Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"In an election year in which the corrosiveness of politics seems to reach a new high every month, and the bitterness of the G.O.P.-nomination fight a new low with each primary and caucus, I thought it might be instructive to spend a moment with the man who has arguably seen more of politics than anyone else still active in Washington, Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, the Dean of the House.  Dingell, now 85, is not only the senior sitting member of Congress. Having first been elected in 1955 to fill the seat of his father, who had held it since 1933 and died in office, he is also the longest-serving member of the House in all of American history, and is within 17 months of breaking the late Robert Byrd’s record for total combined congressional service in the House and Senate. So he’s seen a few elections in his day, and seen more than a few politicians come and go. I went to talk to him the other day about his role in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act because I’m working on a book project about that bill, widely regarded as one of the great high-water marks of bipartisan political achievement in the 20th century. In the face of implacable opposition from segregationist Southern Democrats, the measure passed only because of strong support from Northern Republicans who saw it, in the words of their Senate leader, Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois, as an idea whose time had come." (VanityFair)

"On Wednesday, February 8, 2012, The Associates Committee of The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center hosted the 4th Annual Associates Luncheon at Rouge Tomate. The lunch honored Nina J. Pickett, Administrator, MSKCC Department of Pediatrics, for her years of dedication and outstanding work at the Hospital. The luncheon also recognized The Associates Committee for their unwavering support to the organization and its mission to support patient care, research and education programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.The event was sponsored by Salvatore Ferragamo for the first time and was chaired by Nina Garcia Conrod, Gretchen Gunlocke Fenton, Eugenie Niven Goodman, and Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler. Over 160 guests enjoyed the highly anticipated showcase of Salvatore Ferragamo's Spring Summer 2012 Runway Collection by Creative Director Massimiliano Giornetti. Dr. Richard J. O'Reilly, Chairmen of the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center introduced the luncheon's honoree Nina J. Pickett and lauded her unrelenting devotion and commitment to the Pediatrics Department. The event raised funds for the Pediatric Family Housing Endowment, which pays for overnight stays at nearby accommodations when children and their families come from out of town for treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering's renowned Pediatric Department and are unable to afford this expense themselves. The Associates Committee has pledged to raise $2 million in the next five years for the Pediatric Family Housing Endowment." (NYSocialDiary)

"Until recently, Europeans enjoyed a pretty comfortable position in most international organizations. At the IMF, they had an unquestioned hold on the directorship and could lecture other countries on how to govern themselves and run their economies, while each large European country had its own IMF representative. But all that changed in 2011. Now, Europeans are themselves being lectured by China and Brazil for not solving their financial crisis despite having the resources to do so. Europe managed to hang on to the directorship in June when Christine Lagarde succeeded Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but only because of divisions among emerging economies. If the euro crisis continues, Europeans will likely be forced to give up more of their voting weight -- as they started doing in 2010 during a reallocation of IMF board seats-- and ultimately lose the directorship. The power realignment at the IMF is just one example of the way the euro crisis has undermined Europe's geopolitical clout in the past two years, transforming it from a reliable global problem-solver to a problem itself." (Foreignpolicy)

"For the past decade, Hollywood’s biggest studios have been working on a new standard for digital movies that could save them $1 billion annually in printmaking fees and shipping costs. The movies in the new format are shipped on hard drives that hold hundreds of gigabytes of data and are connected to a super-high-definition projector. To unlock a movie, the distributor sends the theater a code that controls where, when, and how long it can be played. To induce exhibitors to purchase the equipment, celluloid prints of new movies from the majors will no longer be available in the U.S. by the end of 2013, according to John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners. The studios haven’t announced any deadline, but Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America, says the shift to digital will streamline film distribution. 'This could only mean more and higher-quality motion picture entertainment,' he says. About 26,000 of the 40,000 screens in the U.S. have already converted. The biggest chains—Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, and Cinemark Theatres, which account for just over half the $10.2 billion annual U.S. box office—expect to complete the conversion early next year. But 'for lower-grossing theaters, it’s just not affordable,' says Fithian. 'I predict we’ll lose several thousand screens in the U.S.'" (BusinessWeek)

"The Last Magazine has evolved in the three-plus years it's been around—and not just what's on the page. 'We decided it's really nice to sit down and talk to people rather than dance all night and have the police shut us down,' Last co-founder Magnus Berger said last night at the downtown mag's celebration at Acme. There was that sort of party, too, later on in the restaurant's basement. But the dinner upstairs beforehand had the friends-and-family synergy that fuels this particular breed of trend-predicting culture outlet: Richard Chai installed in a back booth, Julia Stegner chatting over brie-on-toast and Arctic char with Jacquelyn Jablonski. (The latter appears in a spread in the latest issue shot by Steven Pan, who happens to be Stegner's ex-boyfriend.) Of course, get-togethers held at the end of fashion week tend to have a less frantic vibe. 'Thank God it's over!' Phillip Lim exclaimed." (Style)

NYFW: Alisha Trimble's Dry



One of the most pleasant surprises of Fashion Week was Alisha Trimble's film Dry which screened at several parties across town. Above is a preview of this remarkably beautiful, highly stylized work from a fashion designer not known for work in film. After designer Tom Ford triumphed with a Single Man, now this from Alisha one wonders -- what is it about the process of fashion design that makes for such visually compelling filmmaking?

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"I describe the period from 1991 to 2008 as an 'Age of Optimism' because all the world's major powers had reason to be satisfied with the way the globalized world system was working for them. India's reforms began in 1991 and led to an economic boom and a palpable surge in national confidence. The European Union more than doubled in size by incorporating the old Soviet bloc. Latin America had its debt crises, but by the end of the period, Brazil was being taken seriously as a global power for the first time in its history. For all their post-Soviet nostalgia, even the leaders of the new Russia were enthusiastic participants in a globalized world. Most importantly, 1991-2008 was an Age of Optimism for both China and the United States. During this period, China's economy grew so rapidly that it was doubling in size every eight years or so. Chinese people could see their country and their families becoming visibly more prosperous. Still, the United States was the sole superpower. The growth of Silicon Valley and the rise of Google, Apple, et al. reaffirmed American confidence in the unique creative powers of U.S. capitalism. American political and economic ideas set the terms of the global debate. Indeed, the terms 'globalization' and 'Americanization' almost seemed synonymous. This American confidence was very important to the world system. It allowed the United States to embrace a development that, in other circumstances, might have seemed threatening: the rise of China. In the Age of Optimism, successive U.S. presidents welcomed China's economic development. The argument they made was that capitalism would act as a Trojan horse, transforming the Chinese system from within. If China embraced economic freedom, political freedom would surely follow. But if China failed to embrace capitalism, it would fail economically.
In 2008, there was indeed a massive economic and financial crisis, but it came in the West, not in China. This unexpected development has accelerated a trend that was already in place: a shift in economic power from West to East and, within that, from the United States to China. Since then, it has become much harder to argue that globalization has created a win-win world." (ForeignPolicy)

