Bruce Turns Sixty (But He Looks Fifty)!

What do you give the man, who seemingly has been gifted with with every possible talent, for his 60th birthday?  He's a particle physicist.  He's a classical pianist.  He plays harmonica in a band.  He backpacks with an ice axe for ten days at a time (Good God, an ice axe and not with me)! As my daughter says, "And don't tell me, he writes poetry and volunteers to fight fires.  Of course he does"!

Well, you give him a party.  He wanted it at Seascape Resort in Aptos near where he works at UC Santa Cruz and lives nearby.

Seascape Resort view by day

Seascape Resort at night

Bruce's table flowers (selected by me from Bonny Doon Florist in Santa Cruz).

I had nothing to do with the next three images

He requested German Chocolate Cake from the Buttery, his favorite bakery in Santa Cruz.

So forty of his nearest and dearest are coming to Aptos to celebrate a wonderful guy's big 6-0.  We'll have an open bar, beautiful sunset and a lovely dinner in a special room. Funnily enough, Bruce specified no music.  So ok, no music!

Happy Birthday, Bruce!  I love you!

Little Missy's Reading Roundup

Your Autumn Armchair Entertainment

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

Knopf, 2018

This is Elizabeth Holmes.  She dropped out of Stanford after one year because she thought she was Steve Jobs and was going to change the world with a blood testing devise (that would change the world). She spoke in a fake baritone, wore black turtlenecks and slept with a corporate bully who she made vice president of the company she called Theranos. She looks like a psycho to Little Missy but apparently old white male fogeys like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Mattis and Rupert Murdoch (good Lord, what a line up!) gave her  $$$$ and support and she got Safeway and Walgreen's to buy into her scheme WHICH NEVER NEVER WORKED, NOT EVEN ONCE!  Somehow, by getting these old goats to support her, her net worth climbed to 4.5 billion dollars despite the fact that she did not have a product which functioned, in fact she had a faulty product that likely put thousands of patients at risk. Wall Street reporter John Carreyrou courageously risked flak from his own paper which seemingly was buying into the Holmes mystique. He smelled a rat and came out to Silicon Valley.  The result is a meticulously reported page turner, Bad Blood.  Interestingly enough, one of the main whistle blowers inside the company was George Shultz's grandson, Tyler Shultz, who tried in vain to alert his grandfather that Holmes was a liar and a fraud.  Many of Little Missy's friends are in this book as victims of this creep, (because they live or work at Stanford, where Holmes syphoned off talent with her creepy fraudster charm, which initially passed for nerdiness).  I remember seeing her interviewed on television before the bloom was off this rose and thinking, She sounds crazy to me, like a blond vampire on a mission to self destruct after hurting many people. This criminal will probably go to jail, where she belongs. Silicon Valley at its least appealing!

Fear Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

Simon and Schuster, 2018

And then we have Washington DC at its least appealing, but the book by Bob Woodward is a mesmerising trip through the Trump swamp.  Of course it's meticulously reported.  There are so many jaw dropping moments, all backed up with source notes, and while I am no fan of Lindsey Graham, (in fact I despise him),  I do think his crack about Trump having read one book is worth the price of admission.  Bob Woodward is a gentleman, and while that does not make him any less relevant, he has rigorously left out the more salacious stuff, which will make this book a classic on a par with All the President's Men, his 1974 book about Nixon and Watergate, which he co-wrote with Carl Bernstein.  Good work, Mr. Woodward.  Who would have guessed you'd be doing another book like this in our lifetimes?

Eileen

Homesick for Another World

My Year of Rest and Relaxation

by Ottessa Moshffegh, Penguin Press

Ottessa is a Stanford grad, about the same age as Little Missy's daughter Lexi. I wonder if they ever met? I'm going to ask Lexi after I finish writing this.  You see, I think Ottessa is probably one of the best writers of her generation.  She is the antidote to Jane Austen-- it's not a romantic place, not Ottessa's world view.  These books will shock and stun you.  Ottessa's writing is so seemingly simple and guileless that you will sometimes feel you are being had when she gets down and dirty.  It's gritty reading, no doubt about that!  I'm not going to say much more, except that Eileen was my favourite.  What a piece of genius!  But you be the judge readers!  I've just given you the five best books I read in September. Do like Warren Buffet (Little Missy's idol, remind me to tell you how I met him !!!!) and READ EVERY DAY!

