jobs,” in my 20s and now my 30s, as opposed to in the middle school classroom. This is an odd feeling at times, and an interesting cultural discussion to have.

Marie’s work will be featured in an exhibit opening this Saturday, September 8^th, at The Peabody Essex Museum. The exhibit “Hats” will also feature the work of some of the world’s most well-known milliners. Marie will be on-hand on Saturday to lead a discussion on choosing and styling the perfect hat, she will be followed by a presentation by Stephen Jones, he is like the Chanel of milliners. So this is a big deal! This is sure to be an amazing opening day and I hope to see you there!