End of Summer Update!

Hello everyone!  I hope all of you have had a great summer!  But wait--I'm about to take off for Sydney next week, where it's winter! I packed two black sweaters (one for evening) two pairs of black pants, a black pleated skirt, silk evening pajamas, black heels and two three quarter coats for a sort of dressy warmth. I just thought "How would I dress for San Francisco in the summer?" and I figured out what to bring!  And all in a carry on. Which I can't carry on because of my makeup and creams and so on.

I'll wear jeans, a  pullover sweater, a cardigan and a cool Rodarte coat, along with easy to slip on and off espadrilles and a scarf on the plane.  I even have room in my suitcase for a swimsuit and my Nikes, as well as my makeup and stuff! I'm kind of happy with what I've selected.  I'll only be gone for a week.  I'll let you know how it turns out!  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great rest of summer and an easy slide into fall!
Love you XXXXXX

Meet Your Designers!

Vivienne Westwood and me at the Met Gala in 2013.  I had lunch with her on my birthday a few years ago and she only wanted to talk about men!

It's important to meet the people who design and oversee your wardrobes!

Zandra Rhodes and me at the Met Gala in 2013.  She's jolly good fun because she lives in Southern California now!

Karl Lagerfeld with Ciina Feng and me at his 75th birthday party in New York.  He told me there was no such thing as arthritis.  I happen to know that's not true.

With Jean Paul Gaultier in London in 2016.  He told the photographer to do a good job with the photo as I was an elegant woman!

With Alexander McQueen in 2006 in San Francisco.  No, he wasn't happy.

With James Galanos in San Francisco in 2005. I first met him as a child when he showed his collections at my mother's charity fashion shows.

With Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte in New York  in 2019.

  They are responsible for 90% of my wardrobe!

With Johnson Hartig of Libertine in Woodside, California, 2019.  I love his California aesthetic!

With Brandon Maxwell and Tony Bravo in 2016 in San Francisco.  He's not responsible for dressing me but for dressing Gaga, for which he was awarded Designer of the Year by the CFDAs.

With Jonathan Saunders in San Francisco in 2017.  I love this guy so much.

With Zac Posen in San Francisco in 2018.  I love Zac, too!

With Azzedine Alaia in San Francisco in 2005.  I adored Azzedine and cried when he died.

With Simon Ungless and Sarah Burton in San Francisco in 2012.

And last but definitely not least these guys, Livi and Yass of on aura tout vu.  I like to say that before they were dressing Beyonce, Gaga, Madonna, etc, they were dressing Christine Suppes!  You have to start somewhere! Paris, 2018.

And what's this all about anyway?  Who knows?  I think designers are some of the nicest people in the world (with very few exceptions) and if you have the chance to meet or get to know some great designers, you will love and appreciate your clothes  even more!

PS Although of course I have met Christian Lacroix on several occasions, we were never photographed together, at least to my knowledge.  Ironic but true...

Little Missy's Trip Across the World!

NYC-London-Marrakech-Abu Dhabi-London-Scotland

It started in New York City, although this photo of Kate and Laura Mulleavy and me is at the Brooklyn Museum after the CFDA Awards Dinner (Council of Fashion Designers of America).  They should have won in their category, Best Women's Wear, but never mind, they have so much going on right now, and their shows are always voted number one by Vogue Magazine.

Then I flew to London for the day and discovered this Mecca for Instagrammers called Peggy Porschen Cakes.  After spending a forgettable night at Gatwick Airport I flew to Marrakech for JC and Brent's wedding!

There are dozens of photos I could post of this beautiful city and the beautiful wedding I attended, but we'll leave it here for now with the fountain of the beautiful Riad El Fenn.  Madonna had just checked out and our wedding party checked in!  Orange groves, lavender, hammams, a beautiful wedding, perfect weather.  But I had to tear myself away in less then 48 hours because I had to catch a flight to Casablanca to fly on to Abu Dhabi where my kids and grandchildren live!

Travelers' Alert:  Casablanca is kind of sketchy if you are a single woman.  Like they asked why I was travelling alone and that kind of thing!  Airport officials took my passport away for about 15 minutes for reasons I didn't understand. But I made it to Abu Dhabi!

All the perfumes of Arabia, and here is a selection from my favourite store in Abu Dhabi, Villa 515.  The Arabs love their perfumes, and as it is generally "105 degrees Fahrenheit but feels like 123 degrees", perfume is certainly refreshing.  None of this California "I'm allergic to scent" in Abu Dhabi.  Men and women alike adore their colognes.

Here is the beautiful skyline of Abu Dhabi as seen from The Emirates Palace Hotel.  A brilliant trans activist in San Francisco likened it to phallic symbols and said, "This is the moment for women".  I agree with her.  I also think this is a gorgeous skyline, And I'm sorry for my old fashioned friends who think it's awful and that San Francisco is headed in this direction.  San Francisco has a lot of catching up to do to even imitate a small part of this genius skyline.  So don't worry, old school San Franciscans!  This won't happen in your lifetimes!  Sadly!!!

