not fat, the blog

Danica's All-Purpose Blog

2006-12-29T21:19:00.000-05:00

I'm moving!

I'm going to be archiving the How Not to Look Fat blog and rolling it all into my personal blog -- Danica's All-Purpose Blog -- so I can blog mobile-ly from my travels through Europe this January!

You should be redirected automatically in five seconds, so please bookmark the new page! If you're not redirected automatically, please click here: Danica's All-Purpose Blog.

Thanks!

Concealer you can wear all night! And more...

2006-12-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

HAUTE LIST

By DANICA LO and RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI

December 28, 2006 --

Tips for the Eve:

1. Back away from the glitter - tourists should not confuse your face with the ball drop in Times Square. Somehow, on New Year's Eve, perfectly sensible women abandon common sense and smear their faces with as much of the sparkly stuff as they can find. Instead, pick one part of your face you'd like to highlight, and focus on that. If you're a die-hard sparkle seeker, opt for a shimmer lip gloss.

2. Get your face put on and your hair blown out by a professional. Both the Rita Hazan Salon (720 Fifth Ave.; [212] 734-4757) and Warren Tricomi (16 W. 57th St,; [212] 262-8899) are staffed Sunday to cater to New Year's Eve party people. Both salons are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. It's all about your brows. "The biggest thing is to make sure they're really groomed," says Rae Dawn Johnson, makeup artist at Rita Hazan, the salon that touts Jessica Simpson, Carmen Electra and J.Lo as clients. "Groomed brows, lip gloss and mascara go a long way. You don't need all that glitz, glimmer and shimmer."

Johnson also says to skip foundation and opt for a tinted moisturizer and bronzer, instead.

For the aftermath:

1. Best deal of the new year: Borba's Hangover Recovery System ($25 at borba.net) includes the brand's innovative fiber-knit concentrate, emulsion, skin-replenishing drink mix, vitamin-infused "Gummi Boosters," and eye cream.

2. Freeze 24-7's anti-aging eye serum and anti-wrinkle cream ($105 and $115 at freeze247.com) uses gamma-aminobutyric acid, the body's own muscle-relaxing agent, to minimize the appearance of wrinkles, puffiness and sagging - and deliver a refreshing tingly cooling sensation at the same time.

3. The Balm's "Time Balm" concealer (above, $16 at thebalm.com) is "the best concealer I've ever used," swears one beauty junkie we know. Its trick? Wear it overnight to treat under-eye circles and wake up already made up! Also perfect for sleepovers, when you don't want to be barefaced in the a.m. (if you know what I mean).

4. Amore Pacific's Vitalizing Masque ($50 at Amore Pacific, 114 Spring St.; [212] 966-0400) is amazing. Put it on, and it instantly improves your face - de-puffs, soothes, freshens, hydrates and protects. You'll wind up looking like you never went out at all.

Obsessions of the week

* Vanity, thy name is ... (your name here): Monogramming, blinging, personalizing and customizing - there's nothing our narcissistic little hearts crave more than our names artfully emblazoned on each and every one of our girly possessions. Through January, Estée Lauder rolls out free engraving on lip glosses and compacts (from $20) at Bloomingdale's (1000 Third Ave.; [212] 705-2000) and Saks Fifth Avenue (611 Fifth Ave.; [212] 753-4000). Just make your purchase, submit the names you want engraved and have a jaunt around the shop. Engraved while-u-wait! Now your little sister can't steal your shimmer.

* Jeanius: Dedicated denim lovers have been stalking Habitual's sold-out $198 Skinny Glory jeans in dark blue/black (what they call "Satellite"). Search no more, the coveted pairs are being restocked at Barneys tomorrow.

* Pin your gloss on your sleeve: Or, on your purse. Too Faced's Beauty Brooch ($28.50 at sephora.com), the part punk, part glam, part Goth cameo pin, combines function and fashion. Once you clasp it in place, you'll never have to search around at the bottom of your bag for your lip gloss again.

Supersize scents

SMELL like royalty - if your medicine cabinet is big enough. Roger & Gallet are celebrating their 200-year anniversary with a 1,000-milliliter bottle of their classic Jean Marie Farina Eau de Cologne, complete with floating flecks of 22-karat gold, all for $145. It's the size of a bottle of vodka (compare it to the lipstick). And though England's Queen Victoria and France's Napoleon III and Empress Josephine all used it, you might be sick of the scent by 2040, when you'll finally run out. For slightly smaller necks and wrists, Comme des Garçons has introduced 500-milliliter bottles of their Anbar, Citrico and Vettiveru fragrances, $80 each at Jeffrey New York.

More Deal or No Deal

2006-12-21T21:37:00.000-05:00

This is fun!

One of these shoes costs $110, the other costs $690.

But when they're on your feet and you're looking down from five feet up, can you really tell?

Guess which one is which and then click on the pictures to see if you're right.

Deal or No Deal

2006-12-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

One of these shoes costs $495 a pair. The other $99.

While the photography is disparate, in real life they look shockingly similar...

Which one is which? Guess. And then click on the photos to see if you're right...

Haute List

2006-12-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

HAUTE LIST

By DANICA LO and RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI

December 21, 2006 --

Mary Kay corrals

WHILE Mary Kay's always been popular with the suburban mom set - its well-priced products, which barely even graze the radar of urban fashionistas, are the best-selling skin-care and color cosmetics in the country - the company's only now seeping into Hollywood and show biz's collective consciousness.

Backstage at Z100's Jingle Ball, there was a frenzy around the table Mary Kay set up to court the young celebrity audience. Nick Lachey picked up a collection of MK Signature products to gift his mother for Christmas; Evanescence's Amy Lee applied the company's new scent, Affection, before going onstage; and the Pussycat Dolls ooh-ed and aah-ed over the Velvet Shimmer line. What's next: Snoop Dogg in a low-riding pink Cadillac? Even boys got in on the fun - Mario Vasquez picked up a bronzing powder for stage-use and the Killers' Ronnie Vanucci Jr., along with the fellows from the Fray, spent time pawing the Velocity for Men collection.

Some standouts? "I really like to wear red," says Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta. "A lot of the time I do my own makeup when we're on the road, so this color [Velvet Lip Color in Crystal Berry] will be perfect."

Her bandmates Kimberly Wyatt and Melody Thornton loved the Affection fragrance. And Ashley Roberts loved the eye shadow, "It's so shimmery!"

Available at marykay.com

- Danica Lo

Dry skin? Be a pod person

BABY, it's cold outside. And, since nobody wants to cuddle up to dry, scaly skin, try out the Hydration Station, a new full-body moisturizing machine much like a tanning bed.

First, you lie down in the spaceship style pod, pull the top down and adjust the air vent above your face. I suggest turning it way up, as the pod heats up to 118 degrees.

Basically, the machine works like a combination between a personal sauna and massage bed - it vibrates while the jets shoot out steam and mineral fragrances that drench your skin. Meanwhile, the pod changes colors to relax you.

Verdict: It works. The experience is pretty relaxing and also a relative bargain - $25 for 20 minutes.

To locate a Hydration Station, log on to planetbeach.com.

- Raakhee Mirchandani

Obsessions of the week

* Get the J. Lo glow: Check out the new, multitasking mineral makeup - it helps prevent wrinkles, breakouts and still covers up whatever you don't want people to see. Susan Ciminelli, beauty and skin-care expert to J.Lo, Ashanti and Naomi Campbell, has a new 59-piece beauty line that is made with SPF 26, doesn't clog your pores, helps prevent blackheads, and even includes healing ingredients such as jasmine, green tea, jojoba oil and lavender. Susan Ciminelli Day Spa, ninth floor at Bergdorf Goodman.

* House of Holland: Ex-journalist Henry Holland started making T-shirts as a joke - creating funny rhyming slogans for his friend, London It-designer Gareth Pugh ("Uhu Gareth Pugh"). After Pugh showed up on the runway wearing one, House of Holland hit the big time, securing accolades from British Vogue and a fan-base that includes Lindsay Lohan, Gwen Stefani, Lady Sovereign and the Olsen twins.

This week, the cult tees ($95) hit downtown fashion destination Seven New York (110 Mercer St., [646] 654-0156). We especially like "Cause me pain Hedi Slimane" and "Get yer freak on Giles Deacon." Check back soon for others to come, including "Do me daily Christopher Bailey" and "Do me in the park Marc."

* Naturally Beautiful: Green is chic. Going green that is. We especially love the hemp Nature v. Future OBI shirtdress ($225) and the Hoodlamb jacket ($235) made out synethic vegan lambswool at Organic Avenue, the eco-conscious LES boutique. Plus, the store stocks awesome organic beauty products such as the Rich Hippie/Dirty Rock Star organic perfume and the Your Right to Be Beautiful face cream. Organic Avenue, 101 Stanton St.; (212) 334-4593

I follow my own advice! Proof here.

2006-12-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

Structured, medium-sized tote bags with handles that are long enough to allow for both hand-carrying and shoulder-toting, are the most flattering size. They avoid looking slouchy and sloppy and neither underwhelm nor overwhelm most sizes and shapes (of people). So you won't look like a huge person carrying a tiny bag -- but at the same time you won't look like you're shlepping your life around with you.

So, Happy Birthday To Me yesterday, I bought myself a brand new structured top-handle medium-size bag. Shiny with gold hardware. Can be worn on the shoulder or carried in hand. Last night I went to a party and paired it with my crazy Miu Miu boots (seen here in the latest issue of Self Service Magazine)

and my new fitted and paneled knee-length Margiela black wool coat.

Welcome to the Black Parade.

Could you love a Monster Man?

2006-12-16T08:49:00.000-05:00

A round-up of some of today's biggest 'Monster Bands'. I mean, just in case you were wondering...

MONSTER MASHERS

By DANICA LO

December 14, 2006 -- LORDI

Sound: Balls-out rock straight from the '80s

Looks: They're from hell

Shtick: Lots of pyro, and Mr. Lordi wears animatronic wings.

MUSHROOMHEAD

Sound: Melodic industrial metal

Looks like: Dead alien dolls with fangs

Shtick: Most critically acclaimed, tend not to decapitate anyone.

SLIPKNOT

Sound: Platinum-selling heavy rap-metal

Looks like: Horror-movie rejects

Shtick: They call their fans maggots.

INSANE CLOWN POSSE

Sound: Rap-metal rage

Looks like: Psycho carnies

Shtick: High-drama live shows featuring chain saws and free-flying soda.

Haute List

2006-12-16T08:48:00.000-05:00

HAUTE LIST

By RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI and DANICA LO

December 14, 2006 --

Click here for Haute List Blog

Ugg! They won't die

THEY'RE the Ugg-ly trend that's hung around, amazingly, for four years - the giant fur boots women insist on wearing with everything, from jeans to skirts.

"Uggs are unbearable and need to leave town with the big glasses," says publicist and Kritik designer Jonathan Cheban. "Girls look like beasts walking down the street wearing them."

And yet ... they just won't GO AWAY.

Bloomingdale's? Sold out - and "we're not taking names because we don't know when they'll come in again," says a spokeswoman. Online? Bloomingdales.com projects an 89-day wait and zappos.com aren't shipping any more classic Uggs until Feb. 19, 2007.

The only way to wrangle a pair is to bid on eBay - where prices are currently around $150, or 25 percent higher than manufacturer's suggested retail - or overseas boutiques.

"We feel that this season particularly proves the permanence of these boots as a footwear staple," says brand spokeswoman Mary Slevin. "They're a trend that's managed to became a classic."

Ironic, since Uggs are practically the Spice Girls of the footwear world - platinum-selling, but no one you know will admit to actually liking them. The closest we could get to a testimonial? "Um, they're really practical," one wearer says. Function over form trumps all in the urban tundra.

- Danica Lo

Obsessions of the week

MORE FLASH THAN CASH: Save money and be good to the Earth this season by wrapping gifts in reusable or recyclable materials. Or "give a service any New Yorker would love: a free housekeeping visit from zenhomecleaning .com," says eco-stylist Danny Seo. "They use nontoxic products and even turn down the bed." Try this and other top Earth-friendly holiday tips from Seo's book "Simply Green Giving."

* PEACE OFFERINGS: Alex and Ani, famous for those expandable charm bracelets, has a new, genius design - a necklace that expands from 15 inches all the way to 30 inches. The dainty 18-karat gold charm necklace features a peace sign, fleur-de-lis and horn pendants, $175 exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue.

* PORTABLE LUXURY: Juicy Couture's Leather Ballerina Flats, $150 at eluxury.com, is a pair of supersoft foldable shoes that come packaged in a small, leather purse - perfect for packing on long plane trips and holiday vacations.

* SNOT-FREE: Graceful Services has the perfect way to help you kick that cold - an 80-minute decongestion massage that helps work the toxins out of your body by focusing on the right meridians. But be warned - no pain, no gain. The treatment hurts a little but actually cleared out our sinuses and head. $100, Graceful Service, 1097 Second Ave. (212) 593-9904.

* DIRTY GIRL: Jonathan Product's texturing Dirt was a runaway beauty best seller last year - now the long-locked can get in on the action with light-as-air Silky Dirt, $28 at sephora.com

* WINO SKIN: Carlo Mondavi, grandson of Napa winemaker Robert Mondavi, is using Grandpa's grapes to make face cream. Davi - the line of skin care - is available at Bergdorf Goodman and includes Le Grand Cru face cream, $175; Vine Fresh Lotion, $48.50; Moscato Purifying Cleanser, $38.50; and Harvest Mist Tone, $38.50.

Five hot tips for the holiday season

2006-12-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

Check out Fitsugar, where I provided five tips on how to look svelter this holiday season!

Also, check out my new work-blogging project, for general fashion interest: NY Post Fashion Blog.

Butt pads plus!

2006-12-07T20:30:00.000-05:00

HAUTE LIST

By SERENA FRENCH, RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI, and DANICA LO

December 7, 2006 -- The body bag

WHAT nature has neglected, now a $235 bag can correct.

The Premiere Line is a kit of silicone covers, pads and tape that will give you a new butt or boobs without costing an arm and a leg. Frederick's of Hollywood developed the product along with Cristina Ehrlich and Estee Stanley, stylists for Nicole Richie, Penelope Cruz and Jessica Biel, to get the perfection-challenged ready for the red carpet.

The white nylon packs come in two parts: The upper body kit contains double-sided fashion tape, two pairs of nipple-concealing silicone covers and a flex bra for backless or deep-plunge looks. The flex bra consists of two silicone strips, one for lifting and one for coverage.

The lower body kit has a few innovations: There's a low-rise short that holds everything in like a vacuum pack but doesn't feel thick like a wetsuit. The Pick Me Up Derriere bands look like stockings but push each cheek up from the bottom. But the Booty Pads take the tush over the top: a pair of silicone cheeks that pass the slap test.

"Just remember if you're going home after the hot date, take 'em out first," Ehrlich says.

Upper body kit, $125; lower body kit, $110, at Frederick's of Hollywood, King's Plaza mall, Brooklyn

- Serena French

Obsessions of the week

Hollaback bag: Forget the new album, and instead spend your money on Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. collection's new gorgeous black leather Venezia Bag, $725 at Henri Bendel.

*
Uggly boots: Thought Ugg boots were a passing trend? Think again.

Despite the fact that they may very well be the least attractive pair of shoes you have in your closet, there's no arguing about how soft and comfy they are.

And today the company opens their first U.S. retail store in SoHo at 79 Mercer St. between Broome and Prince, stocked with boots, slippers and the brand's first line of outerwear, including tailored trench coats and denim.

*
Wearing your gloss on your sleeve: This season's cutest compacts are lipglosses that double as charm bracelets. There's the KLS Lucky Charm Bracelet, $37, at Macy's; Dior Pretty Charms, $70, at eluxury.com; and Lancome Glossy Charms Bracelet, $40, at Lancome.

What a pear: A humble pear tree, originally planted on Peter Stuyvesant's farm, stood on the northeast corner of on 13th Street and Third Avenue for 220 years - "The Oldest living thing in New York City," declared Harper's Monthly in 1862 - gracing the front steps of Kiehl's apothecary until it was run over by a wagon in 1867. In 2003, Kiehl's replanted the tree - and this season, they've created a limited-edition Pear Tree Corner body cleanser and lotion ($15-$19.50 at kiehls.com) in its honor.

*
Ro, ro, ro: Italian xylography (um, that's woodcarving) artist Mariaelisa Leboroni has designed a nine-piece collection with ro handbags (robags.com) that will be auctioned off for cancer charity Team Continuum Monday at Nolita's Public.

- Raakhee Mirchandani and Danica Lo

TOP POPS

Anglo-fashion-philes, break out your plastic, because this week, for the first time, Topshop.com began shipping to the USA. For about $20 in shipping, you can don the togs of celebs such as Kate Bosworth, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Moss - who is in cahoots to design a line with the British megastore.

My Stylebook

2006-12-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

Here's the link to My ShopStyle Stylebook, where I'll be putting together new outfits every day!

