Leandra Medine's Blog, page 680

Adam Lippes’ Determined Return

The way one chooses to present him or herself says a lot about the person. There are those who forgo their last names, those who skip their given names entirely and then there are those who celebrate themselves from the first initial to the last, the beginning to the end — highlighting where they’ve been, where they are and perhaps, too, where they intend to go with a sense of pride that when agitated will either kill you or set you free.

Designer Adam Lippes has tangoed with two forms of his own appellation presentation. In 2004, he launched his comtemporary ready-to-wear label, Adam. In 2010, he sold it only to step down a year later and ultimately return to fashion in 2013 baring a surname. This was possibly to prove a sense of evolution or maybe to underscore the poignancy and gravitas with which the new brand was to be received.

Seven seasons past the inception of his launch with Fall 2013, the design veteran is proud. His vision is being executed with the acute accuracy he learned to expect while at the helm of Oscar de la Renta and as far as he can tell, his clothes are what they need to be: “The core pieces in your wardrobe that you keep coming back to.”

Great clothes have a way of making you feel like you’re being hugged by their designer and that’s precisely what Adam Lippes, with his poplin tunics and solid cardigans decorated by lace net backsides and sleek trousers — leather or otherwise — does. He hugs you. And not unwittingly.

“A lot of designers think they need to be insular, there’s this weirdness in behavior. It used to be that they had this openness and desire to learn — they wanted to be with their customers, but a lot of designers today have this celebrity idea, that they’re celebrities and should be hidden or closed.”

Pre-Fall 2015 accentuates a point about his woman that Lippes reiterates several times: his clothes are “what she’s wearing underneath the big, loud fashion coat.” The designer seems to be paving way among a new legion of clothes-makers who aren’t looking to “disrupt” the fashion industry with their tricks and gags. They are, in an Alber Elbaz-ian fashion, manufacturing a lifestyle that whispers its strengths. A lifestyle that isn’t even quite about fashion.

In recalling his relationship with Oscar de la Renta, he says, “It wasn’t about fashion, fashion was something Oscar did. It was about art, and culture — cultures, and femininity and entertaining.”

Apropos it is, then, that his last collection should be heavily inspired by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, whose work he described to Style.com as “traditional but modern and simple, like what we’re trying to do here.”

If the new guard designers are about unilateral luxury, Lippes is a champion at the forefront. “Our clothes tend to be simple, but they’re not basic,” he says. There are few colors save for two pairs of marsala bottoms present in Pre-Fall, but the unflinching quality and texture present (there is one trench coat that comes lined in satin, several shearling pieces and buttons large enough to catch your eye) speak to the anima of his shopping ethos: “It’s not about buying it because people know what it is, it’s buying it for yourself. To feel good.”

As of right now, Adam Lippes is stocked at 75 locations. This is a vast difference from the 400 that carried his contemporary label, which he notes as having been much more about what the clothes looked like rather than how they were made. But he feels comfortable in that. Confident, even, because as he said time and again, “I’m so proud of the clothes.” And pride, incidentally, can mean everything.

Images courtesy of Haan Projects

What Your Bag Says About You

Nobody knows us better than our bags. They are what we make of them and furthermore, what we put in them. This is why countless types of bags exist — because there are countless types of bag ladies. A friend of mine, for example, has been known to carry around a single sweaty sock and portions of last night’s dinner in her purse. How her medium-sized satchel manages to house that shit-show is a mystery to me, but to her, it’s a clear, two-way conversation.

Another friend is rarely seen carrying anything at all, while yet another tends towards backpacks (we’re a diverse group), making her the ideal candidate to hold everyone else’s phones. I’ve always quietly admired the woman who could top off an outfit with a chic clutch, but where does she keep her emergency deodorant? She doesn’t. Her natural scent is one of sandalwood and plumeria.

If clothes maketh the man, than the bag maketh the lady. Now watch me make it rain with these vast generalizations of what yours makes you:

The Clutch:

This girl is put together, the right dose of  fashionably late and always the one to have the last word in a conversation over farmed fish. She is poised, responsible, and smart enough to know the difference between butter and margarine. She also knows that the only thing a woman needs to bring to dinner is a form of identification, a credit card, Advil, and her keys. She doesn’t need Tide to Go because she’s probably dressed in black.

Verdict: She’s Batman  

The Trendy Tote:

The trendy tote-bearer wants you and your grandmother’s mother to know that she purchases all of her books at the Strand. Her idea of a perfect date night is Scrabble and red wine. Ira Glass is her dream man, and of course, she believes that vinyl is the only way to listen to music. 

Verdict: She leads the Bushwick Community Board

The Incognito Bag:

She’s convinced that she was the inspiration for the Olympia Le-Tan clutch and is one of the last people on earth to have been seen carrying a money clip. Tony Soprano (RIP) was the other. The Incognito Bag girl has used everything from an empty gum pack to a banana peel for carrying quarters.

Verdict: You see a cereal aisle, she sees wall-to-wall accessories.

The Overnight Bag Lady: 

This is the friend who hobbles into the restaurant thirty minutes late and proceeds to ask the waiter if she can have an extra chair for her bag. Also, Can he pleaaaaase plug her phone into the nearest outlet? She flew over — probably on a razor scooter — from a 6:30 PM gym class, as evidenced by the overwhelming stench emanating from her bag. She’s also “crashing at your place again,” but she promises to water the plants this time.

Verdict: She’s homeless. You love her for it.

The Fanny Pack: 

She’s either an American Apparel employee, at a rave, or a tourist in the big city. There are no other options.

Verdict: She’s you at ages 19, 20, 21 and 85 respectively.

