FINOLA HUGHES

I got a chance to see my friend, Jennifer Howell, the founder of The Art of Elysium the other night. There was a dinner thrown for the committee of the not for profit organization. And guess what? The ladies who hosted the dinner were none other than Alexis and Alexandra of Gilt Groupe. Come on, people, combining my two greatest loves, giving and shopping. (There is major contradiction and sick psychology involved in that statement, but I ain’t touching it, knock yourself out). Great dinner, the wonderful thing about this organization is that everyone involved takes part in the running of it. We have all visited the hospitals and seen the children and we all try and raise money to take the programs further afield. Art of Elysium now has programs in hospitals in NYC. That is so exciting. If you are not familiar with us, Elysium has working actors, artists and musicians go into hospitals in the LA area and run workshops and programs for the children who are spending long periods of time undergoing treatments. It is a great way for the children to forget about everything for a while and just be a kid.

It was a good dinner spent planning the upcoming fundraiser, a big one. Eva Mendes, Topher Grace, Ali Larter and Elijah Wood were all present, and I introduced my husband to Alexis and Alexandra, and he said, ‘Ah, Gilt Groupe. You may bankrupt me!’

Perfect……

Russell, producer Ryan Kavanaugh, Jennifer Howell, me, Alexis Maybank & Alexandra Wilkis Wilson.

Jen & me

Comments 1

For the last few seasons, Robert Verdi has been holding a lounge situation in NY for Fashion Week, where tired magazine editors and celebs can go and crash for an hour or so away from the madness. On the last day of fash wk, I took myself off the luxelaboratory to catch up with my friend Robert and have a moment of calm. He has the greatest taste and the place was gorgeous. And of course, everyone was fed, watered and fixed up by the hair and make up Guru’s for Cover Girl and Christophe, bev hills. Tried the fab thick and full volumiser from Christophe, and you have to get a ‘lashblastlength’ mascara from Cover Girl. Love it. And what I really love is the Lumene skin serum from CVS that I absconded with, and have been using. Gorge, totes! And Lumene have this fantastic Time Freeze instant cooling eye freeze that is genius!! I am currently carrying it in my bag, and it is supposed to make my puffy eyes go down. It’s adorable!

Lumene stuff

Me and Robert discuss something very important and stylish

Over at the tents I picked up some Moroccanoil hair products. This is oil treatments for all hair types, and I think the hair mask is crazy good. I am a big follower of Wen, as you know, and use it on myself and my children. But I very much like these argan oil infused products, that style, condition and shine hair. The mask left my hair silky smooth and frizz free, which is nothing to be sneezed at in NYC. There are a few ingredients I can’t spell or pronounce, but my hair seems to like it! And the oil smells great.

The Oil treatments for fashion wk hair

As you all know, the cuff is IN with a capital everything. I have been wearing my fave Alexis Bittar cuffs for a couple of years now, and won’t be seen out without them, nor will Sadie, as it happens (well, Barbie Bittar). However, I happened in to Alice and Olivia which is right by the tents, (I was able, you see, to hobble over there in my ridic pumps) and once inside there were these fantastic cuffs by Lea Sophia. I mean, sparkly, shiny, huge, heavy and dramatic. Like an overweight Drag Queen. Fabulous. The ladies there were so gracious and let me choose one to keep, and then when I whined like a disgusting spoiled brat, also gave me the black one. They are so great, wore them the whole time, with everything. Alice and Olivia have very cool things, including little tee shirts for baby girls, which actually cost the same as a top for big girls, anyway, scored the A&O Payless boots from there. I think they are hard to find, and had to have them. Not BECAUSE they are hard to find, you understand, but because they are black, high ankle boot wedges, and actually very comfortable. I walked 30 city blocks in them the following day.

