Maria Maria Maria! [Sharapova] – That Is, Styled by Leonard Zagami For NYFW

STORY, Anthony Palermo

Preface,by Vivian Kelly

I’ve always admired  gorgeous women with long blonde locks since I was 5 years old, starting with Goldilocks and  later, Princess Aurora, Farrah Fawcett Majors, Marilyn Monroe and more recently, Blake Lively and Maria Sharapova. Family friend, William, then a Dutch University Student, and now a KLM pilot, jokingly showed me an image of Maria Sharapova on his iphone, casually calling her “my girlfriend” and then laughing when I believed him – for a second.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones to think Maria was something really special.

This season, at NYFW, Maria was front row at some of New York’s biggest shows. Below, Anthony Palermo, tells us how his ALS partner, Leonard Zagami, created some fresh looks for the gorgeous tennis star. I’ve featured the one she sported at the Marc Jacobs show.

And, now… here’s Anthony!

“Mercedes Benz Fashion week is always filled with fabulous people. These Fall RTW 2012 collections were more about the who’s who in the front row. One of our all time favorites , Maria Sharapova , knows how to make an entrance and cause a frenzy on the court, but the real commotion starts when she is spotted at all the hottest shows!  Celebrity make up artist  and  friend of the AnthonyLeonard Salon ,  Andie Markoe -Byrne, teamed up with  Leonard Zagami, Creative Director of ALS,  to complete Maria ’s looks for the shows.

Read on as Leonard explains look 1 of the 3 looks he gave the grand slammer for this very fashionable NYC Week!

AT Marc Jacobs:

Maria , seen here with famed photographer  Patrick Demarchelier and his wife Mia , had a slightly pinned back side part . “I used Super Shine Cream by Oribe   to get a sleek look with out it being too overdone” says Zagami. ” I also used a Kent Brush ( for fine hair) to help smooth down fly-aways”. Maria usually  parts her hair in the middle so this was a great change for her!

To read and see all 3, go to anthonyleonardsalonblog. There, you’ll find out how Leonard styled her for her appearances at Vera Wang and Oscar de la Renta. If you’re sitting next to Anna [Wintour], you had BETTER be on your game! Thanks to Leonard, Maria looked every bit the star she is.

Versace Lovin’ in Vogue Japan and Madonna Makes the Superbowl

Text, Vivian Kelly

Nirvana.

I was sitting in Anthony’s black patent leather nailhead chair with Madison Avenue to my right and my laptop in front of me. To my right on the marble ledge were stacks of Rizzoli and Assouline coffee table books as well as the latest European editions of Vogue. As Anthony magically erased my skunk roots with the potion in the squeeze bottle, we talked blogs and the Superbowl.

He’d just posted  on the killer images shot by Carlyn Cerf de Dudzeele for Vogue Japan, which he’d also collaborated on. Anthony’s role was to work his colorist magic to give the models cotton candy colored hair which played off the Versace outfits. I’d  previewed them on his ipad over the Holidays but seeing them in the post and in the actual magazine blew me away. The other contributors were Oribe who styled the hair and Lena Koro who did the makeup.

This shoot  is unmistakably reminiscent of those incredible Avedon ones back when Gianni was still alive. The clothes, many of them from the Versace for H&M Collaboration were so close to Gianni’s early nineties designs that I almost wept with joy. Enjoy these cotton candy images, you can peruse on your iphone as you pretend to be paying attention to the SuperBowl game.

Fashionistas – don’t forget to look up at half-time though, to watch the one and only Material Girl strut her stuff in front of 111 million viewers [last Bowl's figures]. The SuperBowl is said to rank #2 in “holidays with most food consumption”, but maybe thoughts of fitting into Versace and watching Madonna’s insanely toned body will spur us to put that 10th chicken wing down!

Madonna - Toned and Jacked to the Maxx

Versace – You Want to Fit Into This!

To read Anthony’s post on this fantastic editorial, go to Anthony Leonard Salon’s blog. Note his clever use of cotton candy colored text!