"There’s not a lot of confidence in the direction of the country or what President Barack Obama’s done to help the economy — but he’s gaining in popularity nonetheless. And a slate of recent national and battleground state polls show the consequences: The president heads into his re-election campaign well ahead of where he was even a few months ago, but his improved position remains vulnerable, especially if the economy dips again. Despite 'some positives here for the president, so much depends on the trajectory of the economy over the next several months,' warned Carroll Doherty, associate director at Pew Research Center, which Monday showed Obama taking 52 percent of the vote and beating his closest competitor, Mitt Romney, by 8 percentage points. The uptick in the economy and the ongoing GOP presidential primary fight have helped Obama’s approval ratings climb to their highest levels in national and key state polls since the killing of Osama bin Laden. 'He’s back around 50 percent, traditionally an important benchmark for presidents,' Doherty said." (Politico)

"Had evangelical Christians had their way in 2006’s Pennsylvania Senate election, then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R) would have been reelected in a landslide: among the quarter of the electorate that identified themselves as such, Santorum won 59% to 41%. The trouble for Santorum was that, of the non-evangelical three-fourths of the electorate, Santorum lost to his opponent, Democrat Bob Casey, by two to one. Santorum was defeated in that race by about 17 points -- one of the worst drubbings in modern history for an incumbent senator (see chart at this link). If anything, looking at a year when Santorum did poorly makes it easy to identify his strength, which is with religious conservatives who are concerned about social issues. Of nine contests in this year’s Republican primary so far, only the first five -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada -- have exit polling. In all of those states Santorum did better among self-described 'very conservative' and 'evangelical/born-again Christians' than he did overall. (And, you’ll recall, he won just Iowa, very narrowly.) Additionally, Santorum scored well with voters who were most interested in conservative social issues. For instance, in South Carolina, where Santorum placed third with 17% of the vote, Santorum won just two groups of voters: 51% of those who listed abortion as their top issue and 42% who said their most important quality in a candidate was 'strong moral character.' Electorally, therefore, Santorum appears to have two things in his favor as he tries to build on his stunning rise over the past week and a half. First, religious conservatives, a key demographic in many forthcoming state contests, love him. Second, he is not Mitt Romney and has become the leading 'not-Romney' candidate, an odd title that has determined a large chunk of the nominating battle so far. There are 15 states, mainly Southern, where more than 30% of the population is part of the 'Evangelical/Protestant Tradition,' according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s U.S. Religious Landscape Study. Of these 15, which includes the entire old Confederacy save for Florida, only two have voted so far: South Carolina (45% evangelical) and Missouri (37%). As we know, Romney fared poorly in both states. Exit polling confirmed that close to two-thirds of the voters in the Palmetto State’s primary were evangelical/born-again voters, and while we don’t have any fresh exit polling from Missouri, the 2008 exit polling indicated that the electorate was 55% evangelical. Therefore, it will be a surprise if Romney runs strongly in many of the remaining, leading evangelical states." (SabatosCrystalBall)

"I started out the night at the UN Plaza apartment of FT US editor Gillian Tett who was hosting a cocktail reception for Rob Grimshaw, the new Managing Director of FT.com. Mr. Grimshaw who hails from London will be living in New York full time for the first time in his life.  There was a good crowd when I arrived just after 7. UN Plaza apartments have magnificent views of the UN, the East River as well as midtown Manhattan. I chatted briefly with the new man. The FT is my favorite newspaper in the world these days. The Weekend edition is, in my humble opinion, the most interesting weekend journal with wonderful writers and always an excellent interview (FT Lunch) with all kinds of people. They also seem to be staffed with gracious friendly journalists and executives. I’ve seen evidence of this again and again. I remark on it because it does seem an unusually pleasant and unique attitude for people who are acknowledged to be some of the best journalists in the business. From the UN Plaza I caught a cab to go up to Fifth Avenue in the 80s where Diahn and Tom McGrath were hosting a PEN Authors’ Evening dinner at their apartment with the honored guest being Dick Cavett." (NYSocialDiary)

"Beloved club and fashion maven Zelda Kaplan died after collapsing in the front row at Fashion Week yesterday at age 95. Kaplan, New York’s oldest and most beloved night owl and the woman who could famously 'out-party even Paris Hilton,' collapsed at the Joanna Mastroianni show at The Studio at Lincoln Center. Witnesses said the socialite 'slumped forward' as the second model came out on the runway, and she was carried out and given CPR by paramedics. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital, but she couldn’t be revived. Her death left attendees devastated. One told us, 'Zelda passed away, right there, in the front row. Security carried her out, but the show just carried on. Everybody is distraught.'  A statement released by her friends yesterday read, 'Zelda Kaplan passed away suddenly today at the age of 95 from natural causes . . . She will be deeply missed and always loved.' Zelda, famed for her African outfits, dramatic hats and large sunglasses, was a club fixture right up to her death. She was at the opening of new XL last month, where she was photographed with Lance Bass and designer/stylist Indashio. Her close friends include fashion exec Keri Ingvarsson, stylist Mia Morgan, artist Andres Serrano and Richie Rich. After moving here from New Jersey in the 1960s, Zelda became a party and fashion-world fixture, but also made regular visits to Africa to work on human rights issues." (PageSix)

"Some of you must be getting rather tired of this, but I simply can’t help it. I swear on the Bible I’m not doing it on purpose. I dropped in on the terribly nice village doctor although I knew it was a total waste of our time ...  The object of my affection is Jessica Raine, that graceful and shy nurse Jenny in the Sunday-night BBC soap Call the Midwife. This is the kind of coup de foudre I haven’t experienced in years. Cupid’s arrow pierced my breast three Sundays ago, and I haven’t had a peaceful night’s sleep ever since. I even had my daughter run a Google search on Jessica, and it turns out she grew up in a Welsh farm near Powis. 'She’s very pretty and nice,' the mother of my children reluctantly admitted. 'Cupid’s arrow pierced my breast three Sundays ago, and I haven’t had a peaceful night’s sleep ever since.' What attracts me is the role she plays. Her grace, shyness, and understatement, her intense and repressed character, are straight out of some Terence Rattigan play. And I love her rather plain beauty ... Nurse Jenny is my ideal woman. Her total lack of flamboyance and inability to be vulgar even if she tried has me loathing myself for having fallen for others in the past. Well, that’s all over with for good. Goodbye, assistant editor of the Spectator. So long, Keira. Au revoir pour toujours, Rebecca. You’re all through, washed-up, history, curtains, finished. From now on and until the day I die it’s only Jessica Raine/Nurse Jenny to whom my heart and soul belong." (Taki Theodoracopulos)