Sign up for free and be my "friend" -- check out new updates and request outfits for special occasions!

ShopStyle!

2006-12-05T22:16:00.000-05:00

Check out my newest project -- creating "stylebooks" on ShopStyle.com, the brand-new Google for clothes!

They're literally a search engine of shopping sites -- no more visiting a bunch of different sites looking for the particular item you want. Now you can just go to one place.

So far ShopStyle's added 13 online retailers. By the end of January there will be 25, and they'll be adding 5-10 retailers every month until they get up to about 300 quality retailers!

You can join and create stylebooks -- saved outfits and categories of things you like! You can also be friends with other people with stylebooks -- be my friend! -- and look at what they've chosen. It's like MySpace for fashion fiends, you know?

Best of all? It's free.

Check it out! And find me -- and be my friend on ShopStyle.

If you have any suggestions on what kind of outfits you'd like to see me put together, don't hesitate to email me or leave me a comment! xx

Weekend Today, Saturday 2 December

2006-12-01T19:15:00.000-05:00

If you're up tomorrow morning around 8:30 a.m., tune in to NBC's The Today Show, weekend edition, where I'll be discussing How Not to Look Fat this holiday season!

Musing

2006-11-30T09:24:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I think I should rename my blog.

How about: How Not to Look Stupid?

How Not to Flash

2006-11-30T09:20:00.000-05:00

IT'S AN OPEN AND SHUT CASE

November 30, 2006 -- DEDICATED to Britney, Paris and Lindz - a list of how-to's for our favorite feeble-minded flashers everywhere.

How to get out of a car: If your car is low- like Paris Hilton's Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren - try the swing and tuck. Keep your knees and thighs together, and swing your legs from the car to the pavement. Then, tuck your skirt tightly against your body and get out, flashing only your smile to the waiting paparazzi.

How to wear underwear: What's a panty-hater to do? "Oh honey, that's easy," says Linda Becker, owner of lingerie mecca Linda's. "You want to go 'Commando' all the way - they make thongs and girl shorts that are 'better than nothing.' If you hate wearing thongs, On Gossamer panties are the best - I call them invisible panties because they don't show panty lines and they're the most comfortable panties out there."

How to go commando: The Anti-Panti (five for $10 at antipanti.com) is a 4-inch diameter cotton pad that adheres to the inside of your trousers, altogether replacing the need to fuss around in your panty drawer for the perfect pair.

How to use tit tape: Any skin-friendly double-sided tape will do. Cut into small squares and place tape along the seam of the fabric - avoid using one long strip for a more natural look. This way, nipples and other vital bits are well-covered. Sticky stuff difficult to remove? Try dabbing on a bit of nail-polish remover.

Get the look: Clubland

2006-11-30T09:15:00.000-05:00

TAKE STYLE TIPS FROM THESE INSPIRATIONS

November 30, 2006 -- TO the average Joe, the crowd at Room Service Tuesdays must look like an odd melange of Santa's elves, pretty waif Goths, and lollipop kids - with Glenda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West thrown in for good measure.

But while it may look like an oddball group, there is rhyme and reason behind these fashion choices. It's not merely enough to throw on a mermaid costume, a generous dose of glitter or a homemade toga. The best-dressed know that, just like fashion, the art of dressing up ought to be approached with a due sense of gravitas, with these inspirations and influences:

* Leigh Bowery (pictured), legendary designer and performance artist, has been, by far, the most influential aesthete on both the New York and London scenes in recent years. His outre top-to-toe hand-stitched costumes, facial piercings and out-of-this world use of color has inspired many modern takeoffs.

* Harlequin patterns, inherently colorful and flamboyant, make for standout tailored pieces, like capes, and go fantastically well with feathers, which are also wildly popular in all shapes and sizes.

* Vegas showgirls, their eye makeup, and their headpieces are a natural choice for exhibitionist clubgoers, both male and female.

* New Romantic Goth - think less scary versions of Marilyn Manson - was wildly popular in '80s London, and it making its comeback today in both clubs and on MTV.

* Victorian and Edwardian motifs in both clothing and grooming - like corsets and curls - have always influenced film noir, which, in turn, inspires clubgoers.

* The colorful and absurd - "The Cat in the Hat," large birds, religious motifs - are all fair game.

Celeb Look-a-locks

2006-11-30T08:16:00.000-05:00

CELEBRITY LOOK-A-LOCKS

By Danica Lo

November 30, 2006 -- ANY die-hard grooming junkie likely spends hours each week parked in the salon chair having her tresses meticulously washed and blow-dried to smooth helmet-ic perfection. For novices, the prospect of shelling out big bucks for a professional blow-out can be daunting - one false move with the round-brush could yield grandma or, worse, anchorwoman hair.

Luckily, celebrity hairstylist Paul Labrecque - whose clients include luxe-locked Lisa Ling, John Galliano, and Reese Witherspoon - has developed three distinct party-worthy blow-outs - the "Penthouse Sleek," the "Loose and Loungey" and the "Velvet Rope Volume" - that clears up any chair-side confusion.

Gisele Bundchen "Loose and Loungey": "This is black-tie chic," Labrecque says. "This is the most requested look for holiday parties - the abstract line of sultry, loose culs is very sexy and very of the moment."

Mena Suvari "Penthouse Sleek": "This is the most commonly requested blow-out in both my salons," Labrecque says. "The New York woman is sophisticated and prefers a hassle-free look that will last a few days."

Faith Hill "Velvet Rope Volume": "It's a very uncontrived look," Labrecque says. "It's loved by clients who feel the beat and want to run their fingers through their hair - or let someone else's hands run through their hair - all night long."

Blow-outs from $70 at Paul Labrecque, (212) 988-7816, paullabrecque.com

Where the Wild Things Are

2006-11-30T08:14:00.000-05:00

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

By Danica Lo

November 30, 2006 -- ONCE upon a time, there was an '80s and '90s downtown New York culture where Limelight's promoter reigned supreme, Danceteria was the place to be, and St. Marks Place did not have a Chipotle.

It was a time and place where men could be men (in drag, that is) and women may or may not have been born that way.

But what happened when these clubkids - those crazy-looking young people who made the city's nightlife legendary post-punk and pre-Giuliani - got older? Answer: They grew up into clubadults - creative forces to be reckoned with in fashion, media, film, art and dance who still like nothing more than a good party.

And thanks to a revival in both maximalist clubwear and New Romantics on the catwalk, those who love to get their freak on (emphasis on freaky) are having a moment again.

The growing fame and influence of designers like Gareth Pugh, a favorite of Anna Wintour who constructs clothing from, among other things, enormous balls; emergence of more and more dress-up mainstream bands like the Scissor Sisters, AFI, and Panic! At the Disco; and growing interest in early-'80s fashion has created a great and unmet demand for nightlife excitement.

Enter Susanne Bartsch, a 25-year veteran of the downtown party scene, who co-hosts Tuesday nights at Flatiron club Room Service with Kenny Kenny, one of the most legendary club personalities in New York. The main room hosts performances - "That's old school," Bartsch says. "We have all sorts of shows - artists, whatever, showcasing their talent" - and the adjoining strip club entertains its regular suited clients in one section while Bartsch and Kenny Kenny's dancers gyrate on spare poles.

Bartsch, who created the legendary Love Balls of the late '80s and early '90s, returned to party planning after a long absence from the nightclub circuit. "I left the scene before it was worn out," Bartsch says. About a year ago, while producing events for other people, "It was becoming very hard to see everybody," she says. "I wanted people I liked to come over and hang out - I wanted to see all my friends in one go."

Crashing through the complacent lull of nightlife in recent years, Bartsch's Tuesdays, which recently relocated from now-defunct club Happy Valley, is one of the most successful nights in town - so successful, in fact, that watching choreographer Jonte perform in the main room this week was akin to rush hour on the IRT.

And, just like 20 years ago, going out is all about the look. "What I do is definitely in the spirit of those days," Bartsch says. "But it's not those days, you know? Things are very androgynous now. And what I like about my parties is that you can come that way or not - it's not that you have to be dressed up."

Still, a quick glance around the room proves the maximalism of years bygone hasn't vanished. After all, this caliber of preening has been around in New York since the 1970s. These days, the handcrafted individualism demonstrated by Bartsch's friends and patrons flies squarely in the face of current Hollywood-stylist-driven mumbo-jumbo and investment-banker-style bottle-service bars.

"It has to be real," Kenny Kenny says. "And the music has to be modern. We're not about re-creating the '80s - we're about having modern music, modern performance, modern looks. It's modern and mixed. New York is the only place in the world you can live like this."

I didn't lose any weight... but...

2006-11-24T11:34:00.000-05:00

So I spent seven days last week doing a detox -- which included a three-day liquid fast.

You'd think that after not eating solid food for three days, I'd lose weight. No sir. But I do feel smaller. And I'm definitely less bloated. Bonus? After a few months of pretty intense stress and insomnia, I'm sleeping through the night for the first time in ages. And I'm definitely less stressed out at work -- which says a lot since I've been pretty high-strung for the last six months.

Here's the final result -- along with a few other detoxes my colleagues tried out.

SEASON'S CLEANING

By KATHERINE PUSHKAR, DANICA LO, MANDY STADTMILLER, RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI, and MARY HUHN

November 24, 2006 -- YESTERDAY'S caloric intake has probably already got you feeling a bit sluggish - and when the holi day parties kick in it'll only get worse. Now's the perfect time to sneak in a quick detox. Here are five cleansing courses for every budget and lifestyle. Get your mind, body and soul in shape for the hectic weeks to come - and better enjoy the retox.

YOGA WORKS' 7-DAY URBAN DETOX

138 Fifth Ave.; (646) 442-1478, yogaworks.com

What it is: Running from Dec. 3-9, the program starts with a holistic nutritionist consultation for personalized meal plan and life assessment, then continues with five yoga classes - three detox and two restorative.

Cost: $350

Reality check: The diet (no wheat, sugar, dairy, meat, gluten, caffeine) was easy enough - and the yoga was amazing. It was an actual workout, with sweat and sore muscles and everything. The best was the "in-class private," wherein a yoga instructor spots you for an entire class, adjusting your body into correct positions: For the first time I felt how yoga was supposed to feel.

Serenity high: The yoga made me feel taller, stronger, better and the candlelit restorative class was the most relaxing hour and a half of my life.

Detox low: Although the Yogi Detox tea they gave me was satisfying (I've even had it since), missing my daily large Lipton with milk caused afternoon headaches.

- Katherine Pushkar

EXHALE SPA 7-DAY CLEANSE

150 Central Park South; (212) 561-7400, exhalespa.com

What it is: Nutritionist-supervised three-day prep followed by a three-day liquid fast (including a toxin-absorbing fiber drink mix) and a final day of supervised fast-breaking. The diet is supplemented with five core fusion or yoga classes, an acupuncture detox treatment, and a fusion massage. Detox supervisors check in daily.

Cost: $600

Reality check: Top-notch cleanse where you see vivid results as they, ahem, exit your body. Liquid fasting may sound intimidating, but I never felt low-energy, just slightly loopy from chewing-withdrawal. In the end, it was much easier to stay on the straight and narrow knowing that all solid food was off-limits - there was no temptation to overeat or fudge measures.

Serenity high: Post-cleanse, for the first time in six months, I'm able to sleep through the night. I'm also much calmer, and have noticed a significant decrease in my day-to-day anxiety levels.

Detox low: Peeing a lot. A LOT.

- Danica Lo

"MEDITATIONS FOR MANIFESTING" BY WAYNE W. DYER

www.drwaynedyer.com

What it is: A CD to help you meditate even if you suck at meditating. Self-help guru Dr. Wayne Dyer (yes, the public TV guy) combines deep breathing, vocal exhalation and positive thinking to start and end your day in a fun little pseudo-trance.

Cost: $12

Reality check: Remember the first time you tried alcohol? Or sex? Or sex with alcohol? Pretty great, right? That's kind of what it's like to meditate for the first time. Even if you're clumsy and screw it up, it's still kind of awesome. When I finished with all the deep breathing and "ahhhhs," I had that glowy cheek thing I thought only came from a life of sin.

Serenity high: A literal buzz from all that inner peace and chakras and stuff.

Detox low: Friends annoyed that you won't stop talking about inner peace and chakras and stuff.

- Mandy Stadtmiller

CHOPRA CENTER & SPA AYURVEDIC BODY, MIND AND SOUL DETOX

Dream Hotel, 1710 Broadway; (212) 246-7600, chopracenterny.com

What it is: Ayurvedic doctor-supervised three-day massage, yoga and meditation plan that relaxes your body, quiets your mind and clears out the toxins from your body through special Indian oils, herbs and teas with a deep tissue massage, lymphatic drainage and diet of salads, fruits and soup.

Cost: $2,000; $1,500 if you don't stay at hotel.

Reality check: Three days, five blissful treatments and lots of snoring. The soothing, oily massages left me in a relaxation fog. And, while I didn't watch TV, talk on the phone or read a newspaper during my stay, I became increasingly fixated on food, lovingly staring at Ray's Pizza through my hotel-room window.

Serenity high: The hot Agni herbal wrap where the therapist coats you in Brahmi oil and delicious- smelling green herbs, wraps you burrito-style in steaming hot towels and a metallic silver top sheet and lets you cook. Icy-cold towels are placed on your head and face to keep you from overheating.

Detox low: Starvation. I "pigged out" and snuck an extra salad and soup the first night, two apples the second day.

- Raakhee Mirchandani

"THE CIMINELLI SOLUTION: A 7-DAY PLAN FOR RADIANT SKIN" BY SUSAN CIMINELLI

Susan Ciminelli Day Spa, the Penthouse at Bergdorf Goodman, 754 Fifth Ave.; (212) 872-2650, susanciminelli.com

What it is: A weeklong program with a diet of fresh vegetables, antioxidant fruits, low-fat protein, nuts and herbal teas. The daily routine includes skin care, yoga, deep breathing, aerobic exercise and abdominal massage.

Cost: $25 to sky's the limit. You can DIY with just the book, or add on a la carte treatments from the spa ($100 and up).

Reality check: I cleared my schedule for three days in order to shop, cook, do yoga, pay attention to the 10-minute twice-a-day beauty regime, and soak in baths. Breakfast with eggs and ground flaxseed scrambled in olive oil was better than I expected, but goat's milk yogurt and tart pomegranate seeds wasn't a good first meal. The treatments at the spa (lymphatic drainage massage, seaweed wrap) left me in a state of bliss, practically unable to form sentences.

Serenity high: When my co-worker, unprompted, asked if I had gotten a facial, because my skin looked great (I had a mini facial three days earlier). And I lost four pounds - an unexpected bonus.

Detox low: Not being able to have a glass of wine with a Sunday-night bowl of pasta was a drag.

- Mary Huhn

Shop NYC's best sales today!

2006-11-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

PLAN OF ATTACK!

By MARINA VATAJ, KIRSTEN FLEMING, DANICA LO, and RAAKHEE MIRCHANDANI

November 24, 2006 -- HERALD SQUARE

1. H&M (1328 Broadway and 34th Street; [646] 473-1165) Get up bright and early, because starting at 6 a.m., button-downs and chic sweater dresses are all on sale for up to 40 percent off. Special sales end at 11 a.m.

2. MACY'S (151 W. 34th St.; [212] 695-4400) March straight to Macy's as early as 6 a.m. and head to the seventh floor to collect Calvin Klein and Kenneth Cole coats at 40 percent off. Next, work your way down to the third floor, where you can snag some sensational Liz Claiborne sweaters for up to 50 percent off.

3. GAP (60 W. 34th St. and Broadway; [212] 760-1268) On your next shopping stop, drop into the lower level of the Gap - which opens at 7 a.m. - to get first dibs on sweaters, scarves and hats on sale for 30 percent off. Note: After noon, everything jumps up to regular price.

4. FOREVER 21 (50 W. 34th St.; [212] 564-2346) Trek over to Forever 21's third floor for sales racks filled with tanks and tops for up to 50 percent off, and on your way out, snatch some sporty, striped must-have sweaters for less than $30 on the first floor.

5. ALDO (15 West 34th St.; [212] 594-6255) Stomp on over to Aldo, where you'll find a large selection of luscious leather, knee-high boots for an extra 30 percent off already-reduced prices only until 10 a.m.

6. LORD & TAYLOR (424 Fifth Ave.; [212] 391-3344) Seal the best deals on the main floor and discover designer handbags like Calvin Klein, Betsy Johnson and Michael Kors on sale for 25 percent to 30 percent off, then proceed to the third floor for fantastic Ellen Tracy and Anne Klein sportswear at an extra 50 percent already-reduced prices.

- Marina Vataj

SOHO

If you're planning to conquer the concrete corral of commerce called SoHo, it's best to begin on Broadway - where the stores open earlier and have much more stock than the boutiques for which the nabe is known. And come the afternoon, they will be busier than the voices in Michael Richards' head.

