My Favorite Things

You’ve probably received your holiday gifts and chances are your wish list is still unfulfilled.  I always like to gift myself from my own wish list (hey, I gifted everyone first!) as a reward for just getting through the year. (Wink, wink!)

Being a designer, my wish list for design books is VERY long, so I’d like to share some of the books that inspire me and maybe they will end up on your wish list too!  These books come from all industries – I don’t limit myself just to my field of interior design.  You never know where inspiration may come from so I keep myself open and attuned to all trends in other fields. 

From Design Magazines:

• Abitare: 50 Years of Design: The Best of Architecture, Interiors, Photography, Travel and Trends 1961-2011

Abitare, an Italian design magazine launched in 1961, informed the world of the latest trends in the design world, from interiors to accessories to graphic design, bringing it all under one cover.  This compilation reproduces the best articles of the magazine in Italian and English.

 From Photography:

• Cecil Beaton: The New York Years by Donald Albrecht

The Museum of the City of New York is currently hosting a retrospective of Photographer Cecil Beaton’s works – a beautiful reminder of the work that’s he done including photographs of the beautiful and famous as well as illustrations of costume designs for the opera. Beaton photographed icons such as Greta Garbo, Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn and Andy Warhol.

• Bill Cunningham New York – DVD – Richard Press, Director

"We all get dressed for Bill," says Vogue editor Anna Wintour of Bill Cunningham, New York Times Photographer. His column, On the Street, for the Style section is a must-see for the fashionistas as well as for those who aspire to be street photographers. 

From Fashion Design:

• Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (Metropolitan Museum of Art) by Andrew Bolton

The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently hosted a blockbuster retrospective on the recently deceased fashion designer, Alexander McQueen.  The exhibit was jam-packed with his breathtaking creations and equally jam-packed with viewers! If you weren't lucky enough to see the exhibit, then this book will give you a taste of his genius. 

• Emilio Pucci by Vanessa Friedman

This book is covered in fabric using one of Pucci’s fabulous patterns (you have several choices) and quite hefty, hence very expensive. But the author spans Pucci's fashion creations throughout his career– great snapshots of la dolce vita - molto bella!

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A Featured Wedding from Style Me Pretty

As a wedding planner, I love all styles of weddings, from the understated and intimate City Hall ceremony to the lavish Hindu weddings.  It is pretty much a guarantee that if it's a wedding, I will love it.  However, there are some that stand out far above the rest, where the bride is just so beautiful and sweet, the setting is breathtaking, the flowers are amazing and the food is to die for...these are the ones we as wedding planners live for.  Everything about this wedding was perfect, even the rain that had myself and my assistant running to set up two possible ceremony locations at the very last minute, it was still perfect.  I hope you enjoy the stunning photos by Leo Patrone Photography.  Here is a link to the original post from the always enjoyable Style Me Pretty and also my blog. 

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Table Lamps Galore!

(Dalu Lamp by Vico Magistretti for Artemide)Table Lamps are very practical light fixtures – sometimes doing double duty in some rooms as they can provide task lighting as well as accent lighting for the room.  In our previous Designer Monthly, Suspended Light, we talked about how hanging light fixtures provide ambient lighting for the room.  Table lamps are more specialized – because of their smaller body, they can only throw light on a small area.  They’re great for specific tasks – reading, doing deskwork, and for providing an accent light in a corner of the room, where a ceiling light may miss. 

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