Love 

Little Missy 

Little Missy Visits the Oldest City in France

Yes Of Course It's Stylish--It's FRANCE!

Voila! I Give You Beziers!

Here's a Little Missy trick.  Remember last summer when I told you about the splendours of Souleiado, one of the oldest textile houses in France, headquartered in the south of the country? I am obsessed with their textiles, so much so that my boyfriend, not usually prone to weighing in on fashion topics, suggested I open a branch in the Bay Area!  Genius, Bruce!  I will think about it...

Souleiado is a Provencal word meaning the sun after the rain.

Well, here is Little Missy's trick.When visiting Southern France (as opposed to the South of France, which includes the Cote d' Azur and Provence) you are going into the wild Languedoc-Roussillon region, with the Pyrenees mountain range as a backdrop and masses of wild lavender and cultivated vineyards everywhere. Google Souleiado.  This company has a brilliant habit of putting their stores in the French towns which are the most historic and most cultured.

It's beautiful here, in a wild and rocky way.

We happened to be in the charming village of Lagrasse for a Royal Opera Ballet festival and were looking for a side trip. I Googled  Souleiado stores close to Lagrasse and up popped Beziers!  I have always wanted to visit Beziers, but it's a little out of the way...I knew its reputation for being if not the oldest, the second oldest city in France after Marseilles. It was built by the Greeks in the 6th century BC.

Cathedral Saint Nazaire de Beziers.

So we took a one hour drive through the beautiful countryside with our GPS to direct us to the Beziers Souleiado store.  I knew we would not be disappointed and in fact I was elated by this charming city. The store of course is located in the finest shopping district which is in the historical district.  The Cathedral Saint Nazaire, built in the 13th century, anchors this leafy neighbourhood, with dozens of narrow streets and alley ways, most looking very mysterious and charming.

Paper lanterns add elan.

There's a lot of pride here, and there should be.  This city doesn't have to justify its existence to anyone. It's been here longer than the other French cities. And it's had a past which is breathtakingly tragic. The Massacre of Beziers during the Albigensian Crusade on July 22, 1209 killed up to 20,000 men, women and children who were Cathars (a  Christian sub-group not tolerated by Rome), Jews and supporters of these groups.  The population had been living and coexisting peacefully until this dreadful day.

Church of the Madeleine.

This church looks imposing but very sad and with good reason.  Seven thousand men, women and children were killed within these walls during the massacre.

Civic pride is as important here as national patriotism. The food and shopping are great.  The real estate is jaw droppingly affordable.

An antique store belies the natural chic and charm of this city.  

Beziers is a real Little Missy place.  I'm working on getting back before too long. It's still a secret spot but for how long--who knows?

Reflections on a Lifetime of  Collecting the Most Beautiful Clothes

How do you put a price on a lifetime's collection of the most beautiful clothes made in the western world?  I've learnt you can--I recently donated over 500 ensembles collected from the late 80s until last year to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.  It gave me great pleasure to do so as it assures that my fashion story will be told.  I am posting 11 photographs.  Seven of the ensembles are now at the de Young.  The clothes were professionally appraised, which required me to look at each garment and recall why I bought it, where I wore it, which then of course required me to go back into all the different times of my life--as a young mother and wife of a famous philosopher living on the Stanford University campus, to an Internet editor, hitting all the international fashion shows, to a serious haute couture buyer and finally, with the realisation that I had amassed an important collection, a chronicler of that collection (the book Electric Fashion with photographs by Frederic Aranda).  Over three decades of memories, to be exact.  The de Young will mount an exhibition in 2020 called "San Francisco Elegance" which is long overdue.  If my donation has helped, then I am happy, because San Francisco is a truly elegant city.  For those of you who wonder why I bought so many clothes, you are not true collectors.  True collectors understand--it is an obsession to find the perfect piece to refine the story you are telling through your collection.  For those of you who who wonder why I gave them away, I will tell you this:  I was caring for them as though they were my children.  Nadia came from Sacramento each month to assure they were all in good shape, that the temperature in the storage room was correct, the humidifier was working and that no insects existed. The clothes lived on elevated racks on padded hangers under gauze and muslin.  One day I realised these children had to leave the nest and go to their next life--a more academic one to be sure--but under the care of the de Young's Curator in Charge, Jill D'Alessandro, I can be sure their new lives will be as good as their first lives with me.
For the record, photographs 1,3,4,5,6,8 and 10 are by Frederic Aranda.  7 and 9 are by Drew Altizer.  The last photograph is a candid shot, taken in a limo in Washington DC with my late husband Patrick Suppes and my daughter Lexi who is now a psychologist at NYU.  In this picture we were being driven to the White House, where Pat was to be given the National Medal of Science.  It's been a wonderful life in fashion, and now I'm delighted to share my collection with the people of San Francisco and the world.