1. Uniqlo (546 Broadway; [212] 966-5374) Start the treasure hunt at the casa of cheap cashmere, where from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. shoppers will receive 20 percent off all merchandise. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., this Japanese chain gives shoppers $15 off any items that are $75 or more with the coupon from its magazine (available at the store). The Wonka-esque wonderland has cashmere sweaters lining the first and second floors. Denim for $39 is downstairs, and pick up last-minute bags and women's accessories by the register.

2. Banana Republic (550 Broadway; [212] 925-0308) A few doors down, Banana Republic will award shoppers with a $25 gift card for every $150 spent.

3. Dean and Deluca (560 Broadway, at Prince St.; [212] 226-6800) Before descending into the belly of the beast on Prince Street, feed your own stomach at Dean and Deluca.

4. Intermix (98 Prince St.; [212] 966-5303) Chloe Mary Jane wedges are marked down to $399, from $740; Missoni Zigzag dream dress to $339, from $565; and select Sass and Bide jeans down to $159, from $230.

5. Club Monaco (121 Prince St.; [212] 533-8930) Don't bother with the Club Monaco on Broadway; this one is much less fussy - and less crowded. Get classic women's merino turtleneck and V-neck sweaters for $49, among many other markdowns.

6. DKNY (420 West Brodway; [646] 613-1100) DKNY sales stock from all other stores has been sent to its SoHo location. An additional 30 percent will be taken off all sale items (already reduced by 40 percent) which includes oodles of bags and shoes. As a bonus, the store is serving some bubbly to keep shoppers in the spirit.

7. Wink (115 Spring St.; [212] 334-3646) Take a quick detour to Wink for 30 percent off Rachel Pally dresses and tops starting at $198.

8. Reiss (387 West Broadway; [212] 925-5707) Hop back on West Broadway where U.K. chain Reiss is discounting select men's and women's items by 50 percent. This includes festively chic party dresses for New Year's Eve.

9. Legacy (109 Thompson St.; [212] 966-4827) After the bustle of West Broadway, head northwest to quaint and relatively quiet Thompson Street to Legacy. Everything from Issey is 20 percent off, and The Post gets action: Mention this article and they'll make it 25 percent.

10. Sacco (111 Thompson St.; [212] 925-8010) Two doors down get some luscious leather boots at Sacco where the whole collection of smart bags and shoes is 20 percent off during the November nonsense sale.

11. Millady's (162 Prince St.; [212] 226-9340) Wind down with a cheap and good bite at SoHo's best dive bar, Milady's, which is a favorite haunt of low-key celebs like the Wilson brothers and Johnny Knoxville.

- Kirsten Fleming

MEATPACKING DISTRICT

1. Diane Von Furstenberg (383 W. 12th St.; [646] 486-4800) Up to 30 percent off selected fall items means you'll score a great deal on DVF's most fashionable iconic wrap dresses of the season.

2. Girlshop (819 Washington St.; [212] 255-4985) With trendy, hard-to-find new items hitting the sale racks every day, visit today and often. Score a Kenneth Jay Lane chunky chain necklace and matching bangles at 30 percent off.

3. Jeffrey (449 W. 14th St.; [212] 206-1272) First round of select markdowns at this emporium of chi-chi-chic is 25 percent. Tip: Always scope Jeffrey's handbags and shoes first - the selection is small, but stellar, and popular sizes disappear fast.

4. Scoop NYC (430 W. 14th St.; [212] 691-1905) Scoop's ultimate collection of everyday wear for the just-edgy-enough fashionista is on sale - and it's the perfect opportunity to pick up warm woolly sweaters and some new frocks for one-piece easy winter dressing.

5. Carlos Miele (408 W. 14th St.; [646] 336-6642) Not only is cold-weather wear 30 percent off, but the sun-and-surf vacation-minded can still pick up summer merch at up to 70 percent off retail - look out for gorgeous Hollywood bombshell dresses, perfect for your next red-carpet turn.

6. Shelly Steffee (34 Gansevoort St.; [917] 408-0408) Shelly Steffee's shrine to urban twisty-minimalist cool gets marked down 30 percent Friday, so stock up on her great basics, like jersey tops, turtlenecks and quilted vests.

7. Catherine Malandrino (652 Hudson St.; [212] 929-8710) 40 percent off select fall merchandise means you can finally afford that gorgeous kimono wrap you've been eyeing all season. Move fast enough, and there might still be some much-coveted Cicada dresses still in stock.

8. Tracy Reese (641 Hudson St.; [212] 807-0505) Up to 60 percent off fall stock from grown-up-but-girly designer Reese - look for season staples like luxurious chunky long sweaters and pretty blouses with bows.

- Danica Lo

FIFTH AVENUE/MIDTOWN

1. Bloomingdale's (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street; [212] 705-2000) First, head up to the second floor and check out the jeans - Chip & Pepper, Joe's and Seven's are all 40 percent off. Then head downstairs to David Burke for a cup of coffee and something sweet - you'll need the energy for the rest of the day. But whatever you do, don't eat before trying on the jeans - that's just bad for your self-esteem.

2. Barney's (660 Madison Avenue at 61st Street; [212] 826-8900) Check out the Miu Miu, Dries van Noten and Marni rails, on the fourth floor and scoop up your full-priced favorites. The sale starts next week, and you can get it all price adjusted.

3. Bergdorf Goodman (754 Fifth Ave., at 58th Street; [212] 753-7300) Trade in your tired old soles in for a shiny new pair of pre-sale Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Fendi or D&G heels and boots discounted 30-40 percent off. The actual in-store sale starts Monday.

4. Henri Bendel (712 Fifth Ave., at 55th Street; [212] 247-1100) Don't be distracted by the pretty tubes and potions on the beauty floor and head straight upstairs, where Michael Kors and Alexis Hudson handbags are 30 percent off. And the Bendel's silk- or cashmere-lined long leather gloves are all 50 percent off till Sunday.

5. Saks Fifth Avenue (611 Fifth Ave., at 48th Street; [212] 753-4000) For cozy-but-cute loungewear, like Primp's adorable bedazzled frog hoodies and super-cool L.A.M.B. jackets, all discounted by 40 percent, head to the fifth floor.

- Raakhee Mirchandani

Swedish pineapple

2006-11-19T21:35:00.000-05:00

FYI: They sell pineapple plants at Ikea.

Chris Cornell, Rock God

2006-11-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

CORNELL, CHRIS CORNELL

By Danica Lo

November 19, 2006 -- 'I was lucky," says Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell of his recent motorcycle accident in which he was hit by a truck and flung 20 feet in the air. Before his body met the pavement - which it did, and hard - Cornell says, "I was sort of thinking, 'This is an actual accident. I hope it's not as bad as it feels like it's going to be.'"

It could have all been over for Cornell, one of the most iconic rock voices of our time, but he emerged almost unharmed.

Fortuitous timing for a close call. This month, Cornell, a founding father of grunge, lead singer of the now-defunct Seattle band Soundgarden, and initiator of the legendary early '90s collaboration Temple of the Dog, makes his big-screen debut of sorts as the first man since Paul McCartney to sing a James Bond theme song.

His throaty, epic ode to 007, "You Know My Name," plays musical foil to Daniel Craig's Bond in "Casino Royale." Featuring soaring orchestrations and near-crooning vocals, the song is a departure from Cornell's signature sound.

"They wanted a voice that fit well with his persona," Cornell says. "They were looking for a singer who was unapologetically male, someone with introspection in his voice but not afraid to be masculine."

Cornell cites two of his predecessors as inspirations: McCartney, who wrote and performed the theme to "Live and Let Die" (1973), and Tom Jones, who sang the theme to "Thunderball" (1965).

"I decided that I was going to sing it like Tom Jones, in that crooning style. I wanted people to hear my voice," Cornell says. "And 'Live and Let Die' is a fantastic song. Paul McCartney wouldn't have written it if not for that movie. I [also] wanted to write a song in its own universe. I knew I'd never have it again - a big orchestra - so I wanted to have fun with it."

The song represents a move that will surely propel him into the mainstream - in fact, lob him so far into the depths of international collective consciousness that his grinding, guitar-angst grunge days will seem like ancient history.

Much to the chagrin of his Soundgarden fans, however. "Chris Cornell is not the man or the singer he used to be," complains one on the Audioslave fan forum.

He's even been called a sellout for departing from his Seattle-sound roots - for seeking out emotions besides depressive angst. But while it's blatantly obvious Cornell's work has significantly evolved in the last 15 years, so what?

"I was referred to as the quintessential angry young man," Cornell says. "But some of it is being 22. It's healthy to get it out on stage. Emotion is emotion and it comes out in different ways. That changes with age. You figure out better ways to deal with it.

"To me, there were always infinite possibilities," he adds, "and now I'm singing a song in a James Bond film. As far as I'm concerned, I can do anything musically - the perception outside of that is none of my business."

This is what I did yesterday

2006-11-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

CHICK TAC TOE

By Danica Lo

November 16, 2006 -- This chicken may look like a birdbrain, but it can (and will) kick your butt - at tic tac toe.

It kicked mine.

The latest in a long line of tic tac talented poultry - remember the Chinatown chicken that could scratch X's and O's? - Ginger, played by one of a menagerie of 15 white leghorn chickens, takes up residence at Foxwoods casino this week through Nov. 22.

The chicks are such good players - one scratched out a win against this Post reporter - that the casino is offering $10,000 to anyone who can beat them. The parlor-game-playing poultry were raised in Arkansas by Bunky Boger and his son Kelly, owners of Casino Chicken.

Each hen - and "you have to use hens," says Kelly Boger, because "roosters only have one thing on their minds, and it's not playing tic tac toe" - plays 90 minutes at a time, pecking at a concealed light-up game board, whipping their human competitors.

Shvitzy uniform

2006-11-15T19:29:00.000-05:00

At Shvitz in Soho, you can get their own brand tanks, sweats, and tees embroidered free with words of your choice.

Here is my new Shvitz-brand Fashion Police uniform.

LOVES it!

How Not to Look Fat tip #78729

2006-11-15T19:22:00.000-05:00

How Not to Look Fat Tip #78729:
Don't wear a big chicken costume.

Skinny UGGs

2006-11-13T22:35:00.000-05:00

Finally, a way to wear UGGs without looking like you have fat legs! The new Sunrise boot has a zipper up the back and a slim-fitting leg that's still just as warm and fuzzy as the originals. Perfect with knee-length skirts and woolly tights for this winter! Cozy and yum.

Do I have an problem?

2006-11-13T22:22:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, after a few too many glasses of champagne, my friend Emmy and I went to a storefront psychic in Chelsea who told me that of the 13 colors I'm meant to have in my aura, I only had three -- and they were all grey! (I always knew I was a little bit broken...)

Anyway, she said that, in order to get more colors back in my aura, one of the things I should try to do is wear more colorful clothing.

Unfortunately, this is what my closet and my rails look like.

Black clothes through and through. I love black clothes. Not only are they slimming, but when I get up in the morning, the last thing I want to do is play matchy-matchy with my wardrobe. I love that everything I pull out of my closet and off a hanger will match.

So I explained all this to the sympathetic psychic. And she gave me that look -- that "Help me help you" look. And then she aquiesced and said that I should at least try to wear colorful underwear.

Okay.

Obsession of the week: House of Holland

2006-11-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

For a while now I've been obsessed with House of Holland, a print tee operation out of London that does funny rhymes with designer names. Like here, "Cause me Pain, Hedi Slimane" -- Hedi is the much-heralded head designer at Dior Homme. And "Do Me Daily, Christopher Bailey" -- Christopher Bailey is the head designer at Burberry.

Loves it.

The thing is, they're only available in the UK at Dover Street Market.

Which means I am heading to London shortly. It will be sale season soon, and I need to pick up a few bottles of my favorite perfume, which has just recently become completely unavailable in the USA, and a few tees at the same time.

The Rasmus free show in NYC

2006-11-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

Check out their MySpace page by clicking above for details on how to get on the list for The Rasmus free secret show in NYC on November 21.

The lady of the house

2006-11-12T22:53:00.000-05:00

This lovely lady greets all visitors at the Time Warner shopping center at Columbus Circle.

There's a Borders upstairs -- maybe someone could bring her a copy of my book.

Hackney/Dalston shout-out

2006-11-10T16:50:00.000-05:00

Just for old-times sake: I walked out of my building in midtown Manhattan today and saw this (above), a #38 double decker bus from London, parked outside.

(London buses look slimmer than New York buses. Maybe it's because they're taller.)

Momma's got some new shoes

2006-11-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

There's nowhere in the world like London for amazing affordable fashion. So, while Topshop doesn't deliver outside of the UK, Office and Faith, two of my favorite online footwear retailers from the UK do. Theirs are the sites I turn to when I need a cool-shoe fix.

So here are the two pairs I just got. Some people may sneer at my granny-ish choice of footwear, but believe you me, these are the cool shoes to have! All the cool boys and girls in Paris and London are wearing modified versions of jazz shoes (both pointy and round-toe), and it's only a matter of time before these super-comfortable clothes-for-your-feet make it to these shores. So I picked these up online from Office (which for serious shoe connoisseurs should be a mandatory visit because they also stock Poste Mistress shoesies).

Ta da.

(Okay, the pointy ones aren't really slimming at all, truth be told, but they are so cool and kind of sparkly distressed leather. And the jazz shoe ones are surprisingly not fattening. Who knew.)

More reasons

2006-11-06T22:48:00.000-05:00

More Reasons Why I Need My Own Book

This weekend my mom told me that Todai, one of the most famous seafood All-You-Can-Eat buffet chains from Hong Kong, recently opened a restaurant in New York.

So, naturally, I had to eat there immediately.

Tonight I had dinner there -- it's near KoreaTown on 32nd Street between 5th and Madison Avenues -- and it was super-yummy! Now my tummy is so distended I look, oh, about 7 months pregnant. To hide my sushi-and-fried-fish-baby, I'm going to reread the Feast chapter of my book.

Good night and good luck.

Holy Shvitz!

2006-11-05T08:54:00.000-05:00

HOLY SHVITZ!

By Danica Lo

November 4, 2006 -- DOWN on Thompson Street, marked out front by the only Pepto-pink phone booth in the city, the shrine of swanky sweats Shvitz does swift business.

Though it's only been open for a few short weeks, proprietor Leslie Hall has already placed multiple reorders for the in-high-demand luxe-priced thermals, hoodies and sweatpants from hard-to-find celeb-fave labels like Primp, Grail, Rebel Yell, Hummel and Joystick.

Just like so many women in New York - and the customer who marched into the store during our interview demanding to know when the back-ordered heart-printed pink Primp thermal she's waitlisted for would arrive - Hall has long been obsessed with posh sweats.

"I work in marketing and I was traveling all the time, flying everywhere," Hall says. "On the plane I'd read the tabs and I saw all the celebrities in all these great, comfortable clothes - and I thought, why can't I find this stuff?"

Thus Shvitz was born - a jewel box of a boutique, all blinged out with mirrored chrome walls, Roman columns and even a baby-pink Mac desktop.

"The detail in the clothing is astonishing," Hall says. "That eagle sweatshirt from Torn? It has hidden pockets. And the V-neck sweatshirt behind it is cut like a cashmere sweater.

"I'm all about detail, and I believe it's all about presentation," she continues. So she hired Hilary White, an award-winning interior designer, to instill that same meticulousness in the shop décor. Built to resemble a modernist boudoir, the space is like every girl's fantasy vanity come to life.

Plus, "we make sure we always have candy and dog snacks on hand," Hall says. "And we monogram our own-brand crystallized tees, tanks and sweats for free." Treats and monogramming? We're sold.

Shvitz's biggest seller is Primp - "There's a crazy waiting list for Primp's hearts and arrows print," Hall says. "And our next Primp shipment will have horse heads and bits in lavender."

Fancy sweats come at a premium -$80 for a bling-y thermal top and up to $245 for a cashmere hoodie - but think of how much you'll save on shipping buying locally instead of ordering from Los Angeles.

SWEATIQUETTE

By Danica Lo

November 4, 2006 -- IF Left Coast celeb-wear is a barometer of casual-wear days to come, fancy sweats are the next flip-flop - soon sure to be inappropriately worn in the boardroom, to functions at the White House and dinners at Nobu. Here's our guide on what to do and when to don't:

- When in doubt, don't: Not sure whether metallic Chevron-striped track pants will match the carpet at your consulting firm? Slip on a pencil skirt instead.

- Butt err on the side of caution: For truly casual Fridays, plain Juicies may be acceptable, but stay away from rear-end writing, if you expect respect.

- Low-end high-end: Expensive sweatpants tend to be very low-cut. Make sure to get an extra-long top to cover your crack.

- Best bang for the buck: The most versatile pieces at Shvitz are definitely the slim-cut zip-up hoodies; less embellished ones can be layered for the winter and worn as business-casual when paired with dressier pieces.

- Crazy rabbit: Loud prints like Primp's sellout frogs and bunny rabbits should be saved for your spare time and weekends. The goofier and cuter sweats are, the more casually they ought to be worn.

