December 2005

December 25th 2005
Paradise Valley, AZ

Merry Christmas HOLLYWOULD Girls!!!  xoxo, Holly

December 17th 2005
Palm Beach (via Florence)

Hello HOLLYWOULD Girls... The new photos (right) were taken at our divine little shop in Palm Beach, where we recently hosted a party with Plumb Jewelry.  For those of you who don't already know, Plumb is based in Newport, Rhode Island and has divine jewels for those of us who love big, bright rocks.  As you can imagine, when we decided to host them at our jewel box of a store it was a match made in heaven, and all of Palm Beach society came out to support the cause.  If anyone wants to know what I want for Christmas, it only takes a trip to http://www.plumbjewelry.com/ to find out!  xoxo Holly

December 16th 2005
Florence, Italy

What a week!  This time last Friday I was fighting my way through a New York blizzard to catch a plane to Austin, TX for my little sister Lily’s bachelorette party.  Have you ever been to Austin, TX?  You can blame it on the moonshine (we literally drank ‘moonshine’), but I’ve never seen so many Stone Cold Foxes in one place.  My goodness those Austin boys are cute!

With moonshine still in my system, early Sunday morning I headed to NYC for a 4 hour layover before flying out to London.  I would usually use a 4 hour layover to hang out in the VIP lounge, read over-priced art magazines, and eat fancy cheese & crackers; but this time decided to head into NYC to raid the HOLLYWOULD shop of every new Cruise 2006 style in my size.  For those of you who don’t know, we’ve just received our new Cruise line and if you don’t get it while it’s hot, it may very well not be here when you need it.  This happened to me this past Fall, and I am still desperate to find our black ‘Lucia’ dress in a size 40.  Anyone? 

I arrived in London early Monday morning and, with time to kill before hotel check-in, headed straight to London’s cultural nucleus: Top Shop.  If you’ve never been to Top Shop you really don’t know what you’re missing.  It is a warehouse-sized store full of amazing teeny-bopper style “reinterpretations” of designer clothing & accessories.  I usually manage to spend $286 on 27 new Top Shop outfits without batting a lash, but for some reason this time around I couldn’t find a single thing I liked.  Is it that I already own too many Flash Dance style sweatshirt dresses, or too many pairs of Jody Watley hoop earrings?  Or is it simply that I’ve just grown out of wearing clothing designed for 15 year olds?  Hopefully not, as that would be a tragedy. 

Luckily I was not in London just to go to Top Shop, but rather to attend the screening of the film Annie Hall, hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow.  The event took place at London’s Electric Cinema on Portobello Road, which was a lovely spot for a lovely evening hosted by the lovely and talented Gwyneth.  Gwyneth in person is breathtakingly beautiful, personable & funny, and can best be described as a goddess.  Clearly a HOLLYWOULD girl.  Other party attendees included London heart-throb Orlando Bloom and his gorgeous girlfriend Kate Bosworth, along with a gaggle London’s favorite party-goers, including some of my long-lost friends.  I immensely enjoyed the evening, and seeing Annie Hall on the big screen was a real treat.

The next morning I managed to get up for an 8am breakfast meeting at the Ritz Hotel, which I especially love because it hasn’t been redecorated since Charles & Diana got married.  Just sitting in the breakfast room there makes you want to throw on shoulder pads, gold lamé, suntan pantyhose, and the Nine to Five soundtrack.  What a place.

I’m now in Florence where I’ve been busy making sure you girls will have a plethora of magnificent new things to wear in 2006! 

December 8th 2005
New York City, Baby

It's been 48 hours since our party and I don't think any of us have quite recovered yet. For all 3 of you diary readers who didn't make it, Tuesday night HOLLYWOULD hosted a jam-packed soiree at our Nolita store to launch our new ecommerce website (yes, you can now shop online!) and our newly refurbished & expanded Nolita boutique.

Big, huge, gigantic Thank You's go to our Official Party Sponsors:

• Life & Style magazine: Everyone's favorite place to read about the latest celebrity fashion, gossip, and inside scoop. Why Jessica? Why?
• Barmarche Restaurant: Our very favorite Nolita outpost for delicious food & drinks. Everyone loved their bacon-wrapped figs, fava bean puree crostini, and cachapas topped with rijoa lamb. When you come to NYC, Barmarche should be a must-eat on your list.
• Stoli Elit Vodka: Smooth, pure, and good to the very last drop. Trust us, we polished off 32 bottles.
• Pierre Jouet Champagne: The bottle is gorgeous and the champagne is even better - we drank 48 bottles to prove it.
• Voss Water: As 'Haute Couture' is to clothing, Voss is to water. The ultimate in designer water in the ultimate designer bottle. We only wish we had been smart enough to drink more throughout the evening!

