Macy's

New York has its fair share of department stores and Macy's promises to be the largest store in the world. I wonder what Selfridges says about that? Well, I liked Macy's. It doesn't have the luxurious feel of Saks and Barneys but it has a sense of tranquil comfort. It feels slightly rundown and some of the escalators have seen better days but I think that is part of the charm. I try to imagine how it was when everything was brand new and state of the art.

Macy's saw the light in 1929 and it has nine large floors of goods that ranges most of the things you can need. When I looked over the floors I was amazed at the amount of products there were and they have really cramped them which unfortunately makes it look a bit cheap. The thought of managing all this stuff just blew my mind. Can you imagine the logistical hell that can happen? I wouldn't like to be around if something went pear shaped.

On the ninth floor you can find among other things a post office, a jewelery and watch repair and jewelery brokerage. Macy's is definitely worth the visit.

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LA - NY

On fifth Avenue

After one day on the east coast I have a slight but perhaps not unbiased view of the differences between LA and NYC. I like LA alot but I must say that I love NY and I think it happened the instance when I saw the Manhattan skyline. There are pros and cons with both places of course. LA is hot and NYC is hot and humid. LA wins that one. It is easier to move around in NYC and the feel of the city is more European which I like. Round two for NYC. The style of the New Yorkers are more to my taste but the Los Angelers are more friendly (could of course have something to do with that I spent most of my time in West Hollywood).

So in a perfect world I would take the climate of California and the people, suit them up in a slightly different style and dump them in New York. That would be the recipe of a really good city.

A relative perhaps? (at the Metro Museum)

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Savage Beauty

Today I was at The Metropolitan Art Museum in New York. I spent loads of time in my favourite sections with objects from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Lucky for me they also had an exhibition, "Savage Beauty", with clothes designed by Alexander McQueen. It took some time to get there since we had to queue for one and a half hours to see the master pieces. It was definitely worth the wait and yet another confirmation of the late English genius.

I threw myself at the book about the exhibition and they seemed to be going like hot cakes.

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Must Haves

When on Rodeo Drive I found two things worth dying for, a white jacket from Ralph Lauren and blue leather shoes from Hugo Boss. Absolutely yummy!!!

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Rodeo Drive

Today I spent the day on Rodeo Drive in the blistering Californian heat. I thought I was going to melt and dissolve on the pavements. Lucky then that there are so many shops with cool air conditioning to save your day. You could easily ruin the economy of a small country in these palaces of luxury. My absolute favourites were Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford and Gucci. Scandinavia has their representatives like George Jensen and Bang & Olufsen and Nudie Jeans in Barneys were I incidentally had a lovely lunch on the top floor.

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Shoes at Nordstrom

Yesterday I was at Nordstrom and when I walked through the doors to my right I had a huge shoe department. My thoughts went directly to my friends like Anna and Catharina who absolutely love shoes. For them it had been nothing short of heaven. Next time girls, we go together.

Fabulous, fun and eyecatching shoes from Jeffrey Campbell.



And a big stack of Jimmy Choos'.

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444

My 444th posting and I would like to thank my American readers. You are in majority and I'm grateful to each and every one of you. At the moment I'm in Los Angeles for the first time in my life, sampling the great way of American life. Posting can be few and far in between for a while but it is just beacuse I'm busy seeing the sights. :-)

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Family in Pink

Since I have a God daugther since a few months back I'm getting really familiar with babies' fashion. The 1970s is reigning as an influence to what the parents suit their kids up with. Loving it and total trip of nostalgia since I'm a child of the 70s. My God daughter is seen in pink alot which surprises me a bit because I didn't think that her mother would go for the really girlie-girlie stuff but life is full of surprises.

The thing about families (since I took a swing at the subject) is that there are different kinds of families. Some you are born into, some you choose and some you are chosen into.

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Peacock

Like peacocks we men like to spread our wings. And why do we do it? For self gratification, to be told that we look great and that we are wonderful specimens of human kind. The simplest reason of them all is of course - to be loved.



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Branding

Branding seems to become more and more important. We rarely just buy a thing these days, we buy a brand and the values of just said brand. Even people are brands. Madonna and David Beckham to just mention two. Why do you think athletes and actresses are put in commercials? Because we look up to them and in a vain attempt we think that something of them will rub off on ourselves when we purchase the products they endorse. There is also a symbiosis between the product and the celebrity. The traits of the product "spills" over on to the celebrity and více versa.

Even us mere mortals can be said to be doing a bit of branding when we display our lives and our thoughts on Facebook or when we like me create a blog. I write here because I like it but it is also blatant marketing for myself, my knowledge of fashion and my skill as a writer. As I mentioned before a brand needs to contain values. Then what values should my own brand be infused with?

I think that most people would say that I'm nice but who wants that as a value. Nice is all well and good but not very sexy, and when push comes to shove we all want to be desirable. I have been said to be enigmatic and mysterious. I like the ring of that because who the hell wants to be like an open book. Other characteristics that I'm told by others that I have are bravery, drive and fearlessness. By some who are perhaps not that fond of me I'm called pushy and aggressive. As all other things in life it is down to perspective and the feelings you invoke in the people around you.

So the values of the brand Patrick could well be Brave, Enigmatic and Fearless.


But in the end, the cold, hard truth of who I really am is known only by me.



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Nautical Fashion

Every year at late spring or in the summer it shows up like a letter in the mail, the nautical fashion. Red, white and blue, and the style is basically the same from one year to the other. Since blue is one of my favourite colours I always seem to fall like a wall of bricks repeatedly. For some reason the urge hasn't popped this year. I wonder why but on the other hand summer isn't over.