The Lips Have It

2006-10-31T08:48:00.000-05:00

Everybody always asks me about this, and Sandra says I should blog about this, so here it is.

I've tried almost every lip gloss on the market. No, seriously, I have -- I've been sent samples at work from nearly every major cosmetics brand in the world. And, truth be told, there are so many great lip glosses and plumpers and colors on the market right now. Some of my friends swear by DuWop's Lip Venom, some adore Freeze 24/7's lip plumping glosses, others live and die for Stila (one of my friends told me how she was so up the creek for Stila lip gloss, she paid $60 for just one tube in Australia!). And if you haven't tried the fruity smelling glosses from The Balm, you're definitely missing out.

But for me, for everyday and photographic purposes, nothing tops -- wait for it -- Maybelline's Wet Shine Diamonds lip gloss. Seriously. Maybelline. It kicks every other lip gloss's ass as far as I'm concerned.

The combination of color and gloss and shimmer and glitter in Maybelline's Wet Shine Diamonds gloss has the power to transform my face. My friend R at work always comments on how "different" I look with makeup on -- when all I do is slick on some Wet Shine Diamonds.

No other lip gloss photographs as well. No other lip gloss gives me instant Angelina Jolie lips. No other lipgloss stays on as long. No other lip gloss costs so little for so much! I buy it in bulk and live in mortal fear that they'll discontinue my color.

Still, different strokes for different folks. But give Maybelline Wet Shine Diamonds a shot -- it's hot stuff.

Go team!

2006-10-31T08:23:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't heard: yesterday, semi-annual national publishing stats were released and they show that for the first time, the New York Post has overtaken the Daily News in New York's tabloid wars. Now we're the fifth most-read paper in the country!

(I'm a little proud.)

This is your brain. This is your brain on...

2006-10-31T08:02:00.000-05:00

WHITNEY'S MAKEOVER TIPS

By Danica Lo

October 31, 2006 -- THE haggard drug addict look is soooo 2005.

Whitney Houston stepped out Sunday night looking radiant and better than ever after her stint in rehab and ditching bad-news hubby Bobby Brown. How did Whitney go from strung-out to sexy? We cracked her secret:

1. Stop doing drugs. Ever seen a drug addict with really great skin? Even coked-up supermodels have to pile on the pancake makeup.

2. Stop hanging out with people who like drugs, or are like drugs. Like, say, nothing-but-trouble husbands.

3. Drink water instead of doing drugs. "Whitney looks hydrated, with a healthy look," says Mzia Shiman, an aesthetician at OC61 salon. "She's taking care of her skin with the right treatments - her skin appears poreless, and the only way to achieve poreless skin, despite makeup tricks, is through continuous microdermabrasion facials.

4. Don't stay up all night doing drugs. "She's clearly not losing sleep over Bobby Brown, since her eye area is smooth and de-puffed," Shiman says.

5. Don't have druggie hair. "Whitney has embraced her new life as a strong single woman with a fresh and updated shorter do," says Louise O'Connor, owner and creative director of OC61 salon. "The heavy swept bangs keep it sexy and young while the lightened color and gold highlights brighten her face."

6. Work out instead of doing drugs. Houston's always had a killer body, and wearing a form-fitting dress - not body-engulfing baggy clothes - shows off her fab physique to its utmost.

7. Use warm makeup, not drugs. "Whitney Houston is about women taking control and empowering their lives," says celebrity makeup artist Napoleon Perdis. "The lips are feminine with a warm copper lipstick and hydrating lacquer for shine and sparkle - she's ready to tell her story!"

8. And, finally, stop doing drugs. It helps you get another record contract.

How NOT to not look fat

2006-10-30T09:03:00.000-05:00

This daylight savings time is really messing with me. Yesterday I had a poke around the Soho shops and before I knew it, it was super-dark outside and I decided to head home, have an early night. When I got home, it was pitch black outdoors and I was exhausted, so I thought I'd go to bed... until I looked at my clock and saw it was only 8:00 p.m.! Thanks, DST.

Anyway, I popped by some of my favorite stores yesterday -- Seven New York, APC, Via Bus Stop, and Kiki de Montparnasse -- and I haven't been shopping in ages, so it was super-nice to see all the new fall-winter merch in stock.

There are so many nice things in shops for fall! But, unfortunately, a lot of the things I loved loved loved are definitely not slimming! Like this empire-waisted deep-V plunge mini from Kiki (top right) -- sooooo cute, but not for girls with boobs or anyone with big thighs!

I also love this dress from APC, which is available, in store, in more colors than just pink and black. The super-light fabric and subtle ladylike not-at-all fussy pleating vertically down the entire length of the dress ought to be slimming, but because it's cut straight up-and-down, it's not really made for anyone who has boobs or hips. Gorgeous, though.

I also love this Jean-Pierre Braganza chunky woolly sweater wrap top, which can be worn as a traditional belted cardigan (bulky but so nice!) or wrapped around your neck (hot!). It's not the geometry of the origami -- I have that great Rick Owens wrap cardi that can be worn in similar ways. It's just that since this particular knit is so bulky in and of itself, wrapping it makes it look rather cocoon-like. Who knows, maybe I'll buy it anyway, it's so gorgeous. Anyway, I always think it's a good idea to invest good money in knitwear -- I tend to wear my favorite sweaters and cardigans year after year, since good shapes never really go out of style.

Fashion Police

2006-10-26T09:16:00.000-04:00

I know I've been slacking on this blog a little lately, but it's because I've just started a couple of new projects -- one of which... ta-da! I'm the newest addition to US Weekly's Fashion Police roster!

Check out the November 6th issue of the magazine or check out some of the funny outfits online at US Weekly Magazine. Hurrah!

The never ending quest for Faith Hill Hair

2006-10-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

Dreams do come true, people!!

A PRETTY PENNY

By Danica Lo

October 26, 2006 -- FOR less than $50, you can fill your bathroom with all the beauty tools you need - nail file, eyelash curler, hairbrush and a hair dryer.

Or you can spend $900 on a diamond nickel-coated fiberglass nail file, brushes made from boar bristles, and a blow-dryer that not only dries your hair, it also makes it smell good.

This bathroom bling - including a $65 makeup brush and $35 tweezers - promises to make ordinary beauty tools extraordinary. But are they really worth the extra bucks? We put these little bits of luxury to the test, seeing how well a $900 morning routine stands up against a $50 primping.

FHI Heat Nano-Fuzeion Salon Pro 2000

At fhiheat.com in early December

Regular hair dryers: About $20

Besides the "nano silver technology" that extends the life of this hair dryer to 1,500 hours (compared to the typical 800 hours), the coolest thing about this machine is that using it will eliminate bacteria, toxins, static and - wait for it - smells from your hair. No time to shampoo? A quick blast from this baby will kill any hint of smoky nights. And the diffuser is powerful enough to get my stick-straight Asian hair to hold a curl.

Verdict: It isn't just hot air; we're sold.

Jonathan Beauty Water

Price: $95 at sephora.com

Brita filter: $19.50

Screw this eyesore contraption onto your showerhead, and instead of heavily chlorinated New York City water, you'll be bathing in reality-TV hairstylist-approved purified water. While some testers lamented that their hair and skin behaved out of character when deprived of their regular diet of waterborne chemicals, others found that, with long-term use, their hair and skin became softer and colored-treated locks retained their hues far longer.

Verdict: Eh. We can definitely live without it, especially since it clashes with our chrome fixtures.

Talika heated eyelash curler

Price: $33 at sephora.com

Generic eyelash curler: $1.99

"If I use a regular lash curler, I end up curling my eyelid," says our tester. If you're afraid of pinching your delicate bits, this gently heated (99 degrees) curler will infuse your lashes with just the right bit of non-kinky curly-wurly. Won't pinch or pull like normal lash-curlers, and the curl will last all day.

Verdict: Perfect for the faint of heart, delicate of eye and unsteady of hand.

Mason Pearson Pure Bristle brush

Price: $146 at beauty.com

Plastic drugstore brush: $1.99

Pure boar bristles leave hair as silky and smooth as silk - no joke! Eliminates static and calms even the severest case of the frizzies. Plus, it promises to last a whole lifetime. Verdict: Makes our hair gleam like black ice - worth every penny.

Rubis Slant Colani tweezer

Price: $35 at beauty.com

Generic tweezer: $1.99 at drugstores

Made from non-acidic, non-magnetic stainless steel, each pair of these Swiss tweezers undergoes a 40-step hand-finishing procedure - including a final, microscopic adjustment - that guarantees that you'll be able to grab even the tiniest hair. Bonus: comes with a cap!

Verdict: Obessive eyebrow-tweezers - you know who you are! - will love these.

Clarisonic skin care brush

Price: $195 at Henri Bendel (712 Fifth Ave.)

Regular facial exfoliator: from $1 at drugstores

If this "sonic oscillation face brush" looks suspiciously similar to something else that lives in your bathroom - hint, it's your Sonicare toothbrush - that's because they share the same daddy, the Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, who invented both. Waterproof for in- and out-shower usage, the brush deep-cleanses, massages and exfoliates the skin, oscillating at 300 movements per second. "I have really oily skin and never use moisturizer," says our tester. "But when I use the Clarisonic, the moisturizer absorbs and I don't feel like there's an oily slick on my face."

Verdict: Good for problem skin, but clear complexions can stick to the old-fashioned washcloth.

Diamancel nail and foot files

Price: $28-$48 at blissworld.com

Regular nail files: 99 cents for, like, ten

These industrial-grade diamond nickel-coated fiberglass files don't come cheap, but then again, they sure beat fake $2.99 pumice stones and dime-a-dozen nail-destroying emery boards from your local drugstore. Each one is designated for a specific purpose: No. 5 buffs away the hardened skin on the sides of the nail, No. 10 is great for getting the corns at the top of your toes, and No. 1 is great for re-edging weak nails that are prone to breakage from regular files.

Verdict: Strictly for special-needs nails, perfectionists and the very rich.

Kevyn Aucoin large makeup brush

Price: $65 at kevynaucoin.com

Generic brush: Free with blush purchase

Made with all-natural bristles and topped with a signature burgundy acrylic handle, this easy-to-use, luxuriously soft brush won the Allure Magazine "Best of Beauty" award. It applies blush evenly and doesn't shed - but what makes it worth the money is its sheer aesthetic beauty.

Verdict: Definitely a luxury, not a necessity.

Reminiscent of the West Coast

2006-10-22T23:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight I had dinner with some college friends, including G, who's this super-talented actress I went to school with -- she currently lives in LA and she's going to be big one day. Big star on the rise, people!

Anyway, we were eating burgers and fries and drinking red wine and champagne at one of my favorite local restaurants, Le Gamin, and we were reminiscing about how, when I was in Hollywood for a week, she and I went to a friend's birthday party. It was a party for a screenwriter, lots of aspiring screenwriters, actors, and other industry folk. And I remember, most of all, more than anyone I met or anything about the bar, that no one drank anything... and no one ate any birthday cake.

I mean, how sad is that? Not eating birthday cake at a birthday party because you're frightened of gaining an ounce? And then G told me a story about a party she went to which had a full spread of amazing Chinese food from one of the best restaurants in town -- and no one ate a thing. Actually, an actress actually walked up to G and said to her (she was eating), "It must be nice, you know, to be able to eat in public."

Seriously.

UNIQLO

2006-10-21T11:34:00.000-04:00

TURNING GAP-ANESE

By Danica Lo

October 21, 2006 -- CALL it Trader Joe's for clothes. UNIQLO, a k a "the Japanese Gap," which is set to open its 36,000-square-foot American flagship store in SoHo mid-November, has been teasing the palates of cheap-but-chic in-the-know New Yorkers since early September with pop-up and traveling "container" shops all over the city.

This Sunday, the traveling trailer of Japanese basics - denims, wools and cashmeres in every color of the rainbow - visits the Columbia University campus, it's third-to-last stop before the downtown store opens to the masses.

In the land of the rising sun - where die-hard water aficionados consume 80,000 bottles of $2,000-per-gallon spring water daily, a steak dinner-for-one can easily run upwards of $350, and an elaborate kimono can go for as much as $200,000 - UNIQLO is a cultural anomaly. But just as the Japanese raised the West's deep-frying bar to a whole new level (tempura), they've also perfected the practice of selling wardrobe basics at bargain prices.

In the market for a simple winter hat? You can pay $18 for an acrylic pompom cap at American Apparel - or just $10.50 for UNIQLO's knitted lamb's wool. How about a warm winter parka? Gap's $168 men's hooded utility coat is 100 percent unfilled cotton; UNIQLO's down-filled coat with detachable hood is just $98.

Founded in 1984, UNIQLO has expanded far beyond its Hiroshima roots. Today, the company has 730 wildly successful stores all over the world owing, largely, to word-of-mouth and inconspicuous branding - none of the clothes bear logos, and the minimalist nature of the corporate aesthetic is a subtle trademark in and of itself.

Where else can you buy true Japanese denim for just $39.50 a pop? And cashmere gloves for $19.50?

Basic doesn't have to mean boring, either. UNIQLO has commissioned Japanese artists to create limited-edition pop culture T-shirts for the traveling container stores and the pending flagship - for $15, you can purchase a true collectors' item, a little piece of authentic Japanese streetwear.

Container store dates and locations:

Tomorrow: Columbia University, 110th Street and Broadway

Oct. 28: Astor Place at Lafayette Street

Nov. 5: 17th Street and Broadway

Nov. 6-10: UNIQLO flagship store location, 546 Broadway, between Prince and Spring streets

Pop-up shop locations:

Rockefeller Center: 30 Rockefeller Plaza on the Concourse shopping level; Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Upper West Side: Broadway between 79th and 80th streets; Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Team Sebelia

2006-10-19T09:34:00.000-04:00

Super-super-super happy that Jeffrey Sebelia won Project Runway season 3!

Last night I dropped by the official Project Runway season finale screening and party hosted by HRH Tim Gunn where I watched the finale in a room full of P.R. stars past and present -- like Jay McCarroll, Austin Scarlett, all the contestants from this season, their family and friends. Sure beats watching the finale alone on my sofa, huh?

Highlight of the evening? Meeting and talking with Malan Breton, a real stand-out fellow from this season, the one with the laugh and funny accent. He's super-nice, outgoing, charismatic, and ultra-down-to-earth. Loves it!

Obsession of the day

2006-10-17T18:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight on MTV: "True Life: I'm a Staten Island Girl"

TV doesn't get any better than this.

STATEN ISLAND FOR DUMMIES

By Danica Lo

October 17, 2006 -- 'STATEN Island girls stand out wherever they are," says Danielle, 21, an aspiring actress who's desperate to shake her hard-core New York-ese accent. "People know. They look at us and they say, 'Staten Island,' because we have that we're-too-good-for-the-rest-of-the-world attitude."

"True Life: I'm a Staten Island Girl," which airs tonight at 10, is the latest installment of MTV's documentary series - following in the footsteps of past series gems like "I Have Tourette's," "I'm Addicted to Crystal Meth," "I'm a Competitive Eater" and "I'm on Steroids."

It may be hard to believe that living across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge ranks right up there with drug addiction and neurological disorders, but the trials and tribulations of dialectically challenged Danielle, terrified-of-dying-alone Angela, and mall-addict Lauren are nothing to sneeze at, either. "Girls are vicious on this island," Danielle says. "If you don't know a girl, you don't like her."

As MTV follows them to the promised land - uh, Manhattan - to pursue their respective dreams, the girls all fret that they won't "be accepted because I'm from Staten Island," as Lauren puts it. They way they make it sound, S.I. might as well be a foreign country.

"Nobody in my family has really left," Danielle says. "I have everything I've ever wanted here. I drive a Lexus truck."

Other pearls of wisdom from the forgotten borough:

"If a girl is pretty, she's automatically a bitch," Danielle says.

If an S.I. girl goes to Boston, everyone will think she's a gangster. This happened to Danielle.

Staten Island guys - Angela's type - have spiky hair and big muscles. They go to the tanning salon, and drink protein shakes.

When you're 35, no guy will want you anymore. "These looks won't last forever," Angela says.

While living in Manhattan would be a "wonderful life," staying on Staten Island gives you "stability," Lauren's friends counsel her when she declares she's moving there.

Cazals

2006-10-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

Sometimes my inner drag queen rears its head and I must have bling.

Of course, one of my favorite How Not to Look Fat tips is to wear bling on your skinny extremities -- a good dose of diamonds on your skinny wrists and a good tiara will make your limbs look longer and your hair look taller (Or, at the very least, will distract attention away from your back fat).

I picked up these vintage Cazal sunglasses last night at i heart nyc.

I wonder if blinging out my temples will make me look thinner.

Spray-Can Saints

2006-10-15T09:09:00.000-04:00

SPRAY-CAN SAINTS

By Danica Lo

October 15, 2006 -- 'My mom still thinks I'm the biggest loser and the worst- dressed person ever," says legendary graffiti artist Claw, who has an eponymous clothing line and works as the fashion director of Swindle magazine. "But if I ever marry a doctor? Then I'll be a success."

