Little Missy's Holiday List

or The Early Bird Catches The Worm!

Part One

 

Rodarte Jewelry

 

It's never too early to start your holiday shopping!  You can choose to forget the holidays which is curmudgeonly but completely understandable, given the frantic nature of the season.  Once or twice there has been the holiday season when even Little Missy thought and failed to take the spiritual path (make that pass), and pretend that the commercial aspect was beneath the challenge.  To JackSprat1, who writes in "Sorry Missy, Tesla is in Palo Alto, not Paris, and is not a clothes designer" I say to you Jack, you're right!  Tesla IS a car company and I think it would make a darned good Christmas gift.

Tesla

 

Now Tesla is a really nice Christmas present!  So is Rodarte's barbed wire jewelry, or their tie dye shirts , all of which will be supreme fashion collector's items.

 

Rodarte Tie Dye Shirt

 

 

Hermes Yak Shawl

 

Little Missy loves her Hermes Yak shawl and this would make a wonderful Christmas present.  The image isn't too good, but you know those French, their je ne sais quois never involved the Internet, and this is Hermes' official representation!

 

Anna Karenina A Fashion Primer

Little Missy Says All Children Must Read This Book!

This genius book (for children and their parents and everyone)! breaks down the most important part of Anna Karenina, the STYLE of Anna's CLOTHES!

 

Turnbull and Asser Pyjamas

There is something very manly about a man in his pyjamas when they are the right pyjamas that Little Missy can not resist! Yes, gentlemen, these are the right pyjamas!  They are always on my list for the men on my list!

 

Well, that's it for this time, but don't you dare think we have finished with Little Missy's Holiday List, we have only scratched the surface!  So be in the moment, even if that means being kind of early!  Laughing Out Loud, Little Missy Contradicts herself as usual!

 

 

News of the World and Little Missy's Reading Round Up

 

The Royal Christening and Two Groovy Uncles!

That little Prince George sure has two groovy looking uncles.  Prince Harry we know all about, but this other one, Uncle James with the beard looks to be a groovy contender as well.  And isn't he in the party planning business with social butterfly little sister Pippa and his parents?  These guys will be jamming out the best parties on the planet!  This little Prince George does not have a chance to be an old bore.  Hopefully Kensington Palace will be Party Central and London will live up to its old name Swinging London!  And Sarah Burton can keep on banging out fabulous creations for Mamaquin Kate to model!  Well done, Windsors and Middletons!  Little Missy approves!

 

Kanye Rents Out AT&T Park to Propose to Kim Kardashian!

You hit this one out of the ballpark, Kanye!  The San Francisco Giants rock and so do you!

 

George Lucas Gets Honoured by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art!

George Lucas with Alyssa Fung and Little Missy, photographed by Frederic Aranda

 

 

Yes, the Star Wars Wizard himself picked up a Bay Area Treasure award, bestowed annually by SFMOMA to a living legend in the arts who was born or who has worked in the Bay Area.  Joni Binder, President Emeritus of Modern Art Council of which Little Missy is a proud member, worked tirelessly for two and a half years to make this stellar night happen.  Good work Joni!  Congratulations, George!  You changed everything in motion pictures and no one deserves this award more than you. And yes, the dress I am wearing is Rodarte!

 

Joni Binder with husband Robert Shwarts. Joni's wearing Rodarte, too!

 

 

 

Well that's it for News of the world!  Let's go to Reading Round Up!  I'm calling this one Little Missy's Must Reads for the Educated Fashionista.  There are a ton of books out there so  let's not be boring.  I will just cut to the chase and tell you three ones that are not necessarily fashion reads but will put you that much more in the know about fashion.

 

Dior by Dior

Some people think it started with Chanel.  Some people think it started with Balenciaga.  Some people think it started with Yves Saint Laurent.  Personally, I believe it started with a caveman killing a leopard and presenting it to his cave woman, who fashioned the skin into a sarong.  Little Missy loves animals, but almost surely what I have just described is  the start of haute couture.  And then there is Christian Dior.  This little book, Dior by Dior, is the most profound book I have ever read on the subject of fashion.   This man's genius and humanity shines through every page, and his modesty is a virtue a few of today's designers could incorporate into their megalomaniac personas.