Media-Whore D'Oevures

"The last time we were in the Park Avenue Armory was for the Winter Antiques show, where every inch of the massive space was covered in paintings, curios, Edwardian furniture and antique lovers, most of whom were no longer sample sizes. Last night, however, the space was entirely empty, save for two giant screens, each fifty feet tall, and not a single guest exceeded a size six. Fashion Week fixtures gathered in the space, jaws slackened as they watched the massive projections. Each screen showed a video installastion by Solve Sundsbo, showing two models, one female, one male, with continuously changing body parts. To a haunting electronica sound track (if it wasn’t the same hypnotic hymn played in the Standard Hotel’s storied elevator, it was hardly distinguishable), well-toned legs morphed into writhing snakes, chests became blooming flowers and close-up ready faces were transformed into raven’s heads, always assuming a vaguely anthropomorphic shape. Cate Blanchett, Martha Stewart, Olivia Palermo, Tory Burch, Anna Dello Russo, Coco Rocha, Yigal Azrouel, Lara Stone and Shalom Harlow absorbed the hypnagogic installation whilst imbibing champagne, wine and vodka. There was no food, only a few trays of Maison du Chocolat truffles making the rounds in honor of St. Valentine’s day. After a flute (or two) we decided to broach a contentious subject with our fashionable comrades. Karl Lagerfeld recently called Adele 'too fat,' (a comment which he later retracted, but let’s not get bogged in details, shall we?) ...We asked Diane von Furstenberg (who was staring, transfixed at the screens) if she thought the idea of beauty was really changing in fashion. 'Is it?' she asked whimsically, apparently still under the film’s spell. Of Adele, she angrily brushed aside any naysayers, snapping back to reality. 'I think that she’s hot, I see her picture, she looks great. Listen, beautify is what beauty does. John Keats said it before me.'" (Observer)

NYFW: Diesel Black Gold Party

Annie Clark of St Vincent

Last night this blogger attended the Diesel Black Gold party hosted by Renzo Rossoat at the new Diesel Black Gold store designed by Ryan Korban. Your truly clinked champagne glasses with Carrie Brownstein and told her that Portlandia just perfect -- and now this blogger can die in peace. We also chatted with a very cool Stephen Dorff, who was in the crowd mingling, grooving to the tunes of DJ Mia Moretti. Later in the evening St. Vincent braught the fashionable house down with an amazing performance. Also in the crowd: the extremely fragile looking Erin Featherston and her boyfriend of one year Gabe Saporta, Petra Nemcova, Paper Magazine's Kim Hastereiter and David Hershkovits, Nadine Johnson.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"The man expected to be China's leader for the next 10 years, Xi Jinping, arrived in the United States on Monday, Feb. 13. This will be an excellent occasion for Americans to assess him and take stock of the relationship with the rising power of the 21st century. Needless to say, there are complex and polarizing reactions toward China in the United States: The racially tinged advertisement by Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra depicting a happy, young Chinese woman speaking broken English as she celebrates American decline is but the most recent example of an attempt to manipulate Americans' emotions rather than activate their brains. The American narrative about China sees a rising, highly disciplined nation under a dictatorial and directed leadership with a strategic vision of regional -- if not global -- dominance. This may sound dark, but it's actually an attractive narrative for some. For the U.S. military, China provides a mobilizing enemy to fuel military spending, strategic doctrine, and new weapons systems. For some corporations and labor leaders, the notion that America can't compete with a China that cheats is a pretext for protectionism and tax breaks. For those who lament the state of the U.S. economy and the dysfunctional U.S. political system, China's success provides a useful challenge, like Sputnik in the 1950s. To neoconservatives and foreign-policy hawks who see the international arena as a Hobbesian world in which America dominates or is dominated, China provides the obvious threat to U.S. preeminence. To democracy promoters and human rights campaigners, China is the embodiment of what most needs fixing in the world. And to believers in the inevitability of American decline, China represents the 800-pound gorilla that the United States needs to accommodate sooner rather than later by shrinking its regional presence, drawing back to its own shores, and reducing unproductive alliances. But let's take a deep breath and look at the real China that America faces." (ForeignPolicy)

"In January, 243,000 jobs were created. The number surprised investors and economists, but it was part of a stream of solid economic data: over the last few months, consumer confidence has gone up, Americans have spent more on big-ticket items like cars and there is even evidence that the housing market has begun to rebound. Before the job numbers came out, most economists were expecting around 2.5 percent G.D.P. growth this year. Those forecasts are liable to be revised upward now, perhaps to about 3 percent. Americans seem to have noticed the change. By early February, Obama’s approval rating had climbed to 49 percent in the Real Clear Politics average, a six-point improvement from three months earlier. Although it’s not a terrific approval rating, it may be enough to get Obama another term. In 2004, George W. Bush won a narrow victory with essentially identical metrics: G.D.P. growth of 2.9 percent and an approval rating of about 48 percent on Election Day. Still, Obama’s position isn’t solid enough for him to beat just anybody. Bush benefited from running against a middling opponent like John Kerry, against whom he was able to squeeze every ounce out of his approval rating." (NyTimes)

"In the wake of last Saturday’s Purple Magazine party, we were left with several questions: What is it about Fashion Week mag soirées that seems to whip everyone into a frenzy? What mysterious gravity does Olivier Zahm carry that sucks the clothing off of so many stunningly beautiful women? How is Lindsay Lohan even still alive? Our prospective evening began unfolding with an incoming text from Natalie White, former muse of photographer Peter Beard and current item of lust on Purple’s website: 'Will I be seeing you at Purple Magazine tonight?' Of course, we replied, 'but Natalie, how will we spot you?' Seconds ticked by, and came the response, 'I’ll be the one wearing a see-through dress, darling.' With that image firmly lodged in our mind, we began to wonder what kind of party were we getting ourselves into.We mulled the question as we hoofed it over to the Standard, a fittingly unglorified way to approach what would be a fittingly glorious event. Refinery29’s Kristian Laliberte—on full Fashion Week tilt—and his posse spotted us a block out. After a ritual passing of the flask, the group rolled over to the (suspiciously quiet) entrance." (Observer)

