The art of the present

 

Today is my last day in the office before heading to New York for a few days to visit my sister (she's studying fashion design at Parsons and ready to collapse from final projects and studio nights until 5 am, the poor thing!).  Then I’m going to my aunt and uncle’s home in Virginia for Christmas en famille.  I’m no gift expert you know, I’ve bought hardly one thing for anyone yet, but I believe most online shopping is guaranteed to arrive if you order by December 20, so as we stare down the last 48 hours, here is an excuse to look at some pretty things online.  (And who knows maybe someone will be helped by this.) 

My friend Amy gave me a feather headband from Love Lulu Mae for my birthday.  This summer I wore it to my cousin Jeanne’s going away party, a picnic on the Seine, and also with an Alexander McQueen dress to Petite's wedding reception.  It’s totally exquisite, and designed in Chicago I might add!

This has been written about in a lot of places but I think a voucher for artwork from 20x200 is an excellent gift idea. And Claire just turned me on to these dignified and adorable animal prints.

Departement Feminin has free shipping through the 20th!  Aren’t these Zanotti shoes the pink of perfection? 

This perfume guide book is as good as everyone said, and is on my Christmas wish list.  Flipping through it in a store recently, I was struck by something they wrote about a favorite perfume of mine, Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant, that it was “easy” more or less (it was very much like the Merlot rant in Sideways). I’m not going to stop wearing Quelques Fleurs, au contraire, but their pluck got me excited in the way a fun and bitchy older friend might excite a ninth grader who is new in school. 

The new Boucheron perfume, B, is a woody floral enclosed in one of the prettiest bottles I’ve ever seen (with a cabochon emerald green stone on top).  It smells perfectly lovely if you like sandalwood, which I do, and this perfume makes little use of synthetics which is nice.  (Full disclosure: Boucheron offered to send me a bottle to sample, and I declined as I don’t generally write about “stuff you can buy” here, but when I smelled the sample strip in Vanity Fair I liked it, and I love the bottle.  So I changed my mind.)

At Walgreens on Michigan Avenue in Chicago they are selling commemorative Obama buttons.  I don’t know if this is a nationwide thing or not, but what a great stocking stuffer!  Your kids will someday be clearing out your garage, possibly when you move to a retirement home and they’ll be wondering why you have so much crap you never threw away, until they see this wonderful, perfect, plastic thing, which will make them smile.

Finally, it’s hard to single out a book from all the wonderful ones I’ve read this year, but I’ll go ahead and tell you about the juicy, impossible to put down story that I just finished: Katie Rophie’s Uncommon Arrangements, a biographical examination of some unconventional romantic lives, mostly among the Bloomsbury set.

Comments

[Iheartfashion]

Beautiful feather headband!
And you've reminded me that I wanted to read Uncommon Arrangements when I first read the review. Will have to pick it up!

[ondressingup]

Oh lord that feather headband is slowly killing me with it's gorgeousness.

[nancy]

love the headband and most importantly i know that you will wear it well!

[The Red Velvet Shoe]

Gorgeous headband~~too glamorous to even call it such!

Michelle

[chantelle]

whooaaa...that is one gorgeous hair band mama!

[Fred the Mole]

Hi from Paris. Yeah !
Happy new year to you and your visitors !
Keep on the good work in 2009

Fred the Mole

http://easyfashion.blogspot.com/

[winnie]

That hairband is so beautiful! Your friend has great taste in gifts!

[Deep in Vogue]

Oo gorgeous!! Well enjoy your time in NY, babe! And Happy New Year!

[Luckystrike Louboutin]

http://lacoquette.blogs.com/la_coquette/

[Syana]

they also have feather headbands at fredflares.com

I guess if you customize them by adding some gems or other decorations things, it could end up as cool as this one ( but I'm too lazy too try it)

you can check it out on my blog!
http://eurasian-persuasion.blogspot.com

[Angela Simmons]

Thanks for sharing the Zanotti shoes on the link. They're very delightful!

[Lulu Mae]

Thanks so much for writing about Love, Lulu Mae! We'd like to share the discount code "LOVE" for your readers! Happy Shopping. xoxo, lulu

www.lovelulumae.com

www.lovelulumae.blogspot.com

[jamie]

bon jour, love the head piece, if you ever need artwork...

[Christa]

Hi Coquette:

Lovely blog! If you like great perfume writing, you must know Chandler Burr, who writes for the NY Times, just brilliantly evocative.