 

All We Know by Lisa Cohen is a book of genius, a biography at the highest level of the discipline.  The lives of three woman, all as nutty as fruitcakes and utterly compelling spring forth and the reader compulsively turns the page.  One woman is a tour de force of eighteenth and nineteenth century intellectual history (Little Missy's great love, BTW) who cannot commit a single brilliant thought to paper.  One is a stalker of Greta Garbo and one was the first editor of British Vogue.  Trust me and read this book!  You will be more fashionable when you have finished it.

A great read

 

Finally, it's one of the sadder books I have read, but I must recommend Alone Together by Teddy Getty Gaston.  This is also a compulsive page turner.  Teddy was John Paul Getty's last wife, and this is Teddy's compelling story of life with the difficult and complicated Getty. Teddy is a generation or two removed from Little Missy, and is more forgiving in her tone, and when you read what John Paul Getty was like as a husband and father, you will not be as forgiving!  You must remember that this was a different time and era, the Stork Club!  World War II!  Cigarettes and cocktails and debutantes and love affairs.  The whole nine yards.  It is a bird's eye view of what it was like to live with a man like John Paul Getty.  Obviously, nearly impossible!  Little Missy says get this book!  You will not be disappointed.  Maybe a little sad, but what a read!

Little Missy's idea of a good read

 

Well, that's it for Little Missy for this week!  Happy Halloween!  Be in the moment since the possibilities are just so endless!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Gericault or Jericho?

You Be The Judge!

 

Frederic Aranda, Edelweiss October 2013

The Raft of the Medusa by Gericault

Fashion was getting so boring even Little Missy was about to give up!  Then along came Frederic Aranda and now fashion is fun again! Here are some pictures from an epic shoot this past August in Tokyo that Freddie did for Edelweiss Magazine!  Brodie Reynolds is an innocent and intelligent man caught up in several situations where he is about to be taken advantage of!  Of course in real life this never happens, does it!  And Little Missy is the good Fairy, there to help point the way from all things Evil!

Frederic Aranda for Edelweiss, October 2013

This is the way fashion will be from now on.  Epic.  And not one minute too soon!

Frederic Aranda for Edelweiss, October 2013

 

And Prophetic! Now for Little Missy's Mail Bag

Dear Little Missy, I always look forward to your blog posts.  Your posts are a surplus value to our blogger community of fashion and culture.  Hmmmm, this one sounds a bit fishy!  I think it was from a reader trying to pull my leg!  Because as we all know, Little Missy likes to go out on a limb, and reel in the wrath.  Like this email, for instance, from Robopuck.  Dear Christine, writes Robopuck, You are an authority on nothing, and nothing is your authority. Hmmm, Robopuck, you are sounding a bit like Gertrude Stein!  Did you know that Gertrude Stein's brother Michael and his wife Sarah lived right around the corner from Little Missy after they gave up life in Paris for the delights of Palo Alto?  Robopuck, I know who you are and how much you love French culture, so I know you'll enjoy that tidbit!

It's wonderful to be sharing these photographs with you.  The shoot was so much fun!  I wish you all could have been there with us!   

Epic and alive and in the moment!



Little Missy Gets Iconic On Rue Cambon
 Chic Chic Chic!

Little Missy Would Make A Good Nun And You All Know It!

Photograph by Frederic Aranda in London, 2012

 