The Backpack: 

The Backpack girl is trendy, and most probably has a creative job that requires her to bring her own laptop to work. She condemns the messenger bag for its contribution to Scoliosis but favors the one-strap backpack look. What gives?  

Verdict: She used a purse instead of a backpack throughout high school and college and is making up now for lost time

The Shapeless Satchel: 

Between yoga classes during her lunch break, emergency protein bars and a frayed copy of Anna Karenina, the bohemian yet fashion-forward satchel is this woman’s best friend. Her bag may resemble a black hole to the untrained eye, but to fellow shapeless satchel bearers it’s the carrier of all that is good and necessary. She frequents brunch on Sundays but she promises that she’s in it for the food.

Verdict: She’s not in it for the food.

The Mod-ish Briefcase: 

Contrary to popular belief, the woman toting the mod-ish briefcase is not a lawyer, for they carry clutches (see above description). This girl has a penchant for vintage finds and boasts a costumer plaque hung on a wall within the Warby Parker headquarters. Once a year — usually during the onset of fall — she inspires you to get a pixie cut. And then you remember that you don’t have her quirky flare, doe-eyes, or button nose.

 Verdict: She is Carey Mulligan.

The It Bag: 

This girl believes — and rightfully so — that a bag and good shoes are all one needs to tie an outfit together. All of her advice ends with a Sex and the City quote, and she doesn’t mind taking out a home mortgage in the name of fashion.

The verdict: She’s one of us.

The Hands Free: 

The “bra-as-bag” wearer is as savvy as Dora the Explorer with a map and a backpack. She knows that cleavage is best put to use while holding a piece of Orbit gum in its midst. She never loses her clutch while out because she doesn’t carry one. She is bound to get far in life, as is anyone with enough confidence to wedge her debit card where the sun don’t shine.

“Where is all of your shit?” you ask her. “It’s in here!” [She points to her brain/chest.] Conversely, the hands-free girl is constantly losing her phone due to her lack of aforementioned bag and clothing with structured pockets. She likes the Beach Boys, maintains with fierce conviction that Ringo Starr was the best Beatle, and hosts the annual anti-Valentines Day party which coincidentally always seems to take place at your place.

Verdict: Either she’ll make the best Maid of Honor — or —  she will one day lead the nationwide search for Waldo.

Okay, now, tell me what I’ve missed, where you stand, and also, did anyone see my phone?

The Stalk Market is About to Plummet

Today, Instagram announced that even though it has been deactivating “fake and spammy accounts” for several months, it plans to definitively delete these Insta-bots in the upcoming days. As such, users are being warned of potential plummets in their following counts. Seeing as the currency of our generation has indubitably become the follower, we can already envisage the mayhem in response to the crash:

One young woman, on a corner of the earth not far from Los Angeles, with a hat perched carefully atop only the left side of her head, who is prone to capturing bounties of beautifully arranged jacarandas and full cups of coffee filtered in Brannan, will watch as her photo of a croissant elegantly positioned above a group of white coffee table books revealing titles in black block letters such as “The Life of Dior” and “Chanel: A Love Story” inexplicably induces a massive decrease in her following count. She will have missed the notification. Panic will set in. Her public worth is being questioned. Her personal stalk is down 15%. She might even actually drink the glass of white wine, reflecting a garden full of greenery, that she shot hours earlier.

Neighboring photo filterers will catch wind of her loss and begin pulling their followers from the app to place under their mattresses. “Better safe where I can see them,” one cat owner might suggest.

Vine video stars who have risen to fame by way of Instagram may attempt to employ technology that will transfer their followings from the Stalk Market to rest in more secure funds within elsewhere apps.

Of course, though, no one will be as affected by the decline as the original gangster Ponzi schemers: those who endeavored to cheat the system by purchasing followers — instead of allowing them to grow organically — out of their cousins’ basement garages in Pelham Bay Park. When their at-once impressive 50ks depreciate to astonishing single digit numbers, we will know that even within the realm of exuberant possibility, there are no short cuts. That’s just life.

Now, we’re not pointing fingers in the direction of judgement or blame, but if you happen to have an Instagram account that you set up in, say, Switzerland (for the sake of posting travel photos and selfies deemed otherwise too self-important for your regular account, of course!), we suggest you ensure that the Insta-alias cannot be traced back to you.

Though if it could, it’s worth asking: would you be concerned about your following? Or are you a pious soul who is glad that finally, the truth about your friend’s suspicious followers-to-likes ratios makes sense?

In plain English: you freaking out, Wolf of Instagram, or you good?

In Season: Squash

Not that anyone needs an excuse to stay indoors once the novelty of skating wears off and the snow begins, but Seattle-based Brittany Wright of Wright Kitchen has given us a whole new reason to do just that. (She’s also provided a very good argument for properly utilizing the stovetop you’ve been using as a bookshelf.)

If last month it was all about the cranberry cocktail, December is about foods that warm from the inside out. Here, she teaches us how to make soup with the hottest gourd in town: squash.

Let’s start with a round of “did you know?” Did you know that…

Butternut squash boasts the highest levels of vitamin A in the gourd family? It packs a whopping 350% of what’s recommended daily into its single being.

The seeds of a butternut squash are a good source of dietary fiber and monounsaturated fatty acids that benefit heart health. They’re also rich in protein.

Squash comes in handy if you’re suddenly inspired to get the abs of David Beckham: 1 cup is around 80 calories and contains no saturated fats. It also provides a rich source of dietary fiber and phytonutrients (great for managing weight and controlling  cholesterol).

