Da Fashionista.com

The Scene

Arrive in NYC before 6 am. Am only half awake en route to Peaches and Mr. Producer’s new condo but just happen to perk up when the cab turns onto their street. See this sign, and think, Ah, home, sweet home ;)


The fancy doorman hands me a key when I arrive. Take the elevator up and practically faint when I walk through the door.

There’s only four letters for their new place: OMFG! Any Gossip Girl would approve!

It is spacious even by L.A. standards. Tall ceilings, ample kitchen, bathed in light. YAYAYAYAYYA!

Most importantly the boys have decorated it IMPECCABLY. Gawd, I love gay men. Absolutely thrilled they found the perfect place for the next chapter of their love story!!

A sleepy Peach greets me and ushers me to a big couch already waiting for me with pillows and sheets. Adore. We sleep for another few hours and then wait for Jean Bean to arrive.

She sweeps in looking heatweave hottie in a tank, Marni-inspired skirt and necklace. On her feets are the Enzo gladiators she finally succumbed to a few weeks ago. Fierce!

She comes bearing gifts – a Louis Vuitton key purse/housewarming present for the boys and a necklace matching her own for moi. Too much!

The three of us plus Mr. Producer brave the horrid humid heat and head to Cafeteria for a little brunch. And bloody Mary action. Very SATC except we're not all women. Or lily white; )

Mr. Producer heads back to lay out on their rooftop deck (!) and the three Muskateers pop into Loehmann’s before heading to the Met. We hit the Superheros exhibit - discuss fashion as armor and aphrodisiac and art. Fun, fun, nerdy fun!

Then we peep the temple of Dendur. Beautiful! Remember the Project Runway episode filmed there?





Peach has always had a thing about posing with statues.

So we get our silly on for the camera lest anyone think we are cultured museum goers instead of monkeys.

Then we head up to the Met roof for some Jeff Koons, sunning and cocktails. We languidly judge the hot weather fashion.



And this recycling tattoo. Yipes! That's commitment!

We catch up and discuss M&M (who they both know) and just how blessed our lives are. How far we’ve come and all the life that still lies ahead.

Feels just like old times whenever we’re all together. Fun and carefree and like home. One thing missing - the fourth member of our senior year foursome, Mr. Diabolina. Wah!

After our daily dose of culture, we head to the Fifth Ave wonderland known as Saks for our favorite cardio - shopping.

We try on designer sunglasses first. Jean Bean taught me about these Prada butterflys. LOVE EM, DAMN HER!

Head up to the famed shoe department which has its own zipcode. Huge sale in progress. Yummy sky high heels abound.

Ugh, could this day get any better?

Apparently yes, because when we get back to the condo Mr. Producer has made pina coladas from scratch and Texas Cowboy arrives. EEEEEEE!!!! Love my friends' boys!

We all clean up and head out to dinner. Mr. Producer has scored us a reservation at the tres trendy, unmarked La Esquina.

The place looks like a low rent taqueria from the street but that’s just a front. You slip past a door and down a flight a stairs and through the kitchen and end up in a dimly lit hipster hotpsot teaming with music and fashion types. So New York!


We proceed to drink and eat our weight in tacos and roasted green beans and tequila.

Everything is tasty!! Especially for a hotspot where you just expect people to come to see and be seen. Have a ball chowing and talking about everything and anything.

Then we head to the funniest place ever. Rice to Riches. Ever heard of it? It’s the Pinkberry of rice pudding. YES, RICE PUDDING!!!

Peaches brought us here last time we were in NYC. Love that pig. How'd he know I had a huge thing for rice pudding as a child?

The five of us howl at the hilarious signs everywhere and get two orders to share five ways.


Next stop - Chinatown Brasserie. We are the first people there at around 10ish and have our pick of ensconced banquets.

Eventually the crowd starts making us all feel old and married though we are neither. At about midnight everyone heads home. Well except Peaches and me.


We keep the party train going like old times and get stiff drinks at Pegu Club. The drinks are soo strong in fact that we decide to get another little nibble – duck burgers. WHAT PIGS!!!