Born and raised in Queens, Claw's signature "claw" throw-up (graffiti that falls, in scale, between a small "tag" and a giant "piece") was one of the most dominant visual street images of the mid-'90s.

"There was something in my life that I felt like I was missing," she says. "I didn't feel like I was here. Graffiti made me feel like I could do anything.

"You're walking, there's no one around - it's just this private little world," she adds. "It's a wild feeling of really being connected to your surroundings - you can just take a little piece, and it's yours."

These days, her trademark claw adorns T-shirts, bomber jackets, jewelry, hats and handbags sold at some of the most exclusive boutiques in the world - like shrine-to-cool Colette in Paris.

What about her work on the street?

"Do I really need to bomb the streets if people are wearing a claw on their chest?" she asks. "I don't know."

Since Claw has stopped bombing (writing illegal graffiti), she's reluctant to divulge many details about her prior pursuits. But with this week's pending DVD release of documentary "Infamy," which features her as one of six of America's most prolific graffiti writers, she may not be able to put her shadowy past that far behind her.

"I was really honored to be part of the film," Claw says. "It was time for me to tell my story - and I wanted to step up for the girls."

The documentary, directed by Doug Pray, who's previously made films about the Seattle grunge scene and hip-hop DJ culture, offers a voyeuristic peek into the worlds of six graffiti writers: Claw, Saber, Toomer, Jase, Earsnot and Enem - street legends from New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

The film follows its subjects as they scale walls, climb fences, and spray-paint walls, bridges, doorways and trains. The writers are well aware that their art is considered by many to be a blight and an eyesore, but they are mostly unapologetic.

"Graffiti belongs illegally," says L.A.-based Toomer, "TKO [his crew] is not a gang and it's not a Boy Scout troop - it's a bunch of vandals hanging out together."

"I don't want anybody telling me what to do," says New York's Earsnot, who's filmed openly tagging all over the East Village. "You want to take that chance of getting caught. And I'm going to do it again and again and again. You can make laws, but that doesn't mean that anyone's going to follow them."

Graffiti is ultimately a form of self-expression that's akin to marking territory - a public, in-your-face subversive, illegal assertion of street cred and the desire to leave a lasting mark somewhere, anywhere.

Toomer compares it to the monument at Mount Rushmore, where sculptor Gutzon Borglum dynamited a mountain sacred to the Lakota Sioux - they called it Six Grandfathers - in order to promote tourism to South Dakota.

"Why did people carve the rocks? Did they get a big kick out of doing big faces or did they want to leave a mark?" Toomer asks. "Who gave them permission to mark that s-- t up?"

Well, in this case, it was President Calvin Coolidge and a decree from Congress. But we get his point, anyway.

How not to cut calories

2006-10-15T08:57:00.000-04:00

How not to cut calories: Have Sardinian Ice Teas at 4:30 p.m. with your friend Emmy at Otto, eat two slices of pizza at Ray's, then walk down to the automat on St. Mark's and eat corn dogs for no reason other than for the novelty of buying food out of a 1960s-era machine. Deee-lish!

How to cut calories

2006-10-13T00:03:00.000-04:00

How to cut calories: Stop drinking, like my friend Tom Sykes. His new book, "What did I do last night?" will be your inspiration. Call it a reality check.

Lily fair

2006-10-11T00:06:00.000-04:00

Saw Lily Allen's first-ever American gig at the Hiro Ballroom tonight. She's so cute!

Here's a little ditty -- taped especially for Chris, who loves this song...

Me = Like a broken record

2006-10-09T23:48:00.000-04:00

The Rasmus' new album Hide From the Sun is out today in America. If you haven't got one already, definitely pick one of up at your local store or order one online.

I mean the following statement in the best possible way (because it applies to me too): If you (like me) love 80s and early-90s rock -- like Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Warrant, early Nirvana -- if you like good, solid driving music you can sing at the top of your lungs to as you're tearing down the highway. If you are tired of all the bizarre new hipster dipster teens pretending to play rock music? You'll love this album.

For a sampling, check out The Rasmus Myspace.

If you can get somewhere to see them live, even better.

New adventures underway

2006-10-09T23:15:00.000-04:00

Sooooo this blog has been a bit light on the How Not to Look Fat tips recently since I've been veering more into the How to Have Fun and Here is What I do Everyday territory, but don't worry! How Not to Look Fat is coming back, slowly but surely.

See, recently I realize that I don't do a whole lot. (Yeah, my mom is reading this right now and is thinking to herself, "I told you so!" Ok, mom, you're always right, I know.) My co-worker, R, is, on the other hand, super-busy and super-motivated. Like, she takes language classes, goes on field trips, spends loads of quality time with her immediate and extended family, travels constantly, volunteers 12-20 hours a week, is involved with a thousand charities, goes to screenings, legitimately and semi-scientifically tests out new products, runs with her dog twice a day, goes to the gym, shops like a fiend -- AND she gets a solid 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night.

What.

It's taken me a long time to realize she does so much.
Me? I go to work (late) and sit around, write a story, answer a few hundred emails and field a few dozen phone calls a day and I'm pooped. Then I come home and make a mess in my apartment, avoid answering the phone all night, shoot off a few emails, watch some primetime TV, read a couple of chapters in whatever book is by my bedside (there are, like, 8 books I'm in the middle of right now... I haven't finished a book in months!), and pass out. Not so productive.

So as of this afternoon I've made an autumn resolution.

My resolution: I am going to stop dicking around and wasting time. I am going to do stuff.

So there are going to be many adventures on the horizon (lots of which, I am sure, will be advertantly or inadvertantly geared to Not Looking Fat).

Like, I'm going to start actually going to the gym. I am so embarrassed that I joined the gym across the street from my apartment in January and I have been there a total of -- wait for it -- once. It's October now. That will help me not look fat.

And I'm going to start taking outside classes. Like yoga and stuff. That will also help me not look fat.

I haven't really lined up other activities yet, because, let's be honest, my interest level in most things is quite low (I'm not jaded, I'm just boring), so I guess I'll try to rev up my enthusiasm for stuff like taking roadtrips, going to shows, and generally being an active, productive human being. Maybe I'll even go to stores to buy clothes instead of shopping online. Wow. One tiny step for woman, one giant leap for Danica-kind.

In the meantime, while I decide what to do, I'm going to watch this music video on loop. It's Lee Ryan and his song, "How Do I" -- and I'm going to see Lily Allen play Hiro tomorrow night. So excited!

I'm a Happy Victim

2006-10-09T21:31:00.000-04:00

For years I've been obsessed with photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki's ongoing project, "Happy Victims," wherein Tsuzuki documents people's obsessions with specific designers.

On the left here is the apartment of a buddhist monk who keeps a small pied a terre in Tokyo which he visits once a month to shop and stow his purchases -- which, for the most part, are Comme des Garcons. When out of monk's robes, he wears only Comme. He is a Garconiste.

Here, on the right, is the apartment of a woman who is obsessed with and compulsively collects Anna Sui. She also admits to owning a slew of Anna Sui cosmetics.

Anyway, I am obsessed with this photo documentary project, and have been for some time. So I got to thinking, and I always like to ask people, "If you had to choose one designer to wear, fill your home with, and live the aesthetic of, which designer would you choose?"

Me, hands down, I'd choose Martin Margiela. It baffles me how every season, whether totally wacked out or completely subtle and understated, Margiela can predict exactly what I want to look like. Here are some of my favorite looks from his Spring 2007 collection, which he just showed during Paris fashion week this October.

Which designer would you choose?

Planet Rock

2006-10-08T10:37:00.000-04:00

PLANET ROCK

By Danica Lo

October 8, 2006 -- IF you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere - unless you're from over there, like Europe or China.

Just because a band hits big in their home country, they've got no guarantee American audiences will ever want to hear them croon their latest single. While big-time American artists are usually well-received abroad, their fame seems to be rolling down a one-way street - that stops at the border.

Because for every artist that's become a major star in the rest of the world before finding success on our shores - Sean Paul, Kelis, Shakira and the Spice Girls - there are countless musical casualties by the wayside. Just think of British superstars like soul crooner Robbie Williams and boy band Westlife, both of whom topped charts across the pond, but barely leaked into pop-culture consciousness here.

While there's no secret formula to getting made in America, here are five acts poised to take a shot in the next few months - and despite the long odds, they have a damn good chance at sticking.

* THE RASMUS

If you came of rock consciousness in the '80s or '90s, it's likely this Tuesday's release - "Hide From the Sun," the first big American album from Finland's The Rasmus - will knock your socks off with its play-to-the-masses anthems and just-polished-enough power-rock refrains. The band has already attained superstar status in Europe and Latin America with six albums under its belt. The quartet's last, "Dead Letters," sold nearly 2 million copies - its first single, "In the Shadows," became the No.1 most-played video on MTV Europe.

Download: Wistful breakup song of the year "Sail Away" or "Immortal," the album's darkest, most visceral track

* LILY ALLEN

Like Gwen Stefani, but far more street and oh-so-London in her chav-lite doorknocker earrings, Lily Allen burst onto the scene this summer when her first album, "Alright, Still," debuted at No.2 on the U.K. charts. There's nothing generic about Allen's twisted lyrics (delivered in an innocent sing-song falsetto) set to reggae beats. Though her album isn't set to drop till February, Allen's generated enough buzz to sell out her first New York show, Tuesday night at Hiro Ballroom.

Download: "LDN," a snarky sing-along guide to London, or ode to reality, and "Everything's Just Wonderful" wherein Allen rhymes "Kate Moss" with "weight loss"

* LEE RYAN

Blue was one of the most successful U.K. boy bands of the '90s, selling more than 12 million albums and 5 million singles in Europe and Asia. Never heard of them? It's not too late for a sampling - Lee Ryan, just 23, the now-defunct group's lead singer and songwriter, who previously collaborated with the likes of Elton John and Stevie Wonder, lands in the United States next week to cut an American solo debut slated for release sometime next year. We're betting on success - I mean, not only is Ryan really, really cute, but he's got style and soul - like a boy Joss Stone.

Download: The video for "How Do I?" at officialleeryan.com - a real tear jerker

* THE LIVING END

Punk-pop trio the Living End have enlisted star producer Nick Launay (INXS, Gang of Four, Midnight Oil, Silverchair) to produce "State of Emergency," the band's latest full-length release, which debuted at No.1 and is about to go platinum in their native Australia. The band's eponymous debut album has gone quintuple platinum since its 1999 release, and its "Second Solution/Prisoner of Society" EP is the highest-selling Australian single of the past decade.

Download: Wildly catchy Generation-Next anthem "Wake Up"

* EDISON CHEN

Credited for bringing hip-hop culture to Asia, Chen designs streetwear, owns the biggest youth clothing store in Hong Kong and has a worldwide cult of clothes freaks who gobble up every garment he makes for Nike, Levis and Lacoste. Pepsi cans all over Asia have his face on them.

Rapping in Chinese, he's released 11 full-length albums and won 23 music awards, including MTV Asia's 2004 "Best Male Artist of the Year." Oh, and in the last year he managed to star in his first English feature film, Friday's "The Grudge 2," opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amber Tamblyn.

Go See: "The Grudge 2"

The Rockstar Diet

2006-10-06T23:30:00.000-04:00

If you've spoken to me in the last couple months you know my favorite band of the mo' is Finnish quartet The Rasmus. Not only do I love listening to their album, Hide From the Sun as much as possible (especially the tracks "Sail Away" and "Immortal"), but they are also four of the coolest, funniest, most charismatic guys I know.

So I headed to Detroit this week to hang out with them on the last leg of their American tour (they headed down to Mexico this morning and I headed back to New York). We partied like rockstars (okay, they were actual, real-live partying rockstars, I was just a wannabe), they played a gig at the Blue Martini in Michigan, and we did a whole bunch of other fun stuff (like eat hot dogs and hang out at the hotel's Jacuzzi).

Anyway, I guess I never realized this before, but the "rockstar lifestyle" really is conducive to weight loss. I guess performers tend to jump around on stage a lot, especially if they're in a rock band. But another aspect of being a rockstar is that you're almost always having fun -- and when you're having tons of fun 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you're not eating yourself into a tizzy (like I usually do).

This week, despite being exhausted, losing my voice, staying up all night, eating only junk food (aforementioned Coney Island hot dogs, nachos, fried breakfast delicacies, birthday cake, Red Bull, champagne, and vodka), I managed to lose a few pounds with no exercise whatsoever. I think it was because I was just having the best time, laughing a whole lot, totally cutting loose and doing whatever I felt like doing, and staying active running around finding fun non-stop.

Here's my friend Emmy, Lauri the lead singer of The Rasmus, and me late at night vamping for the camera.

Long live our week at Camp Rasmus, Detroit. Cheers.

Flying freak out

2006-10-03T00:30:00.000-04:00

As if packing for short trips wasn't hard enough before, now we have the liquid regulations to contend with.

Almost all my liquid products are under 3 oz., which is the maximum amount of any single "vanity product" that seems to be allowed carry-on per airline regulations -- almost all of them, that is, except my hair conditioner. I mean, I must use 3 oz. of hair conditioner every day. I've decanted some into a travel tube, but it's definitely more than 3 oz. Does that mean that just because one product is over 3 oz., I have to now check my whole bag? That's crazy.

What if I decant the decanted product -- like, divvy up the hair conditioner into single dose containers?

Honestly.

Spanky

2006-10-02T01:33:00.000-04:00

Most of the time, nay, all of the time, plastering a huge skull-and-hearts logo on your tooshie won't make it look any slimmer.

Still, sometimes, I just can't resist a good skull-on-the-butt graphic.

(I also enjoy skulls on jewelry, keychains, Goyard bags, scarves, hats, Misfits zip-up hoodies, cute boys in Misfits zip-up hoodies, skateboards, album covers, book jackets, Vans slip-ons, anything from Hot Topic, as tattoos, on stickers, as graffiti. Okay basically anywhere.)

Instead of clothes I bought this

2006-10-02T01:23:00.000-04:00

Instead of buying basic black tees today, I bought this, Comme des Garcon's Guerilla 1 fragrance.

Its top note is a mixture of odd spices and fruit. Other notes? Saffron, clove, black pepper, jasmine, and leather.

This fragrance might make me smell weirder, but won't make me smell 12 pounds thinner. If you want to know how to blend a fragrance that will make people around you believe you've lost 12 pounds, you'll have to consult my book.

It's so just me

2006-10-02T01:14:00.000-04:00

This is really annoying, but it's so just me.

American Eagle Outfitters has so many amazing slimming clothes -- perfect hip-length V-neck tees, sweaters, henleys, solid colors perfect for layering, great fitted-but-rugged hoodies... I could go on and on. So go there.

Here's what's annoying: the store near me? Doesn't have ANY black items. Not one. I like black clothes, especially basics. So this drove me totally crazy today. I walked in, got super-excited about all the great stretchy shapes and sizes they have. After trawling through endless rails and shelves of amazing tank-tops, V-necks, and long henleys and discovering there was not one black item in the store? I had a minor meltdown.

Freak out.

Anyway, for all you color-lovers out there, go crazy. Love ya.

Detroit

2006-09-30T13:58:00.000-04:00

I'm heading to Detroit for a few days this week to hang out with friends -- I'm so excited to get out of town for a bit! If you have suggestions on must-sees. must-dos, must-eats, or must-shops in the Detroit area, I'd love to hear your tips.

Last time I was in Detroit, this past February, I had some great Middle Eastern food, ate flaming cheese in the Greek district, visited a couple of blackjack tables at casinos, and loved the Ford museum. Ooh, and my friend and I drove down 8 Mile Road blaring Eminem out the windows. Cheesy, huh?

Skinny band Ladytron

2006-09-29T09:41:00.000-04:00

Electronic outfit Ladytron spins a free-to-the-public DJ set tonight at 6:00 p.m. at the Diesel store at 1 Union Square, NYC. Loves it.

They only want you when you're seventeen,
When you're twenty-one, you're no fun.

Hold that fit

2006-09-28T21:29:00.000-04:00

Has anyone tried this new detergent, Cheer True Fit?

Being of more robust curvature, I've ruined my share of super-expensive paper-thin knits and other pricey garments (not to mention basics like stretchy pants and tees) because the parts that protrude stretch the garments beyond all recognition.

This detergent claims to help clothes retain and reform their original shape in the wash. I mean, that's huge! If you have any experience with Cheer True Fit, definitely leave a comment. I'm quite interested to know how it is.

Designing couple

2006-09-28T21:12:00.000-04:00

My friends Fiona and Sasa are the design duo behind SinhaStanic, one of the coolest luxe London labels distributed in top shops all over the world. This fall, their newest collection hits the selling floor at Barneys New York, so call and place your order for these ultra-tailored, cutting-edge grown-up pieces that will blend seamlessly into any cool-girl's wardrobe. Hot diggety dang.