Mark Cross’s Iconic “Box Bag” – a Grace Kelly Fave Is Back For Us to Enjoy in 2012

The Inimitable Grace Kelly Holding Her Grace Box Bag in Rear Window

Text, Vivian Kelly

Last Friday, I had an unexpected break from teaching and zoomed over to one of my favorite local designer consignment stores, Bring N Buy, to see if I could score a Friday feel good deal. While hanging out with co-owner, Tina Hassenstein, and discussing the upcoming NYFW, I internally mulled over if I really wanted  the brown LV monogram bag on the shelf. It DID have the boxy structured shape I love but… I left, sans bag.
Later that day, while at my home office desk, a pitch came in from the HL Group’s Maria Bui,  about a special launch event - “Collection 1″ by Mark Cross exclusively for Barney’s NY.

There, embedded in the message was a range of gorgeous little boxy bags as clean and elegant as a die hard Minimalist could wish for.

Mark Cross’s reappearance on the fashion radar screen is interesting on a couple of levels.

Firstly, I’m not sure where Barney’s is headed creatively these days. My last visit during the holidays was a bit dismaying – over-stuffed racks, a shoe sale in which shoes and boots were strewn all over the department rather than contained on racks as they are at Neiman’s and Lord & Taylor. My friend, Anthony Palermo, felt similarly when we chatted about it last month as he bleached out my hair.  

That said, a collaboration such as this one is a step in the right direction, something that smacks of “the old Barney’s” of yesteryear, when Gene Pressman was in charge. In the Nineties, Barney’s was the place where you went for fashion items you could not find anywhere else. Their highly edited merch was the reason you went to Barney’s.

Secondly, the bags in the Mark Cross collection have an elegant retro vibe and come in boxy geometric designs. Better still, this accessories company has a wonderful pedigree, thanks largely to its longtime designer Gerald Butler and  his wife Sara, who passed away in 1964 and 1975, respectively. The company reopened in 2010.

Thirdly, the brand is associated with one of my favorite fashion icons. One of the bags in the Barney’s exclusive is the modern day version of “Grace Box”, the bag that Gerald Butler created for Grace Kelly to wear in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Grace’s little bag became so famous that the company eventually produced it for their customers to be able to have a little bit of Grace’s “very sleek and classic style” in their life.

Lastly, Mark Cross [and designer, Gerald Butler] have a rich artistic history that spans across several artistic disciplines: accessory design, literature and ballet. Gerald and Sara Murphy were people I would have loved to have met.  If the wacky Dr. Emmett Brown’s DeLorean Flux Capacitator actually worked, I’d beg him to hitch a ride on it to go back to the Forties and join them for cocktails and a chat about what they were working on next.

Dr. Emmett Brown and his Delorean Flux Capacitator

Here, a little more of this venerable brand’s history

Mark Cross was originally established as a saddler and harness-maker – bought by the Murphy family in 1875. Gerald & Sara Murphy were good friends with literary legends such as: F Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker. Fitzgerald dedicated his novel “Tender is the Night” to Sara and Gerald. The main characters in the book, Dick and Nicole Diver, are partly inspired by Sara and Gerald. THIS is true-blue glamour, with a capital G.

Product info:
Debuting exclusively at Barney’s, to arrive in stores by 1/30/12 (Barney’s NY, barneys.com)

Pricing: $1,495 – 2,350

If Mark Cross continues to do more collaborations such as this one, count me in as a Mark Cross fan.

Hair Heaven – Leonard Zagami’s “Camelot at Dawn” Coupe

Text, Vivian Kelly

Anne Garside’s coffee table book, Camelot at Dawn delivered a sorely needed fashion moment in the midst of the disheartening 8 day power outage. The photos shot by Orlando Suero, were ones I’d never seen before.

 

Most of the photos we see of Jacqueline Kennedy are of her as as the First Lady or in her later incarnation as the mysterious “Jackie O”, dodging paparazzo  Ron Gallela.

The images of  Jacqueline Kennedy and her husband, shot in May 1954, in Georgetown, have that “easy” American style that put US fashion designers on the map. I related to Jackie’s khaki capris, striped shirt and flats, because that’s my daily uniform, but that hair! The short wavy haircut she had combined with bubblegum pearl necklaces and large gold clip earrings got my heart racing.  Like turned to love when I got to the image of her lighting the candles for her first formal dinner party. The white strapless evening gown was stunning combined with the famous three strand pearl necklace and the haircut. I could get the necklace at Carolee but the hair – not so easy.