Here's me at a Philippines seafood restaurant in Abu Dhabi having an Anthony Bourdain moment in his honor, eating rice and seafood without benefit of plates or cutlery!

Moving back to London, here is my favourite dress from the V&A exhibition, Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams.  It's by Galliano (1999) and up there with the Junon dress from 1949.

Then I found myself in Scotland and fell madly in love with the entire country.  I will show only two images. The first is Hopetoun House, where Adrian Hope, fourth Marquess of Linlithgow gave a very personal tour of his childhood home.

Lastly, I want to show the rustic appeal of Hospitalfield, an arts institute in on ancient site with a view of the North Sea.  I could go on and on with images from artists, collectors and artisans I visited, but this gives you an idea of the varied itinerary I had this past month!

Just stay organized and keep to your schedule and you can do it too!  You might get a little tired sometimes...that is the only drawback.  Four continents in 22 days!  Not bad!  Not bad at all.

Hoping your summers are off to a roaring start!  HAPPY PRIDE WEEKEND!

Love, Little Missy

Jumping Continents

Four Continents in Three Weeks!

It's not for everyone!  I wasn't planning to exactly jump four continents in three weeks, but things just kept coming up!

I'm going to New York because in early June The CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) are having their annual awards dinner and my girls Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte are once again up for Women's Wear Designer of the Year.  If they don't get it this time I may not be responsible for my response!

I'm wearing their Rainbow Ensemble from their famous cemetery show in New York last September in the pouring rain. I asked for an extra layer under the rainbow lace, and I'm hoping for the best for Kate and Laura, who are the best designers working in this country!

Then I'm going on to London, where I will leave one of my suitcases with my usual hotel, and then on to Gatwick Airport, where I will spend the night because the following morning at an ungodly hour I am flying to Marrakesh, where my friends JC and Brent are getting married!  It's hard to believe I've known JC since she was not even 20 and now she's getting married!  And even though she has planned an exquisite wedding thousands of miles from where she lives (in Berkeley), she took the time to bring me an Intention Candle just before she left, which I burned for 72 hours (never unattended, mind you), only to find three crystals at the bottom when the candle was finished burning!  My intention is to find out what exactly my intentions are!  At my age, I think I ought to be focused on that!

Here is the Ungaro 2008 caftan I plan to wear to the wedding.  I first wore it in Marrakesh 11 years ago!  You can imagine, for a fashionista , this is heaven!  I'll have spa treatments between the festivities and hope I can book a hammam.  Aftr the wedding, I'm leaving at the crack of dawn (just two days after arriving in Marrakesh) to fly to Casablanca, to catch a flight to Abu Dhabi where my kids live!  I thought it was a hop, skip and a jump from Morocco to Abu Dhabi.  It's an eight hour flight! From Africa to the Middle East!  It's really far!

I'll probably be so exhausted by the time I get to Abu Dhabi that it's a good thing I bought these Dries Van Noten pajamas in two colours, orange and blue!  I can put on heels and jewelry and pretend I'm awake!  But my five year old granddaughter Isold doesn't allow any nonsense! On my last visit in January, I decided to teach Isold my beauty routine. As I used my cleansers and splashed my face thirty times like Erno Laszlo (remember him) taught us in the eighties, Isold blurted out, "Oh Granny, that's so old fashioned!  Mommy uses a sonic brush!"  I was so taken aback and ashamed you can bet I bought a sonic brush as soon as I could, and my California makeup artist who works with me when I go out to important (at least in some minds') galas or events told me my skin felt smoother  (and not even prompted by me)!  And if I can't get a hamman in Marrakesh, I can get one at the Emirates Palace Hotel, probably the most beautiful hammam in the world. Just being with my kids will be heaven.

Then I'm fairly crazy!  NOOOOOO!  The American Friends of the V&A are offering a "best of Scotland" trip and I thought it would be fun for my friend Kate Dixey and me to go, as we both have Scottish blood flowing in our veins!  I'm no fan of Prince Charles per se but I'm looking forward to seeing his renovation of Dumfries house.  We can't deny he has taste.

Looks very beautiful to me. And as you can see it was featured in Architectural Digest. 

And here's my fantasy of how it will all be!  Did you know that Scottish doctors are now prescribing Vitamin D supplements to Scottish kids because there is so little sun?  So you see, I'm going from a New York fashion party to Marrakesh to the true heat of Abu Dhabi to the coldest country in a given European country during the summer.  No one twisted my arm!  I signed up for this adventure! Eight hours back to London from Abu Dhabi, the divine V&A Summer Party where I will reprise the Rodarte Rainbow ensemble and probably scandalise the American Friends of the V&A, who tend to play it down, to put it mildly. And then a Scottish escapade!

Well, that's Little Missy's Continent skipping!  I'm wishing all my  readers a wonderful summer, filled with adventures and books and some down time!  This year it's all about self-love.  Self-love is the biggest buzz word except for the color chartreuse!  So find a chartreuse swim suit or trunks and dive into the season!

