On Our Radar Silvia Furmanovich Orchid Cuffs
Family reunions are full of surprises. Over the holidays,Wholesale Gucci, when I was back in Brazil at a Larroude gathering, I saw this amazing cuff on my cousin’s wrist. She told me it belonged to her mother, but she loved it so much she couldn’t resist borrowing it for the evening. It’s gorgeous from a distance, but when I got closer, I realized it’s not a trompe l’oeil bangle—it’s a real orchid, treated and then enameled (and, if you’re lucky, dotted with tiny diamonds). It’s from the collection of the Brazil-based designer Silvia Furmanovitch, who uses real blossoms for earrings and brooches as well as bracelets; each piece is one-of-a-kind. And if family obligations don’t call you to São Paulo any time soon, you can always see more at www.silviafurmanovich.com.br.
—Marina Larroude
Courtesy of Silvia Furmanovich
Liz Taylor couture soars to $2.6 million at auction
NEW YORK (Reuters) One of actress Elizabeth Taylor’s Dior evening gowns sold for $362,500, boosting the total for the auction of her haute couture to $2.6 million at Christie’s.
The silver encrusted brocade gown from 1968, with matching bag, had been estimated at about $5,000, but a protracted bidding war among several determined would-be buyers drove the price to about 70 times that, including commission.
The Wednesday sale, the third in a weeks’ worth of auctions of Taylor’s storied jewels, clothes, memorabilia and other items, was not marked by the freewheeling frenzy that prevailed on Tuesday, when her finest jewelry took in $116 million.
But the $2.6 million was still about 10 times the pre-sale estimate, owing to the Taylor cachet and also driven by competitive online bidding from around the globe.
Christie’s said the sale set a record for a couture auction, although the evening’s top lot was actually an Andy Warhol lithograph of Taylor which fetched $662,500.
“The couture was an extremely successful auction,” said Andrea Fiuczynski, president of Christie’s Los Angeles, who served as auctioneer.
The results, she said, were a testament to Taylor’s iconic status, which she said is unmatched today.
“There isn’t any celebrity now who does everything she did,” Fiuczynski told Reuters, speaking to Taylor’s work as an actress, activist, humanitarian, savvy businesswoman and style icon.
Taylor died of congestive heart failure in March at age 79.
Two other offerings soared past $100,000 - a Chanel ball gown and cape with shoes and matching bag, which fetched $134,500; and a Versace beaded bolero jacket emblazoned with images of Taylor in her film roles,Cheap Ed hardy Shoes, which sold for $128,500.
A few pieces of jewelry included in the sale also commanded strong prices, notably a fish charm necklace estimated at $500 which sold for $30,000 and a pair of rock crystal and gold Gucci ear pendants, which went for $74,500 against an estimate of $1,500.
The Taylor auctions continue on Thursday with a memorabilia and fine arts sale. Online auctions of some 1,000 lower-priced items from Taylor’s estate are running concurrently.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Stirring up a fight, Obama names consumer watchdog
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio Defying Republican lawmakers, President Barack Obama on Wednesday barreled by the Senate and installed a national consumer watchdog on his own, provoking GOP threats of a constitutional showdown in the courts. Setting a fierce tone in the election-year fight for middle-class voters, Obama said: “I refuse to take `no’ for an answer.”
Obama named Richard Cordray, a respected former attorney general of Ohio, to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after giving up on hopes for a confirmation vote in the Senate. The appointment means the agency is able to oversee a vast swath of lending companies and others accused at times of preying on consumers with shady practices.
In political terms, Obama’s move was unapologetically brazen, the equivalent of a haymaker at Republicans in the Senate who had blocked his nominee. Acting right after Tuesday’s presidential caucuses in Iowa, which showered attention on his opponents, Obama sought to make a splash as the one fighting for the rights of the little guy.
Presidents of both parties long have gotten around a stalled confirmation by naming a nominee to a job when the Senate is on a break through a process known as a recess appointment.
But Obama went further by squeezing in his appointment during a break between rapid Senate sessions this week, an unusual move that the GOP called an arrogant power grab.
The White House said what the Senate was doing gaveling in and out of session every few days solely to avoid being in recess was a sham. Obama’s aides said the president would not be stopped by a legislative gimmick, even though it was Senate Democrats who began the practice to halt President George W. Bush’s appointments.
“When Congress refuses to act, and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them,” Obama said from Ohio, a state vital to Obama’s re-election bid.
Consumer groups hailed Obama’s decision; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce balked and warned it was so legally shaky that consumer bureau’s work may be compromised.
The response from Republicans was blistering.
The top Senate Republican,wholesale Ed hardy jeans, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said Obama had “arrogantly circumvented the American people” and endangered the nation’s systems of checks and balances. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah called it a “very grave decision by this heavy-handed, autocratic White House.”
And House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said: “It’s clear the president would rather trample our system of separation of powers than work with Republicans to move the country forward. This action goes beyond the president’s authority, and I expect the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate.”
Mitt Romney, a leading Republican presidential candidate, accused Obama of displaying “Chicago-style politics at its worst.”