My lovely Lea Sophia’s

Comments 0

Ah, Sadie. My darling daughter. She, of the impossible to occupy- She, of the I climb trees, chairs, kitchen counters, hills- She, of the ‘my mission in life is to constantly keep moving’! I have found a PASS TIME!!!!
FOR HER!!
BRILLIANT!!
COSMETICS!!!!
Usually when I attempt to take a shower, (what am I thinking?) I have to constantly lift her out of the tub/sink/shower/toilet/ and what has been an adorable Sadie outfit is relegated to a sopping wet mess, and we basically begin the morning over. (Since Sadie can now reach the faucets in the house, this actual routine can be repeated up to 10 times in one day, which is appealing to a clothes horse Mom, but can be time consuming, not to mention fraught with style decisions). ANYWAY, I digress from my digression. This morning, whilst trying to take a shower, in an attempt to keep an adorable pink silk Asian inspired outfit intact, I gave Sadie a box with about 7 pretty bangles of varying price tags, (never undercut a toddler). This kept her so engaged, that I showered with no visible signs of anxiety. Extraordinary. Which led me to put a few random thoughts together and kit out this box with a small pink lip gloss, a tiny Anna Sui miniature perfume, a hairbrush, comb, some sample creams and various girly knick knacks!!! Oh, sweet Victory! We sat for a good half hour… wait…. let me repeat that phrase…. We, Sadie and me, sat for a good HALF HOUR, playing with the various cosmetics and even painted her nails! Come on!! It was Heaven in a box. So… I think I have my shower routine down now. I cannot believe it has taken me so long to figure out…….

Sadie with Chanel nails trying to get out the door and climb a hill….

Comments 0

I only ever go to Barneys Greengrass BH restaurant to check out all the fab women, their bags shoes and purses; it is an overwhelmingly shallow experience for me, but one I will not give up lightly. I have a gorge agent, Haley, that works at UTA, right across the street, and it is her guilty pleasure to meet her clients there. So, suffice to say, I run, don’t walk, when she suggests lunch, coffee, tea or water at La Greengrass. Natch I am the first girly from my party there, because I have been checking out the Serge Normant eyeshadows in make up dept, but Haley and her other client catch up with me and we speak in whispers about the ladies around us. Waved at Terri Hatcher who was lunching in the corner, (I was in five minutes of her SoapDish movie) and proceeded to order the beet/apple salad.

Now, the point of this story is that I am indeed a fashion whore/snob/victim/ and that goes a long way towards me being invariably tolerant of others stylistic experiments. Meaning, I can usually see what it is you are attempting, if you are following a fashion trend, but I am less likely to understand if you insist on taking a daft stab at something in spite of it’s silliness. Hence, 4 years of ‘How do I look?’! For example, Marc of Jacobs fame has shown ‘Half’ shoes in a couple of his collections, these are shoes that don’t actually support the entire sole of a woman’s foot, just half of it. I don’t know whether these are just runway items or if they actually get manufactured, but they are quite silly and impractical, although arty, same for Madonna’s bunny ears. So, I get it, but….. why? Well, why not, I suppose.

Alright, back to Barneys. So, after 2 solid hours of girl talk, myself and the sweet Lo Bosworth, walk towards the elevators. It is always a nerve jangling experience to enter and leave La Greengrass on account of the other women at tables whispering about your bag/shoes/jewelry/marketability, so I usually break out in a slight sweat. On approaching the elevators I am greeted by…… an ass. A beautiful, pink lady lump peeking fully, I mean fully, the entire, whole, double-bubble butt cheeks, out of her short cream silk slip dress as she stood leaning across the bar on her phone. Um…..Um…. I couldn’t even ascertain if she was wearing a thong, or even a modicum of shame, so I did what any Mother would do and before I had even thought of legal repercussions, reached out and pulled her dress down over her naked rear. “Um, your bottom is showing!” I whispered, she spun round and stared at me and said “oh”, in an annoyed voice. I quickly turned towards the elevators where Lo was fixated on the closed elevator door, willing it to open up before she laughed. I mean…….! Ok, so short is in, I get it, but nightie short? There was NO material… to cover her ass. None. Seriously, did she forget her Chanel shorts?
It will forever be Barneys Green-Ass from now on…..

Comments 0

Like all Mom’s, I have been going through Summer vacay with a sharp intake of breath! This house has been action central for the last 8-9 weeks, and now…….. It is silent! V scary. I am sitting in my house, alooooooooone, able to blooooooooog! Can you imagine? I had become accustomed to never brushing my hair, (it can look v Italian Vogue on a good day) and hitting the ground running like a sturdy rhino at 6am every morning when Sadie would politely bellow that she wants MILK!!!!! or MOMMA, or FLOLA, (me). And now…….. it is silent! Sadie has gone off to Mommy & me with Russell, Dylan has gone off to III grade, and Cash is in pre-school. Um…… I am not going to sit down and read that book I wanted to read 3 years ago, because now NY Times has informed me that I should be reading Lorrie Moore’s ‘Gate at the stairs’, and I never even finished the latest Sedaris. I am not going to get my nails done, and I am not even going to meet a friend for coffee, or yoga. What I am going to do is….. Nothing. Yes, nothing. I haven’t done that in about 21 lifetimes, and I want to just indulge the nothing moment for 2 more seconds before the phone rings. It is not easy, especially when…. it is silent!