Jackie, before her first formal dinner party, Georgetown, 1954. Photo by Orlando Suero.

The only two guys who would really “get” this obsession were Anthony Palermo and Leonard Zagami. Off to New York I went to go show them the book and hopefully to walk out with a modern day version of this cut. If you’re not familiar with their work, have a look at their blog, and you’ll see what I mean by “editorial”.

While sitting in Leonard’s chair, getting my so-so short coupe transformed into a modern day version of Jackie Kennedy’s 1954 cut, Anthony [Leonard] came by to chat in between a barrage of color clients. I come to A-L for the outstanding hair services but even more so for their company; we share a mutual passion for hair that can transform you and can make you feel like your favorite fashion icon.

and Leonard [right], my go-to editorial hair gurus”]

Anthony [left

“Have you seen the Vogue covers book” asked Anthony. “Uh, no…” I confessed, feeling decidedly out of it but happy I had something new to get inspired about, while getting the haircut of my dreams. An added bonus was that Leonard told me about his Uncle, Salvatore Zagami, a noted sculptor/artist who brought works from his personal collection for the Salon’s FNO party back in September. Luckily for me, he left some of them in the salon and I enjoyed them as Leonard worked on my hair.

A Salvatore Zagami Sculpture, photographed by Anthony Palermo.

Considering my hair is finer than Jackie’s the cut I walked out with was as close as I could get. Leonard suggested playing with a strong mousse, such as Nexxus Mouse Plus Volumizing Styler. The key was to scrunch my hair to create the waves I wanted. Perfect, AND easy.

Leonard's modern version of Jackie Kennedy's 1954 Hairdo

Hair is like fashion. As with fashion, as soon as a collection is done, the question  ”what’s next?” arises. As I got up, I asked Anthony about “the next step. Maybe the Lady Diana cut?” His eyes lit up and he said, “and maybe blonde too?”

Princess Diana's Short Haircut

 

Over the Holidays, we’re going to Foxwoods. While the others at the poker tables, I’ll be at the Lady Diana Retrospective, studying her hair and style. On a world tour, the exhibition “Diana, A Celebration” stops Sept. 16 through Jan. 15 at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket. Graeme Murtonand Nick Grossmark, art handlers for the Althorp Estate in England,  installed the iconic gown worn by Diana at her 1981 wedding to Charles, Prince of Wales.

Art handlers Nick Grossmark (black gloves) and Graeme Murton (white gloves) travel to each tour stop for "Diana, A Celebration," responsible for setting up the exhibition (wearing gloves to prevent damage). The duo are standing next to Diana's iconic ivory silk and lace wedding gown.

After that experience, I’ll undoubtedly have  a Lady Di moment and head back to the A-L Salon to make my vision a reality, with a lot of help from my friends there.

Hair Happiness – the In-Styler- taking hair from bad to rad

Text, Vivian Kelly

Before the email from the lovely Cheryl Buscema of Siren PR and that life-changing afternoon meeting when I got to meet  celebrity hair stylist, Dean Banowetz, my hair possibilities were limited – to say the very least.

A “good day” meant no frizz, wavy bumps  and no cowlicks and the ability to put my hair into a stubby ponytail. [yes, the growing-out process is still on].

As I flipped through my monthly issues of Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and W, I admired the sleek straight hair in Carmen Kass wore in Michael Kors ads season after season and the sleek chignons in the new “Mad Men” collection Banana Republic is promoting, that sort of hair was never in my personal realm of possibility. My admiration was always detached as without a hair magician such as Leonard Zagami or one of Oribe’s wizards doing their magic on my hair, that kind of hair was just  never going to happen to me.

All of this changed after I met Dean in the Setai’s zen-like Library Room during MBMiami Swim Week. He demoed his creation – the in-styler on Cheryl, who has beautiful long chestnut hair. I was impressed but I was still a tad emotionally removed, that is until he worked the magic wand through my short bob. To say that it was not a good hair day up until that point would be putting it kindly. It was around 2:00p.m., and I’d been out running from hotel to hotel on market appointments in the humid mid-summer Miami heat with my hair yanked away from my face in a ponytail.

