bambina writes

What Would Paul Newman Do?

 

I must have always had a thing for older men.  

When I was 11, maybe up to the time I was 13, I used to make lists of my celebrity crushes.  Not for me the likes of Leif Garrett, David and Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson - the late 70s equivalent of Zac Efron, the Jonas Brothers and Chace Crawford.  Too young, too scrubbed, too bubble gum.  Instead my lists featured - or so I believed - men of humor and character, men of experience, men of assured swagger.  Men like Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, James Garner, Alain Delon, James Caan, even Beau Bridges...

And then there was Paul Newman and his impossibly beautiful blue eyes, in a class of his own.  

The Scent of Exclusivity

Funny how life - and genetics - work.  In 1953, a chemist and inventor by the name of Graham Wulff concocted a formula that became one of the most successful beauty elixirs of all time. That elixir was Oil of Olay, and it promised youth through effective moisturizing and mass-market distribution.

Fast forward to some fifty years later and Wulff's own granddaughter, Tammy Frazer, continues the family tradition of invention, concocting her own elixirs made from the purest organic ingredients, each one promising to seduce, to captivate, to tantalize, to immortalize, all through the power of scent. And perhaps even more powerful than that is the appeal of the ultimate luxury - exclusivity.

Mothers and Daughters

My older daughter went off to camp a kid and came back a teenager. I like to think I'm pretty chilled as a mother and not at all like the uptight, high-anxiety parents described in a recent New York Times story:

"Their parents, meanwhile, were bombarding the camp with calls: one wanted help arranging private guitar lessons for her daughter, another did not like the sound of her child’s voice during a recent conversation, and a third needed to know — preferably today — which of her daughter’s four varieties of vitamins had run out. All before lunch."

Randy Pausch Lives

Dr Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor of the "Last Lecture" fame, passed away on July 25,, 2008, after a brave battle against pancreatic cancer.  He was 47.

Live with wonder, he exhorted the audience at his lecture, delivered in September 2007.  He told friends and colleagues that he would probably be delivering his lecture to a crowd of no more than 50.  Instead, the 400-seat auditorium was packed to capacity.  In fact, it was standing room only.

Continue reading "Randy Pausch Lives" »

It's always nice to open a magazine and see three of your stories published in one issue.  The latest WWD Fast, a biannual publication of WWD which focuses on jeans, sportswear and youth culture, carries three pieces by me - one on Eairth, the organic line by Filipino designer Melissa Dizon, one on Metropolitain Cosmetics, just about the best beauty and fragrance shop in Johannesburg, and one on my favorite African city, Cape Town.

Read them after the break.

The terno goes haute couture.  Was Lola Karl inspired by Imelda Marcos?

Take a look at this from the Chanel Fall-Winter 2008 Couture show in Paris yesterday:

 

Continue reading "The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld" »

To infinity and beyond...

From today's Memo Pad in WWD, my short snippet on Martha Stewart's (and Summit Media's) ever-expanding empire:

MARTHA STEWART IN MANILA: 

Martha Stewart may have been denied a visa to the U.K. because of her criminal record, but she's very much welcome in the Philippines. The first overseas edition of Martha Stewart Weddings will hit newsstands in the Philippines starting in September in a venture with Summit Media. 

Continue reading "Martha in Manila" »

Note: I wrote this extremely personal essay almost a year ago after a short visit home, more as a release than anything else.  It seems appropriate to post it now, on the occasion of Father's Day.  

SHORT-TERM MEMORY, LONG-TERM LOVE

“Dad’s starting to forget things,” my mother told me when she came to visit with my sister last year.  “He’ll ask me something, and then ten minutes later, he’ll ask exactly the same question again.  It can get really repetitive.”

Senility was not something I ever thought would afflict my dad.  At least not at 75.  In fact, the only other close family member who suffered from dementia was my maternal grandmother.  In her dotage she would forget our names but recall with impressive clarity episodes from her youth, in the days before marriage and World War II.  Bedridden, she would keep her money and jewelry hidden under her mattress and then accuse the nurse of stealing from her.   She never forgot, however, that she was a devout Catholic, and even erected a makeshift altar on top of the television set in her bedroom in my parents’ house.  Vying for altar space with the Virgin Mary, the Infant Jesus and a vial of holy water from Lourdes was a plastic statue of Mickey Mouse.

The acclaimed food writer and Francophile Dorie Greenspan writes about the top ten must-have, must-try, must-taste foods of Paris in her blog.  

"Earlier this year, I was asked to come up with a list of the 10 iconic foods of Paris, the tastes a visitor, perhaps a first-timer, shouldn't miss in the city, and it turned out to be a tougher assignment than I'd imagined.  Being a Paris part-timer for over a decade, I've written dozens of lists, but when I looked at the current ones, there wasn't much on them I could use.  The lists I make include my favorite bistros and wine bars, food shops, markets and, of course, patisseries, as well as places I want to try, but this list was meant to be a kind of meta-list, a categorization of culinary musts that would save a visitor from that horrible moment when he's returned home and is recounting what a great vacation he's had, only to have someone say, "I can't believe you were in Paris and didn't have a macaron!"