With love, Little Missy

May 2019

It's May!  And to start our celebration of this beautiful month, here is a vintage Verdura brooch.  Verdura is a fabulous jewelry company founded by Duke Fulco di Verdura of Sicily.  He made Maltese cross cuffs for Coco Chanel and his business took off. He went to Hollywood and created pieces for stars like Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.  He is most known for his bold, understated chic.  Needless to say, Verdura is my favourite jeweler.

An outtake from Electric Fashion

As long as we are thinking about spring, here is an outtake from Electric Fashion, the book I produced with photographer Frederic Aranda in 2015.  This photograph was taken in Regent's Park, London, and I'm wearing Christian Lacroix Haute Couture from Spring 2005.  The ensemble is now in the collection at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. A sweet reader told me this image reminds him of Monet.  Freddie and I are flattered!


The world is a wild and crazy place and still there is beauty everywhere we look. I want to share with my wonderful readers the images which defined the past few months for me.

Karl Lagerfeld's passing

This was not unexpected and still it was incredibly heart wrenching.  The fashion world in which I  worked as a journalist in Paris has all but disappeared.  Here Ciina Feng and I celebrated Karl's 75th birthday in New York.

Elton John performing Tiny Dancer at his Academy Awards Dinner

To hear a star of Elton's magnitude performing a signature piece is unforgettable.  The Awards dinner was great fun, but Elton taking the stage was a memory I will always treasure.

Rodarte blue gown from their Huntington Gardens show in February 2019

This photograph generated the second most likes for me of the year.  The model is spectacular and wears the beyond gorgeous dress---the dress does not wear her!

Palo Alto flowers

Here is the photograph that was the most liked on my Instagram account. It's proof that when all is said and done, people love to look at flowers.  I know I do.

Finally, I don't think I can post this enough.  Remember what you needed when you were younger and please try to pass it along to the generations coming up.  Be kind.  Show love every day, in all the ways you can. This is what all of us need now.

Love,
 Little Missy

Two Weekends in Hollywood and Berkeley

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending Elton John's Academy Awards Dinner in support of his AIDS Foundation (EJAF).  This meant I also had the pleasure to hear Sir Elton perform Tiny Dancer, certainly worth the price of admission.  As I got dressed and made up for the big night, I realised that Hollywood is really no different than any other company town.  Residents of Hollywood, Washington DC, Stanford and Berkeley need to make a living.  They need places to eat and entertain themselves.  They need health care and lawyers and agents (agents are crawling all over the campuses to get athletes and let's not think about DC). We sometimes get mesmerised by the glamour of Hollywood, the way some of us used to get mesmerised by the power of DC.  Don't get me started.  I know a lot of diva professors at Stanford and Berkeley who probably wished they had agents.  The last time I checked, at university campuses, agents were reserved for athletes.  But back to Hollywood.

Here Is Elton John playing Tiny Dancer.  

Sir Elton's dinner had a big British crowd, so naturally they were rooting for Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite.  I must be honest:  for the first time ever, I actually saw most of the pictures nominated.  I liked If Beale Street Could Talk, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book and A Star Is Born the best.  Not that it matters in the least.  Our party went berserk when Rami Malek won Best Actor for his portrayal of Freddy Mercury, and almost as berserk when Olivia Coleman won best actress for The Favourite.  Then Elton brought out The Killers. What a great band, and they love to remind you that they hail from Las Vegas.  It's easy to forget how many great songs they've done.  I used to think that if I had a really big blowout I'd try to hire Santana (only if Carlos would play). Now I think I might think of hiring The Killers.  These guys rock!

Anyway, with winners, come losers.  As Shelley Winters so poignantly demonstrated in The Poseidon Adventure, "There Has To Be A Morning After".

The morning after in Hollywood.  What in the hell was I doing up at that hour?

No problem.  I chilled by my hotel pool like you're supposed to do in Hollywood.

OK, enough of Hollywood.  The following weekend was my birthday weekend.  Bruce took me to Berkeley, where a friend who shares my birthday was having an anniversary of her 30th birthday in a nearby suburb.

Rasputin Music on Telegraph Avenue.  This is definitely not Hollywood.

Here's Little Missy standing next to a tulip tree on the Berkeley campus.  Yes, that's a Burberry umbrella, a Saint Laurent sweater, a Rodarte jacket and an Alaia handbag.  What do you take me for anyway?

For my birthday breakfast we went to the Lilac Bakery in North Berkeley.  Note the yellow Beetle.

It was delicious but not exactly gluten free.

Berkeley's beautiful in the morning.  It was overcast. The soundtrack would be Simon and Garfunkel's great song "Cloudy" which contains the unbelievable lines:

My thoughts are scattered and they're cloudy, they have no borders, no boundaries. They echo and they swell from Tolstoi to Tinker Bell. Down from Berkeley to Carmel.

I'm not making any judgement calls here.  I was however sort of formed by this kind of music, even if it appeared in the very Hollywood movie, "The Graduate".

I was born in LA and I have lived in Palo Alto most of my life.  I'm just glad I live in California and I can have the best of two very different worlds!