Fashion Jewelry

Paloma Picasso

Anne Paloma Picasso was born on April 19th, 1949 in Vallauris, France. She is known professionally as Paloma Picasso. She is a French/Spanish fashion designer and businesswoman, best known for her jewelry designs and signature perfumes. She is the youngest daughter of famed 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso and painter and writer Françoise Gilot. Paloma literally means ‘dove’ in Spanish. She currently lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Her jewelry career began in 1968, when she was a costume designer in Paris. When she created some rhinestone necklaces from flea market finds, this brought attention from critics, and she enrolled in a jewelry course. Not long after, Yves Saint Laurent asked her to design accessories to accompany one of his collections, and by 1971 she was working for the Greek jewelry company Zolotas.

In 1980 Picasso began designing jewelry for Tiffany & Co. of New York. The success of the pieces Picasso produced for Tiffany & Company encouraged Picasso to design and market items ranging from fashion accessories to china. These items, including eyewear, cosmetics, and leather goods, may be identified by their bold shapes and brilliant colors, and are sold and appreciated throughout the world. Picasso’s face is just as easily recognized. Posing in glossy magazine advertisements with her perfume, Paloma Picasso, the designer is, according to Hispanic, “her own best model.” While Pablo Picasso transformed aesthetic standards in the fine arts, his trend-setting daughter has independently introduced fresh perspectives in fashion design.

Later, she branched into new areas of design when in 1984 she began experimenting with fragrance, creating the very successful ‘Paloma’ perfume for L’Oréal. Her husband, Lopez-Cambil, developed the visual image for the perfume with red and black packaging and shaped bottle. In the New York Post Picasso described it as intended for “strong women like herself”. A cosmetics and bath line including body lotion, powder, shower gel, and soap were produced in the same year.

Unfortunately, but predictably, she lost interest in designing following the death of her father in 1973. At the time, she was an actress, playing Countess Erzsébet Báthory in Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk’s erotic film, Immoral Tales, receiving praise from the critics for her beauty. She has not acted since.

She also lost interest in designing. “I had given up designing when my father died in 1973,” she recounted to the New York Times. “I didn’t feel like doing anything. I just looked at all the paintings, and there was the sense of being overwhelmed.” Picasso’s father had left no will, and his illegitimate children, Paloma, her brother Claude, and her half-sister Maya, brought suit for their share of the estate, which was valued at $250 million. When Paloma Picasso finally won her share of the inheritance, which was estimated to be close to $90 million, she chose some of her father’s works. As the French government had also received a huge sum and a collection of works as taxes from the estate, Picasso consented to assist in the creation of the Musée Picasso in Paris.

In addition to Paloma Picasso boutiques in Japan and Hong Kong, Picasso’s accessories are available throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Paloma Picasso creations in Europe also include cosmetics and fragrances for L’Oreal in France, sunglasses and optical frames for a German company, hosiery for Grupo Synkro in Mexico, and bed ensembles, towels, bathrobes, and dressing gowns for KBC in Germany. As in the United States, home design has become a new era of creation for Paloma Picasso, with collections of bone china, crystal, silver, and tiles for Villeroy & Boch and fabrics and wall coverings for Motif.

Jewelry Boxes

Where do you keep your jewelry? Loose in the bottom of a sock? Under your undies? In your back pocket? For heaven’s sake, not out in the open on your dresser or nightstand? No, we’re sure you use a jewelry box. Although it isn’t the law, it is the best solution. You can always keep it in a safe for greater safety, but jewelry deserves a home as special as the jewelry itself. It helps to preserve, display and eases selection when you have negative 25 minutes to be out the door for that famous function. Let’s consider some options if your jewelry box could use and upgrade.

Although there are many styles available and special stands for necklaces out in the open – we even found a multi-pocketed plastic hanger for the closet – we will only focus on boxes here. They show a sense of modesty and charm that you can’t get from other jewelry storage methods. Now, let’s look at options for your rings. A common way to keep your rings is the felt squeezers that are often those used by fashion jewelry sellers in the local mall. Although this worked for them and helps them to quickly spot items that go missing, we opt for the many small boxes within a drawer. This allows the rings to lay loose and makes them easier to pick out and replace. After all, chances are that you won’t forget the rings you have and you won’t need them displayed as a shop would.

This can also work for pendants and charms, but it is often hard to pick out the smaller ones if they are in the bottom of a small box. What is the best solution? The best is to pick a box that has drawers with shallow boxes. They needn’t be too deep unless you have a large selection of brooches. This brings us to an important point.

Before shopping for a new jewelry box, it makes sense to do a bit of an inventory of your collection – not only what you currently have, but also what you plan to get in the near future. Also, more than one jewelry box is an excellent choice as it helps you to organize different items of different styles and prevents you from over-cluttering or having big open spaces. You’ll also want to look at all the beautiful styles of finishing.

The most popular are the lacquered styles. There are so many beautiful Asian styles in reds and browns as well as Egyptian styles that look ancient and give the jewelry a nice luxurious home. You may also opt for the bright colors that are more modern looking with some new designs and tiered construction. We recommend a box with a mirror inside the lid. This helps for a quick look at how this or that item may look, be it earrings or bracelets – whatever you pull out of the box in a hurry. Also, it’s not a bad idea to consider your lifestyle. If you are often in a hurry to grab something and put it on as you are running out the door, pick a jewelry box that will let you do that without disturbing all the items or causing frustration while you try to get at your favorite piece.

Buying a new jewelry box can renew your jewelry experience and remind you of pieces you have that you never wear, and also help you see what items you might want to add to your collection. Happy organizing!