"Oscar de la Renta. A feminine collection and unlike Oscar in many ways. In a season where bright seems to be the norm (and a good norm), Oscar goes pale. Now some of his pales are very pretty, but a surprise. Oscar had many prints. One of the most interesting was his jewelry print. I was sitting near Kenneth Jay Lane and should have asked him what it meant. Now that we are talking about seating, let's just say in the front row was my boss (DPC) sitting next to me and taking the pictures. Next to him was Daphne Guinness (I love her look, and actually many of the black and white prints in the collection seem aimed at her). Kenneth Jay Lane was next to Ms. Guinness. Further down the row was Barbara Walters, who looks really well. She was wearing raspberry for Valentine's day. Facing us was my old gang from Saks Fifth Avenue. Actually they were my old gang and Saks was one of my very long term homes (15 years), but this gang all worked at Bergdorf Goodman with me before they went over to Saks." (NYSocialDiary)

"There was a lot of elbowing for space in the front row of the Diesel show yesterday. Vogue Japan editor-at-large Anna Dello Russo was forced to crouch down next to the first row at the Pier 57 event after she arrived so late that someone had already snagged her seat. Theophilus London and Angela Simmons jammed in next to Albanian model Angela Martini, forcing Harley Viera-Newton and Shenae Grimes to scoot down. The group had to shift again to make room for Gabe Saporta from Cobra Starship, who was seated at the last minute. Finally, Caitlin Moe and Mia Moretti were so late that staffers got them through security by saying the DJs were 'models.'" (PageSix)

"Rick Santorum may be leading in Michigan polls, but you wouldn’t know it from talking to Mitt Romney’s most prominent backers.Two weeks before the increasingly pivotal showdown in Romney’s native state, his leading Michigan supporters are exuding confidence that he’ll not only win, but win easily and halt Santorum’s momentum in the process. Romney’s national campaign isn’t leaving that to chance: It has deployed top operatives to the state and on Tuesday reserved nearly $1.3 million in airtime in the runup to the Feb. 28 primary, according to a media-buying source. The pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future is also putting big bucks behind a new negative ad on Santorum that starts Wednesday. For Michigan politicos aligned with Romney, there’s a fundamental reason why Santorum looks like a long shot. To them, winning Michigan is less a challenge for Romney than it is his destiny — as the son of one of the state’s legendary governors and the scion of an auto family. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, one of the state’s most influential Republicans, put it this way: 'This is Mitt country — Mitt’s state.'" (Politico)

"Democrats as a whole have commended President Obama’s budget proposal for 2013, but in a few telling instances, members of the president’s party are seeking a bit of distance. Those Democrats tend to come from red states where the president’s poll numbers are underwater, and their critique of Obama’s plan — or their choice to stay silent — could foretell reelection races where Democrats will run away from the president in the fall. Obama on Monday unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget that Republicans claim is far too bloated. It calls for increased revenues but also targeted tax cuts, cutting spending in areas like defense while upping the dollars going to transportation and other projects. White House officials predict the annual deficit will fall from $1.33 trillion in 2012 to $901 billion in 2013, but Republicans — and some Democrats — argue that isn’t nearly enough. It is highly unlikely the budget will be implemented in anything like the form Obama presented, but the proposal symbolizes Obama’s economic priorities heading into the last year of his first term — and his bid for reelection." (TheHill)

"Fifteen years after starring in her last feature, The Preacher’s Wife, Whitney Houston was scheduled to return to the big screen this summer in the remake of Sparkle, the 1976 girl-group saga inspired by the Supremes. Now in post-production, the film showed signs of a career turnaround for Houston, who died unexpectedly on February 11 at age 48. In addition to playing the supportive single mother of three struggling singers (the most talented of which is portrayed by former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks), Houston is also attached to the project as a producer—her first feature producer credit since The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, in 2004. During an on-set interview in Detroit last fall, she explained the profound impact that the original film, which was set in the Motown era and starred Academy Award winner Irene Cara, had had on her growing up..." (VanityFair)

"Sen. John Kerry, dining with his wife, Teresa Heinz, at Café Boulud Saturday, obliged a nearby table by joining their conversation dissecting the Syrian crisis. Art dealer Edward Tyler Nahem, his UN diplomat son Joachim, 'Schott’s Miscellany' author Ben Schott and his wife, Fathom founder Pavia Rosati, were at a table with others in heated debate when Nahem invited the Massachusetts senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, eating quietly nearby, to elucidate his views. We’re told that even though they were not acquainted with the group, Kerry and his wife happily joined the table, giving analysis and answering questions before the senator admitted he was pleasantly surprised to join a highbrow discussion. Heinz reminisced with Joachim about when she worked at the UN during the 1965 blackout and was forced to descend 35 flights of stairs in the dark, then jumped on the back of a motorcycle driven by a kind stranger to get home." (PageSix)

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"I confess total surprise about the complaints by some European and other foreign officials about the restrictions on proprietary trading by American banks embedded in the Dodd-Frank Act – now dubbed the 'Volcker' Rule. It made me think – think all the way back to my years in the US Treasury and Federal Reserve, when the Glass-Steagall Act was in full force. The practical effect was to ban all securities trading by US banks – not just 'proprietary' trading, but also 'market making' and 'underwriting' (except in US government and certain municipal securities). I do not recall – and I am morally certain it never happened – receiving a single complaint that US law was discriminatory, that it damaged other sovereign debt markets or that it limited the ability of foreign governments to access capital markets ... Let's get serious. National regulatory (and at least as important, accounting and auditing) authorities should, to the extent that it is practical, seek common understanding and common approaches. In the past, I participated in that process, helping to initiate the effort to achieve common capital standards for banks. I am today encouraged by efforts under way by the US, British and other authorities to reach the needed degree of consensus with respect to resolution authority – in plain English how practically to end the 'too big to fail' syndrome. This is really complex. The major banks are international and managing their orderly merger or liquidation will necessarily involve co-operation among jurisdictions. That is a key challenge, arguably the most important one for banking reform. It needs to be dealt with. Meanwhile, let us not be swayed by the smokescreen of lobbyists dedicated to protecting the interests of some highly compensated traders and their risk-prone banks." (Paul Volker/FT)
"'According to Bluefin Labs, the Grammys earned 13 million social comments. That breaks the record from last week's Super Bowl and absolutely dwarfs every other entertainment event from the last year.(mashable)' THAT'S the power of music! Enough with the hogwash about how the Internet killed the music business. People care more about music than even sports, which are supposedly all about participation. Read this article, look at the graphics, it's brief and easily comprehensible. The bottom line is we're sitting on a gold mine. People are engaged with music, they've got opinions, they care. The Internet has allowed fans to become ever closer to musicians, the gap has closed. The public has turned the music business topsy-turvy. It hasn't eviscerated it so much as realigned it. Doesn't matter what the fat cats say, nor traditional media, it all comes down to what the people think. P.S. The Grammys may have forgiven Chris Brown, but not the public, most of the comments on social media were negative! Meanwhile, he appeared on the telecast twice." (LefsetzLetter)