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Oscar Jacobson's New Campaign

Swedish company Oscar Jacobson has recently shot their new fall campaign. The photo shoot took place at the wool producer Loro Piana in Quarona Sesia in the north of Italy. The photographer is Patrik Sehlstedt and the stylist is Ursula Wångander and the model's name is Christian Brylle. I like the photo shoot and the feel is different from Oscar Jacobson's former campaigns. I definitely think that the company is on the right track and I look forward to keep an eye on what happens in the future.

Pictures courtesy of Oscar Jacobson.

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Victor & Rolf Fall Collection 2011

Victor & Rolf, this Dutch duo is spectacular and the boys really think outside the box. I find it hard to believe that anyone would think like these Dutchmen. Mindblowing shows and clothes that look like no other. That being said all of their positive traits don't always lead to an appealing result. When you take a look at the Victor & Rolf fall collection for 2011 the word beautiful doesn't really spring to mind. The clothes look like they were being made for a bad and low budgeted Sci-Fi movie. If you send out something on the catwalk that looks like a distant cousin to Star Trek you have reached deep waters and you have to pray to higher powers that you have the strength to tread water until you can get the customers onboard again. Quirky entails the large risk of ending up strange instead of elegant.








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Jay McCarroll

A few moments ago I saw an episode of the latest season of Project Runway. Automatically I start thinking about previous seasons and there has been some colourful people who have made theri claim to fame. The most colourful of them all is probably the winner of season one, Jay McCarroll. He dressed in all colours of the world and looked a bit like he had been dressed by a blind man but I hadn't wanted to have him any other way. He was truly and really himself. That is admirable and his clothes weren't the only thing that was colourful. He had and has a personality to match. A person who would make any circle of friends even more heavenly.


From the pictures I have found he continues on his colourful path and if you go to this webpage you will his beautiful textilies.




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A thing of Beauty

A thing of beauty.


Armani ...

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Jade Jagger

Jade Jagger, daughter of Bianca and Mick Jagger, is continuing her collaboration with Swedish company Indiska. Jade Jagger has made a name for herself as an artist and a designer and has had her share of success.


The Swedish company Indiska started its history in 1901. It was founded by Mathilda Hamilton who had lived in the Himalayas in the north of India and the shop was situated in the centre of Stockholm. In the 1950s the shop was bought by Åke Thambert who expanded it into a chain. Today Indiska is still owned by the Thambert family and they have shops in all of Scandinavia.


The union of Jade Jagger with Indiska has been a success which has left both parties wanting just as well as the market.

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Interview with Josefin Strid

Photo from Dorian Magazine

Today I did an interview with my former student, Josefin Strid, and it is supposed to end up in Mods Magazine. Josefin is a shooting star on the fashion sky and this autumn she takes her first steps on to the international market. I believe she will do well. The picture above from Dorian Magazine features one of her t-shirts. Dorian loves Josefin's creations but they could have matched it with something better than camouflage pants. I hate camouflage.

The funny thing is that I have seen this particular type of t-shirt on Josefin's mother and it looks better on her than on this male model.


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Velour

If you for some reason haven't had the time to get the coveted samples of the ongoing collections or feel the need to cram your wardrobe even further with more items you should get your butt to the nearest establishment where they sell the Swedish label Velour. Absolutely the best solution to go preppy all the way during the whole summer. And why would you want to go any other way?




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The Duchess

Some films stick to memory for lots of reasons. I consider the film The Duchess with Keira Knightley to belong to that category. I find it to be a brilliant film because of the acting, an exciting and somewhat tragic life story and of course the magnificent clothes. They are done to perfection and are absolutely true to the 18th century. I should know. I have always been fascinated by that century.


The Duchess of Devonshire was born as Lady Georgiana Spencer and those who know their noble names also know that the Duchess is the ancestor to Lady Diana and Prince William and Prince Harry. Of course the film throws a romantic shimmer of it all but shows a bit of the hardship. Georgiana Spencer as most women in those days married for connections and wealth and not for love. Of course she couldn't have the man she really loved and for twentyfive years she shared her husband with her friend Lady Elizabeth Foster.


It wasn't all hardship. This lady knew how to party and she gambled away small fortunes. She was the toast of London and what she wore everyone else wore the week after. She was one of the world's first trendsetters. She also got involved with politics and was a sort of a forerunner to the movement of the suffragettes .


An exciting life and therefore naturally perfect to end up on the silver screen. I think they made a marvellous and memorable job of it.


The fascinations we hold in this life can be accounted for by what we were in past lives (if you believe that sort of thing). My past life as a 18th century English noble lady could be the explanation to my love for the 18th century and for everything English.

Life led me on a path where I needed hypnotic therapy to mend myself so to speak. Apart from the lady I have been a doctor in 19th century Sweden and a pamhlet writer in 17th century Holland.

But that is an entirely different story .....


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Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan graduated from Central St Martins in 1994 or it could have been 1993. My memory is a bit muddled. What I distinctly remember is reading about the final show and of the students and then particularily Hussein Chalayan. He had buried his clothes in the garden weeks before the show to see what effect it would have on them being exposed to the earth. Now you might say that that is genious or wacko but he certainly could think outside of the box. Kudos for such fantasy. That created a lot of press and started his career that is still ongoing and strong, with customers like Madonna and Björk. He continues to make clothes and fashion in an entirely personal way.



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Ralph Lauren Summer 2011

Today summer really came knocking at us up in the north. Made me think of Ralph Lauren's advertising when I looked out over the beautiful landscape. If anyone has created an idealistic view of summer, romance and elegance it is Ralph Lauren. I mean who wouldn't like to run through a field on a white horse, dressed impeccably and without a care in the world?



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