 Yes, it was Fashion Week,  not Little Missy's favourite Fashion Week (that would be Haute Couture), but a very good one!  Having been to the Chanel show earlier in the morning, the urge to visit 31 rue Cambon, the inevitable Pavlovian Little Missy response to any and all things Chanel, flung itself into my conscious (what there is of it).  A burgundy sequined bag, big enough for the stuff one needs at night, a credit card, some bills, ID as we like to go to those downtown hot spots that require it, lipstick, cell phone and eyeglasses.  It adds up. So, off I go.  Well well, I am in good company, it seems.  Half the fashion world I know is assembled at Mademoiselle's apartment entrance next door for that rare little tour which is given to clients during fashion week.  "You look marvellous, darling, come along".  Well yes I will admit Little Missy might look marvellous to the Chanel crowd as I am head to toe in the latest that they have, a walking advert.  "Come along Christine, you've seen it a gazillion times but see it again.  It's fun and we can gossip", says Madame A.  So Little Missy goes on the tour of Coco Chanel's apartment at which Coco did not sleep (she really lived at the Ritz).
The Tour!
First we look at the Haute Couture and Little Missy gazes affectionately at the silver embroidered flapper dress she saw last summer, wondering who ordered it.  Then, looking around at our little assembled tour, including a young beauty from  Napa Valley (yes, Little Missy is surprised not to be in the know who she is, too)  it dawns on me that maybe no one has ordered it.  Or maybe six clients have.  It is a mystery, like the interlocking CCs on the light posts in Marylebone, London (Little Missy's favourite ever neighbourhood).  Did the Duke of Westminster put them there when he and Coco were having an affair?  I think he must have! What a tribute!  What a woman!  Then we walk upstairs.  There is a kind of rumbling and of course being from California I think at first it is an earthquake!  Or that maybe Karl has dropped by!  But OMG, the Russian Icon that Stravinsky gave Coco almost falls from its perch onto my head.  Little Missy may not lean so much to the Ecclesiastical interpretation, but goodness, is this some kind of message? That Karl is Not God and Coco is his mother?   Being the Chanel crowd, we laugh it off and then hear the story about Hubert de Givenchy visiting the apartment and as he is so tall, he knocks a crystal off the chandelier.  Then there is a tedious part about a frog and good luck and long life and all of that, but Little Missy is not going to bore you with it.
I will tell you this: the Chanel crowd likes to call that sunny spot for shady characters Monte Karl.  Those of you who are still reading this can pat yourselves on the backs, because really, that is a good one!

The Denouement (not to be confused with Deneuve)!

And did Little Missy get her burgundy sequined evening bag?  Maybe if I had gotten conked out by the icon, things would have been different...

News from Around the World!

Latest Breaking News and Commentary by Yours Truly Little Missy!

The Boss is in Rio!  Yes, Bruce Springsteen, the 64 year old Boss bared his abs to the world and here is his picture

You Rock, Bruce!

Thirty years ago Little Missy's Little Missy Lexi saw Bruce Springsteen on MTV and asked me quote, "Is he one of those dead rockers?"  No, honey, he was just rock star scrawny in those days but now look at him!  Buff Bruce, way to go!  Little Missy wonders if this gun is still for hire?

Kim Kardashian wants to look like Sarah Jessica Parker!

Apparently Kim is obsessed with fashion icon Sarah Jessica and is trying to imitate her look!



But it's not working!

Oh please Kim, go away!  We are tired of you!

Apparently some of my readers did Not Like my book choices (see Little Missy's Reading Round Up)!

I stand by my decision to have included Crazy Rich Asians in my readers' beach bags!  It was a major read and a very important sociological study by a brilliant writer, Kevin Kwan. If you wanted to read something depressing, there was always the front page of the morning paper!  If you want to laugh and meet some new friends, read Crazy Rich Rich Asians. I'm waiting for the movie! 

John Lone can play Nick Young's father, Philip!  John, you don't think you're going to be playing Nick, do you?

Well, that's it for News of the World!  Time now for Little Missy's Mailbag!

This one is a good one!  Dear Little Missy writes someone who still has an AOL address, Dear Little Missy, if  you think you are so great with all your parties and galas and lame ideas regarding art and literature, why do you live in San Francisco?  If you were really so great, you'd be in Los Angeles or New York, not a second rate provincial town.

OK JRK, or whatever your name is, obviously not JFK or you wouldn't be such a moron! I don't know where you live and you were too cowardly to say, so I'm assuming you aren't from around here, i.e. Northern California.  I'll tell you a little story, Mr. JRK (and I'm assuming you are a man). Tonight I hired a driver to drive me up from Palo Alto to San Francisco in a brand new Tesla, which by the way is a Palo Alto company.  I could have driven myself, but I wanted to text back and forth with a colleague on a project which has a deadline.  Oooooo yes, even Little Missy has a deadline now and again.  Anyway, I was being driven in this fantastic car on Interstate 280, just about the most beautiful freeway in the world, going up to one of the most beautiful cities in the world to a fantastic party given by the Modern Art Council of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Jacqueline Sacks to honor just about the most famous living movie director, George Lucas.  What were you doing tonight, Mr. JRK? 