"Out of all the shows we’ve gone to during this longer-than-a-week Fashion extravaganza, Betsey Johnson‘s was by far the most fun. Does that come as a shocker to anyone? The 65-year-old knows how to give her legion of fans–who run the gauntlet from punk-rock 15-year-olds to Russell Simmons–what they want, and we’re not just talking about her infamous cartwheel/splits routine that she’s become infamous for ... We were able to snag fourth row, along with a French photographer and a Japanese man with a camera who asked us what The New York Observer was approximately six times over the course of the 15  minute show. In between the Beatles soundtrack and the screaming ladies ('We love you Betsey!'), we managed to make out a couple of front row chatter. But the real lavishing began at the after party, held at the Stone Rose on the top of the Time Warner Center, where Ms. Johnson was joined by Kris Humphries ('How do you spell Kardashian?' The New York Observer heard one guest ask her friend,) Richie Rich, and Dani Stahl in celebrating another great season." (Observer)

"The weather was perfect and the skates all laced at The Women's Committee of the Central Park Conservancy's Annual Skating Party. Guests enjoyed an evening of skating, treats and sweets, face painting, and a performance by the Ice Theatre of New York. The event was chaired by Kamie Lightburn. The Annual Skating Party is The Women's Committee's thank you to all of their generous supporters. The Women's Committee has been instrumental in increasing awareness and garnering funds for many Park projects. This event also raises funds to support free after-school skating and hockey lessons for underserved children of New York City. Guests included Women's Committee President Anne Harrison, Central Park Conservancy President Doug Blonsky, Gillian Miniter, Sheila Labrecque, Suzanne Cochran, Jill Ross, Eleanora Kennedy, Ashley Wotiz, MK O'Shaughnessy, Rema Parachini, Paige Hardy, Adelina Wong Ettelson, Liz Victory Anderson, Nyssa Kourakos, Virginia Apple, and Sheri Babbio." (NYSocialDiary)

"Taking a break from Fashion Week calorie-counting, we headed to the Columbus Ave. Shake Shack last night for some much-needed sustenance and a private party for Mark "the Cobrasnake" Hunter's collaboration with Vans and Parisian concept boutique Colette. The famed burger joint was dressed to look like a children's birthday party, complete with coloring-contest place mats and scratch-and-sniff stickers, and attendees included Cobrasnake sidekick Jonny Makeup as well as photographer Todd Selby and director Philip Andelman, who is married to Colette's creative director, Sarah Lerfel. 'I may be small, but I do like [me] some burgers,' Lerfel said over a plate of fries." (Papermag)
"That ball of white feathers at last night's Marc Jacobs show was Anna Dello Russo, freshly arrived in New York for Fashion Week. 'I just landed, but I saw everything on the Internet,' the Vogue Japan fashion director told us. (She liked Alexander Wang. 'I like the fact that he has such a young energy, but he already has a statement with all the top models.') With her eccentric fashion sense, Dello Russo is a darling of the street-style photographers who haunt the fashion shows around the world. Doesn’t she ever have bad hair days or bags under her eyes and just want to be left alone? 'No. I always please them,' she said, adding that she does not mind the intrusion. 'They made me visible; before, I was just a hard worker, invisible.' The feather ensemble was delightful, but where was her trademark hat? 'No hat, because I was wearing glasses,' she said, showing us the rhinestone-encrusted eyewear in her hand. 'Too much stuff, eyeglasses and feathers,' she laughed." (NYMag)

The New Realities of Being President in a Social Media Era

image via blackenterprise

There are two powerful forces in American politics -- one altogether new, one so old as to be considered ancient -- that this blogger worries may force a sitting American President to act in a way that is not in keeping with the American interest.
One, rather old, are the electoral realities and the heckling from the right that we have come to expect in the run-up to elections in democracies. It is a force as old as human beings being politikon zoon, the voices of the ambitious auditioning for the role of Commander in Chief forcing the current occupant of that office into unfamiliar zones. Cable TV and blogs attracted to page views and the sorry state of traditional gatekeepers in an environment of hyperpartisanship not seen in anyone's lifetime makes for a particularly dangerous moment for our democracy. And the seemingly endless debates throughout late fall and winter have arguably moved Obama towards a more Asia-centric foreign policy realignment; they have arguably pushed Obama closer to a near unquestioning support of Israel's position vis-a-vis Iran; they have arguably made Obama embrace the progressive left in a way that he hasn't thus far in his Presidency. Obama, it would appear to this blogger at least, has been significantly moved by the hecklin from the right.

Granted, the President spent 2011 -- or most of it at least -- supinely holding the proverbial olive branch out to the Republican Congress as a result of the "shellacking" he received in the mid-term election, largely a result of high unemployment and a perceived government overreach on health care. That strategy -- peacemaking with the right -- turned out to be a big goose-egg as Boehner, McConnell, Cantor and the Tea Party caucus spent last year essentially doing their very best to make Obama a one-term President, assuring hi agenda would fail in Congress. That is the first force that is pulling the President into dark waters.

The second force, quite new, is social media backlash. The President, who used social media in innovative ways in 2008 to win the election, is clearly not unaware of its importance. In an interview with Entrepeneur, Macon Phillips, the White House Director of New Media said:

Just after the president gave his speech on the nation's state of the union, we held a series of Twitter Q&A sessions with more than 30 senior administration officials. We were able to do that because Twitter is a much more conversational medium. Facebook, rather, is a better place for sharing rich content. We see that people regularly share our 'photos of the day' and videos on Facebook.

Charmed, I'm sure. Social media truly grew up in February, which we cannot fail to note included a little event called the Superbowl, the largest social tv event ever. Only in the last few weeks, however, have we even begun to see what some might call the terrible typhonic force of this power. Two recent political events: 1) the backlash on the Komen Planned Parenthood decision, and, 2) the SOPA backlash loom large politically. Those two events have clearly rattled the White House, or at least has forced the administration to respond briskly to events on the ground in ways that a White House has never quite done so before. One might argue that the flubbing of the contraceptive issue by the Obama administration -- a rare strategic mistake that may ultimately have cost them essential Pennsylvania -- was a political misread of the social media backlash on Komen.