Seeing is believing and as Dean started working the wand through the first strand of my tangles, Kooba Gooding Junior’s insolent voice whined in my brain, “show me the money!” Less than five minutes later, the voice was silenced as I looked in the huge mirror and saw a perfectly coiffed bob.

Dean pronounced it, “too perfect” and mussed it up a bit before spraying it and letting me leave, with my own in-styler to go.  Good hair is life-changing. As I walked out of the Setai, I couldn’t wait to see people I knew to show them my hair – a feeling I’d only experienced after a really good shorter than short hair cut at Oribe’s and when Anthony Palermo dyed my hair an amazing copper red.

I always like to share my findings and to get an opinion. Once back home in CT, I had Junior Editor Juliette and her friends try the in-styler out. If super critical teen cheerleaders liked it, the in-styler was the equivalent of a record that’s gone platinum.

An hour later, they marched into my FE Home office and pronounced the in-styler “really LEGIT” and preened and posed to show the results. As Dean had explained, you can create waves and flip up your hair with the in-styler, as well as straighten it.

Some final notes, even though my hair is colored and roughed-up from color, the in-styler did not dry my hair out as the typical straightening iron does, because

Below, the 411 of this rotating straightener and curling iron the WORKS with a minimum of damage to your locks.

THE INSTYLER is the first-ever rotating straightener and curling iron that infuses volume and shine into the hair while styling.  This multipurpose hot iron is designed to offer maximum styling benefits and professional results all in one easy-to-use tool, allowing women to style their hair like a pro without the difficulty of managing a blow dryer, flat iron, curling iron or big round brush.  THE INSTYLER has a built-in brush that works together with a heated rotating barrel to create a variety of curly or straight looks, while polishing, smoothing and volumizing the hair. The rotating heated cylinder is also beneficial compared to a traditional flat iron because the barrel is constantly moving while distributing heat evenly to the hair, never remaining in one spot for a long period of time.

THE INSTYLER ($119) is available at getinstyler.com “http://www.getinstyler.com”www.getinstyler.com

Costume Jewelry Lover Alert – Chelsea Taylor Sixties and Seventies Inspired Designs

Text, Vivian Kelly

I came across Chelsea Taylor Jewelry while visiting Robert Verdi‘s Luxe Laboratory during the most recent NYFW. Robert is a celebrity stylist/lifestyle guru/taste maven – really, and he’s actually nice and had a great droll sense of humour.

While there, Chelsea Taylor’s rep, Amanda Breault, showed me some truly stunning cocktail rings that are a great addition to any fashion loving girl’s spring wardrobe.

This color-driven line uses Swarovski Elements [a new product band for Swarovski Crystal] and having never taken gemology classes, I’ll be da—d if I can tell the difference. Since consolidating my fine jewelry collection down to a few key pieces, with my jeweler, Paul Tyson‘s guidance, I’m ready for some fun inexpensive pieces I don’t have to insure.

Chelsea Taylor is well priced and offers an impressive number of colored Swarovski crystal hues you can choose from. It falls into the “I’ll have one in every color category” minus the guilt of a possible overdraft on your account because you’ve just succumbed to an indulgence. Each piece is made of sterling silver and rhodium plated. The stones are not all the same, there’s graduation of color which makes it seem more “real” and you can choose from 19 different colors and even work with them to custom design your own piece.

Like everyone else on Earth, you watched at least SOME of the Academy Award Red Carpet arrivals and noticed some of the stunning ice on the A-listers’ ears, necks and wrists, accompanied by heavy duty armed security guys just out of the camera’s lens range.

Chelsea Taylor’s got some pieces you can pick up to get the look for less that are close but not an obnoxious A.B.S. style knock-off and I really like them for that.

Here are some great pieces that bear a flattering RESEMBLANCE to the real deal , Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway rocked at the Oscars. *Michelle’s new platinum blonde do, the work of my friends Anthony Palermo and Leonard Zagami, really served to show-off her spectacular earrings. Just last week, I happened to see a pic of her tacked-up in the Salon’s bathroom. If you have short hair, you need earrings like these.

Be patient though, items are custom made and some require up to a 6-8 week wait, but there’s a convenience factor attached. After you’ve completed your design, you can type-in your zip code and pick it up at a store location near you. Love that! These days, convenience is king and the  old saw, “Good things are worth waiting for” definitely applies.