Well, that's it for Little Missy!  I'm off to the Paris shows. When my jets run out of fuel I'll be home.  And then I'll sign up for a Tesla!  Going Electric!  Hello!

Little Missy Loves Rodarte Spring 2014!

Ultra Special Report with Images by Little Little Missy!

Rodarte Spring 2014 Photo by Lexi Suppes

OMG!  Kate and Laura have recalled Little Missy's first fashion God, Yves Saint Laurent, in their breakthrough Los Angeles meets Saint Tropez meets indisputably cool show today.  Held in New York's Chelsea gallery district, this show rocked.  Not for the faint of heart, i.e. critics who only want simple, boring clothes in the coming season.
Where to begin?  Do you like fringe?  You better!  It's all about fringe, leopard, bra tops, faux leather, sparkle, Coachella short shorts, an illusion net scorpion embroidered dress.  Better have good abs!  We are talking bare midriff to the max.   Was this a Little Missy type show?  Yes indeed!  LA rocks, it has always rocked, it will always rock! We love the Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard, The Byrds, we love Guns N' Roses, we love The Doors.  Jim Morrison forever!  We are the trendsetters, it's a fact that cannot be denied!  And pictures speak a thousand words!  And that means videos speak a million words!  So check out Lexi's (aka Little Little Missy) video, and see all that there is to love!  Lexi is more than a psychologist!  She is a fashion videographer! Here is her exclusive video!  Enjoy and in the moment, love, Little Missy and Little Little Missy

The Readers Have Spoken!  The Results Are In For

Who Will Take Over For Karl

 

No, Not This Mark!

 

Yes, it is true, Little Missy DID try to steer her flock in a different direction, but respects Democracy with a capital D.  Thank God for democracy in all its forms.  Without it we could have been communists or even worse, fascists and communists! So the readers have spoken, and they want Marc Jacobs to take over for Karl.  Here's how the candidates polled

1. Marc Jacobs

2. Rodarte

3. Kanye West

4. Alexander Wang

 

And then there were write ins for Haider Ackerman, Hedi Slimane (Good God, we need some more fashion education here, Missy is obviously failing at her task-- did you see YSL Fall 2013???  --seriously bad, Hedi!), and a couple for our beloved Alber Ebaz.  Tom Ford didn't even make the radar, so Missy has made some inroads somewhere! 

 

Bill Gates In His Day

 

Now let's talk about the new dialogue!  Who do you agree with, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg?  Bill feels that that babies in Africa who are dying of diarrhoea are the pivotal issue of the day.  Who can disagree?  Not Little Missy! None of us!  Of course, Bill, we are all totally with  you on that one hundred percent!  But Mark and Facebook feel that it is pivotal to get Internet in the 70 % of the world that does not have it!  That there is No Going Back, and darn it He Is Right TOO!  This reminds Little Missy of her old days, of holding little soirees on the Stanford campus, and one of my favourites of all time was Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate and the Father of Welfare Economics. Illuminate his link, and find out who this genius is!  Yes, Little Missy was a Stanford University Hostess!   And Amartya was my most beloved academic ever.  And Amartya said that without Democracy, China had famines!  That India avoided famines because they had democracy!  And that means Freedom of Speech!  And of the Press!  Which is also why we Are able to have this blogging world today! Have you ever been to Saudi Arabia?  Don't try to blog there!  Because you won't be able to!  So Little Missy is beginning to think that Mark Zuckerberg is thinking along the lines of Amartya Sen! Without global communication we are really sunk!  I think Mark Zuckerberg has a case!  Even if he is not the most fashion forward! OMG, I am comparing Mark Zuckerberg with Amartya Sen!  Kind of!  They think alike!  Verbally Globally!  Little Missy wishes Bill Gates all good wishes and honors his commitment to humanity.  And wishes success to Mark and Facebook too!