On The Contenders to the Throne

Mitt, surging Rick and the extraordinarily ill-tempered (and soon to be disintegrating) Newt are the last standing survivors in the GOP primary process. Oh yes, there is Ron Paul, but everyone knows the libertarian won't be the next President and won't do the third party thing that would doom his son's future chances of advancement in the Republican party. Further, Ron Paul's attacks against the President have been muted, perhaps not insignificantly because of the murky question of authorship (did he or didn't he?) of racist passages in his newsletter years ago.

Romney, the presumptive frontrunner, is also not entirely immune to the forces of electoral realities. As Jonathan Chait observes:

"One of the stickier dilemmas awaiting Mitt Romney’s campaign is the intersection between his personal wealth and his economic program. Romney is a very rich guy who enjoys a low tax rate, which is a political problem. Combine that with his tax plan, which locks in the Bush tax cuts and then cuts taxes even more, you have a ready-made political theme for the Obama campaign to deploy against him should he win the nomination.

At the same time, Romney has not wrapped up the nomination. And conservative elites are saying that his plan doesn’t go far enough in cutting taxes for himself and his economic peers. So Romney is pulled between two competing forces — Republican supply-siders who want him to cut taxes for the rich even more, and general election swing voters who not only don’t want to cut taxes for the rich at all but think they need to go higher."

Clearly the President is not alone in having to navigate against forces that would countervail his agenda. Such is the nature of compromise -- of being in the center -- a zone that all Presidents seek to occupy. Romney's hard line on, say, immigration, or on, say, opposing the Michigan auto bailout may cost him dearly in the general election -- should he eventually get there -- but were, perhaps, quite necessary to bring over enough of the base to win the primaries. Tack towards the base in the primary, move to the center in the general election and in ones Presidency -- American Politics 101, right?

Conclusion

These two forces -- the heckling on the right and social media backlash -- are influenced by the new normalcy of the speed of American Presidential politics. The 24/7 news cycle and hyperpartisanship on both sides of the aisle has created a political arena where candidates and the President must respond, at a moment's notice, effectively to charges made on blogs, on microblogs and in social media. The temptations of a sitting President to rearrange one's public policy at a moments notice to respond to charges in the social media space are incredibly dangerous.

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"There are two indisputable facts about politics. The first is that every modern president in the fourth year of his presidency resorts to the cheap political stunts, broken promises and truth-fudging it takes to win reelection in what has been and will be a 50-50 nation. The reason is simple: Politics is not clean-living; it’s survival. The second is that Barack Obama, for all his talk of moving beyond conventional political tricks, is doing just that, which wouldn’t be so glaring had it not been for his incessant call for a newer, cleaner and more transparent paradigm for American politics. So much for the high road: Victory is more important than purity. It’s debatable whether Obama is more crudely political than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan. But what’s transpired over the past several weeks isn’t debatable: He’s made a series of calculated, overtly political gestures that are far more transactional than transformational." (Politico)

"On Thursday night I went over to the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on East 68th Street between Park and Lex where Jodi Kantor, the author of the recently published biography of the President and the First Lady, 'The Obamas,' was being interviewed by Kati Marton. The evening was originally planned for a much smaller public room in Hunter College’s Roosevelt House on East 65th Street across from Restaurant Daniel but the demand for tickets was so great they moved to this auditorium. They filled the the place ... I haven’t read Jodi Kantor’s book yet. Someone will probably hit me for saying this, but there is a 'type' of New York Times reporter that separates them, image-wise, from other journalists ... Kati Marton wrote a book about First Ladies and That Job. She also has a lot of firsthand background experience in the worlds of journalism and Presidential politics, both professionally and through her husbands, the late Peter Jennings and the late Richard Holbrooke ... According to Kantor, the Obamas have a very quiet home life and social life which is centered around their family and two couples who are old friends of theirs from Chicago, and Valerie Jarrett. Ms. Jarrett is, if you did not know, an old friend of both the President and the First Lady. She is also an important Presidential advisor, and even looks after social details for them. There is no question to anyone dealing with Ms. Jarrett that she has tremendous access and therefore, presumably, influence on both the President and the First Lady. If anyone were to ask me who is the most interesting person in the White House, I’d guess Valerie Jarrett." (NYSocialDiary)

"What is the Syrian uprising all about? That’s an easy one. The Sunni Saudis are financing the Sunnis in Syria to get rid of the governing Alawite clique. The Syrian army is Alawite-led, the Alawites being a minority and an offshoot of Shia Islam. Get it? The Saudis fear Shiite Iran, which is helping Assad. The Sunni-led kleptocracies of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf are posturing and threatening war against Iran’s Shiites and Syria’s Shiite-Alawite regime. It is the game of nations, a fight between Sunnis and Shiites in reality, but I don’t expect many of the Super Bowl-winning team’s defensive linemen to understand it. Russia is not the kind of country that plays nice for the hell of it. Russia sees the falls of Saddam and Gaddafi as part of a plan to draw countries into the Western orbit. Syria is the seventh-biggest Russian arms purchaser. The deepwater port of Tartus welcomes Russian warships. Putin dreams of a Russian return to the Soviets’ global standing. The Russkis have made a bet, and I think it’s a fifty-fifty one. As the great Marcel Dalio playing the croupier in Casablanca used to exclaim, 'faites vos jeux'—place your bets." (Taki)

"Bill Powers put it this way: 'They may be French, but they're all-American, because what do you get what you cross red, white, and blue?' Purple, of course—and the French-inflected crowd that packed into Tribeca eatery Super Linda last night to celebrate the magazine's latest issue. Olivier Zahm and Carine Roitfeld, a guest editor for this edition, swung by the back booth to say hi to Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde; tucked in with the photographer duo was Johan Lindeberg—BLK DNM was celebrating its one-year anniversary, and earlier in the day Zahm had pretty much literally put the magazine on the wall at Lindeberg's Lafayette Street shop. Robert Longo, who'd been there signing prints, got up from his seat to chat with fellow contributor Terry Richardson, while André Saraiva, who'd had an art opening at Powers' Half Gallery earlier in the evening, held court in a dashing scarf. Lindsay Lohan wore an overcoat, having caught a chill while outside on a smoke break. It's a Purple tradition of sorts that there be more guests than seats available, which led to cozy lap-sitting: Annabelle Dexter-Jones on Saraiva, Mark Borthwick on Waris Ahluwalia. The restaurant's Matt Abramcyk circulated, trying to keep the salads and meat platters arriving in due course. 'I don't eat the head,' Lily Donaldson said of the unshelled prawns that were going around. 'Only French people eat the head—they like to suck out the brains.' She scanned the room for Zahm, hoping he might confirm, but couldn't spot him." (Style)