Not to mention our fabulous Gift Bag Sponsors:

• E. Harcourt: The best scented candles in Nolita!
• Lippmann Collection: Divine holiday nailpolish!
• Dashing Divas: My fave spot for manicures & pedicures!
• Cover Girl: Lovely lip glosses!
• Avon: Fabulous new crystal covered hair pins!

And last but definitely not least, our Handsome Bartenders:

• Jess Bulcom: As seen in the green jacket. Sorry ladies, he's taken!
• Dana Magliola (aka: Mags): As seen in embroidered red pants. Good news ladies, he's newly single.
• Stoli's Barman: Voted 'Hottest Guy At The Party' by all.

Now for the real dirt: The party was technically supposed to occur from 7pm-9pm, so we all assumed that like any chic New York event, our party would begin an hour late. Not so. By 7:30pm the store was standing-room only, and the crowd stuck around until well past 10pm. As mentioned above, in this amount of time we managed to consume obscene amounts of alcohol, and in true HOLLYWOULD style, we aren't a bit ashamed.

Those of you who've attended HOLLYWOULD parties know that it's impossible to leave without making at least a few new friends, and I've had endless people tell me they met their flatmate, best friend, or even fiancé at our soirees. Yes, it's true, there have been more than a few husbands who've met their future wives huddled around a HOLLYWOULD keg or doing tequila shots of a shoe shelf. And, with music pumping, food trays passing, drinks flowing, and a full house of our favorite HOLLYWOULD girls & guys, this party was no different.

Rather than simply list the party guests who attended, I would like to predict the future HOLLYWOULD matches that may very well have been made:

• Annie Churchill with Eric Villency?
• Ashley Wick with Alex Mehran?
• Elisabeth Gutowski with Wyatt Harris?
• Dana Magliola with Kate Schelter?
• Eric Richman with Fiona Bora? (sorry Hanuk)
• Hanuk with The Hot Bartender? (feel better?)
• Rebecca Guiness with That French Guy Fabrice?
• Jess Bulcom with Lydia Fenet?
• Jessica Stambaugh with Sparrow? Who knows?
• Ashley Auchenbach with Sebastian Bartolotta?
• Leslie Ternes with Eli Smith?
• Lucy Sykes Rellie with Euan Rellie? (I'm psychic!)
• And last but not least:
• Paula Froelich with American Idol's Constantine?

Thank you all for coming to our party and please invite me to your weddings! xoxo, Holly

December 3rd 2005
New York City

What a week! I've been so insanely busy that I haven't even had time to do what's important in life, like ponder why on earth Jessica Simpson would leave that Stone Cold Fox Nick Lachey. Why Jessica? Why? Hopefully this week's Life & Style will have all the answers.

Speaking of celebs, lately our HOLLYWOULD shop in Nolita has had more celebrity visits than the Chateau Marmont. This week, for example, our favorite talented beauty Chloe Sevigny, popped in to the shop wearing her own pair of HOLLYWOULD shoes, and walked out with a brand new pair. Isn't she divine? The week before Jessica Alba and Maggie Gyllenhal were spotted shopping chez nous, and Paris Hilton wore HOLLYWOULD to the AMAs. HOLLYWOULD Girls, we love you all!

While we're on the subject of people we love, I must give a huge shout-out to American Express for featuring HOLLYWOULD shoes all over their new ad campaign. We've received endless calls about 'our' American Express billboards which are posted all over LA & Chicago, including on the famous Sunset Boulevard Strip. AmEx must know how much I love them from my monthly bills on my favorite credit card, the Skymiles AmEx, which earns me much-needed miles on Air France. Oh la la, j'adore American Express.

This week I also attended my fair share of parties, notably the Grand Classics screening hosted by Carolina Herrera at the Soho House, and the premiere of the new Felicity Huffman movie, Transamerica. Transamerica, in case you haven't heard, has the world's most fabulous costumes ever, which just happened to be designed by one of my most fabulous college friends ever, Danny Glicker. Amazing Danny, amazing. Not the type of movie for Mom & the kids, but some Oscar-worthy acting (and costumes) none the less.

This week we've got non-stop action, and I promise to do a better job at keeping you in the loop!