Rodarte

Rodarte

Ungaro

Christian Lacroix

Commes de Garcons

Alexander McQueen

Rodarte

Christian Dior

Rodarte

Blackgama, Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel

Stalking and Stocking
Little Missy has been reflective this spring.  I began living at Stanford University forty years ago.  Yes, I was a child, of course! Now, I'm being stalked by paparazzi (until they realise I'm no one famous, as in this top image as I'm leaving my hotel for the 2018 Met Gala).  It's almost as much fun as having lived at Stanford for half my life!  (Just joking!  It's fun in a DIFFERENT way.  I get to say I was stalked going to the Met Gala.  Which is kind of fun.  AND I get to say I lived at Stanford for all those years.  Which is kind of fun, also)!  Kind of.

Stalking to end up in the Getty Images Stock List!

A little boy on a tricycle on 280 in 1968!  Yes we were doing that stuff back then!

Wow, here is a Before and After!  The Bride at Stanford and then magically into a time machine almost forty years later!  Do I look cynical now, or just world weary?  Look at yourselves in the mirror for that answer!

OMG here is my favourite coat from 1985, before the Internet! I wore it to pick up my daughter at kindergarten and the other mothers hated me!  LOL!  I was always the daring fashion innovator!

 OMG here is the Valley just as the Internet took off.  I was now the mother of two beautiful children, a daughter Lexi and a son Michael!

Here I am basically now, this picture shot by Frederic Aranda in Death Valley. It's taken me forty years but now I can truly say it:

It's my way or the highway!

That's a major 70's expression, but then I'm a major 70's kind of girl!
Love from Little Missy

Mid Century Elegance

Mid Century Elegance:  it's a subject in which I consider myself an expert, having grown up in it and around it in a town less than 20 miles south of San Francisco. Here I am with my mother Jane Johnson circa 1965.

This is what we all aspired to prior to the mid sixties:  Norman Parkinson's breathtaking 1950 portrait of Jean Patchett for Vogue Magazine.

And then when Flower Power came, we were still OK with it because it was so beautiful.

And then I was lucky enough to hear Angela Davis lecture at UCLA.

And lucky enough to march with Cesar Chavez.

And watch this guy doing his mime act all over San Francisco.  It was Robin Williams!

This beautiful actress, Brenda Aoki, was the cousin of my late dear friend Joanne Aoki.

I could go on and on, but driving home a point too long is not Little Missy style.  Just remember this: Mid Century Elegance belongs to all of us.  And I was lucky enough to be brought up in the Bay Area where that meant something!

Happy Sunday!

Love Little Missy

Why Givenchy's Orange Coat for Breakfast at Tiffany's is My Favourite Audrey Fashion Moment

You know the coat---she wore it OVER her famous little black dress to "select" jewelry at Tiffany's in the immortal fashion movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.

She was really having fun with leading man George Pepppard

Givenchy gave Audrey Hepburn real power with her orange coat.  In the more famous look, the "little black dress (now LBD)", a bit of salacious shade is thrown onto the screen as party girl Audrey jumps out of bed, miraculously throws on the perfect LBD (which is somehow next to her bed), and slips into the perfect black heels-- which are miraculously under her bed.  We somehow have managed to forget that Audrey was a call girl in this hallowed fashion film!  But in Givenchy's orange coat, she is protected, secure and truly joyous.

This will never take away from the magnificence of this image.  However, Audrey's screen power came when she donned the orange coat.

Tiffany's took her seriously, too!