Get your calcium here

2006-09-28T20:51:00.000-04:00

When I'm in Paris, I exclusively drink Vittel and Contrex bottled water. Vittel is just a personal favorite, for taste. But Contrex? It's a healthy choice.

See, like so many women, I probably don't get enough calcium in my diet. I'm lactose intolerant, so don't drink milk or consumer most dairy products. There are only so many dark-green leafy vegetables I can physically consume in one day. I'm also not keen on popping supplements, just because I'm not into chemically derived nutrients in huge doses. Anyway, Contrex is great because it's natural mineral water that inherently has a high calcium content. Makes it easy to get the calcium I need.

In the last few months, it's become easier and easier to get Contrex in the USA. In New York City you can get it at most Duane Reade drugstores. But check out Contrex's Website to find out where you can get it near you.

Oh Betty

2006-09-28T20:36:00.000-04:00

Lesson from tonight's season premiere of Ugly Betty (oh-so addictive telenovela about an oddball girl who goes to work at a top fashion mag)? Don't wear red ponchos with slogans and words written across. I mean, there's not even a way to do this ironically.

Love her style

2006-09-27T23:26:00.000-04:00

I'm a huuuuuuge fan of Lily Allen's music and chav-lite style -- all high-street easy-wear dresses, unexpected color combinations, and humungous gold jewelry. She's coming to America in two weeks, so watch out! She's one to emulate. Love love love.

Hike 'em up!

2006-09-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

These days, it's not enough just to have boobs, you gotta hoist them high! The 70s aesthetic of natural boob movement, where breasts were peach-shaped and hung lower, is over and gone. The noughties (00s) are all about fake boobs -- tatas that sit high, melon-ic and ripe.

So, what's a girl with a god-given rack supposed to do to get that magical are-they-or-aren't-they lift? It's a no-brainer. Go to the king of Hollywood boobs, Frederick's of Hollywood.

One of the only American lingerie makers that produces cup sizes up to F, Frederick's is also special by virtue of the fact they their bras aren't simply slings to throw your chest into. Frederick's bras are modeled after retro European bras -- they hoist your boobs in and up -- think pin-up, think Jessica Rabbit!

So, smaller boobs can get killer cleavage and big boobs can get unbelievable support. Whew! What a rack!

Leggings are not always the devil, okay, sometimes

2006-09-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

Proceed with caution: Leggings are super-trendy this season.

Here are some rules for buying into the trend:
(1) Don't force the issue: If you're not comfortable wearing leggings, don't wear leggings.
(2) Only wear ankle-length leggings.
(3) If you can only find capri-length leggings, layer them over opaque black tights.
(4) Pairing leggings with same-color high-heel boots will make you look (a) Hot, (b) Confident, and (c) Slimmer.
(5) Wearing support hose underneath leggings will vastly improve your shape.
(6) Black leggings. Always.
(7) Cover your butt.

Ask anyone I work with, I have been inappropriately bucking the trend and wearing leggings for the last three years. I can't help it, I love them. Worn with tights underneath, a long black Margiela tunic-ish top and knee= high high-heel Demeulemeester boots, I felt unstoppable.

Well, finally, my favorite winter look has become du jour this season.

My favorite leggings right now are these mini-thermal ones from American Apparel. They're low-rise enough so you don't feel like you're wearing some nutty 80s shite. And the thermal texture makes them more supportive (they also retain shape really well in the wash). Other leggings I have loved over the years include the thermal underwear from Marks and Spencer and some slightly shorter ones I picked up at Top Shop from the Moto line there. They're smoother, so I wear them over opaque hose and pair them with some super-you-can-kill-a-man-with-those-shoes-pointy boots by Veronique Branquinho.

Still, proceed with caution. I mean, people might make fun of you for wearing leggings (people make fun of me, I don't care). But fewer people will make fun of you for not wearing leggings. You choose.

Skinny Pants

2006-09-26T23:29:00.000-04:00

There is no picture that will do this justice. You will just have to experience it for yourself.

I get a bazillion questions that go something like this: "What about this fall's skinny jeans? What about the leggings craze? Is there any way I can wear skinny pants and not look like a sausage?"

Yes. There is.

The answer is Skinny Pants, a web-based company that will custom-make for you skinny pants, boot-leg pants, leggings, skirts, and jeans that make you look one size smaller. No joke, though, I think they undersell themselves -- I looked SUPER SKINNY in my skinny pants. Definitely much more than one size smaller. I have the Katwalk style of skinny zip-up pants. They're made of this matte black normal-looking fabric that acts as a 360 degree girdle around every soft bit from waist-to-ankle. It holds you in with no lumping, no bumping. No small miracle, getting me into skinny black pants.

See, the problem with conventional skinny pants and skinny jeans, and even with straight-leg or bootleg pants -- for a lot of women (like me), conventional sizing just doesn't work. They'll be too long, the proportions won't be right. They might hit at a weird place on my stomache, giving me overspill (muffin-top). They might constrict in the wrong place (camel-toe or stretching around the butt area). They might even stretch out at the knees when I sit because they're so tight.

The greatest thing about Skinny Pants is that they fully retain their shape. Seriously. And they hold you in and move with you. It's like some crazy magic fabric.

And, honestly, even though $90 isn't cheap, just think about how much you've spent on BAD pants over the years? Totally worth the investment. Check it out.

Pigeon toed

2006-09-26T23:07:00.000-04:00

I think the "How Not to Look Fat" tip I get mocked most for by the naysayers is my advocacy of pigeon-toed-ness. Everyone thinks standing or positioning your feet slightly pigeon-toed will look stupid, but seriously, try it. You won't look that dumb.

For example: Here I am after spending six hours with the Miss Americas. My lovely photographer, Anthony Causi, shot me taking a time-out on the steps at Lotus. Now, while I'm not the beacon of good posture (see how slouched over I am and how, as a result, I look super-top-heavy?), I did manage to do a little pigeon-toe. And, even though in real life my calves are thicker than my neck (no joke! really!!), I'm pretty okay with how my calves look in this photograph, cuz I think they look thinner than usual. Ta da.

So, naysayers: Don't mock the pigeon-toes! Even Tyra Banks said, publicly that her trick to shooting the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover and getting that space between her thighs (which doesn't exist in real, everyday standing-around life) was to stand pigeon toed!

Once upon a time in America

2006-09-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

I spent six hours Friday night with contestants from the Miss America 2004 pageant. Surprisingly, my moderate-to-okay body image and self esteem are still, more or less, intact...

MISS-BEHAVING

By Danica Lo

September 26, 2006 -- MISS America 2004 contestants from across the country reunited in New York City Friday for a day of pampering at Evian Spa, dinner at Rockefeller Center's Sea Grill, and drinks and dancing at the Meatpacking District's Double 7 and Lotus.

But life hasn't been this sweet - or subsidized - since the pageant ended and the tiaras came off.

"You go through a weird thing the first year it's over - you kind of binge, you swear you'll never diet again, you never want to go to the gym again," says New Mexico's Susan Yara. "You gain a little weight. And then you start to feel a little bad about yourself - you think, 'What am I doing? I'm nobody anymore.'"

Can you imagine? Wait, it gets worse!

"No one buys clothes for me," she continues. "I have to set my own schedule, I can't just call my personal trainer, and I have to pay for stuff. I never had to pay for anything - down to my lunch. My home was covered, my gas was covered, and my cellphone was covered."

Surprisingly, even in a world where celebrity can confer a living on the likes of the Naked Cowboy, making it all the way to the Miss America competition doesn't mean you're set for life. These girls are blessed with looks and pep, but they're certainly not cruising down easy street.

North Carolina's Kirstin Elrod, who placed third nationwide, is an aspiring actress who moved to L.A. six months ago.

"When I got here, I was temping, which was quite an experience," she says. "I haven't been on a lot of auditions. The money I make is from promotional modeling. I guess because it's 'modeling,' people think it's glamorous."

It may be a long step down from the sash circuit, but these are women who have the focus and drive to work for years to get what they want. The ambition that got them to the swimsuit competition doesn't go away.

"Everyone at home tried to discourage me from going to L.A. They said it would eat me alive," Elrod says. "But if you want to do something, you have to experience it yourself."

"We're very type-A personalities," Yara says. "So sometimes it can be very stressful hanging out together - we all know what we want. And when a girl really wants something? That's when she gets what we call 'scary eyes.'"

Talk about scary - check out Miss Idaho. Elizabeth Barchas, a triple-crown winner who's held the titles Miss Idaho, Miss Teen Idaho USA and Miss Idaho USA, has run marathons in Russia, earned a master's at Scotland's St. Andrews University, and is currently in her second year at Harvard Law School.

Miss Florida is taking her chance on another title. "I thought I was done, but I didn't want to regret not trying for Miss USA," says Jenna Edwards. She was recently crowned Miss Florida USA and will be competing in the Miss USA pageant in 2007.

"I had to create a totally different persona - Miss USA isn't as conservative. Instead of Miss America's political-minded 12-minute-long interview answers, the Miss USA interview segment is only three minutes long. And the questions are completely different - like 'What's your favorite color?'"

Lesser Evil

2006-09-25T18:47:00.000-04:00

Even Peter Rabbit, who lives on my desk at work, loves Lesser Evil flavored popcorn. Today's favorite? GingerBread. We're also fans of Chocolate. Yum.

And with no trans-fats, no preservatives, and no artifice, this all-natural snack is low-fat and high-goodness.

Excuse me now while I go stuff my face.

Grey's Anatomy

2006-09-21T21:49:00.003-04:00

Obsessed with Grey's Anatomy, that's me. Even though it's kind of putting a cramp in my week to rush home on Thursday nights to watch the show (I much prefer leisurely Sunday television viewing), I'm going to make my best efforts to keep watching (though I'm making no promises -- like, when they moved Prison Break to 8 p.m. from 9 p.m., I raced home for the first few episodes in the new time slot, but, pretty soon, I just gave up).

Anyway, the staff of Grey's Anatomy look good in their scrubs, but that's probably because they've got a professional hair and makeup team to make them look casually undone. Plus, they are all in pretty good shape.

Still, for non-televised medical professionals, it is possible to wear regulation scrubs and still look good. There are great new styles to choose from -- boot cut drawstring pants, for example, and shorter sleeves on the tops. Since scrubby tops are super-boxy to start with, make sure that you're wearing the right size -- the shoulders absolutely must fit! Boxy-shaped things look so much better when the shoulders fit. Avoid oversized scrubs like the plague.

If possible, also try to find scrubs that have shorter sleeves. The worst sleeves on T-shirts and scrubs are those elbow-length flappy sleeves. Look, instead, for a sleeve that ends at or above the midpoint on your upper arm.

Also, as always, darker colors are more flattering. And if you're trying to de-emphasize one part of your body and are allowed to mix and match colors, pick the darker color to wear on the part of your body you're trying to minimize. Avoid small floral patterns and horizontal stripes.

As for pants, fit is of tantamount importance as well. Look for a good fit through the hip and thigh. Don't drag the pants all the way up to your waist and cinch it tight. If possible, tie them like a midrise pant -- just above halfway between your hip and bellybutton. Look for a boot-cut style of scrub pant -- one where the calf section is slightly longer and slightly wider than the thigh part. Ta-da!

Rick Owens makes everything worthwhile

2006-09-18T09:41:00.000-04:00

Something I learned from one of my best friends, Tuomas, about shopping is that no matter where you are on earth, you should try to seek out your favorite labels and see what's in stock. The funny thing about designer clothes, especially smaller fashion houses, is that they sell different pieces and different sizes to everybody.

I was in Philadelphia this weekend and my friend Helen suggested we stop in at Joan Shepp. At first, I was kind of resistant, because, I reasoned, what on earth could I possibly want from a designer store in Philadelphia? I mean, I live in New York.

So I was thrilled to walk in the store and find rails upon rails of my favorite designers: Rick Owens, Maison Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Dries van Noten, and Junya Watanabe. Best part yet? Since we were in Philadelphia, the sizes in stock were noticeably larger. I mean, I have never found a Rick Owens sweater in stock in size 46 (about a size 12) before! I was amazed, thrilled, etc. etc. etc. and wound up buying a fantastic Rick Owens wrap sweater that I'm not worried about stretching out beyond recognition -- because it fits!

Of course, I don't have to preach to you about how important it is to find clothes that fit properly -- bigger clothes make you look bigger and too-tight clothes make you look like a sausage.

But here's why I love Rick Owens: His body-skimming knits of all weights (from the super-thin T-shirt rib to the densest, chunkiest cashmere) holds something for everyone. The sweater I bought, which I can't find a picture of online, is a mid-weight baby-soft merino that has super-long sleeves that are perfectly fitted, making my arms look thinner. The two long front bits can be thrown over my shoulders or wrapped around my tummy (to hide it when I've had a particularly big meal -- which is especially helpful in Philadelphia, since the food there is so incredible). It's thick enough to hide any hint of bulging (or the dreaded back fat), but still sleek enough so I don't look like one big ball of yarn.

So, the lesson I have to remind myself of from now on, no matter where I am, is to check out the best stores in town for some pleasant surprises.

For those of you who are looking for more hard-to-find labels in a good variety of sizes, check out Net A Porter, who work out of London, where they have more democratic sizing in general for European labels. Shop early, though, because sizes 44-48 regularly sell out first.

P.S. If you are in Philly and are a fan of soul food (which I absolutely love love love), definitely make a point to go to Ms. Tootsies' Soul Food Cafe on 13th and South Street. It's a proper white-tableclothed sit-down restaurant with all-you-can-drink fountain soda and the best pork ribs I've had in a long time. My favorite sides? Collard greens (of course) and their unbelievable macaroni and cheese! I also tried the peppered cabbage and rice and gravy (yummmmm gravy...). Everything was fantastic. And the best part? Prices are incredible and the staff is the nicest.

Back to Normal

2006-09-15T07:27:00.000-04:00

I'll be reverting back to "How Not to Look Fat" blogging starting Monday, when all this fashion madness is over! In the meantime, today I'll be going to the Project Runway finals at Bryant Park this morning. I have no words to describe how excited I am about this. Tonight, Jay McCarroll (previous Runway winner) will also show at the tents for the first time. Gwen Stefani will also be showing her LAMB collection at Industria Studios. And Jeremy Scott, who always puts on a good show, will be showing for his 10th anniversary. What a great way to end fashion week!

For all those in NY and PA this weekend, and into hearing new music, I'm a huuuuuuuuge fan of the band The Rasmus, who are releasing their album "Hide from the Sun" stateside in October. They are playing in Lancaster and in Red Hook, Brooklyn, this weekend -- check them out! They are super-cool and tickets are cheap (since they're relatively undiscovered in the USA).

Here is a video for Sail Away, one of The Rasmus's best songs from the new album:

Here is a video for Bittersweet, a song Lauri Ylonen, the lead singer, did with Ville Vallo of the band H.I.M., accompanied by cellists Apocalyptica:

Today's Buzz

2006-09-15T07:25:00.000-04:00

September 15, 2006 -- A COUPLE of poseurs using the pseudonyms "Abby Gold" and "Davis" are phoning party planners and fashion publicists claiming to be the manager and publicist of several Yankees - including Gary Sheffield - and demanding front-row seats at shows and VIP access to parties.

"They've been showing up at events without the players, obviously," says one party planner. "Our security guards have thrown them out of three parties already this week."

What is it with Bronx Bomber pretenders? "There was a guy backstage at the tents," says an event organizer. "He was, like, seven feet tall and pretending to be a Yankee pitcher. He was trying to get into all the shows with his 'publicist' and asking every cute girl around for her business card. It was really gross and I just knew he was a crasher - I know the Yankees well."

Supermodel Frederique van der Wal almost missed the launch party for her show "Cover Shot" - a makeover reality series that transforms moms into "models" on TLC - because she was busy being a super-mom.

Right before she walked out of the house, "Freddi, wearing a Fred Leighton necklace and brooch, was taking Scyler, her daughter, out of the tub," says our source. "Scyler grabbed the necklace and it snapped - sending diamonds tumbling into the water and coursing toward the drain." Van der Wal, her husband, hairstylist and wardrobe stylist dove in, leaving a "naked 6-year-old standing in the bath water while everyone fished for diamonds." It was a close call, but the diamonds were saved - still, Van der Wal's outfit was soaked through, requiring a quick change before heading off to the fete.

Lingerie entrepreneur Sarah Siegel Magness was spotted in the W Las Vegas Lounge practicing her walk before her runway turn at Tara Subkoff's "Imitation of Christ" show.

Sure beats what she's done in the lounge seasons past. "Every season she's not very well behaved," snips one backstage regular. "One year, she even changed her kid's dirty diaper on the white sofa."

Today's Buzz

2006-09-14T08:11:00.000-04:00

September 14, 2006 -- Elizabeth Sulcer, Blackbook's vilified fashion director who publicists have been accusing all week of crashing backstage and stealing seats, is a victim of Fashion Week identity theft.

Turns out the "blond, blue-eyed young girl" who several sources have slagged off about to Buzz for having an "appalling sense of entitlement," could be a former employee.

