January 2006

January 30th 2006
New York City

I think I have the Chicken Flu.  It all began last Thursday when I decided to stop by the annual Winter Antiques Ball at the Armory.  My original plan was to come show my support and be home and fast asleep by 10pm.  Needless to say, after 2 champagnes on an empty stomach alongside friends like Kate Schelter, Hudson Morgan, and Ethan Leidinger, I had decided to postpone my bedtime.

From the Armory we headed to NYC’s chicest downtown spot, The National Arts Club on Gramercy Park South.  In order to partake in the glory that is The National Arts Club you must know a member, which is one of the many reasons I’m friends with Kate.  To be honest, I had been viewing our trip downtown as a quick stop on my way home, perhaps after ½ glass of white wine.  Not so much.  The minute we entered we were handed human head-sized margaritas and from then onward there was no hope in ending up anywhere other than Bungalow 8.

It had been a long time since I had been to Bungalow, and by the time we arrived it was probably 2am.  I would venture to guess that by the time we left it was 4am, and the party was just getting started.  Do any of you have jobs?  Anyone?  Work? 

Unfortunately I do have a job, which I was painfully reminded of at 8:07 the next morning when I received a call from Elisabeth wondering if I was “on my way” to the 8am photo shoot as planned.  If by “on my way” she meant “still in bed wearing last night’s make up” than the answer was “yes”.  As you can imagine, Friday was a painful day.

In a nutshell, this is how I got Chicken Flu.  I don’t know if it was at The Armory, Arts Club, or Bungalow 8, but you won’t be seeing me out this week as a result.  Unless, of course, there’s a really good party...

January 25th 2006
New York City

Hello Girls!  For those of you who live in NYC and need just one more excuse to wear HOLLYWOULD, I would love to invite you to this year’s School of American Ballet’s Winter Ball, “The Encore”, on Wednesday, February 15^th, 2006.  Just to give you an idea of how fabulous this party will be, I will let you know that the Vice Chairmen of the event are the lovely Gillian Hearst, Charlotte Ronson, Dabney Mercer, and Eleanor Ylvisaker.  And, the fantastic Co-Chairs include Stacey Bendet, Alexis Bryan, Holly Doran, Courtney Keyser, Katie Peek, Annelise Peterson, Jessica Stark, Gigi Stone, and … me!  Tickets are only $150 and you can buy them by visiting the School of American Ballet website at www.sab.org/theencore.  See you there!

January 24th 2006
New York City

I have just returned from a wild wedding weekend in Arizona, where my younger sister Lily married Brandon Lloyd, hence becoming Lily Lloyd.  I will be sure to give you all a wedding play-by-play because the party antics did last until dawn, but first I need everyone who attended to email me their photos.  You know where to send ‘em. 

Speaking of paryting all night… Did you know that “HOLLYWOULD” is the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question?  Rush out and buy the new Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition and as a true HOLLYWOULD Girl, you will be sure to know the answer to the following question:

Q: What fashion outfit’s chic shoes are “for the girls who sleep through lunch because they’ve been partying all night?”

A: “HOLLYWOULD’s”

We think it’s very cool to be an answer to a Trivial Pursuit question, and especially a question that speaks to the very essence of the high caliber girls who wear HOLLYWOULD!

January 12th 2006
Florence, Italy

What a day!  I’m in Italy putting the finishing touches on HOLLYWOULD Fall 2006, but back in the USA we’ve had quite a starlet-packed day!  This morning I woke up to a fabulous email from Cameron Diaz’s publicist saying Cameron LOVES the new HOLLYWOULD Cruise Collection and wants to know where she can BUY it!  Girls, let me tell you it is rare for any celeb to offer to BUY their fashion products, which just goes to show you all that as we all suspected, Cameron Diaz is truly the coolest girl in the world.  We love you Cameron and can’t wait to see you looking gorgeous in HOLLYWOULD!

Then… no sooner had I told Cam’s team how much we adored her, I received another email saying “Turn on your TV – Uma Thurman is wearing the HOLLYWOULD Gold Frenchie shoes on The View”!  Unfortunately Italy has not yet realized that The View is essential watching for any women’s day, no matter where she lives, so I was unable to see it but heard Uma looked drop-dead divine as usual.  I’ve also heard that she is as sweet as she is pretty, which means she must be one heck of a fabulous girl.  We love you Uma!

Then… after a long day factory-hopping in Tuscany I returned home to read my third email of the day, which came from my fabulous friend Danny Glicker (who designed the genius costumes for Transamerica), who said that he was chillin’ with Selma Blair the other day and she mentioned that she owns HOLLYWOULDs and loves them because they are so darn comfortable.  Selma darling, we had no idea you were a fan (and we are huge fans of yours), so please let us know whenever you need comfortable shoes, sassy dresses, or a fabulous evening bag!  We love you Selma!

More later… am off to dinner and parties, parties, parties as it’s Pitti Uomo in Florence, which is the equivalent of Men’s Fashion Week anywhere else, which means the boy/girl ratio in Florence has just hit 10/1.  Arrivederci, ragazze…

PS - Yes, the adorable girl in the photo is Kristin Cavallari from our favorite TV show Laguna Beach in HOLLYWOULD! 

January 5th 2006
New York, New York

Happy New Year HOLLYWOULD Girls! I hope you all had a lovely holiday and received many fabulous gifts. Before heading on my vacation I raided our Nolita shop of all the newest items in our Cruise Collection, which was perfect for my sunny vacation in Scottdale, AZ. Now that I’m back in NYC it’s just too cold to wear it, and I’m beginning to realize I may need a “business trip” to Palm Beach very, very soon.

Our 2006 has started with a star-studded bang, and we’ve already received requests for HOLLYWOULD from Catherine Zeta-Jones, Reese Witherspoon and Uma Thurman. These girls are some of our very favorite lovely, stylish, beautiful starlets, so as you can imagine, we’re overjoyed to have them wearing HOLLYWOULD. If you’re obsessed with MTV like me, you also may have seen Derek Jeter’s adorable girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo looking gorgeous in HOLLYWOULD in more than a few episodes of TRL. And, stay tuned this week for talented bombshell Scarlett Johansson on Live with Regis & Kelly wearing HOLLYWOULD’s “Scarlett” shoes, which were definitely designed with Miss Johansson in mind. And last but not least, keep an eye out for sunkissed Mischa Barton* cruising around town in our new white “Lilia” shell dress and a pair of the new gold “Frenchie” woven peep-toe, both of which are sure to be the hottest items of Spring!

If you haven’t yet seen the new February Glamour magazine, it really is a must-buy. Not only do they have recommendations on “How To Create Sexy Evening Eyes”, “How To Find Cleavage Enhancing Bras”, and “How To Avoid Hairstyles From Hell”, but they also have a full page of style recommendations from Your’s Truly – me! Thanks so much Glamour for such fabulous press!

We would also love to give a big, huge shout-out to our beautiful HOLLYWOULD customer Jung Lee who was featured in the New York Times Style section wearing a HOLLYWOULD dress as her favorite New Year’s Eve pick! Jung, you’ve just won yourself the Customer of The Month Award, so thank you & congratulations!

*One last thing… if you’d like to buy Miss Barton’s look, and happen to live in the UK, you can now find our new Cruise 2006 Collection on www.netaporter.com. If you live in the USA, visit your local Nordstrom, Saks, or Neiman Marcus today. Happy Shopping!