"Some friends came over for dinner on Saturday, one a writer finishing a novel, who didn’t ask any questions about my novel or my schedule. The last thing he wanted to talk about was writing and I don’t blame him. Another friend, visiting form the city, said he felt sorry for me, isolated out here in the winter—he knew Anne had been in Florida all last week. I tried my best to convince him there was no need to feel bad for me, that I was actually having a good time and glad to be writing full time. New York and all the rest of the world will be waiting when I get back. In the meantime solitude is welcome, and in fact, when you’re really writing there’s a powerful feeling that company of any kind is the enemy. You have to be careful not to make it personal, not to get mad at your wife when she buzzes on the intercom to ask if you can help her open a water bottle, because she’s semi-incapacitated with a cast on her right arm. (Actually, the cast is coming off Friday afternoon, finally.) You have to be careful not to get irritated at a friend who calls with all good intentions, to see how you’re faring. Haven’t been doing much reading this past week though I have read a hundred pages of a galley—a forthcoming novel by a friend who wants a blurb. The book is good, I think it will be well-received in some quarters and might sell very well, but it’s just not doing it for me. I lost at least one friend over this issue, when I was so fastidious that I let a few minor scruples convince me to withhold my endorsement—which was stupid and self-important. And subsequently I’ve lost my self-respect once or twice endorsing books by friends that I didn’t think were very good. Not sure what to do with this one." (Jay McInerney)

"Nighttime, in her tropical garden. They lay in the hammock, the curve of the woven canvas eased them toward each other, encouraging an inclination to nestle, their faces close together inspired a sense of familiarity, of tenderness, and then they were kissing.…For sure this time she’ll let me……I wonder if he gives head……I’m sure she can tell from my kiss that I am a sexual superhero……Why does his tongue feel like a rolled newspaper jamming down my throat? Jesus! I must not gag. And she pulled away. 'Your eyes are gorgeous. Do you know that?' he smiled, speaking excitedly. What garbage! 'Thank you!' 'I’m not bullshitting you,' he said. 'I promise you one thing, I will never lie to you.' 'Really!' she said, pushing off from him. 'I lie pretty much all the time.'  They had been here once before. " (Christina Oxenberg)

"When Karen and Richard LeFrak hosted a party at Doubles for Harry Benson and Hilary Geary Ross’ book “New York New York,” at least one guest ignored the tony club’s jacket-and-tie policy. Interior designer Peter Marino and his pal Juan Carlos Menendez turned heads among the upper crust crowd by arriving in full-on leather biker gear. Gobsmacked guests included Steven and Kimberly Rockefeller, Blaine Trump, Wilbur Ross, Mario Buatta, Gillian Miniter, Jamie Niven and John Loring. Jay McInerney wrote the intro to Benson and Geary Ross’ tome, featuring pics of notable New Yorkers, including Jackie Kennedy, Andy Warhol and Mikhail Baryshnikov." (PageSix)

Paul Krugman vs. The World

via BusinessWeek:

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"Washington Postcolumnist David Ignatius created a tempest last week when he reported U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's prediction that Israel will attack Iran and its nuclear complex 'n April, May or June.'Ignatius's column was as startling as it was exasperating. When the sitting U.S. defense secretary -- presumably privy to facts not generally available to the public -- makes such a prediction, observers have good reasons to pay attention. On the other hand, the international community has been openly dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue for nearly a decade, with similar crescendos of anticipation having occurred before, all to no effect. Why would this time be different?
Further, an Israeli air campaign against Iran would seem like an amazingly reckless act. And an unnecessary one, too, since international sanctions against Iran's banks and oil market are just now tightening dramatically.Yet from Israel's point of view, time really has run out. The sanctions have come too late. And when Israeli policymakers consider their advantages and all of the alternatives available, an air campaign, while both regrettable and risky, is not reckless." (ForeignPolicy)

   
"For some, Libya is a shining example of U.S. intervention, but still does not support the argument for the same kind of operation in Syria. Americans helped save the citizens of Benghazi last year, and since then 'we’ve moved from a despotic regime in Libya to a much more open society,' says Michael H. Posner, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, in a recent interview. But almost no one in Washington, aside from The New Republic’s Leon Wieseltier, supports a military intervention in Syria on the scale of the Libya operation.  In Syria, American officials agree, the cost is too high—militarily, politically, and economically—for the U.S. to make such an investment. Yet, as Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle East studies at University of Oklahoma, points out, the officials who claim that the U.S. is not involved sound disingenuous. The United States has imposed economic sanctions. 'Sanctions are a form of warfare,' he adds. 'Syrians will begin to starve soon.' Still, Landis, as well as U.S. military officials, believes that a U.S.-backed military operation is highly unlikely. 'Syrian forces go in with their ground forces and cordon off neighborhoods and arrest people and shoot them,' says an official who recently returned from Damascus but was not authorized to speak with a journalist. 'You can’t defeat an arrest campaign with F-16’s. You’d have to go in on the ground. Do we have the funding-slash-political will to do this?'" (TheDailyBeast)

"I am reminded of this scene while waiting for my own lunchtime meeting with (Dustin) Hoffman. The restaurant he has chosen is Culina at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, so, taking care not to prang the Bentley belonging to Hustler founder Larry Flynt, which is parked in front of the hotel in its usual spot, I leave my car with the parking attendant and head inside. At the age of 74, the two-time Oscar-winning movie legend is starring in Luck, his first television drama. Produced by director Michael Mann, it is set in the horseracing world and is the latest small-screen epic from HBO. I arrive a few minutes early and wait in a suite reserved by HBO, where Mann and David Milch, the writer of Luck and of the acclaimed western series Deadwood, are also doing interviews today. When Hoffman arrives, compact, tanned and smart in a dark suit and light blue shirt, silvery hair spiky and swept up, we head straight to the restaurant, past a vast and colourful floral display in the lobby. He moves slowly and deftly, charmingly fending off a fan keen to tell him about the time she saw him playing tennis ... 'I was in the golden age of Hollywood but we didn’t know it was golden then,” he says. “The big studios were making films that are only being done outside the studio system today. It used to be you would never do TV.' That stigma has gone, he says; these days the only creative risks being taken are in low-budget independent films and on well-financed pay TV networks such as HBO. 'They have money, so you’re not rushed to shoot 20 pages [of script] in a day, like you are with normal TV. HBO leave you alone and there’s no censorship. You do the work you want to do.'The waitress has returned with our drinks and several crudo plates. 'I expected a difference between TV and film,' Hoffman continues, after sipping his Bloody Mary. 'But there wasn’t one, because we were working with film directors and we were only shooting three or four pages of the script a day.'" (FT)