Market tip:

Winter squash decay easily, so be careful to look them over before choosing. Pick ones that feel heavy for their size, are firm and have a dull (not glossy) hard rind. If the rind is soft, the squash could be watery and therefore less flavorful.

Kitchen tip: depending on the variety of squash, it can be kept anywhere from 1 week to 6 months, much better than an avocado (but keep it away from direct light and extreme temperatures). To preserve a winter squash, cut it into pieces and store in the freezer so you can save for future recipes.

Now let’s cook:

Roasted Butternut Pear Soup with Kale Pesto

Ingredients 

2 ripe pears, cored and cut into quarters (any variety)

1 medium butternut squash (around 3 lbs diced into 1” chunks)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

1 medium leek, sliced thin

2 cups low sodium chicken stock

½ cup heavy cream

Salt + freshly ground black pepper

Crème fraîche

Toasted walnuts, chopped

Kale and walnut pesto (you’ll learn how to make this below)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.

Place pear halves cut-side up on a baking sheet along with the squash. Drizzle the oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper, then roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes more until slightly tender.

In a 4 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then add leeks. Allow them to sauté evenly, just until they start to brown. Add squash and pears to the leeks while continuing to cook for 10 minutes. Stir often.

Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer until a fork can easily go into the squash (10-15 minutes). Puree soup with immersion blender until smooth, then slowly add cream while bending until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with kale and walnut pesto, crème fraîche, and walnuts. Serve with blue cheese toasts (you’ll make this below, too).

Kale  and Toasted Walnut Pesto

Ingredients 

Small bunch of Lacinato kale (4 or 5 leaves)

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted

1/2 clove of garlic, crushed

¼ cup grated parmesan

1/2 cup olive oil

Juice of one lemon

Salt + pepper

Instructions

Fill a medium bowl with ice and water and set to the side.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch kale for about 1 minute. Drain and rinse in the ice bath to stop it from cooking. Use a kitchen towel to remove excess water.

In a food processor, start by adding the kale, then walnuts and garlic. While running, add the lemon juice and olive oil in a steady stream until smooth. Add salt and pepper to preference.

Blue Cheese Toasts

Ingredients

Baguette of your choice

Crumbled blue cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice a baguette into 1” pieces, then place on a baking sheet and top with crumbled blue cheese. Bake until cheese bubbles and edges start to brown.

Enjoy.



Wait! Before you swallow the soup in one big gulp (don’t burn your tongue): take a picture of your finished spread and upload it to the comments. We’d love to hear other squash recipes you have as well, especially because one or more of us in this office went cornucopia-happy in November and now has more gourds than an Etsy shop.

Watch the Valentino Haute Couture Show, Live, with Us! (Or Your Other Friends.)

The question of whether or not you need to be seated at a fashion show in order to appreciate the collection proliferates with each season that puts forth a runway. There are traditionalists who argue that you do; that bottom-in-chair (with said chair’s location being in the first, second or third row) is the only way to truly understand the experience. This makes sense: the music is louder, the clothes are closer. Any hiccups that make for immediate news are unedited because you’re watching them happen in real time, and likewise moments that take your breathe away come as a surprise rather than the anticipated climax of a fully loaded page on poor wifi.

Then there are those who say otherwise, who know otherwise. Consider veteran Cathy Horyn’s review of Hedi Slimane’s first collection for Saint Laurent that takes 4 paragraphs in until you realize she wasn’t actually there, or Leandra’s coverage of the Marc Jacobs Spring 15 show as seen through the lens of her iPhone while traveling.

The conversation will continue to volley for as long as old-schoolers and newbies follow the same fashion. That said, middle ground can be found in a live stream. Sure, you’re not seated in a PR-assigned seat at the end of the runway in row 1, with the soundtrack thumping so loudly that you’re smiling at the person next to you because you can’t actually hear what she just said. You’re also not held prisoner to the monotony of your own finger’s clicks and the speed at which your computer chooses to perform. It’s actually quite democratic: you can watch the very same model debut a designer’s look to the world at the same time as someone like, say, Anna Wintour. You can see how it moves. You can watch shoes march in time to the music’s beat.

Tonight, Wednesday, December 10, Valentino will stream their haute couture show (for the first time ever) at 8pm EST. The event itself will take place at The Whitney museum, though where you choose to watch it obviously offers up an endless variety of options…and of course snack choice, pajama-wear, accompanying friends and beverages need to be considered as well.

The video below will loop in this here box until later tonight when the show begins (what you’re seeing now is the making of the Valentino NYC store on 5th Avenue, which opened this summer), but if you need something more to get you in the mood, check out the slideshow above of Valentino’s Fall 2014 Couture collection.

And since you’re all fashion critics in the making with arguably the best view in the house, have at in the comments. Who’s going to be watching?

It’s Kind of a Funny Story: Elettra Wiedemann and James Marshall

Leandra Medine: How did you guys meet?

Elettra Wiedemann: You tell the story.

James Marshall: We actually met at a party hosted by Mikhail Gorbachev–

EW: Not just a party, a ball.

JM: Sorry, a white bowtie and tails ball. It was bascially like the Met Ball this year, but at King Henry VIII’s old house, Hampton Court Palace. The party was hosted by Mikhail Gorbachev and I went with an actress friend of mine because her boyfriend was shooting a movie. She’s a friend so I wanted to be her wingman. It was one of those balls where I think Dolce and Gabbana flew in to dress her for the event, which was kind of mind-boggling for me.

LM: So casual!

EW: Not intimidating at all.