Tonight, to relax, I’m going to start designing my own Chelsea Taylor ring, which I’ll show you sometime this spring. I’m thinking “emeralds” for a big honking cocktail ring, but then again, the ruby is my birthstone…

Any suggestions? Please send me a comment!

Kate and Naomi Rock the Louis Vuitton fall2011 “Night Porter” Show

Naomi's Bag at the fall2011 Louis Vuitton Show - the bag of the season

Text, Vivian Kelly & Anthony Palermo

Kate Moss Walks the Louis Vuitton fall2011 Show

I went to see my friend, Anthony Palermo, to vamp up my hair. There’s nothing wrong with it but it needed a strong creative eye and if he said, “go silver” I’d do it in a flash. Why? Not because I’m wishy-washy, but because Anthony is blessed with an editorial eye. I’ve been privvy to sneak peaks for wigs he’s created that run in Vogue Italia and V Magazine.

He did not tell me to do anything radical. We decided  on a high impact gloss to make my hair look super shiny and healthy.

Most importantly, we talked about the latest Louis Vuitton show. There we were, in MidTown Manhattan, at the Anthony Leonard Salon, gazing at what had just transpired in Paris at the Louis Vuitton show . Anthony whipped out his ipad and showed me the money shots – Kate [Moss] insolently walking down the runway, holding a cigarette in miniscule black hotpants and Naomi [Campbell] in a riding outfit, complete with a jumbo  bag that’s sure to blast-off at the counters – if it doesn’t sell out before it hits the LV stores.

Naomi Campbell Walks the fall2011 Louis Vuitton Show

These two supers looked fabulous – for their age, no strike that – for any age.

Harper’s Bazaar dedicates a monthly column to “fabulous at every age” and I love them for it. A highly placed staffer once told me that she dreaded them because it was hard to find someone fabulous who was over 50. Really? ?

The problem is our perception of what “fabulous” means.

At what point did we decide that women had to be frozen in time at an age in which they looked not a day over 25 to look beautiful?

Looking back at my vintage Life Magazine covers, I beg to disagree with this assessment. Jackie O was at least 40 on her cover and her teeth weren’t bleached to Regis Philbin white. Isabella Rosellini’s hair was “too long for her age” and she had wrinkles.  No matter.

Maybe Marc Jacobs had similar thoughts running through his head when he decided to have Kate and Naomi walk the end of the Louis Vuitton show – arguably the most important one of the Paris show season.

Says Anthony, gesturing at Kate and Naomi on his Ipad -

“Kate and Naomi at Vuitton, it’s genius, it’s amazing. I love the idea of bringing a woman of that age to the runway because those are the women who are actually wearing the clothes and they can afford them. They’re showing everyone that they’re still relevant,  and recognizable. By doing this show, they’re simultaneously elevating themselves and the brand they’re walking for – Louis Vuitton.”

This was Kate’s 1^st appearance on the catwalk in years; she’s too busy designing for TopShop and Longchamps and becoming a mogul in her own right. Naomi’s a celebrity, not a mere faceless model.

Kate channeled Charlotte Rampling in “The Night Porter”, complete withthe ciggy in her hand. We loved the “I can do whatever I want” expression on her face.

Charlotte Rampling in "The Night Porter"

Continued Anthony, “Bringing them back as a surprise element was great, it was back to KNOWING  WHO the model on the runway is.

Kate is recognizable, she’s 40, and she can still rock the hotpants and it makes world news. Putting those two models in the LV show is the ultimate publicity stunt – and they only  got 1 look each.”

We talked about going to the Paris shows together in the future. Sure, I religiously attend NYFW, but like Anthony, I’m in serious need of a high-octane injection of undiluted glamour, like what went down at Louis Vuitton.

Only in Paris.

Walking to his next appointment, Anthony said, “New York needs to step it up. There’s no element of surprise or glamour;it’s very commercial. Why not just do it at Jacob Javitz? Why put up tents? NYFW is now a trade show in New York.”

The next Paris Fashion Week is in just under 6 months. Time to start planning!

Mzia Shiman’s New Fifth Avenue Spa – A Secret Address for Your Speedial, Revealed!