"I was just at the Cloak show last night," Sulcer says, "and I introduced myself to a publicist I've been working with for a long time - she did a double-take and said, 'Whoa, someone was pretending to be you at the Diane Von Furstenberg show. ' "

For the record, the real Sulcer is very well-behaved and has long brown hair.

* Mal Sirrah (né Malcolm Harris), whose debut collection is on schedule to hit the runways tomorrow night at Patricia Field's East Village boutique, claims to have been ousted from 7 World Trade Center at the 11th hour.

"I was unceremoniously given the boot in lieu of Calvin Klein and their deep pockets. The entire episode was shady on the side of Silverstein Properties. Calvin Klein forced them to sign an exclusivity agreement."

Klein is scheduled to host a party there tonight, but, according to Silverstein Properties, the party has nothing to do with turning down Sirrah's request.

"We told Malcolm Harris on Aug. 3 that we couldn't accommodate his request," says a company spokesperson.

* Paris Hilton is all over fashion week. "At Max Azria and Cynthia Steffe, Paris would whip out her cell and pretend to talk on it right before the show and immediately after it," says our front-row snitch. Later that night, Heatherette organizers freaked out when she refused to do a walk-through. Our spy spotted one producer screaming into his walkie-talkie, "What do you mean she said no!?" Luckily, the show went off without a hitch, and celebs Nick Cannon, JC Chasez, Aubrey O'Day of Danity Kane, and Brandon "Firecrotch" Davis watched Hilton and her sister, Nicky, as well as singers Mya and Kelis, and Julia Kova, the former Miss Russia who just signed a deal with Paris' producer, Scott Storch, storm the catwalk.

Today's buzz

2006-09-13T08:48:00.000-04:00

'PARIS' A FAUX-TOGRAPHIC SENSATION

By Danica Lo

September 13, 2006 -- NATALIE REID, the fake Paris Hilton, strikes again. Guest of honor, actress Michele Rodriguez, failed to show up on time to her best friend, Anand Jon's, show at the Stylelounge venue in Times Square - so photographers occupied their time taking pictures of the notorious Hilton double who was seated front row along with her plus-three. Rodriguez arrived in time to catch the tail-end of the show, and later went backstage, where Jon's pet panther peed on her shirt.

* As for the real thing: Paris Hilton has slept with only a "couple" of guys, is taking a vow of "celibacy" and has "never" used an illegal substance - or so she says. Now, she claims she's gone "dry." Backstage at John Varvatos, Hilton was ogling and flirting with the male models doling out Peroni beer. But when offered a bottle, she refused, proclaiming that she's off the sauce. Earlier in the day, Hilton was spotted in the front row of Luca Luca, "checking herself out in her compact the whole time," says our spy.

* Star wattage is big this week, but some celebs are turning heads for all the wrong reasons. When Kate Bosworth showed up at Marc Jacobs' show at the Armory, her emaciated, bony frame was in full-on display in a flimsy white slip-dress. "When she walked in, her rib cage was visible six rows up," says one eyewitness. "Light was literally refracting off her bones." Elsewhere at the show, fatties-by-comparison Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Maria Sharapova, 50 Cent, Victoria Beckham, Kanye West, Lil' Kim, Sofia Coppola, Leann Rimes, Eva Mendes, Russell Simmons, Winona Ryder and Mischa Barton squished into the most star-packed front row yet this week.

* Anna Wintour sent Condé Nast photographer Mary Hillard out to the Delta lounge in Bryant Park to pick up some sugar cookies the airline had specially emblazoned with Wintour's mug. Tomorrow in Buzz: Anna Wintour bites her own head off? How meta.

* Today's awards for worst-behaved at the tents: Sources tell us that after Elizabeth Sulcer, fashion director at Blackbook magazine, was denied backstage access at Tuleh, she talked her way into the W Las Vegas Lounge, which shared an adjacent space. She was later spotted sneaking over to Tuleh and "gorging on the catering provided for the starving models and backstage workers," says our spy. "When security noticed her lack of credentials they kicked her out."

Today's roundup

2006-09-13T08:44:00.000-04:00

STARS LIFT WILD BREAKOUT

By Danica Lo

September 13, 2006 -- Paris and Nicky Hilton, Kelis and Mya all strutted their stuff in a make-it-or-break-it show for Heatherette boys Richie Rich and Traver Rains.

In an effort to make profits match the sensational, breathless, near-legendary hype around the design duo (the show rivals Baby Phat for hot ticket of the week), organizers packed the front row with MTV-gen celebs and buyers (the folks with the normal hairdos) from major department stores.

Rich and Rains will surely have a largely successful season - their spring collection comprises tropical, whimsically-printed island-vacation garb, dresses and sporty separates in bold mix-and-match colors. Hugely wearable - no more of those shapeless performance-art pieces of years past - it was a turning point for the fledgling fashion house. It was history in the making.

It was all about the babies at proud new grandmother Betsey Johnson's aptly titled "Babycakes" show, where the theme was - wait for it - babydoll dresses. In silk and satin with frills and lace, the dresses showed a more mature side of the New York designer.

Well, a little more mature.

Showgoers got a little more than they bargained for when the agile sexagenarian took to the runway to Kelis' "Milkshake" for her signature cartwheels, revealing a teeny, tiny black thong.

A mix of schoolgirl effervescence, hipster-prairie patchwork and new-wave thrift-store/army-navy surplus chic marked the Marc by Marc Jacobs show. It was one of his best in years and one of the most spirited in this otherwise muted (so far) Fashion Week. There was no shortage of dresses that were eminently accessible and indisputably pretty.

Narciso Rodriguez made a significant departure this season from his now established classics, with an ode to Blondie, Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol and the SoHo art scene of the '80s. There were dresses with fiberglass breastplates and silk and nylon fabrics that looked dangerously flammable, but a couple of outfits, such as the silk minidress with the patent straps and the razor-sharp pantsuits, were fierce.

Monique Lhuillier admitted that her collection's new sleekness is the result of her shedding the weight she gained during her pregnancy. She wants to show off the body's slim lines, which she did in spades.

Behnaz Sarafpour is all about textures - so much so that she will ditch color, showing a mainly black and white collection. But her textures - oh, they are posh. Wrinkled silk taffeta, ostrich skin, organza ribbon all provide a luxe base for her sedate, yet still modern designs.

Additional reporting Maureen Callahan, Raakhee Mirchandani, Lisa Marsh and Serena French

Paris Hilton opens the Heatherette Spring 07 show

2006-09-13T00:16:00.001-04:00

For Christ's Sake

2006-09-12T07:46:00.000-04:00

FASHION OF THE CHRIST

By Danica Lo

September 12, 2006 -- THE jury's still out on the best collection of Fashion Week. But for sheer spectacle, we have a winner - Sunday's Imitation of Christ show. Tara Subkoff's takes-itself-very-seriously label either makes you want to immediately blow a month's rent on one of her looks, or gouge your eyeballs out with the heels of your stilettos.

This season Subkoff bought hard into the '90s trend. She went concept all the way, holding her show in a wayward abandoned warehouse (wait for it) under a bridge, in the middle of nowhere west Chelsea. You half expected spectators to break out in songs from "Rent."

Still, Scarlett Johansson turned up to see the new "collection" - a very loosely defined word for Subkoff. Any sense of cohesiveness seemed lost somewhere between her extensive run-of-show notes and the catwalk.

Instead, let's just call this a "bunch of clothes" (culled from the rails at the Salvation Army like so many designers do these days) that were hurled down the runway on the backs of some East Village types - friends of Subkoff who may or may not have had previous "modeling" experience. It was mostly Japanese-inspired prints in grunge silhouettes, some obi belts and a handful of Steven Seagal-esque misuses of actual kimonos. The highlight may have been the White Witch of Narnia ... sorry, Carmen Electra, who walked in a vintage-y ballgown and a hairdo upon which you could serve drinks.

"Project Runway" contestants, take note: You can make it on your own. Just go to your local Goodwill and buy all the crap no one else wants. Fray some edges. Be outlandish. Sell sweatshirts for $500.

Given the option? I choose death by Manolo.

Today's Buzz

2006-09-12T07:41:00.000-04:00

CEASE-FIRE IN HEIRESS & DIANE'S HOME FEUD

By Danica Lo

September 12, 2006 -- LOOKS as if the bad blood between landlord Anna Anisimova and tenant Diane von Furstenberg has eased.

Billion-heiress Anisimova and her new best pal, power publicist and Kritik designer Jonathan Cheban, sat front and center next to Diane's son Alex von Furstenberg at the Diane von Furstenberg show on Sunday.

Anisimova bought Diane von Furstenberg's townhouse/studio for $23 million two years ago under the premise that the property could be developed into condos, which turned out to be false.

Sources tell us that the DVF location now has been "exclusively sold," with closing set for late October.

"Anisimova's probably not making much money on it," our spy says. "Her financial advisers are furious."

But, in spite of corporate ire, Anisimova made it to the show.

"Anna is 21. She loves dresses and she loves yachting," the source says.

Also in the DVF front row: Molly Simms, Nicky Hilton and Carmen Electra, who (boo-hoo) had no car waiting for her post-show. "Her assistants were trying to hail her a taxi," one eyewitness says. "It was hysterical."

- Ashton Kutcher showed up front row at Proenza Schouler and Marc Jacobs yesterday, but he wasn't punking anyone - he's working for Harper's Bazaar.

Kutcher, a former model who once strutted the runway for Calvin Klein, Versace and Tommy Hilfiger, is reviewing Proenza, Marc, Derek Lam and Narciso Rodriguez for the magazine.

- What kind of mother brings her baby to dinner at Pastis at 12:30 a.m.? Answer: Gwen Stefani, who showed up with Kingston James swaddled up in his Bugaboo stroller Monday.

In tow, hubby Gavin Rossdale and Stefani's parents, whom she enthusiastically introduced to the maitre d'.

Stefani is in town to show her spring L.A.M.B. collection at Industria studios on Friday afternoon.

- Does Anna Wintour have a little crush?

"Wintour brought her new 'boyfriend,' Roger Federer, to Oscar de la Renta," our spy says. "She skipped Sunday shows to watch him play [at the U.S. Open], and she trotted him out today like he's her new toy."

Wintour has always said she enjoys a spot of tennis in the mornings.

Today's Buzz

2006-09-11T21:11:00.000-04:00

RUDY'S WIFE WILL BE A NO SHOW... BUT FOR A BETTER CAUSE

By Danica Lo

September 11, 2006 -- One person you won't be seeing at the tents today is Judith Giuliani. Although she regularly sits front row at Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta, "she is going to be at Ground Zero for the ceremony and the reading of the names," says her spokesperson.

The wife of "America's Mayor" will be attending Douglas Hannant on Wednesday and Vera Wang on Thursday instead.

There are more than two dozen shows and countless parties today, even though it's the fifth-year anniversary of 9/11. While most are finding "in general, yes, it's been more difficult getting celebrities for September 11th," as one producer whose big-name client takes the runway this morning puts it, Herrera's producers say this season's demand for tickets has been higher than ever before.

"I've just been looking at the seating chart and it looks like [the anniversary] hasn't had too much of an impact," says Owen Davidson of AO Production.

"In fact, we have so many people on the list, I don't even know where we are going to put them."

- Fashion Week security recognized PETA honchos Dan Matthews and Ingrid Newkirk in the front row (along with Ivana Trump and Illeana Douglas) at the Marc Bouwer show on Friday, whereupon they quickly descended upon the animal-loving duo and tried to eject them from the tents. Fortunately, the fur foes were seated next to Bouwer's mother, who assured security that Matthews and Newkirk were guests of Bouwer, who does not use fur and leather in his collections.

- Tommy Hilfiger personally phoned Buzz to set the record straight about his questionable coif: "I don't care if you don't like the way my hair looks," he said, "but I don't have a hair piece. I have a full head of hair if you'd like to check it out." We'll be sure to give it a tousle when we see you at the tents this week, Tommy!

- It seemed more than fitting that the wake for Willi Ninja, father of Vogue-ing and the star of "Paris is Burning" who passed away Sept. 2, was held the first day of Fashion Week in Jamaica, Queens.

"At least 500 people were there," says Patricia Field. "It was a testament to Willi - what a very good, kind and helpful person he was."

Ninja, who traveled, lived, and worked all over the world, was a New York legend and Queens devotee through and through.

"I will always go back to Flushing," he told me last year. "I lived in Miami, I moved back to Flushing; I lived in Germany, I moved back to Flushing; I lived in London and moved back to Flushing; I was living in Japan and I came back. I would work in another country, but I would not stay."

Purps

2006-09-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

PURPLE HAZE

By Danica Lo

September 11, 2006 -- EIGHTEEN months ago, at a convention center just north of Paris, the decision was made that we'd all be looking like Violet Beauregarde this season.

If you're wondering why celebs are all wearing purple this fall, you'd best ask Premiere Vision (PV), the fabric show where designers from all over the world gather to select their colors and textiles for three seasons hence.

"Designers see color trends first at PV," says John Bauernfeind, professor of fashion at Savannah College of Art and Design and a former designer director at Phillips Van Heusen for BCBG. "Certain companies, like larger manufacturers, department stores and item-driven businesses have color trends beforehand, but at the designer stage, at PV, fabrics already have color trends."

At the trade show in Paris, "They have installations set up where they put together trend boards, forecasting, and inspirational videos," Bauernfeind adds. "They also have these stations where they have representatives from all the fabric vendors - they'll have their wools and prints grouped by category. Designers have appointments, often with various agents they've seen before, where they're shown the new lines."

Last year, PV's post-show trend report included forecasts of "mixed violets," "purples" and "Bordeaux." Fast-forward, and Evangeline Lilly is walking the Emmys carpet in plum, while Diane Lane knocks 'em dead in violet.

Today's Buzz

2006-09-10T11:26:00.000-04:00

After heavy rounds of pre-press, claiming she'd be donning a $50 million gown and strutting her stuff, diva supe Naomi Campbell pulled another no-show at Friday night's "The Iceman" Chris Aire's show -- and, to be honest, no one was surprised. Last September, Campbell threw a tantrum and refused to walk in Aire's show at the New York Public Library. This time around, the no-show was "absolutely amicable," says a spokesperson for Aire. "She got booked for another job in Europe. I think they found out a day after the press release was sent out." How convenient.

(In her stead, Alek Wek wore the stunning multi-million dollar creation just a drop in the bucket for the designer who, backstage, had $300 million worth of diamonds and jewels secreted away in a private, curtained-off room, where from even Lil Kim and Foxy Brown were barred. Out front, Gnarls Barkley and Mos Def took the stage, and socialite-model Lydia Hearst left little to the imagination, when she did a little shake and wiggle at the end of the catwalk nipples-out in a barely-there bikini.)

Andy Roddick has now officially been banned from all Gen Art events this season marked the second time he'd RSVPed with a huge entourage, forced organizers to overhaul their seating charts at the last minute, and then not even bothered to show up.

Laguna Beach has-been Kristin Cavallari did show up to Gen Art's Fresh Faces in Fashion show "with so much makeup on, I could have scratched my initials into her face," says one onlooker. Our spy says Cavallari then spent the entire show glued to her cell phone bitching loudly about her classes at USC, pausing briefly to ooh and aah over London design duo Felder Felder's creations.

It was a hip-hop mayhem at Bryant Park Friday night, with crowds assembling outside as early as 7:30 p.m. for Kimora Lee Simmons' always-packed Baby Phat show -- celebs like Amerie, Brandy and Lorraine Bracco turned out in droves. "Tommy Hilfiger gave 50 Cent the most awkward pound ever," snickers our spy -- ostensibly right before Fitty's minor altercation with the man seated next to him. Elsewhere at the show, Jamie Lynn Siegler with boyfriend Scott Sartiano, and America's Next Top Model's Miss Jay Manuel, who danced along to Promiscuous Girl and SexyBack while cattily critiquing the models walks -- calling them "monkeys."

Speaking of Faith Hill

2006-09-09T23:31:00.000-04:00

She has some of the best "How Not to Look Fat" hair I've ever seen this side of the Atlantic -- loose, natural, face-framing layers that emphasize her cheekbones and soften the angles of her face.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill sing "I Need You"

2006-09-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

The first time I saw Tim McGraw and Faith Hill perform their not-yet-released duet "I Need You" I knew that I needed that single! Unfortunately, it hasn't been released yet (what torture!). But I was lucky enough to see Fashion Rocks live on Thursday night and caught the couple's performance. I'm obsessed with this song.

Here you go, my very own footage:

Fashion Week

2006-09-09T23:17:00.000-04:00

Happy Fashion Week!

I've been super-busy with going to shows and covering fashion gossip for my new daily column Fashion BUZZ that I haven't had much time to blog here. But I wanted to share with you a few cool things I've been doing this week -- here is a photo and some videos I took in the last few days...

Marc Bouwer silk print kimono top.