JM: I wasn’t really involved in the fashion world at all. I was very much outside of it, not having much fashion sense at all. So the driver picks us up to take us to Hampton Court Palace, and of course you go through the gates, and the first person you see is this ballet dancer on a plinth. 200 feet away is a violinist. 200 feet further there’s another ballet dancer on a plinth doing ballet.

EW: Did I make this up or was there a guy with a falcon too? Did I just tell that as a joke that has now become apart of the story?

JM: I’m not sure I saw a falcon…

EW: Okay, we’re just going to say there was a falcon. Because Hampton Court Palace is in the middle of all of these fields, so you’re in a palace and then there are all these incredible surrounding fields with people dotted around them.

JM: Like gardens.

EW: And there were deer…

LM: So how did you properly meet?

EW: Wait — can I tell my version of the story of how I got there?

I was on the Eurostar going from Paris to London, and I get a phone call from my agent saying, “Oh, um, Mikhail Gorbachev is inviting you to his ball.” And I was like, “Whatever, haha.” And they were like, “No really! And Giambattista Valli has asked for you to be his date.” I didn’t know him personally so it was all very weird. So I literally get to London, get whisked off to this showroom, grab this incredible dress from this person I don’t know, get all dressed up the next night–

And then I get a phone call as I’m waiting in my gown to get picked up, from Giambattista who’s in the lobby, and he’s like, “Darling, we’re downstairs for you.” So I get into the car and there’s Giambattista, and Naomi Campbell. I’d never met either of them before so it was completely crazy! I felt like Cinderella — changed into a gown, hanging out with these incredible people and then whisked off, literally, to a palace.

JM: We were sitting at the same table. Going to these events you see these magnificent people, and it’s often very intimidating because you have Elton John sitting over there, and Sir Ranulph Fiennes–

LM: Right, there are “Sirs.”

JM: Literally, people who have been knighted by the Queen. There are royals and Russian billionaires. So you know, I’m Joe “nobody” Shmoe and I’ve got my actress friend on my right, her actor friend on the other side of her, and someone else I can’t remember. Elettra was sitting right across from me. I was on my best behavior because my friend was there and I wanted to make sure she was okay. I wanted to be a good wingman. But I just kept getting distracted by the smile of this girl sitting opposite me.

EW: I was very smiley because they kept refilling my vodka all night. It was a Russian party so they had these little shot glasses, and whenever you would turn your head it would be refilled.

JM: It’s not very polite to have an empty glass on the table, so they constantly fill you up. So as the evening goes on, I’m staying two or three drinks behind everyone else because I’m with my friend and I want to make sure she’s okay. I’m kind of looking around, taking it all in, and my eyes keep on going back to Elettra because she’s sitting opposite me.

Elton John goes to the stage, says a few words and then starts singing “Tiny Dancer.” All I can do is look at Elettra. I feel embarrassed that I can’t stop looking at this girl. I was a little bit shy in approaching her because I’ve never met her before, and she’s so beautiful. She’s like 6’3 in heels. Obviously she’s got to be married, or she’s got to have a boyfriend. So I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

LM: Or maybe she thought you were with your girlfriend, right? Because you were with another woman.

JM: That’s true. So I kept walking towards her, and every time I’d get within six feet, I’d kind of wander off. And then I’d come back and there’d be some Russian billionaire or some movie star chatting her up. Of course, I’d then veer off to the bathroom, because I didn’t want to look like…you know. But then I thought, Well, maybe she thinks I’ve got some sort of drug problem because I keep going to the bathroom. 

Eventually–

EW: No, I sat down next to you. Because I went to the bathroom and then when I came back, my feet were hurting so much. I just needed a break, and then we started talking…

JM: I don’t even know what we said. Everything kind of went into a misty phase. I heard Elettra and I was like, “Oh my god, you’re American.” I didn’t want to assume she was Canadian or American so I asked, “Are you American?” And she says, “Yeah, I’m from New York.” And I was like, “Oh my god, I’m moving there in a few months.” So she’s says, “Oh wow, who do you know in New York?” “Absolutely nobody,” I said. I knew one guy, I was going there for work. So Elettra, being polite, says, “When you get there, give me a call and I’ll show you around and introduce you to a few people.”

So on a tiny scrap of paper — which she got off of her name card — Elettra wrote her phone number and her e-mail. Of course, I’m totally buzzing. So, fast forward a few months I move to New York, and I didn’t bother to phone Elettra. Why would I? She’s just being polite. She’s probably married and I’m reading too much into this. So I got into this mental phase of, Do I phone her, do I not phone her? Of course she’s married, of course she has a boyfriend. Why would she want to go out with someone like me? I’m a nobody. 

LM: It’s funny that you would assume she’s married, I mean she’s quite young. You’re both young.

JM: Married or unavailable.

LM: Do English people say “married” for all relationship walks?

JM: Well for me, if you’re with someone, you’re as good as married.

LM: That’s a very noble way of looking at it. I think more men should probably adopt that.

JM: Yeah. So two or three months went by and I decided to work late one night — I think it was a Thursday or Friday night — it must have been 8 or 9 o’clock. I was on the subway, catching up on the day’s news, and the 1 train pulls into the station. The doors open and on walks this girl who makes me instantly blush. I got so red. I instantly blushed. She sat right opposite me, and she looked at me and I looked at her and we both kind of smiled at each other.

EW: We didn’t recognize each other because the night we met we were in ball gowns and tux tails.

JM: I was wearing a white bowtie and tails, and she was wearing this Giambattista gown, and was 6’5. It was bonkers. So we kind of connect with each other visually, and I kind of smile at her, she smiles at me, you know, in that kind of embarrassed, “Oh my god she caught me looking at her” way. But neither of us thought we knew each other. So the train pulls into Elettra’s station, she stands up and as she turns I see her side profile. I realize I’ve met this girl before. It takes a couple of seconds and I realize, “Oh my god, it’s the girl from the Gorbachev party.”