It was not immediately clear who might file a suit on the matter. Most likely, a private party regulated by the consumer agency would have the legal standing.
More than a standoff over one significant appointment, the fight speaks to the heart of a presidential campaign under way.
Obama is presiding over a troubled but improving economy. To try to win over voters, he is employing two strategies: in-your-face politics against a Congress held in low public regard, and a campaign pitch that he would represent the crunched middle class better than any of the Republicans he would face.
The Cordray appointment fits both.
Only with a director in place can the consumer bureau keep “dishonest” mortgage companies, payday lenders, debt collectors and others from harming consumers, Obama said. Speaking from a high school in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Obama said Republicans were only blocking Cordray because they wanted to water down consumer protections.
Republican senators have called the consumer bureau too powerful and unaccountable, and held off on Cordray’s bid as a means to get changes.
Cordray essentially starts right away, although his nomination will become official later in the week, the White House said. He is expected to serve until at least the end of 2013, which is the end of the Senate’s next session.
In plowing ahead, the White House had to contend with some uncomfortable history.
Just last year, a lawyer from Obama’s Justice Department said the office’s view was that recess appointments could only come during legislative breaks of more than three days. That doesn’t match up with what Obama did with Cordray, since the Senate was technically just in session on Tuesday.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, said in 2007 he would keep the Senate in “pro forma” sessions to block Bush from making an end run around the Senate and the Constitution with controversial nominations. That’s exactly what Obama’s White House now calls a gimmick. Yet on Wednesday, Reid came out in support of what Obama did.
As a senator in 2005, Obama opposed the recess nomination of John Bolton to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, saying at the time that a representative who couldn’t get through a Senate confirmation would be “damaged goods” with less credibility. Obama spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was just talking about the merits of the Bolton pick.
Obama certainly hasn’t opposed recess appointments as president.
He had made 28 recess appointments before Wednesday, then named Cordray and three members to the National Labor Relations Board.
Bush made more than 170 such appointments when the Senate was away.
At the heart of the conflict this time is the arcane matter of what, exactly, constitutes a congressional recess.
White House lawyers ultimately determined that, for all practical purposes, the Senate is in the midst of about a monthlong break and Obama can move ahead as he pleases.
___
Feller reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.
Recessionista Serious Sequins - UsMagazine.com
Purchase info: Buy it here.
Here, we’re featuring the $48 Armani Exchange Chevron sequined tank. It goes great with shorts or a pencil skirt. Wear it with white jeans, add a strong shoulder blazer and high heels and you are set!
Some of the most lovely dresses on the red carpet are designed by Giorgio Armani (Megan Fox in Armani Prive Couture line at the Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen premiere in Moscow, Angelina Jolie at the 2009 BAFTA Awards, Heidi Klum at 2008 and even the Beckhams in their skivvies!) and even though this line has been around for a long time, it’s always good to remember when you want a slice of that couture-looking pie for less, there’s always A/X Armani Exchange.
The men- and womenswear line is priced really well, and always brings the fashion when you need things like a strapless jumpsuit or a stretch belt. Armani Exchange items are perfect for date night with jeans that aren’t shredded or completely oversized — something slim and understated works.
See Megan Fox’s sexy Transformers style!.
Thakoon’s Postcard From London
“A Sherlock Holmes store! So touristy additionally comic, I had to work in.”
“Spring altogether sprung in London. I’ve not watched London so sunny…ever. I took a nice hike and stumbled onto Regent’s Park.”
“Tea (alternatively rather many, many teas), at Claridge’s. Practically spent always of my days here as meetings. This is the outlook from our usual speck in the behind.”
Thakoon Panichgul buffet London this week for a splashy soirée at Soho House Basement and a trunk show for Net-a-Porter’s VIP consumers. But it wasn’t all work and no melodrama. Panichgul base a tiny time to explore the city. (There he is, on, tryinig on the regional accouterment in East London.) He sent back the following snaps from his travels.
Photos: Thakoon Panichgul
“I went to East London to encounter a friend for luncheon and stroll. After an amazing vegetable tagine at Rochelle Canteen, we took a stroll through the neighborhood—cool walls craft.”
“I went to say hello apt the Dazed & Confused team at work. Was nice of Jefferson to pop in to say hi even though he just returned from Australia and was probably über-jet-lagged. This namely the prodigious margarine carve they have at the office.”
Recessionista Marc’d Down - UsMagazine.com
We adore Marc Jacobs over here at Us….well, frankly, who doesn’t?! He goes with the most surprising and finest linens in the land. There are so numerous ration restrictions we all have while it comes to affording those lovely bags, wraps and dresses, merely with this new collection, you tin own a piece of the name brand for a fragment of the spend.
The thirteen piece collection (available online at Saks.com and Bloomingdales.com) comes in a colorful and whimsical classification of prints including Marc Doodle, Wildflower, Charlotte Stripe, and Miss Marc ‘Don’t Fret My Pet.’
The limited version collection will be obtainable in Marc by Marc Jacobs stores and online at Saks.com and Bloomingdales.com starting August 1.