We chat and laugh and run into a frat brother of Mr. Diabolina’s and just enjoy each other like only old college besties can. Couldn’t have asked for a more perfectly perfect day.

The Outfit
Forever 21 dress
Fuchsia wrap sweater

The Accessories
Stuart Weitzman gold sandals
Louis Vuitton earrings
Express beaded necklace
Marc Jacobs Irina tote
Chanel sunglasses

The Grade
A-

The Commentary
Loads of fashion musings today. Wouldn’t except anything less from the fashion capital of the US.

First let’s talk about the three of us all tromping around the city in gladiators. Clearly we’re psychically linked, united in trendy fabulosity. Loves that Peaches’ Guccis are probably the most pricey of the bunch.

Second, let’s talk about how all day Peaches encouraged Jean Bean and me to shop and talk fashion and ate us both up. He is such a good gay in so many ways. However, we all came to terms with a depressing reality about him today. Took us all 10 years to voice it out loud.

Peaches has bad taste when it comes to women's fashions…B-A-D.

At the beginning of the day, he was cooing over busted fashion items on purpose to make us laugh. But as the day wore on and he wanted to be one of the girls, he would point out purses and shoes and dresses to us that he actually liked. And they were awfulness. Gaudy and Liberace and blechy.

After the 30th time we rolled our eyes at something he pointed to, he sadly acknowledged “If I was a girl, you guys wouldn’t be friends with me.” Ha! True dat. I ultimately dubbed his taste very Betsy Johnson.

Don’t get me wrong I adored her…when I was 12…in the early 90s…which might as well been the 80s. But now her aesthetic is a bit too-TOO. A bit pepto bismal trailer parky for bougie 30somethings.

Peaches took all the ribbing in stride though. He said he may dress up like her for Halloween – mop on his head, smeared lipstick, crotched top and tutu. AHAHAHHA!

My tissue thin Forever 21 dress was the perfect call for today’s insane heat. Chose it because it reminded me of a DVF print and it doesn’t get more New York than DVF. Love that the color palette complemented Jean Bean’s ensemble.

I was really thrown off by the summer NYC fashion. All the outfits were very L.A. – tank tops and sandals and jersey dresses. Instead of feeling reassuring and comforting this felt alien.

Probably because I’ve only been to NYC during cold weather so I'm just not used to it. But more likely, because the playful feel of the clothes and vibrant colors and open toed shoes seemed odd when juxtaposed against the grit and hardness of the city. Does that make sense?? The clothes connote beach to me not concrete jungle.

Near The Met we saw a photoshoot. The model was decked out in tweed and a fur hat and killer stilletos. THAT is NYC fashion in my mind. Polished, pulled together, high society.

In the evening, Jean Bean borrowed my real DVF and a headband since she didn’t make it home in time to freshen up. All the boys thought she looked yummy. Love successfully styling a Conde Nast fashionista.





And I unveiled my Friday resale purchase – a Phillip Lim maxi. Got it for $180. It retailed for more than twice that. Pricey for me but well worth it.

It didn’t hurt that my uppity resale saleslady – who after 5 years has NEVER complimented me – gasped when I walked out of the dressing room to show my mom. She told me that dress looked like it was made for me.

She’s right. It feels like a second skin, like wearing nothing at all. The print is timeless, even Chanel-y. The neckline flattering. The shape on trend. But it was the pockets and the gold button detailing on the back that sealed the deal. You know I’m a sucker for both.

But the best part was that when I unfurled it from my suitcase to show Jean Bean, she gasped. It was the same dress Philip Lim had let her borrow last year for the CFDAs when he won!! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?????

She had had it shortened and even wore it in Austin under a Proenza for Tarjay jacket. I must have been drinking heavily that night because I didn’t recall it at all. F to me. Guess my fashion recall only extends to my own wardrobe ;)

p.s. I didn't buy anything all day except for a $10 H&M scarf. I deserve a medal.