 

 

Sadly It's Safe To Say There Will Never be Another Like This One 











 

 

 

Ten Little Things That Can Change Your Fashion Life

 Stop Worrying and Go For It

Photo by Frederic Aranda Hyde Park, London

 

 

    Ten Little Things That Can Change Your Fashion Life

 

Black nail polish on toes and hands

 

Stop obsessing about your hair. If it’s long, put it into a ponytail and then stick a twig into it.

 

Wear that precious Armani or Chanel or whatever frock at eight in the morning, and when you buy your orange juice and English muffins and the rest of your groceries you will finally earn some respect.

 

Cut your hair if you are bored.

 

Move to London.  When you are tired of London you are tired of life.  Hello!  Or Shanghai!

 

Take up snorkeling

.

Pay attention to the animal kingdom and stop wearing them.

 

Fresh flowers are more important than bread.

 

Sorry to say this but hair spray really does matter.

 

Who cares what any one thinks about your look?  Just go for it!

 

 

 

Readers' Poll---Who Could Take Over For Karl?

 

The Divine Karl

 

Since no one can take over for Karl, Little Missy reaches out to her readers, especially in the States, Canada, the UK, Europe and Asia! One day we will have to face the music.  Who will it be?

 



Marc Jacobs

Pros of Marc Jacobs:  Gives all women a break, especially and including older women.

Cons:  Lost his edge (in rehab???)

 

Alexander Wang

 

There is Alexander Wang in the women's bathroom of the Metropolitan Museum a couple of years ago (The Met Gala for McQueen).  I didn't see Karl in the women's bathroom.

 

Rodarte

 



Pros of Rodarte:  They know what they are doing and will turn Chanel into a fashion art phenomenon.

Cons of Rodarte:  They would have to spend less time in California and Little Missy would go berserk.

 

 

Kanye West

 



This is a no-brainer!  Kanye would be perfect!  OMG Why hasn't someone thought of this sooner?

 

 

 

 

Well, that's it!  Vote for one of the candidates or write in your choice!  Who can take over Chanel?  Since we know it is nearly impossible!

Little Missy's Summer Reading Round Up

Three Books Spell It All Out for Summer 2013

 

OMG The Book of the Summer!

 

Run to your computer and get Crazy Rich Asians.  Little Missy promises you will absolutely go berserk it is so good.  Astrid the fashion icon, Nick the perfect guy, Charlie the martyr, and Rachel the goodie goodie from Cupertino!  And these were just my favourite characters!  It's just gossip gossip gossip about people, places and stuff you already know, packaged together by the latter day Truman Capote of Singapore, Kevin Kwan who I cannot wait to meet!  And if you don't know about this stuff, it's time you learn, and Kevin Kwan's crash course is delicious from start to finish!  It is just a non stop page turner.  Little Missy is not one to destroy my readers' pleasure so I am not going to write one more word. Just take it from Little Missy, get this book!  I just can't believe that Kevin Kwan hasn't been sued, it is so true to life. Anyway, we all know it's better to have people say catty stuff about us than No stuff about us at all!  And Kevin Kwan is quite the catty scribe!

 

 

Adam & Yves for the Fashionista's Fashionista

 

 

If you get fashion, by that I mean really get it and don't need a history lesson or a brush up on repartee, may I suggest Gladys Perint Palmer's divine Adam  & Yves.  Filled with Gladys' delicate and on the mark illustrations, both artist and writer bring the fashion world alive from the front row perspective.  Gladys does not suffer fools gladly (gladly Gladys does not suffer fools because I have had the pleasure of attending quite a few shows with her over the years and she is one who absolutely gets it).  After you read this book you will feel so chic and so in the know that you won't even want to put it on your coffee table.  No, Little Missy puts her copy on her chaise lounge in her bedroom so she can peruse it languidly in the languishing Palo Alto summer afternoons.  When I am in town!

 

 





The Great Gatsby

 

Read The Great Gatsby for heaven's sake!  Or re-read it for the umpteenth time like Little Missy!  Because this is the future of fashion, why Karl sent modern day flapper girls down his runway this summer and why Little Missy cut her hair into a Flapper Bob!  For goodness sake, it is the strongest fashion statement in years!  Since the hippies, practically!  So go back and re-read the book!  F. Scott Fitzgerald!