Text, Vivian Kelly

When my friend, Anthony Leonard told me I should visit his friend, Mzia Shiman’s new salon, I put it in pen, not pencil, in my Lilly Pulitzer agenda.

The front desk at the Mzia Shiman Salon, NYC. Welcome!

Anthony has great taste and he is not one to say that something is great if it’s not, which is a rarity in the world of high end beauty he moves in.

Colorist Extraordinaire, Anthony Palermo, of the Anthony Leonard Salon

Case in point – as I left after a quickie visit to the A.L Salon, he told me to get her to fix my brows. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see “the brow queen” because brows are back and I’m completely sold on them. One small problem – I started plucking at age 14 and they’re ….sparse.

Doing a rush research job, I discovered that Mzia is famous. She’s an Allure Magazine favorite and has worked on-set for MTV, as well as too many fashion shows and TV shows to list.

Back to my brows – I had not completely given up hope and still still dream of one day having Brooke Shield brows as I did back when I was a tween though.

Brooke working those Calvins in one of her classic Calvin Klein jean ads in 1980

With Brooke’s image, as she looked “wearing nothing but [her] Calvin’s, I went to see Mzia in her new Fifth Avenue salon. At first, I thought perhaps I’d gone to the wrong place – 5 East 59th Street looked like a residential building, but yes, her salon was indeed, the doorman assured me on the 6th Floor.

Once upstairs, I was ushered in my Mzia herself, a diminutive woman beautifully dressed in that way Parisian women and Milanese women dress.

Mzia Shiman

She also had gorgeous long wavy blonde hair, tended to by Anthony, of course. Her gorgeous gold and caramel hair made me itch to call Anthony and beg him to do my hair like that even though we’d already had that discussion and established that I am not a blonde.

Mzia snapped me out of my reverie by showing me one beautiful room in the spacious salon-apartment. Without even having experienced any actual treatment, I was already happy to have arrived at Mzia’s. The space is warm and inviting. Warm colored hues [the Ralph Lauren custom pedicure chairs in the mani/pedi room, alternate with the pristinely white facial rooms.

 

 

Ralph Lauren Pedicure Chair at Mzia Shiman Spa

Custom Ralph Lauren in the Luxurious Mani-Pedi Room at the Mzia Shiman Spa

The natural light in one of these, where I got my brows done was just perfect and I couldn’t believe that noisy 5th Avenue lay just six stories below.

Once on the spa bed, I relaxed as Mzia examined my brows. She was encouraging. “You will have to grow them, of course, but when you do, no arch. Even when they’re too think like yours, you still have to groom them”, which is what she did.

About fifteen minutes later, following some cutting, painless waxing, tweezing, and tinting, Mzia declared herself satisfied with the result.

I stared into the mirror,speechless. The tinting [which in past attempts, had always looked as if I'd taken a charcoal briquette and rubbed it on my brows] looked natural but the result was close to miraculous.

I was tired that morning, but after Mzia’s magic, my eyes looked bigger, and less droopy. Two days later, my jeweler, Paul Tyson, leaned-in when we were inspecting a sapphire for a Princess Diana mounting I’d bought from his collection of antique settings. He looked-up from the stones and asked “if I’d done something”. Looking at me again, he said, “you look younger, I can’t put my finger on it.”

If that’s not enough of an incentive to go to Mzia and get your brows done, I don’t know what is.

Before I left, Mzia put me on a brow-maintenance program:

• NO tweezing on my own,
• brush on Latisse directly on the existing brow and in a thin line just BELOW [not above] the brow.

I can’t wait to see her at the end of the month to show her my progress.

*Although I’ve used this post to discuss brows, Mzia Shiman offers a host of other aesthetic services including her oxygen facial which is a can’t live with out it deal for some of the most famous “who’s who’s” walking around NYC, including a couple of fashion icons. We can’t tell who, because Mzia holds her famous clientele’s privacy in strict confidence – another reason to love her, even if you’re not famous.

For appointments, call 212-933-4389.

Book well in advance as her calendar is already filling up even though it’s still early days.

In addition to her legendary oxygen facial, there are 6 others to choose from, each lasting from 60 -120 long luxurious minutes of pampering.