Yves Saint Laurent, indisputably one of the greatest fashion designers in history, died on Sunday at his home in Paris.  He was 71.

He was born with a nervous breakdown, according to his closest friend and business partner, Pierre Bergé. He was also born with talent and creativity that were immense and staggering.

His influence on fashion is chronicled in an article in WWD today, complete with tributes from Oscar dela Renta, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vera Wang.  Nothing as yet from Tom Ford though, who took over as designer for YSL Rive Gauche when Saint Laurent and Bergé sold their company to the Gucci Group in 1999.  Saint Laurent continued to design the couture collections until 2002, when he took his final, tearful bow and retired from the world of fashion.

Triple Treat

It's always nice to open a magazine and see three of your stories published in one issue.  The latest WWD Fast, a biannual publication of WWD which focuses on jeans, sportswear and youth culture, carries three pieces by me - one on Eairth, the organic line by Filipino designer Melissa Dizon, one on Metropolitain Cosmetics, just about the best beauty and fragrance shop in Johannesburg, and one on my favorite African city, Cape Town.

Read them after the break.

The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld

The terno goes haute couture.  Was Lola Karl inspired by Imelda Marcos?

Take a look at this from the Chanel Fall-Winter 2008 Couture show in Paris yesterday:

 

Continue reading "The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld" »

To infinity and beyond...

From today's Memo Pad in WWD, my short snippet on Martha Stewart's (and Summit Media's) ever-expanding empire:

MARTHA STEWART IN MANILA: 

Martha Stewart may have been denied a visa to the U.K. because of her criminal record, but she's very much welcome in the Philippines. The first overseas edition of Martha Stewart Weddings will hit newsstands in the Philippines starting in September in a venture with Summit Media. 

Continue reading "Martha in Manila" »

Note: I wrote this extremely personal essay almost a year ago after a short visit home, more as a release than anything else.  It seems appropriate to post it now, on the occasion of Father's Day.  

SHORT-TERM MEMORY, LONG-TERM LOVE

“Dad’s starting to forget things,” my mother told me when she came to visit with my sister last year.  “He’ll ask me something, and then ten minutes later, he’ll ask exactly the same question again.  It can get really repetitive.”

Senility was not something I ever thought would afflict my dad.  At least not at 75.  In fact, the only other close family member who suffered from dementia was my maternal grandmother.  In her dotage she would forget our names but recall with impressive clarity episodes from her youth, in the days before marriage and World War II.  Bedridden, she would keep her money and jewelry hidden under her mattress and then accuse the nurse of stealing from her.   She never forgot, however, that she was a devout Catholic, and even erected a makeshift altar on top of the television set in her bedroom in my parents’ house.  Vying for altar space with the Virgin Mary, the Infant Jesus and a vial of holy water from Lourdes was a plastic statue of Mickey Mouse.

The acclaimed food writer and Francophile Dorie Greenspan writes about the top ten must-have, must-try, must-taste foods of Paris in her blog.  

"Earlier this year, I was asked to come up with a list of the 10 iconic foods of Paris, the tastes a visitor, perhaps a first-timer, shouldn't miss in the city, and it turned out to be a tougher assignment than I'd imagined.  Being a Paris part-timer for over a decade, I've written dozens of lists, but when I looked at the current ones, there wasn't much on them I could use.  The lists I make include my favorite bistros and wine bars, food shops, markets and, of course, patisseries, as well as places I want to try, but this list was meant to be a kind of meta-list, a categorization of culinary musts that would save a visitor from that horrible moment when he's returned home and is recounting what a great vacation he's had, only to have someone say, "I can't believe you were in Paris and didn't have a macaron!"

Yves Saint Laurent, indisputably one of the greatest fashion designers in history, died on Sunday at his home in Paris.  He was 71.

He was born with a nervous breakdown, according to his closest friend and business partner, Pierre Bergé. He was also born with talent and creativity that were immense and staggering.

His influence on fashion is chronicled in an article in WWD today, complete with tributes from Oscar dela Renta, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vera Wang.  Nothing as yet from Tom Ford though, who took over as designer for YSL Rive Gauche when Saint Laurent and Bergé sold their company to the Gucci Group in 1999.  Saint Laurent continued to design the couture collections until 2002, when he took his final, tearful bow and retired from the world of fashion.

Martha in Manila

To infinity and beyond...

From today's Memo Pad in WWD, my short snippet on Martha Stewart's (and Summit Media's) ever-expanding empire:

MARTHA STEWART IN MANILA: 

Martha Stewart may have been denied a visa to the U.K. because of her criminal record, but she's very much welcome in the Philippines. The first overseas edition of Martha Stewart Weddings will hit newsstands in the Philippines starting in September in a venture with Summit Media. 

Continue reading "Martha in Manila" »

Note: I wrote this extremely personal essay almost a year ago after a short visit home, more as a release than anything else.  It seems appropriate to post it now, on the occasion of Father's Day.  