Can’t wait for them all to come home!

Comments 0

Well, there are two ways of looking at Fashion Week. One: It is a fantastic excuse to wear best kit, teeter around on heels, covet mag editor’s bags, drool at gorge runway fashion and blog about what’s ‘In’. And Two: Actually do some business. This last fash wk I was there to accomplish second objective, which I do many FW’s. Great. Met up with extraordinary woman from England, author who works with serious designer in Paris, (will reveal all soon). Had various meetings, but didn’t get to see much fashion. Didn’t get to see much at all, actually! It appears, somewhere along the road I have pissed off a PR agency. Now, that is not good. It can be a number of things; bad acting, bad style, or wrong pedigree. Now, I have ended up on the pages of ‘fug yourself’ a couple of times for crap outfits, and there was the 80′s. And I make no excuses for ‘Aspen Extreme’, but, really, where is the harm in letting me in to see a couple of fashion shows? Anyway, it was very funny, I couldn’t charm, blag, buy or threaten my way into two biggy designers I was desperate to see. And the PR peeps were seriously dramatic about stopping me from doing aforementioned, I felt like I was trying to board a plane with a large bottle of shampoo. Thank you TSA’s for keeping us safe, and thank you fashion PR for keeping it real!!

Reverential Alexis Bittar earing’s. Stabbed straight through the heart.

Comments 0

I am going I am going I am going…… To the urban jungle. Cannot wait. omg. Crowded subways, no taxi’s, painful stilettos, too hot in my stylish kit, bleeding money, fast, loud, frantic. Bring it ON!! I have been a ‘coastal woman’ for the whole summer and now it is time for my inner ‘street cred’ to have an airing.

How I actually crave standing in line whilst publicists younger than my heels debate my seat availability for the Marc Jacobs show, is a mystery to me; but worth every penny spent on my economy seat on AA. I don’t know what shows I will be seeing, but I will be there, hopefully having scored some cool togs from the new Anna Sui at Target in Sept. That, or vintage. One has to be secretive &/or creative when up against the NY fash crowd. Scary.

Plaid baby

F

Comments 0

…Hey all, here is my blog under construction. To all the peeps out there who have already found us, we will be launched pretty soon, ‘thanks for your patience’, as an old hairdresser I used to have at AMC always said!

Summer. Yes. That was that hotter period of the year that flies by in a blur of children, PB&J sandwiches, beach days, car rides (oh joy) and Tylenol. There is no actual vacation involved. Our family did make a brief sojourn to Montana. (Unbelievable). However, Sadie is not going on a ‘plane again until she is 10! I will tell all in a Sadie special later!

Stay cool. More later. F

Here is Sadie and the summer.

Comments 0

Muslim women have been banned from wearing the body-concealing swimming costume known as a burqini in the northern Italian town of Varallo Sesia, according to a report.

Women wearing the garment, made up of a veil, a tunic and loose leggings, face a fine of €500 (£430) if they are spotted at swimming pools or rivers, the ANSA news agency reported.

The anti-immigration mayor of the northern Piedmont town said: “The sight of a ‘masked woman’ could disturb small children, not to mention problems of hygiene.

“We don’t have to be tolerant all the time,” Gianluca Buonanno said.
Justifying the move, Mr Buonanno added: “Imagine a western woman bathing in a bikini in a Muslim country. The consequences could be decapitation, prison or deportation. We are merely prohibiting the use of the burqini.”

Last week a swimming pool in Paris refused entry to a burqini-clad woman on similar grounds, adding to tensions over Muslim dress in France.
The incident came as French lawmakers conducted hearings on whether to ban the burqa after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the head-to-toe body covering and veil was “not welcome” in France, which is home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority.

Mr Buonanno belongs to the Northern League, a party allied with the centre-Right People of Freedom party led by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

This seems a bit odd juxtaposed with the recent ban on topless sunbathing in France. Are we INSANE?

Comments 0

She is always doing very, very cool things. Here she is for Opening Ceremony’s new Tokyo store opening September 30th, 2009.

Comments 0