 

Well, that is it for Little Missy's Summer Reading Round Up!  There is only one more thing I will pass along, and don't tell anyone because this is gossip straight from the eyes of Little Missy!  Guess who I saw walking into Tony Blair's house on Connaught Square earlier this month when I was walking to take a hot chocolate at Cocomaya with Livia Stoianova?  Wendi Deng, the soon to be former Mrs. Rupert Murdoch!  Yes!  It's GOOD to have friends in high places!  Like Connaught Square.  Or Jackson Hole, Wyoming!  High altitudes are what it's all about.  High High Haute!  May your August be sizzling!  Or as my friend Cameron Silver would say Shizzling!

Haute Couture Week, the Stones at Hyde Park and a Win for England!

Kate Moss Not Cool Enough for Glastonbury?  Excuse Me?

 

Kate Moss sure looked hot a few days ago

 

What is wrong with the world? Kate Moss "stuck out like a sore thumb" because she didn't

 have the right dance moves for Electro fans at Glastonbury?  Because Daisy and Cara and Poppy and Pippi and all those other non-starter nobodies from Chelsea said so? No, no, and no.  Big Little Missy NO NO!  Before we even begin to launch into Little Missy's Couture Report, we must straighten  out this little problem.  Kate rocks, and she was rocking with Prince Harry on July 1st and she can rock it wherever she pleases and it is Not the end of an era!  No one rocks it like Kate.  Ask any respectable designer who he or she would want to see in their clothes and excuse me, they all say the same thing: Kate Moss.

OK, we are done with that, now for those of you who were kind enough to "like" a certain portrait of a lady taking a bubble bath whilst sipping champagne which Little Missy posted on Facebook last week, I cannot reveal the name of the photographer.  It wasn't Frederic Aranda as he was not in Paris. That would have been  a better picture, obviously. I can  reveal the name of the gracious contributor of the champagne, my dear friend and publisher of C Magazine, Jennifer Smith Hale. No, Jennifer did not take the picture, either.  She was already on an airplane back to California.  But it is so lovely to think my readers are looking out for me!

 

 





Karl Looks Hot and Cool and Fashion Week is Lost Without Him!

 

 



Well there's no question who took Karl's picture, and that was Little Missy last week at Fendi on Avenue Montaigne.  He came in for about 90 seconds, took a sip of Coke Lite and posed for pictures.  Then he took off into the night, leaving people like Little Missy to wonder what in God's name will Paris fashion do when he is gone?  It is unthinkable!  Because there is no one!  No one!  And if there is and you know who that is, write it in an email and I will post it next week.  Because there is no one!  Alex Wang?  No!  Marc Jacobs?  Whoever thought he'd end up looking respectable?  No, not Marc Jacobs either!  Little Missy will just say this:  French fashion will be a big mess when Karl leaves the scene.  So don't go, Karl!  What about the clothes I saw?  No, this is not a fashion report!  Go to style.com if you want to look at the clothes.  This is more serious.  People have got to stop going on and on that this is the end of Karl and Kate Moss.  Jealousy, my friends!  It will eat you alive.  And what about Mick Jagger?  He is still hot!

 

Little Missy Dares You To Say Mick's Not Hot!

 

Mick was as hot as it gets a few days later in Hyde Park.  He takes ballet classes with a religious fervour!  And Little Missy can report that his girlfriend, L'Wren Scott, (who I'm sorry to say is a fashion designer) is a Bitch.  But we are positive in these Chronicles, so keep that one under your hat.  Anyway, L'Wren, you're right, I am older than you, and I did know Mick in his twenties.  When he was really hot! So put that one in your pipe L'Wren and smoke it!

 

Little Missy is starting to get rattled.  Let's end this one on a nice note!  What about that Andy Murray!  Go England, go UK!  There was just a whole lot of shaking going on in Paris and London and it is a miracle that I made it to my plane back home to California the next day!  But we Love California!  Just like we Love London!  And Paris is still pretty sweet on a summer night.