SHORT-TERM MEMORY, LONG-TERM LOVE

“Dad’s starting to forget things,” my mother told me when she came to visit with my sister last year.  “He’ll ask me something, and then ten minutes later, he’ll ask exactly the same question again.  It can get really repetitive.”

Senility was not something I ever thought would afflict my dad.  At least not at 75.  In fact, the only other close family member who suffered from dementia was my maternal grandmother.  In her dotage she would forget our names but recall with impressive clarity episodes from her youth, in the days before marriage and World War II.  Bedridden, she would keep her money and jewelry hidden under her mattress and then accuse the nurse of stealing from her.   She never forgot, however, that she was a devout Catholic, and even erected a makeshift altar on top of the television set in her bedroom in my parents’ house.  Vying for altar space with the Virgin Mary, the Infant Jesus and a vial of holy water from Lourdes was a plastic statue of Mickey Mouse.

The acclaimed food writer and Francophile Dorie Greenspan writes about the top ten must-have, must-try, must-taste foods of Paris in her blog.  

"Earlier this year, I was asked to come up with a list of the 10 iconic foods of Paris, the tastes a visitor, perhaps a first-timer, shouldn't miss in the city, and it turned out to be a tougher assignment than I'd imagined.  Being a Paris part-timer for over a decade, I've written dozens of lists, but when I looked at the current ones, there wasn't much on them I could use.  The lists I make include my favorite bistros and wine bars, food shops, markets and, of course, patisseries, as well as places I want to try, but this list was meant to be a kind of meta-list, a categorization of culinary musts that would save a visitor from that horrible moment when he's returned home and is recounting what a great vacation he's had, only to have someone say, "I can't believe you were in Paris and didn't have a macaron!"

Yves Saint Laurent, indisputably one of the greatest fashion designers in history, died on Sunday at his home in Paris.  He was 71.

He was born with a nervous breakdown, according to his closest friend and business partner, Pierre Bergé. He was also born with talent and creativity that were immense and staggering.

His influence on fashion is chronicled in an article in WWD today, complete with tributes from Oscar dela Renta, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vera Wang.  Nothing as yet from Tom Ford though, who took over as designer for YSL Rive Gauche when Saint Laurent and Bergé sold their company to the Gucci Group in 1999.  Saint Laurent continued to design the couture collections until 2002, when he took his final, tearful bow and retired from the world of fashion.

My Guy

Note: I wrote this extremely personal essay almost a year ago after a short visit home, more as a release than anything else.  It seems appropriate to post it now, on the occasion of Father's Day.  

SHORT-TERM MEMORY, LONG-TERM LOVE

“Dad’s starting to forget things,” my mother told me when she came to visit with my sister last year.  “He’ll ask me something, and then ten minutes later, he’ll ask exactly the same question again.  It can get really repetitive.”

Senility was not something I ever thought would afflict my dad.  At least not at 75.  In fact, the only other close family member who suffered from dementia was my maternal grandmother.  In her dotage she would forget our names but recall with impressive clarity episodes from her youth, in the days before marriage and World War II.  Bedridden, she would keep her money and jewelry hidden under her mattress and then accuse the nurse of stealing from her.   She never forgot, however, that she was a devout Catholic, and even erected a makeshift altar on top of the television set in her bedroom in my parents’ house.  Vying for altar space with the Virgin Mary, the Infant Jesus and a vial of holy water from Lourdes was a plastic statue of Mickey Mouse.

We'll Always Have Paris

The acclaimed food writer and Francophile Dorie Greenspan writes about the top ten must-have, must-try, must-taste foods of Paris in her blog.  

"Earlier this year, I was asked to come up with a list of the 10 iconic foods of Paris, the tastes a visitor, perhaps a first-timer, shouldn't miss in the city, and it turned out to be a tougher assignment than I'd imagined.  Being a Paris part-timer for over a decade, I've written dozens of lists, but when I looked at the current ones, there wasn't much on them I could use.  The lists I make include my favorite bistros and wine bars, food shops, markets and, of course, patisseries, as well as places I want to try, but this list was meant to be a kind of meta-list, a categorization of culinary musts that would save a visitor from that horrible moment when he's returned home and is recounting what a great vacation he's had, only to have someone say, "I can't believe you were in Paris and didn't have a macaron!"

Je Ne Regrette Rien

Yves Saint Laurent, indisputably one of the greatest fashion designers in history, died on Sunday at his home in Paris.  He was 71.

He was born with a nervous breakdown, according to his closest friend and business partner, Pierre Bergé. He was also born with talent and creativity that were immense and staggering.

His influence on fashion is chronicled in an article in WWD today, complete with tributes from Oscar dela Renta, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vera Wang.  Nothing as yet from Tom Ford though, who took over as designer for YSL Rive Gauche when Saint Laurent and Bergé sold their company to the Gucci Group in 1999.  Saint Laurent continued to design the couture collections until 2002, when he took his final, tearful bow and retired from the world of fashion.