If you're into vintage, have a look at mine . . .

www.fashionpreserve.blogspot.com

best, Christa

[Syana]

what a pretty headband! it looks like the one from fredflare that I posted on my blog except yours is cuter.
xxx

[editor]

Somehow my comment keeps disappearing (maybe you screen). Just wanted to let you know that the last name is Roiphe rather than Rophie.
Cheers to you from San Francisco, CA.
Chris

[Coquette]

I don't screen! These are the first comments I'm seeing from you, so I don't know where the others went! Cheers.

[Claire]

Darling - ou est ton bloggage? (I still don't have RSS so I'm turning into a one woman traffic generator)x

[Eva]

Missing your blog! I do hope that you are coming back!

[Lillian]

Hope you will come back soon. Best luck.

BTW: I found this new fashion site that has Fashion Blog, Forum and Fashion Event Calendar and more. Check it out for yourself. I think you have to sign up a free account to post.

Website url is:
http://easyuri.com/16b.htm

[DC Fashion Gal]

What a beautiful headband. I just saw a young woman wearing one this morning and she paired it with a cute grey cotton skirt and tweed grey print jacket. Very cute. Hope you had a great time in NY! I am heading there myself for fashion week so maybe I will see you!

[Perfume Brands]

Perfumes are the only commodity that requires complete hard work and patience. Every perfume is made having its own uniqueness. I own a blog and write posts on the history and the making of perfumes

[catherine]

great article and nice pic

[raivo pommer]

BUNDESBANK WECHEL

von Raivo Pommer

Thilo Sarrazin verlässt Berlin. Von der Vakanz bei der Bundesbank, für die Berlin und Brandenburg ein Vorschlagsrecht haben, erfuhr man schon vor einem Jahr; die Dementis von Sarrazin klangen schon damals wie eine Zusage. Zwischendurch aber hätte es einige Male gut passieren können, dass der Regierende Bürgermeister Klaus Wowereit (SPD) sein bestes - und bekanntestes - Pferd vor der Zeit aus dem Berliner Senat entfernte.

Denn Sarrazin hat in Berlin die Rolle dessen übernommen, der ausspricht, was alle wissen, und der sich für Sätze prügeln lässt, die dann immer wieder gern und durchaus zustimmend zitiert werden. Gleich zu Beginn seiner Amtszeit 2002 etwa sprach er davon, seine Beamten kämen ihm vor Arbeitsüberlastung „bleich und übelriechend“ entgegen. Hätte er das Engagement seiner Mitarbeiter in Verdi-förmigen Floskeln gelobt, wäre es in keiner Zeitung zitiert worden. Auch sein berüchtigtes „Hartz-IV-Menü“ ist keineswegs ein Zeichen von Zynismus, sondern sollte die SPD-Fraktion davon überzeugen, dass Armut inzwischen längst nicht mehr vordringlich eine Frage des Geldes ist: „Es ist eine Lebensregel jeder Armut, die man würdig bewältigt, dass man wirtschaften kann“.

[piggy]

Raivo Pommer
[email protected]

Österreich Krise

Österreichs Ruf als Schuldner steht auf dem Prüfstand. Die Alpenrepublik will in dieser Woche ihre bis 2014 laufende und 2 Milliarden Euro schwere Staatsanleihe um eine halbe Milliarde Euro aufstocken. Dieser Betrag sollte leicht auf dem Anleihemarkt einzusammeln sein. Allerdings ist Österreich ins Gerede gekommen. Das liegt an der tiefen Rezession in weiten Teilen Osteuropas. Dort haben österreichische Banken Forderungen von 280 Milliarden Dollar - eine Zahl, die dem österreichischen Bruttoinlandsprodukts nahekommt. Wegen der wachsenden Schwierigkeiten osteuropäischer Schuldner, ihre Kredite zurückzuzahlen, sind die Bedenken der Anleger mit Blick auf die Kreditwürdigkeit Österreichs und seiner Banken in den vergangenen Tagen gewachsen.

Ein Indiz für die Skepsis ist die Renditedifferenz zwischen österreichischen Staatsanleihen und deutschen Bundesanleihen. Noch nie war sie so groß wie derzeit. Für zehnjährige Laufzeiten zum Beispiel beträgt die Differenz fast 1,4 Prozentpunkte. Bundesanleihen rentieren mit 2,9 Prozent, österreichische mit immerhin 4,3 Prozent. Auf dem zu Übertreibungen neigenden Markt für Kreditausfallversicherungen (CDS) ist die Diskrepanz zwischen Österreich und Deutschland sogar noch größer. Die Aufstockung der österreichischen Staatsanleihe ist daher keinesfalls Routine.

[mysterioustyle]

so cute! where can i find it?
XD

http://mysterioustyle.blogspot.com/

[Paul Jones]

This Xmas I am heading myself with my wife to NYC - for Xmas 2009.

Can't wait as it will be my first ever visit there.

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