So she gets off the train and I run towards the door, and the door closes!

EW: And actually, I had gotten on that train accidentally. I had taken the wrong train and I went three stops in the wrong direction before I realized. I was fidgeting with my first iPod I think.

JM: Thanks to Steve Jobs then, really. So I run to the door and the doors close. But you know how on the tube the doors close and then they open again? So I have my hand by the door so I can grab them and open them up, but they never opened. Then the train pulls out of the station, and I’m hands and face on the glass like…I’m not even sure if I remembered your name to be honest. So Elettra’s walking down the platform and the train pulls out of the station. I get off at the next stop, run home, run up my three flights of stairs to my little apartment on Perry street, and hunt for this tiny scrap of paper with her number on it.

I’m throwing everything out of my boxes, and I see at the bottom of a box — just sitting there — this little scrap of paper with Elettra’s name and e-mail on it. So I basically text Elettra, “Sorry, probably not you, sorry” — fifty sorrys in the first sentence — “but if it was you, then hi!” In my head I was thinking–

LM: Will you marry me?

JM: Well I was thinking, I wanted to say, “Hopefully you’re single and you’re not with anybody.” But I didn’t say that, I just bumbled over my words.

EW: And I wrote you back! I never wrote back to guys who texted.

JM: Elettra wrote me back in a couple of minutes. She’s like, “Hi, yeah I thought I recognized you…”

EW: Then we went on a date. Well I think it took two weeks for us to get our acts together. We organized a date and then at the last second before the date I’m thinking, What the fuck am I doing? This guy could be a total rapist ax-murderer. I don’t know this guy! So I call eight of my friends and I’m like, “You’re coming on a date with me.”

LM: Eight!?

EW: Yes. I showed up at Rosa Mexicana in Chelsea with eight friends. James–

JM: I’m of course excepting a date. I mean, I almost bought flowers, for crying out loud. Can you imagine how embarrassed I would have been?

EW: I’m sorry babe. My mom trained me to be so paranoid.

JM: So what do I do? Is this a date or is this not a date? 

EW: But that night we — my friends kind of vetted you for me — had a fun dinner.

JM: We had a really fun dinner. Super light. It was actually good to have Elettra’s friends there.

EW: It made it less awkward. So we had dinner with them and then I think you and I peeled off after, to have drinks just us two.

JM: Yeah. As the evening went on, I think we realized there was chemistry there, because at one point we were holding hands under the table. Which is very sweet, and I think people started to get the message that we wanted some alone time.

EW: From that date we were just kind of — we never had that conversation where it was like, Do you want to go steady?” — it never felt like we were game-playing.

JM: It’s not the British way.

EW: He was very shocked when he moved here that people date multiple people. In the UK, if you’re dating somebody then you’re with one person.

JM: Right. I wasn’t dating anyone else and I assumed Elettra wasn’t either, so I didn’t think it was necessary to have a conversation about it.

EW: We got together and four years later, we got married. At the wedding, James made an amazing speech which was really funny and kind of summarized this story for everybody. At the end of the speech he had gotten the paper with my number on it framed to give to me, and I just burst into tears in front of everybody. It’s usually hanging up but we just had our apartment painted last week. It was this tiny piece of paper with my Gorbachev place setting on it.

LM: Where did you get married?

EW: The official story is that we got married at City Hall. But actually, we got married in the ICU ward at Beth Israel Hospital. I wanted to get married at City Hall. I feel like so much of my job is to dress up and get my picture taken, so for my day I just really wanted to be with my husband and then have a party with all of my friends where we would have a blast. But I didn’t need that moment where I felt like a princess, because I feel like a princess a lot and I don’t need to do that.

My grandparents had been together for 65 or 66 years, and they’re — from both of our families — the longest married couple we know. We thought it made sense to have them be the witnesses as a blessing to our marriage. So we thought we’d get married at City Hall, and then we’d go–

JM: We didn’t invite anybody else.

EW: Yeah, nobody was there except my grandparents. My grandmother had a stroke two days before. I knew I wanted to marry James but I really knew I wanted to marry James when my grandmother had the stroke. She got sent to the ICU and I was like, What do we do? Everybody was in town. Do we cancel the party? Do we get married without her? That would break her heart. And James was like, “Fuck it, why can’t we get married at the hospital?” I said, “You’re right!”

So we got married at the hospital. Thankfully, one of my mom’s best friends is one of the head nurses there so he arranged for us to have a secret side room that was empty. It was full of defibrillators and heart attack posters. My cousin had been randomly ordained two years prior to marry another friend, so we called him at the last second. We got married at Beth Israel with my grandparents and my cousin, and then had a big party at James’ restaurant, Whitehall.

JM: The nurses at the hospital were absolutely fantastic. They cleared out the room, they got doughnuts for us. They put up some carnations.

EW: At our wedding we had Coca Cola, doughnuts from Dunkin’ Donuts and red carnations.

LM: So this was two and a half years ago. When did you open your restaurant?

JM: It’ll be three years in November.

LM: Did you come to New York to work in hospitality?

JM: Oh no. I actually worked for a big corporate American company in London, and they brought me to New York to help develop their entertainment and media team. So I helped launch that and it was great. I loved the job in many aspects…good money, but I just wasn’t happy.

EW: Soul crushing

JM: Soul crushing, yeah. To have 14 hour days, six days a week, and then you’re working some Sundays.