Prabal Gurung

Have you heard of Prabal Gurung? He was born in Singapore of a Nepalese couple and he’s the hottest new fashion designer to hit the world scene. In fact, some of Hollywood’s most famous actresses swear by his designs. Not bad for a guy only in his 30’s.

Although we may be quick to accept his success, it wasn’t until the President’s wife, Michelle Obama, wore one of his designs that his parents finally gave him the credit he deserves. Prabal says of this: “My mom had always kind of brushed off my success. She would say, ‘Talk to me when Michelle Obama wears one of your designs’. She was the first person I called when I heard the news.” This is an amazing story of success.

What about the others besides the President’s wife? Demi Moore has mentioned him on twitter. Rachel Weisz wore one of his dresses on the red carpet. The editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, has given him her backing.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, no one is a prophet in their home town. Where he comes from in Nepal, there is little respect for people in his line off work. “Of course, I am not as famous as (local actor) Bhuwan KC.” he said. It seems that  Bhuwan KC’s dresses sell from 1,400 dollars — almost four times the average annual salary in Nepal.

When speaking about his own people he says, “But considering the economy here and lack of disposable income Nepalese people have, they are very creative. I think they are way more fashion-conscious than lots of South Asians.” He visits his family once per year and credits them with his success. It seems that the clothing business is big to his family back home in Kathmandu.

It could be that the uncommon diversity in his own family contributed to his creative talent. “The person that I am today is all down to my family, especially my mom, who believed in celebrating differences and not following the norm.” His mother belongs to the Rana dynasty of politicians that ruled Nepal for a large part of the 20th century, while his father is from an ordinary working class family. This is a big deal to mix like that in their culture. It wasn’t approved by the parents and they moved to Singapore as soon as they married to avoid the backlash.

In his early fashion days, he worked for the Mumbai fashion designer Manish Arora. Arora has a modern take on traditional Indian dress that has won him international recognition. In 1999, Prabal moved to New York where he worked as an intern for the designer Donna Karen. Working his way up in the fashion industry, he designed for New York fashion houses Cynthia Rowley and Bill Blass. He eventually reached the level of design director.

After launching his business out of his New York apartment and holding his first show during New York fashion week, he finally has success with his own label. “I remember as a teenager watching fashion shows on a television program called ‘Style by Elsa Klench’ on CNN. I never thought I would be doing something similar.”

Within a year of launching his own brand, he won the support of the most influential woman in the fashion business: Anna Wintour. These are the things that rocket one to success in the fashion world. He said: “Every designer wants Anna’s approval.”

Prabal believes coming from Nepal has given him an advantage: “Nepal is known for its beauty and spirituality, for Mount Everest and for Buddha. That’s a rich heritage to belong to, to grow up and be associated with.”

Once again, ethnic diversity and challenging the norms brings new talent to the world. We applaud Prabal Gurung and his work and look forward to many years of his exciting and refreshing designs.

The 2010 Tony Awards

The Tony awards celebrate the theater. Held annually, they recognize talent, hard work and stellar results by those both on the stage and behind the scenes. The Tonys are Broadway’s highest industry honor and one of the most insider-driven awards competitions in American entertainment. The 769 eligible Tony voters are mostly Broadway producers, directors, designers, actors, writers and presenters of shows on national tours. Many of them happen to work on Tony-nominated shows or have friends (or rivals) attached to productions up for awards. This year, the awards held at Radio City Music Hall were interesting and exciting. Let’s take a look at some of the awards that were given.

The film actress Scarlett Johansson won the first acting award: best featured actress in a play. “Memphis” won the major Tonys presented before the CBS telecast began: best book, best orchestrations, and best score. Joe DiPietro, who worked on “Memphis” on and off for nine years, collected the best score award with David Bryan of the band Bon Jovi, and then returned seconds later for the best book Tony. “I don’t know what to say — being welcomed into this community has been an absolute dream come true for me,” Ms. Johansson said. “Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be on Broadway. Here I am. Unbelievable.” Anyone that has followed Scarlett Johansson’s work would agree that she is more than deserving.

The actor Chad Kimball — who plays a radio D.J. in “Memphis” — appeared in character introducing the numbers, which ranged from Kristin Chenoweth singing “I Say a Little Prayer” from “Promises, Promises” to the band Green Day performing “Holiday,” one of its songs featured in the musical “American Idiot.”

Two rivals with “Memphis” for the best musical Tony, “Fela!” and “American Idiot,” won two Tonys a piece before the telecast. “Fela!” won for costume and sound design, and “Idiot” for lighting and scenic design. The “Idiot” winners each praised the director of the show, Michael Mayer. His lack of a nomination surprised many in the Broadway industry, given that he not only created and directed the show but also guided it to opening night while assuming last-minute directing duties on another Broadway musical, “Everyday Rapture.” Sometimes it is a bit of a mystery about who wins and who doesn’t.

The production “Red,” a leading contender for best play, won four early Tonys for lighting, set, sound design and for the young star Eddie Redmayne, named best supporting actor in a play. And Catherine Zuber won her fifth Tony since 2005 for costume design, this year for the play revival of “The Royal Family.”

The Tonys were hosted by Sean Hayes of the TV  show “Will & Grace”. He himself was a nominee for Broadway’s “Promises, Promises”. Sean brings life and glee to all his performances and was an excellent pick. Other presenters included Mark Sanchez, the New York Jets quarterback and avowed musical theater fan, and the celebrities and stars Paula Abdul, Antonio Banderas, Cate Blanchett, Michael Douglas and Helen Mirren.

If you’re a fan of Broadway, and you have a chance to see the Tony’s on TV or even in person next year, you won’t be disappointed.