So here is Little Missy's Advice:  it comes from a San Francisco girl who owns a lot of coats because it's COLD in this town!  Wear a great coat whenever you can. This orange coat has been copied more times than nearly any other garment.  Its staying power is for real. Wear a great coat, ladies, and so will be yours!

Love Little Missy

Little Missy's Fashion Tips

Every age has its charms.  How many times have you heard that one? Well, Little Missy has entered that age where I don't give a hoot what anyone thinks about my style.  I am very sad for these younger women who desperately put photos of themselves online, or even worse--selfies--on a daily basis.  I think they are really simply trying to discover who they are. At any rate they seem to have no clue.  The Kardashians...maybe this family started this bizarre trend which is now a multi-billion dollar business.  Little wonder our country is in the mess it's in. 

We value reality stars over beauty and art.

We value reality stars over truth.

Last night I attended a bittersweet goodbye party for Alan Morrell, the General Manager of Neiman Marcus in San Francisco.  He's leaving to manage an even bigger Neiman's outside of Dallas proper.  It was dipping into the 30's Fahrenheit, which is very cold for San Francisco at any time.

Now to my fashion tips.  What to wear to a cocktail party when you really want to honor the honouree by looking your best and it's freezing?  You don't want to walk into the ultra glamorous Rotunda Restaurant in a heavy coat.  You know Drew Altizer (our local society photographer) will have someone very good there photographing everyone in attendance.   I chose a two piece blue sequined Rodarte ensemble, very Hollywood glamorous, which I paired with a lighter blue Mongolian Azzedine Alaia shrug.  For jewelry I only had to dip into my mother's cache which she left to me. I carried a blue velvet Dries van Noten envelope bag large enough to hold an umbrella and I wore black suede Emma Hope kitten heels with crystal star bursts at the toe. It goes without saying that your hair, makeup and nails should look good without looking overdone. Regular grooming appointments help.  It's that simple. If you commit to a regular program, you won't be freaking out on the day of your event.

A lot of people loved the above described ensemble, which I devised out of necessity (it was freezing). But I say to my readers, just enjoy yourself.  Don't wait until you're my age to stop caring what other people think (spoiler alert: I have never given a damn what anyone thought  I wore as long as I loved it).

So here are Little Missy's Fashion Tips in list form:

1. Always try to look your best

2. Always maintain a high standard of grooming

3. Dress for comfort, meaning lower heeled shoes for ladies if you know there will be walking, and for warmth if you know you will be outdoors a lot and it's cold.

4. Smile and make an effort to enjoy yourself or this advice of mine will be for nought.

Now, if it's a Gala or a Red Carpet event, much of my advice is out the window.

1. Never hide your Red Carpet gown with a coat even it it's 20 below Fahrenheit.

2. Wear the highest heel you can manage if you're a woman and suck it up in black tie if you're a man.

3. Forget enjoying yourself.  You'll be through it in a few hours and if you did a good enough job, there will be some photos to prove it.

Well, I didn't claim this was the cure to cancer or the way to world peace.  Little Missy gave you the secrets of what she knows best--putting a fashion perspective into perspective.

Fashionably Yours,

With Love, 

Little Missy

Little Missy Is Five Years Old!
March 2013-February 2018

And like most five year olds, I want a party if I can't go to Disneyland!  Yes, Little Missy took both her daughter and then her son to Disneyland when they turned five.  That's how I got out of having to go to Great America, which is located less than ten miles from my home!

I celebrated my fifth birthday as Little Missy with this beautiful Rodarte dress.

I think of all the things that have happened in the past five years!  My granddaughter Isold was born. My children's father passed away.  My mother and father passed away.  Frederic Aranda and I published Electric Fashion. We then began a new project. Births and deaths and re-births!  It's what life is all about!

A photograph from Electric Fashion

Lexi and Isold at our V&A launch party for Electric Fashion

And we're planning a Rodarte exhibition at the National Museum for Women in Arts November 2018!  First DC museum fashion exhibition in history!

So remember, when life seems to get you down, put on your tiara or your cowboy hat or whatever and get out there!  Get up, dress up and show up!

It's been a five year roller coaster ride my dear readers and I'm still here and so are you.  I love you all!  Let's keep loving each other!

XXXXXOOOOO

Little Missy