LM: Seems like we are not measuring our success in dollars anymore — the narrative of the American Dream is changing — we just want to be happy. It’s so fulfilling to see that sort of eclipsing money. I think people are starting to realize that the reason we want money is because we think it’ll make us happy.

JM: I just finished filming this documentary series called, “The American Dream Project.” The whole concept is that we’re bombarded with all of these messages about how bad America is, how money is so important, how reality TV is helping us have a self-loathing image of ourselves, or this picture of what we think happiness is. We’re told the American dream is dead, blah blah blah. So a friend and I basically rode from NYC to California on Indian motorcycles, and only stayed with people we met on social media. The soul purpose was to try and shine a spotlight on great, everyday Americans who aren’t billionaires, but normal people.

EW: From my perspective, I think when we were growing up there was this message of, The sky is the limit, you can do anything. You can always have more wealth… And so we always want more. From my perspective, you can have a really fantastic, fulfilling and comfortable life without killing yourself in a soulless job. So it’s that kind of shift where it’s like, Okay, I can kill myself… And then everybody says that millennials suck because they don’t work hard and sometimes I’m like, Maybe they learned a lesson from you. You guys killed yourself to basically retire. I’m fine having X amount of dollars and a small apartment. We’re cozy, who cares?

JM: Also, look at the era, the previous generations. When I was a kid, people had the same job for 30 or 40 years. They would clock in and clock out for the sole purpose of getting to 65 to retire. Now I think people are seeing that this generation is retiring at 65 and dropping dead two years later. The payoff is just not there. You’ve got all of this money and the return doesn’t exist.

What’s interesting about that is that the old thought process was that you’d retire at 65 and then stop living. But actually, people don’t want to stop working. It’s absolutely rubbish; people want to stop doing what they don’t want to do.

LM: That’s a very important distinction.

JM: My philosophy when I quit three years ago was to promise myself that I would never do a job that I hated ever again. You think to yourself, What am I risking? When you’re in  the corporate world you have this structure, this process around you, a paycheck every month; I’m risking that if I leave. Actually, risk is the other way around. You’re risking wasting all of these valuable years in a job that drives you down and tears your relationship apart, for money that–

EW: That’s going to actually be inherited by somebody else, right? I mean you’re not going to actually enjoy most of the money you make anyways.

JM: But look at Warren Buffett, he’s going to provide his family with a decent inheritance, a few million dollars — most people would be grateful for that — but he’s not going to give them the billions. I totally agree with that. The fact is that they’re getting a few million dollars. To be debt-free and have that kind of cash is incredible.

EW: We went off the rails of the actual conversation…

LM: Well I was actually going to ask about Impatient Foodie. Why did you decide to start it?

EW: I’m 31 — and, you know this industry — I’ve had an incredible career. I started modeling when I was 18/19, I never thought that I would have the opportunities I’ve had in the fashion business, but I’ve had an incredible time. I’ve traveled the world. I was able to buy this apartment. I’ve had all of these incredible experiences thanks to fashion. But I always knew in the back of my mind that it’s a finite thing. It’s very rare to have a career like Naomi’s or Christy’s where you’re 44/45, and still booking these incredible campaigns.

I always wanted to have a plan B for myself, and when I went to grad school five or six years ago, I focused on food politics and the politics of feeding urban populations. When I came back, I was very grateful to not be in academia anymore, but I couldn’t shake what I’d learned about food and the importance of it in terms of not only our health, but the wider health of the planet. So I launched a few projects. Goodness was one of them, it was a pop-up restaurant that did really well but overwhelmed me.

I gave birth to Impatient Foodie because I wanted something where I could take everything I learned from fashion in terms of making things look beautiful but also putting a spotlight on stuff that’s important to me like, how to source your food, and when and where to source it. Frankly, I wanted to celebrate food. I feel like especially in the U.S., people are so complex when it comes to food, it’s not something that people enjoy. Usually it’s something that tortures people. What I realized in my studies is that we’re so lucky to have so much food. It’s a miracle to have all of this food, and if it was gone, in a matter of days the civilization would unwind.

I wanted to have a food site that celebrated food and wasn’t like, Here’s how to make a stuffing but with less calories. Who cares! Enjoy the fucking stuffing. Just have a day when you’re with your family and you can enjoy it and it’s great! I launched it in July, and I thought it was going to take a year or two to get off the ground, but I was very wrong about that. Now it’s kind of my full time thing. James is my guinea pig for all of my recipes.

LM: It’s interesting that you guys met at a fork and are…not working in the same industry but with the same currency, essentially. Do you ever implement her recipes into the restaurant?

JM: Elettra’s food is damn good. So we wanted to have an Impatient Foodie menu that we would run periodically — which we may still do. Obviously running a restaurant is a complicated beast.

EW: I launched the Goodness popup and it was so much fun, but I’m totally traumatized. Running a restaurant is hard. So when they came to me with the idea I loved it, but I’m still traumatized from my experience and not quite ready for it yet. It was so built around me that I had to be involved in every single thing. People, as far as sponsors or business partners, they always want you. You are the “goldmine.” That’s why I’m kind of anonymous on Impatient Foodie. I never post pictures of myself. It’s in my voice, but I really want it to be something that speaks for itself. People consider themselves Impatient Foodies.

LM: It’s sort of like if you’re a really respected stylist and you build a team under you, all of your clients understand that whoever’s working with you has been approved by you. Just by virtue of that, they’ll be comfortable.

But back to the relationship, what have you found to be the easiest and conversely most difficult things about being married?