"For decades, the much-anticipated Viennese Opera Ball charity gala has delivered glamour, elegance, and tradition along with a carriage-load of fun! This year, the 57th Consecutive annual Ball doubled the pleasure: not one horse-drawn carriage but TWO drove into the Waldorf’s Grand Ballroom. Also: not one fabulous soprano but two -- Dueling Divas -- competing to star in Mozart's opera, 'The Impresario.' The February 3rd white-tie gala at the Waldorf=Astoria was also awash with Diplomats, Dignitaries and 20 Snow-White-gowned debutantes. The co-hosts for the evening included the red-hot dance czars from ABC-TV's hit show 'Dancing With The Stars': brothers Maksim and Val Chmerkovskiy and their co-star from the dance show phenomenon, Tony Dovolani. For a great party you start with the basics: Peter Duchin and his Orchestra; Metropolitan Opera Artists like Cyndia Sieden and Amy Shoremount-Obra; a Color Guard from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; a touch of the titles in the persons of Baroness Gabriela von Langendorff and Sheik Abdul Rahman Thuraya; the wines from the Royal Esterházy Estate Winery; and a great charity – for the 2nd year in a row -- Lauren Bush Lauren’s FEED Foundation, which is committed to helping ensure that people everywhere do not go hungry and have access to healthy nutritious food by working and supporting NGO partners around the world and in America. Waltzing next to Lauren Bush Lauren and her husband David Lauren were her Mother, Sharon Bush with Dr. Jeffrey Moses, who took several turns on the floor -- as did Ambassador Carl Spielvogel with wife and force-of-nature, Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel." (NYSocialDiary)

"Although Lebanon is widely considered to be one of the more sexually permissive countries in the Middle East, large portions of the country remain culturally conservative. According to Jad, most of his customers are wealthy, middle-aged Lebanese men, usually Muslim, who are looking to bypass the restrictions of Lebanese society.'Lebanese girls don't like to go out and have fun because they're afraid people will say they're whores," he says. 'Lebanese men like Russian girls because they like to have fun. If a guy wants to kiss a Lebanese girl, she'll probably start talking marriage and then he'll have to deal with her family.' When I ask whether it would be possible to speak with one of the women, Jad is initially reluctant, but he seems to relax as the interview continues. At one point, he is interrupted by his cell phone and, after a brief conversation in Russian, indicates that one of the women will be coming downstairs to answer a few questions, though he insists on being present. Shortly after, a tall woman with white-blond hair enters the lobby dressed in pajamas. She rubs her eyes sleepily and sits down next to him. Her name is Lina, and she's from Ukraine. Although she seems wary at first, it's soon clear that she has quite a different perspective on the industry. Surprisingly, Jad lets her talk. 'Coming here was the biggest mistake of my life,' she says immediately. 'In my country, I have my home, my family. But it's hard to make money. I worked with my brother in his business, but because of the economy, the business failed.' Lina lights a cigarette and sighs. 'I've worked many jobs in my life, but I hate the system in Lebanon,' she says. 'I thought I was coming here to work in a disco, but when I came here and found out everything, I was shocked. Girls had told me what it would be like, but they only told me half the truth. I imagined that I would only have to go with people I liked.… I'm just waiting for my contract to finish so I can go home.'  Her eyes fill with tears and she looks away. 'I hate when someone chooses me,' she says quietly. 'I feel like I'm a product in a market and anyone can just point at me and say, I want that.'
Jad interrupts her. 'You're not happy you came to Lebanon?'  She looks him in the eye and smiles sadly." (ForeignPolicy)

"Her energy level is through the roof and her style rivals that of many tight-lipped editors: We’re talking about Brisbane/Sydney native, Angela Gilltrap. Having worked as an actor, author and editor, this Aussie beauty has now eased into the role of Omni Media Director for fashionweekdaily.com and Daily Front Row (glossy media staples during fashion week). She not only tweets like a fiend, but is one of the faces behind the publications’ surreptitious editorial escapes: the not-quite-a-gifting-suite Style Sessions. We cornered her for further explanation:
What do you do for the Daily Front Row? How does fashion week affect your job? I am the Digital Strategist at The Daily Front Row. I’m here to support the edit staff so that all of our DFR fans get the most up-to-date insider information from inside the tents and beyond.For most fashion folks, this eight-day week is a mammoth undertaking requiring super hero-like strength, endurance and patience. Not to mention oodles of lip gloss and a handbag full of Cynthia Rowley band-aids. What’s all this commotion I hear about some clandestine luxury suite for celebs and editors? Are there other such spaces around town? VIP suites are the new black. Editors everywhere are scheduling these mini-breaks into their packed calendar and for good reason! The fashion world works hard and deserves to play hard." (Observer)

"Last night, New York's downtown scene was divided by two musical performances: the Wu-Tang Clan, at the Made Fashion Week and Lexus launch party at Milk Studios, and the Kills, who also began playing at midnight a few blocks away at a party held by DeLeón Tequila at the Standard's Boom Boom Room. By 10:30 p.m., there was already a line around the block for Made's Valentine's-themed party, which boasted a Vegas-style wedding chapel where guests could take pictures with an Elvis impersonator before making their vows on the dance floor. Over at the Standard, loud cheers came from the likes of Erin Wasson and Alexander Skarsgard when Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince stepped onto the stage." (Style)

"Last night, a few of Richard Chai's friends and family gathered to celebrate his Love collection (which was shown earlier yesterday) at the intimate Red Egg bar in Chinatown. Make-up artist Pat McGrath popped in for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it hello (if anybody's got a busy schedule this week, it's that lady), while Sky Ferreira spent a chunk of the evening slumped away in the corner with a really cute boy -- go Sky! ... As we said goodbye to Mr. Chai (who just recently inked a deal as creative director of Filson, which he told us he's very excited about), we were stoked to see the space's door open to the eccentric mega-blogger Bryanboy, who tweeted earlier in the evening that he was on a search for the secret to soft hands and feet in the midst of shitty weather--we suggested lotion. 'If I put lotion on, everything gets greasy, and that just turns my phone into something else! It's disgusting,' Bryan lamented." (Papermag)