Musings on...Raves and Faves
My must haves, can’t live withouts, delightful discoveries and add-to-carts
Add to Cart: The String Queens
I find it difficult to shop for my father. What do you get the man who has everything and can buy anything he wants anyway? Because of him I have developed a gift-giving playbook. If one can’t cross something off a bucket list or fulfill a need, I endeavor to find something that can elevate the receiver’s life and daily living experience. Something that can create ambience or a vibe. I found the answer for Father’s Day this year with The String Queens. This trio of beautiful and wonderfully talented musicians is an excellent addition to any music library.
These classically trained teachers bring all the drama and love of atmosphere to their melange of melody. The videos on their Youtube channel are beautifully eclectic, set on world stages, gardens, and monastically spare cathedrals. Their faces, clothes and hair are supporting characters in this lovely wall of sound. I can't look away and I can’t stop listening. I don’t know which of their videos I love more- “The Patriotic Medley” played on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or "Golden” set in a verdant hedge, everyone adorned in pearls, tulle and Elizabethan era finery.
If you have someone in your life like my dad that is happy with anything you offer, but you want to give them something special, I highly recommend streaming or gifting their physical album. It is a very sophisticated and unexpected choice. You will come off as very fancy and knowledgeable and isn't that what we want our gifts to witness of us? So, it’s just me? Quelle Surprise!
Follow: Liz Lange on Instagram
Does anyone remember Liz Lange the designer? She changed the way maternity was worn in the late nineties-early aughts. If you see pregnant women street styling it with crop tops and low-slung pants (we see you Rihanna), speak to Liz. She made the belly beautiful and took women out of smocks and pie crust collars. Her clothes were sleek, bump hugging, right for work, play and night life (a momma must eat, doesn’t she?). She originally was the secret weapon of celebrities until she launched a popular and lucrative collaboration with Target. I ran to the bullseye boutique when I was pregnant and loved it all. I actually still have a few turtlenecks; the softness and elasticity of the material was groundbreaking and best of all she made you feel that although your body, and essentially your life was changing, your personal style statement could remain intact.
I stopped having children, (two and through was my mantra) so my relationship with Liz fell away, but I was happy to run across her Instagram account. I am not sure how the algorithm put us together, but her page is now one of my favorites. Liz has a soft spot for history and nostalgia (she actually purchased and renovated the Grey Gardens mansion), so her account is an endless ode to pop culture, movies, fashions, and styles gone by. It is a spot of joy to see an old Doris Day movie clip or that hazy, sun-dappled look from a seventies commercial for Breck shampoo. Her recent post about Donna Summer just made me happy. I saw Thank God it’s Friday at a drive-in with my parents when I was about 5. I think she was only in the last five minutes, because I fell asleep (it was well past my bedtime), woke up to her voice, watched her performance and conked out again. I was obsessed with her face, her hair and I thought she was the most interesting woman in the world when I read that she named her daughter Brooklyn. That was such a novel and outrageous concept at the time. Of course, I gave birth to a daughter named Paris. Stars, they’re just like us! If you love time traveling through the style of different eras and finding little bread crumbs into your own history, Liz Lange is a great tour guide.
Read: Anna by Amy Odell
I love fashion, history, art and museums so the Met Gala is an event in my home, for only me, at least in my own bedroom. I follow the red carpet, the themes and even collect the special edition magazine published by Vogue, so yeah, I’m a fan. Since the first Monday of May is upon us, I thought I would recommend the definitive book about the woman that has made the event and the cause of fashion history and preservation a global event. Come on, there was even a caper movie set during the Met Gala, which I have watched ad nauseam. It’s kind of a big deal.
Author Amy Odell is an accomplished fashion journalist, and I reviewed her first book Tales from the Back Row back when I had an active book blog. Her publicist was nice enough to mail me an advance copy, so that just tells you how long I’ve been a fan. When I learned that Amy was finally publishing a book about Anna Wintour, I thought she had been following me on social media, because I had often posited why the lack of an official autobiography about one of the most influential women in media.
Well, it is here, and it is exceptional. Well-researched and obnoxiously footnoted, Amy brought all of her journalistic skills and integrity to the project. It is an amazing read about a focused and methodical woman that used an almost surgical precision to expanding the business of what many consider the frivolity of fashion magazines. I did a post beginning of 2022 saying how excited I was about the book’s pending release, and it ended the year as one of my favorite reads.
Watch: Marie Antoinette on PBS
I think it can be said that I’m a very visual person. I like a little, or maybe alot of, eye candy. If you love history (or maybe if you don’t), you should check out Marie Antoinette on PBS. Of course, Antoinette’s story is ripe for content and controversy, so I don’t really think it’s possible to ever run out of material. This is a fantastical retelling of her betrothal to the young, hapless future king when she herself was just a child. The story is not a rushed, it is a very slow burn of the difficulty of building the required relationship with her husband and eventually producing the required heir. There is also a much more feminist slant than earlier editions, as she is very much the hero of her own life, not cow towing to the court that wants to destroy her. She finds her voice and utilizes the strength of her position and her personal style to demand her place in a very toxic world. In good measure, PBS does what it does best. The cinematography and settings of grand palaces and perfectly manicured French gardens are the perfect backdrops of beautiful clothing, rich in saturated colors and sumptuous fabrics. I find it just visually intoxicating. We all know the story does not end well, but they live and look divine on the way to their tragic end.
I hope you enjoy one or all of my obsessions. Let me know…and feel free to share your current favorite things