EW: I think the hardest thing about being married is not being able to just walk away. When you’re going through a hard time or you’re having an argument, you have this obligation to sit together and work it out. On the flip-side though, I think that that’s the best part about being married. It really forces you to confront your issues, to deal with your shit. We’re in our eighth year now, and I feel like since we’ve been married, we’ve grown so much stronger and closer in two years than in the previous six.

Someone said it best to us the other day. They said, “Being married prepares you for being married.” There’s something different and for me, very hard, but that I think has encouraged the growth and closeness in us, and in me. I’ve realized a lot about myself. I think if we were a couple who never decided to get married, I don’t know if I would have confronted those things the same way.

What about you?

JM: Well, I think that we’re all quite selfish individuals. When you’re in a marriage you really have to compromise. I do a “cup check” every once in a while to remind myself that marriage is all about compassion, understanding, and patience.

EW: So you do a “cup check” every once in a while.

JM: I cup check myself once every while, because I climb these mountains, run across desserts, ride across the country for a month at a time, and you can get caught up in your own magnificence of that moment. Sometimes I have to realize how compassionate and understanding Elettra is being with me. How patient she is. And there are times when I have to be that way for her. I have to dip into that well of credit.

When you’re on your own you can be selfish.

EW: James and I are so independent. We were raised to be so independent and in that sense it’s been a journey for us. I can go off all day and do work and he’s the same, so it’s been a journey for us to learn how to come together.

JM: I think that’s what so nice about being married. You’ve got someone that has your back when you’re having a down or dark day, that person can either give you space, or comfort you, or take you out for a martini and make you laugh.

We come from such different cultures and backgrounds, so we constantly learn from each other. My weaknesses are Elettra’s strengths and vice versa.

LM: If you were giving advice to your future child — let’s say daughter — who’s in pursuit of love, what would you say to her?

JM: My advice would be to keep your knickers on. I mean that. I think — especially in the New York culture — a lot of women think that men hold the power; that they just move on from one girl to the next and if they don’t give it up, the guy’s just going to move on anyway. I say, if that’s the case then let them move on. There has to be romance, mystery, and respect. I don’t mean respect in a boring way, everybody wants to have fun and get their rocks off.

But a guy’s not going to respect a girl unless she respects herself first. What attracted me to Elettra was the fact that she’s a strong woman, she’s financially independent, she’s emotionally independent — she’s got her own friends — and she wasn’t coming to me for any of that. We never needed to be together, we wanted to be together. So for love, I would say don’t rush into it. Let romance blossom. You have to work at being romantic. If people aren’t prepared to be romantic then they aren’t prepared to be in love.

EW: My advice would be to appreciate kindness from men. I think when I was younger, I know I met a lot of nice guys but for some reason they felt like less work, so somehow that felt less attractive, or something? And then James was a real game-changer for me because James is an incredibly kind human being. It’s actually what I cited about him in my wedding speech, as what attracted me most to James.

In life, of course you want love and you want to be attracted to the person, but above all, life is tough. You go through ups and downs — James and I are going through huge transitory moments in our careers — and at the end of the day, you want to come home to somebody who is really kind. If I had a daughter I would say, don’t go for the guy who’s kind of unavailable and an asshole because it feels more difficult for you. That’s one of the things that made me fall in love with James and ultimately decide that he would be my man for life.

You’ve Heard of Cuffing Season, Right?

Cuffing Season: the stretch of time between the first weekend so crappy that everyone’s like, “Let’s just stay in instead,” until the first day of spring. Because the inclement weather of December through March tends to cause young patrons of the Northern Hemisphere to be less social than they were during warmer months, singles match up so they can leave the bar early when it snows and have someone to consistently cuddle with should they get bored, lonely or cold.

Mass hysteria tends to set in around this time because no one likes to not have New Year’s Eve plans — a problem that is solved rather quickly by the annoyingly quaint phrase, “We’re having a quiet New Year’s together. Just the two of us.” (Like okay, Will Smith.)

Hence, Cuffing Season, which brings us to a very festive episode of The Mindy Project.

Since Mindy and Danny are technically already cuffed, the next step is to get Legally Cuffed. Mindy wants Danny to propose, thinks he’s about to propose, anddd then…he doesn’t.

Untethered by a pre-spring ring, however, Dr. Lahiri reminds herself that she’s an independent woman and hi, a great doctor, so she applies for an 8-month teaching fellowship at Stanford per the encouragement of her boss, Dr. Jean Fishman.

Upon learning this, Danny panics and momentarily sabotages Mindy’s chances at getting accepted. This being Cuffing Season, however, Danny knows that the only way to secure a DFMO under the mistletoe is if he rights his wrongs. He still doesn’t ask her to marry him, but he fixes his eff-up and Mindy — bless her Cali-bound heart — gets in.

Take note, Danny Castellano: Portola Valley has the best weather in the Bay Area. Sleeves tend to get un-cuffed where the redwoods grow.

Meanwhile, Peter Pan Prentice asks Danny to set him up with someone (’tis the season). Danny says he knows a great girl named Julia Stiles, and she’s a hoarder.

My bad. Her name is actually Jessica (I think), but Julia Stiles plays her. WHO CAN KEEP UP WITH ALL OF THESE NEW (1) CHARACTERS?

Anyway, she’s a hoarder, and though she’s excited to meet Peter she accidentally meets Morgan: the loveable ex-convict who rocks a front tooth gap with the same panache as former pro-footballer-turned-talkshow-host, Michael Strahan.

Really, Morgan’s only downsides are his criminal record, inability to pronounce “etc.” in its abbreaviated form, the fact that he didn’t correct Stiles when he realized she thought he was Peter and, the tattoo around his belly button that reads “No More Stealing Cars.”