Model finale at Chris Aire

Ceelo performs his hit song "Crazy" on the runway

Young talent

2006-09-07T09:31:00.000-04:00

For those of you in New York, I'd recommend checking out the Gen Art show on Friday night. It's one of the few fashion week events open to the public -- and the young designers who show with Gen Art are really the ones who are going to make it. Sometimes they pop up in the public eye just a couple of years down the line -- Jay McCarroll did Gen Art in 2003 and then won Project Runway not long thereafter! And my good friend Alistair Carr, who also showed with Gen Art in 2003, just started his new job as head designer at Cacharel in Paris! Tickets come at a premium, but include celeb sightings, music, open bar at the event, and admission to the open-bar post-show afterparty. Plus, Gen Art is a non-profit that is wholly devoted to supporting young artists -- so you'd be doing a good deed. Check out ticket prices on genart.org.

WHERE N.Y. DESIGN STEPS OUT

By Danica Lo

FOR 13 years, long before Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn invaded living rooms across the country, there was another real-life "Project Runway" fostering undiscovered talent and developing designers' careers.

Gen Art, a New York nonprofit organization founded by brothers Ian and Stefan Gerard, and perennially backed by behemoth corporations like Motorola, has sponsored more than 500 visual art exhibits, 300 fashion designers, screened over 350 films, and showcased more than 200 DJs and musicians.

Its influence, an open secret among fashion insiders, is now so great that Bravo television execs turned to Gen Art to organize the castings of seasons one and three for its Emmy-nominated "Project Runway." First-season winner Jay McCarroll, who's set to stage his first solo show at Bryant Park on Sept. 15, showed with Gen Art in 2003. And current season contenders Uli Herzner and Jeffrey Sebelia have held shows sponsored by the organization.

Gen Art's own roster of established alumni - handpicked by an in-house panel - is also more than impressive. Zac Posen, Rebecca Taylor and Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss are among those who've built solid businesses since their Gen Art debuts.

Sometimes success comes virtually overnight - Bruno Grizzo, who won $10,000 from Gen Art sponsor Motorola last year, is now stocked at Barneys New York. While alums may not always go on to open their own fashion houses, more often than not they find success elsewhere. In 2003, Alistair Carr debuted at Gen Art in New York - a couple of weeks later, he launched a label and showed at London Fashion Week. He later went on to design at Marni and, just this week, has taken up the helm as head designer at Paris fashion house Cacharel.

Gen Art's success stories are second to none. Not only does the organization provide funding for ordinarily prohibitively costly shows during New York fashion week, but Gehlhar, author of "The Fashion Designer's Survival Guide" (Dearborn, 2005), along with her team, works with designers to help them set up successful business models and effectively work with showrooms and buyers.

Tomorrow, eight designers will take the stage. Among them will be Leong Ong.

In the eyes of aspiring fashion designers everywhere, Ong had it all. Armed with a degree from London's Central Saint Martins and a job as senior designer at Ralph Lauren, Ong was on the straight and narrow to fashionable success.

Until he gave it all up to go it alone.

Now his label ONG, which sells at stores like Steven Alan and Louis Boston, is set to hit the runways for the first time on Friday night thanks to Gen Art and its annual Fresh Faces show during New York Fashion Week. "I've never had the opportunity to show," Ong says. Despite the fact that ONG retails at 22 boutiques, "The cost [of showing] is ridiculous. Every season we barely make enough to break even."

Tomorrow night, Gen Art and Motorola will showcase six women's collections, including ONG, two men's collections, and four accessories designers in their 12th annual Spring 2007 Fresh Faces in Fashion show. Every season, top editors from all the biggest magazines - Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle - and gangs of buyers from department stores like Bloomingdale's, Henri Bendels, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys turn up to handpick new talent - to find the next Zac, Donna, Calvin or Karl.

For the designers showing, this is a chance of a lifetime. "Showing makes a huge difference," Ong says - and not just in the business sense. "It absolutely makes me look at my collection in a different way. When you show on a runway, you have think about the press and how you're opening up to allow the whole world to either praise you or cut you down."

Tickets to Gen Art's Spring 2007 Fresh Faces in Fashion can be purchased at genart.org

Fashion Rocks

2006-09-07T09:26:00.000-04:00

Tonight I'm heading to Radio City Music Hall to check out Fashion Rocks, a music and fashion colliding-of-worlds curated by Sir Elton John and featuring performances by the likes of Christina Aguilera, the Pussycat Dolls, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (OH MY GOD I hope they sing that new song, "I need you"), Kanye West, Beyonce, and Bon Jovi. Super-exciting!

Tune in to your local CBS station on Friday, September 8th, at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. Central) to see for yourself!

Willi Ninja

2006-09-05T22:52:00.000-04:00

I first met Willi Ninja about two years ago, on a magazine assignment to interview him -- one of the most magnanimous New York personalities ever. At the time I knew little about him, besides watching him in the famous documentary Paris is Burning and reading every adoring article ever written about him and catalogued on Lexis Nexis. I thought it was funny he lived ten blocks away from my apartment back then, in deepest darkest Flushing, Queens -- nearly all-Asian as far as the eye could see.

Since then, we'd met a handful of times and spoken on the phone more. I visited him at the modeling agency he was starting up; I dropped by his House of Ninja rehearsal/meetings; I watched him on TV. This man is a force of nature and I always felt so fond of him.

So I was incredibly sad to hear he'd passed away this weekend.

Willi Ninja was truly one of the greatest men, one of the warmest and most powerful personalities I'd ever met in New York. We are all the poorer for this loss.

Willi Ninja, 45, Self-Created Star Who Made Vogueing Into an Art, Dies
By LOLA OGUNNAIKE, New York Times

Willi Ninja, known as the Grandfather of Vogue, a dance form that he helped move from the New York club scene of the 1980’s to the concert stage, died on Saturday in Queens. He was 45.

The cause was AIDS-related heart failure, said Archie Burnett, a close friend.

Vogueing — with its angular body movements, exaggerated model poses and intricate mimelike choreography — and the colorful characters who populated Willi Ninja’s world were introduced to the public at large by “Paris Is Burning,” the award-winning 1990 documentary about New York’s drag vogue-ball scene. Later in his career, Willi Ninja also performed in works by postmodern choreographers including Doug Elkins, David Neuman and Karole Armitage.

Vogueing had been around for years, but Willi Ninja brought it to a level of visibility and perfection in performance that no one had ever reached before, said Sally Sommer, a professor of dance at Florida State University.

“He was tall man, about 6-3,” she said, “and God gave him the biggest, broadest dance shoulders in the world, so when he would do those things with his arms it was just so impressive.”

Willi Ninja is featured in Ms. Sommer’s documentary, “Check Your Body at the Door,” now in production.

William R. Leake was born in Queens on April 12, 1961, and grew up in Flushing. He began dancing at 7. By the early 1980’s he was vogueing in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and at drag balls throughout Harlem. He prided himself on being a clean, sharp dancer, with swiftly moving arms and hands, and he was deeply inspired by the martial arts — hence his adopted name, Ninja.

As the “mother” of the House of Ninja — part dance troupe, part surrogate family — he became a New York celebrity, known as much for his quick wit and sharp tongue as for his darting limbs. His ensembles — a coat made of braided synthetic hair, a suit jacket with a skirt and Doc Marten boots — also turned heads wherever he went: “severe” is the word.

An androgynous, self-described “butch queen,” Willi Ninja taught vogueing throughout Europe and Japan, modeled in runway shows for the fashion designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Muglier and danced in music videos.

He also taught models how to strut, giving stars like Naomi Campbell pointers early in their careers. Most recently, he worked with the socialite Paris Hilton, whose red carpet sashay has since become her signature.

In 2004, he opened a modeling agency, EON (Elements of Ninja), but he never gave up dancing, appearing on televisions series like “America’s Next Top Model” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and dropping in at local clubs.

“If he saw someone doing something on the dance floor that he loved, he’d walk up to them and say, ‘Oooh, child, you are fierce,’ ” his friend Mr. Burnett recalled. “That was one of his highest compliments.”

Willi Ninja is survived by his mother, Esther Leake of Queens.

On the radio

2006-09-05T22:13:00.000-04:00

For 630AM CHED listeners in Canada, tomorrow I'll be live tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon Mountain time -- on the show At Home with Cheryl Gillespie. Tune in! Yay.

My sick fixation

2006-09-05T21:56:00.000-04:00

My sick fixation with Splendid brand henleys comes in handy to you guys, I guess, cuz here are a bunch of Splendids I (stalkerishly) found on sale at Intuition in Los Angeles. They're practically half price! Intuition is a small-ish boutique, so click quick before they sell out of your size. Prices start at about $26.00, which is amazing for Splendid. Loves it!

How Not to Look Stupid

2006-09-05T20:05:00.000-04:00

By Danica Lo

September 5, 2006 -- DO I look fat in this? Yes, says Glamour magazine, and while you're at it, stop dressing like a slut.

Glamour's "Dos and Don'ts," a monthly column that wields iron-clad judgment over civilians and celebs (protecting don'ts with the black bar of shame), has been setting women on the fashion straight-and-narrow for 67 years.

What began as a few pages has grown into a cultural phenomenon - even the terms "Glamour-do" and "Glamour-don't" have become commonly used phrases in modern girl-talk vernacular.

"I would describe reader interest in the column as bordering on the fanatical," says Cindi Leive, Glamour's editor-in-chief. "For years, it has been the magazine's top-rated column, and it's something just about every woman recognizes. I seriously believe I could travel to the farthest corner of Siberia and people would still ask me, 'So how about those women with the black bars - are those pictures real?'"

Indeed, they are. And it's hard not to laugh at the all-too-familiar photographic evidence of common wardrobe malfunctions - peekaboo thongs, droopy boobs and clogs-with-socks afflict even the most fastidious of us in moments of weakness. "Everyone has had a 'don't' day," Leive says. "It's all in good fun. We're not mocking anyone."

Good fun aside, now there's a place to seek help - just in case you're the woman in the damning photograph. "Glamour's Big Book of Dos and Don'ts," a 200-page tome on "How Not to Look Stupid" hits stores this Thursday, chock-full of great tips, tricks and mortifying photos that will inspire and help any woman to fix her fashion faux pas.

"This was a way to give readers so much more than we ever could in a single issue of the magazine," Leive explains. "It was a way to give them real help. This book gives you tons and tons of tricks and tips to get dressed by."

Nowadays, fashion mistakes are worse than ever and have become more and more common, Leive says. "The 'don'ts' are getting worse because the clothes are getting smaller. There are whole categories of Glamour 'don't' phenomena that didn't exist 10 years ago. Low-rise jeans begat visible thongs and muffin-top syndrome. Tiny bikini tops begat underboob.

"I'm certain Glamour's founding editors would have been shocked to see what people actually leave the house wearing. I know I am," Leive adds. "But I also think the 'dos' are getting better. The whole idea that you have to be rich to be fashionable is gone, since there are great clothes now at every price-point. And, thank God, the idea that you have to be stick thin to be a 'do' is gone too. Now there are chic-er choices for women who are curvy. So these days, anyone can be a 'do'- which is how it should be."

Don't worry that this book means the end of drive-by fashion disasters, though. The truly mean-spirited can still get a good laugh by logging on to glamourdosanddonts.com, where you can submit photos of your friends (or enemies) looking like roadkill; then laugh at their public humiliation.

"We can't legislate people's motives," Leive says. "But the overall spirit of the site is good-natured. And a lot of people stick up for the 'don'ts.' You get some good debates between users on whether leggings or hair scrunchies really are so awful anyway."

Mi magazine su magazine

2006-09-05T20:02:00.000-04:00

Things have been super-crazy these last two weeks with VMAs, the long weekend, and New York fashion week starting on Friday! I'll be a bit slow to blog over the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime check out my "How Not to Look Bloated" story in this week's For Me magazine.

One mis-dress

2006-09-03T11:54:00.000-04:00

Vanessa Minnillo has a great figure, but picking the wrong dress -- an empire-waisted, tiered, no-boob-support, mid-thigh-length shapeless dress (paired with ankle strap shoes! hair pulled straight back!) -- and whoa. The outfit on the right does her no favors.

Both these pictures were taken on Thursday night.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Obsessed

2006-08-30T21:28:00.000-04:00

I'm obsessed with these See's Gourmet Lollypops, which I had to special-order from Amazon.com because I have no idea where to even begin looking for See's Candies on the East Coast.

Four flavors in one box: butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate, and cafe au lait. 70 yummy calories a pop. And they last (I am a very agressive lollypop eater) a good 10 minutes. Well, at least from one commercial break of Project Runway to the next commercial break. I mean, that is a lot of time for 70 measly calories. I mean, what other yummy things can you get for 70 calories? Half a Coke? That only takes about 10 seconds to consume. About 7 M&Ms? Thirty seconds max.

These are a good deal. Calorie-per-minute-wise, that is.

Stop the presses! Stop the f***ing presses!

2006-08-30T21:15:00.000-04:00

This is a BIG DEAL you guys! So big of a deal that I am borrowing a line from one of my favorite bloggers ever: Bryan Boy, "Stop the presses! Stop the f***ing presses!"

Just approved by the Skin Cancer Foundation, the new Freeze 24/7 Ice Shield Facial Cleanser is the only facial cleanser on the market that has built-in, wash-on SPF 15! How amazing is that.

We all know that when the weather is sticky, humid, and totally gross, the last thing you want to do (even though you know it's good for you) is slather on any kind of unbreathable smelly sunscreen that will make you sweaty, oily, and, possibly zitty. This is an amazing product because after using it just like a normal facewash -- I mean, come on, you have to wash your face anyway -- you don't have to apply anything else, especially amazing if you suffer from oily summer skin. Yes, the sunscreen washes on! I have no other words for this. Try it. It's incredible. And it doesn't leave a greasy residue at all -- you can't even tell there's anything left on your face. I'm hoarding my samples.

Tradeoffs

2006-08-30T20:47:00.000-04:00

These last two days have marked the beginning of a very busy month in fashion media -- with the beginning of the US Open (albeit rained-out thus far), tomorrow night's MTV Video Music Awards, and next week marking the beginning of New York fashion week, I'm swamp-o-rama at work.

Today, for example, I started off my day stopping by Glamour Magazine's VMA lounge at Soho House, where I visited with the Redken salon gang, some great Shiseido make-up artists, and the House of Dereon (Beyonce's line) suite. Then, I ran to the office to do a radio interview to promote my book. Next, I wrote a story for tomorrow's paper. At 1:00 p.m. I hit the Sirius lounge at the Times Square W to hang out with my friend Christopher and celeb watch (Rihanna, JC Chasez, Common, the band Ok Go, Fall Out Boy and tons of other famous faces).
After that, my friends Jonathan and Simon called me over to the Bryant Park Hotel, where I ran around the Style Villa event and saw (oh my god) Davey Havoc from the band AFI -- the coolest looking guy in a band in a long time. Also ran into the Heatherette gang, Cee-lo (from Gnarls Barkley and "My Super Sweet Sixteen"), and some dude from That 70s Show. Next? On to the Gansevoort Hotel to meet my friend, a producer at NBC Sports, and visit with the folks from Nike Jordan -- we rode the elevator with a Black Eyed Pea and saw Tyson Beckford, super-hot model dude. Fab.

So, around 5pm, after getting back to the office, I realized that all I'd consumed all day was three Diet Cokes, two sugar-free Red Bulls, a Bacardi cocktail, and half a glass of pink pinot grigio (yes, pink! It's a new thing). Wow. With all the running around, I just didn't have time to eat -- and then I got to thinking, hey, what if I gave up food and subsisted entirely on free energy drinks and cocktails? I'd definitely lose weight, plus I'd save so much money. Added bonus: with all the money I'd save and my svelte new body, I'd be able to buy some amazing new clothes! What a great plan, huh?

Then I forgot, and ended up eating burritos, chips, guac, and margaritas at Chipotle with my friend Tanner instead. Oh well.

What a Racquet

2006-08-29T11:04:00.000-04:00

If it doesn't rain out, I'll be at the US Open all day today hanging out in the private player's area with, uh, players.

No waify anorexics here! They're all robust, muscle-bound athletes. Yum. Look for updates and pictures tonight.

The Mighty Monochrome

2006-08-28T23:07:00.000-04:00

What was Candice Bergen wearing at last night's 58th Emmy Awards? The eye-blistering whiteness of the top, the enormous, hardware-laden, thick brown leather belt, and the bulky full-length teal fishtail high-waisted skirt? She looks like a belted carnival marshmallow treat. Cease and desist! This outfit could only have been saved by doing away with it entirely. It was an especially surprising selection since Bergen is known for her effortless simple style.

On the other hand, Megan Mullally looked absolutely stunning. I've always loved Mullally -- and I've always maintained the show should have been renamed "Jack & Karen"...

Here she is winning an Emmy last night wearing a stunning, body-skimming (not clinging) monochromatic plunge-neckline column gown. Totally slimming and flattering, and utterly tasteful.

Photos by: Getty Images