There’s naught like a little Marc Jacobs vogue news to get me incited. And this news involves a amazing capsule accumulation aboard scarves, leggings, jersey blazers and denim below the Marc by Marc Jacobs umbrella always to retail for below $200!
Cheap Moncler Christina Aguilera and Max, 3, Meet Shrek!
– Jeremy Piven shopping at the Madison Avenue Domenico Vacca boutique in NYC.,Cheap Moncler
– Justin Bieber picking up a birthday gift because girlfriend Selena Gomez at ESPN The Magazine ESPY Style Studio in L.A.
– Real Housewives of New York’s Jill Zarin electing up several Phillip Lim chips of clothes at Edit boutique in Southampton, NY.
PHOTOS: Zac and other hunks ashore the red carpet
– Elisabeth Rohm and her daughter Easton hosting a Juicy Couture trunk show to behalf the Boys & Girls Club in Malibu.
– Danny Masterson enjoying a Hangar One vodka cocktail at the Hangar One Blimp Tour Party by Navy Beach in Montauk, NY.
– Jamie Foxx flying Bluestar Jets to France ahead celebrating the prologue of Pool Beach in St. Tropez with his daughter Corinne Bishop.
PHOTOS: Celebs with Bieber fever
– Idris Elba dancing to Aloes latest single “Tonight Downtown” at the Tonight We Tanqueray launch accident in Brooklyn, NY.
– Christina Aguilera and son Max visiting Shrek in his clothing room at the Pantages Theatre in L.A.
– Jay-Z and Sean Combs cheering on a break-dancer at NYC’s Gansevoort Park Hotel’s rooftop bar, Red Room, while Sam Ronson DJ’ed.
VIDEO: Remember this brutal Entourage scene?
– Zac Efron drinking a Grey Goose saketini at Sunda canteen in Chicago.
Forever Young
Kate Young is on a streak. The stylist was fair named one of the altitude five stylists in Hollywood by the Hollywood Reporter, and topped off the coup by sending her customer, Natalie Portman, to the Academy Awards in plum-colored Rodarte—and watching her walk off with the big award. (Evening’s Best Dressed, of lesson, though she happened to nab the Oscar, too.) The multitasking stylist, who divides her time among somebody go, editorials, and consulting for the likes of Jason Wu, has fair joined another line to her résumé: designer. Young partnered with knitwear designer Lynne Hiriak of Cardigan, whom she met when both were consulting for Derek Lam, to create a line of mom’s and kid’s knits. (Young has two sons.)
For adults, Young (left, with Hiriak) tweaked a preference Cardigan sweatshirt because a lax, harvested fit (under left), and drawstring sweatpants with elasticized cuffs. (The inspiration, Young said by phone, was a mix of runway favorites—like the covetable sweats from Isabel Marant and Dries Van Noten—and the pieces she’d always wanted, but never base, for herself.) For babies, there’s a buttoned onesie (underneath right), a mini sweatshirt, and a pair of mini sweatpants apt match mom’s (although the kid’s version comes with a kangaroo pocket). They’re all made of merino wool, which Young loves for kids no merely for its antibacterial properties, but likewise because it’s a indeed wicking fabric—a nice thing, she says with a smile, while infant pukes or pees. That’s baby-friendly. More mom-friendly are the stylish, jewel-tone colors the pieces come in, not nearly pink-for-girls, blue-for-boys. Young and Hiriak opted for charcoal, navy, gray, mustard, and purple—that the end of the day, come apt think of it, not far from the hue of a definite in-the-news Rodarte gown.
Cardigan by Kate Young namely accessible now by cardigannewyork.com.
Photos: Courtesy of Cardigan
—Matthew Schneier
Celebrity Short Cuts - UsMagazine.com
Leather shorts can be had by all amounts from the low end-H&M (pictured here, $30, hm.com for places) to YSL. Try on a few pairs and see what works for you. You can detect styles in both pleather and leather, which will apparently spend more. But there’s a wide scope of prices out there to make everyone elated.
These shorts take the area of a miniskirt and make for a magnificent companion to leggings. Mix the shorts with a bootie, merely reserve it all simple. Probably merging a motorcycle jacket namely not such a magnificent fancy, but joining an oversized boyfriend blazer and a fine t-shirt works. A smart published blouse goes here too. And keep in mind, your thighs must be highly toned as these can be fitted and tight.
We specked them on the runways of Chloe, Hermes and YSL last spring. Then celebrities like Rihanna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Miley Cyrus began to pick it up, and a trend was born. Most shorts sold out and immediately they’re back by fashionable claim.
A huge trend and one absolute must for this fall has got to be a couple of leather shorts. Do no be belled namely you ambition see favor Kurt Von Trapp from The Sound of Music in Lederhosen. Worn here at Rachel Bilson during NY Fashion Week, these peppery knickers are rock-and-roll rebellious and selling out like mad.
By Sasha Charnin Morrison as UsMagazine.com. To peruse extra of the Recessionista blog, press here.