But ah, how art imitates life:

Just like in 10 Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles falls for the bad boy instead of the doctor even though she knows he’s been untruthful.

And by falls, I mean she agrees to continue sleeping with him because like I said guys, Cuffing Season.

Talking points:

1) Though Morgan shouted like a lunatic outside Stiles’ window rather than play “In Your Eyes” from a battery-operated boom box, has the Lloyd Dobler method ever not worked?

2) WHAT IN GOD’S NAME HAPPENED TO TAMRA?! WHEN DID SHE AND MORGAN BREAK UP?!

3) Are you not furious that you didn’t come up with “Wreath Witherspoon” on your own? Are you in no way less inclined to create one just because it wasn’t your idea?

4) Why is Jeremy’s girlfriend-who-broke-Peter’s-heart back?

5) Last but not least: is anyone else seeking a partner for Cuffing Season, if only to spend the entire winter practicing this?

Good, me too.

The Shitty Elf: Give Her a Negligee

There is an argument to be made against gifting loungewear to friends. There is also one to be made against calling it loungewear, but I digress.

For an article of under-cloth so intimate, who’s to say that you, or me, know what interests the receiving party? While she is in a state of +1, perhaps the gift is seen as a good faith gesture, one that reinstates her commitment to coitus, underscored by your approval. But when said friend is single, the question of whether providing her with a negligee gratis is just a blaring reminder that she is still single presents itself. Does she even care about what she wears to sleep? Does she care that you are thinking about what she wears to sleep? Is this “gift” being processed as a cruel joke that runs counter to your stance as her lone matriarchal support system?

The Shitty Elf says no. He also says to stop being so damn dramatic and just drop it like it’s hot — because she is hot and dammit, Charlie, her pillows deserve to know it. Remind her to celebrate oneness with the gift that says, tonight, it’s just me, so let’s crease the shit out of this silk thing and call it an “Under Cover” Holiday Party.

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Well, It’s Winter, So Wear White

The realization that just two and half hours south of New York there is a beach, and on this beach there lay women in bikinis, is brutal. Particularly when north of the exposed-ass-cheek-capital of America, it is not just throbbing ear season but it is so cold that when a drop of water is accidentally spilled, there is a 0% chance that whomever’s poor soul is destined to climb over the spill is also destined to fall into it.

Bruises will ensue.

Pride will deflate.

The awareness that, again, just two hours south of the tundra, there is a beach, it is in use, and neither you nor the concrete on which you lie are on it will be overwhelming, and so shall begin the grand winter weather lament. With this lament comes only one saving grace, which is a pair of invasively high waist white jeans that will remind you, every time you look down and can catch a glimpse at their light, that behind the wool and leather and the houndstooth and the socks, there is the hope of warmer days.

You pile the layers on so that you can marvel in the freedom that comes with an eventual peel off. Use this as a guide:

Outfit #1: for a 35 degree (fahrenheit) afternoon, when you’re thinking about Katharine Hepburn if she’d been a friend of Inès de la Fressange’s, and frequently attended fashion week shows but just for fun. You’re wearing a double breasted blazer like it’s the topper of a three-piecer with a vest and a blouse and bow tie and, because you’re cold, you’re wearing a dress underneath it all. Except the white jeans. There are also platforms and socks, check and check.

Outfit #2: for a morning that hits about 29 degrees (fahrenheit), intended for recreational meandering provided you have been deeply inspired by a painter whose name is now escaping you. There is Victorian lace beneath your white chambray smock and your legs, covered in jeans, are the canvas on which your story is written. So too is your coat, which it is worth mentioning, is animal-cruelty-free.

Outfit #3 does not know the bounds of climatic volatility. It serves only to say this: I might not be on a boat, but that does not mean I cannot dress like I am on a boat. Viva maritime laws!

Now which one will you try first?

Victoria’s Secret Angels Aren’t the Only Ones with Wings

Television often asks that we surrender to the Willing Suspension of Disbelief: the very mentality that allows us to get caught up in cinematic worlds of fictional make-believe. Take American Horror Story, for example. I don’t watch it, but know that if I were to, it would require a conversation between my self and brain that might go something like this:

Self: Hello Brain.

Brain: Hello human that I’m connected to!

Self: Brain, we’re about to watch a scary television show that I can’t believe is actually allowed to air on a public network because it’s so disturbing, but because I’m choosing to join the ranks of those who enjoy peeing on the couch out of fear before bed, I’m going to need you to suspend any skepticism that Connie Britton could play anything other than Tami Taylor and just go with me on this.

Brain: Consider my disbelief suspended. Willingly, I might add.

The same conversation must occur if you’re to watch the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, which airs tonight, because if you do not wave the white flag of WSD then you will spend the whole time unable to appreciate superhumans in sparkly underpinnings and instead focus on such unhealthy questions as:

1) Why don’t I look like that?

2) Why doesn’t anyone I know look like that?

3) Does that finale bra really cost more than a unicorn?

4) Why doesn’t my hair do that?

5) Can Hozier perform at my birthday?

6) Who is responsible for sweeping up all of this glitter post-show and do they get to keep it?

7) And finally, aren’t there more people than the ones present on stage who deserve lovely, sparkling, festive wings as well?

Whether or not you’re able to suspend your disbelief, I can answer question #7 for you right now:

Yes. More people do deserve lovely, sparkling, festive wings and so, in the name of the holiday spirit we have assigned 10 pairs of wings to 10 unsuspecting recipients in the slideshow above. Make sure to click through, because every time you hit that key a television show gets Connie Britton’d and an unofficial angel gets his or her MR official wings.

Who would you nominate?