March 2005

March 30th 2005
New York City

I look like Jonbenet Ramsey today.  It all began early this morning when I decided to do my own hair & makeup for a TV interview, which was clearly a very, very bad idea.  My logic was that if you’re going to be on TV, you should look like a TV star, which would have made perfect sense if I had chosen to model my “TV star” look after, say, the natural look of Mischa Barton on The OC. Unfortunately, however, I somehow managed to get mixed up in my makeup kit and ended up channeling a look that is much more Morgan Fairchild on Dynasty in 1985, than Mischa on The OC in 2005.  Thankfully, you will all get a chance to see my beauty pagent hair & makeup on the Style Network’s Behind the Velvet Ropes with our favorite fabulous host, Lauren Ezersky, this fall.  Hopefully it will play over and over and over again.

March 15th 2005
Florence, Italia

I’ve just returned from my “Acquagym” class and am totally knackered.  For those of you who don’t know, “Acquagym” is the Italian equivalent of “Water Aerobics” and is all the rage over here.  When I first told the girls in our NYC office that I was going to start taking water aerobics in Italy, they all laughed at me, which is completely unfair.  I mean, it’s not like it’s lame or anything.  What’s wrong with doing underwater jumping-jacks in a pool full of 65 year olds whilst listening to the techno remake of Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits?  Absolutely nothing.  I’m every woman.

The reason I’ve taken up this new activity is because all I ever seem to do while I’m over here is eat, eat, eat.  It’s gotten to the point where none of my jeans fit and I’m hoping that Acquagym will be the hot-bod-cure-all just in time for summer.  The only problem I foresee with this hot-bod plan is that every night after Acquagym, with my head full of Whitney and my muscles in pain, I feel like I owe it to myself to have at least 3 gigantic scoops of gelato before heading to bed.  Something tells me I should probably go home and eat ½ a celery stick, but I believe hard work deserves reward, and celery doesn’t cut it.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress, but until then remember… the greatest love of all is inside of you.

March 12th 2005
Florence, Italy

I’ve just returned from a lovely four day trip to Paris to find an inbox jam packed with a gazillion unread emails.  One of my favorite messages is from fabulous HOLLYWOULD girl Allison Preston, who called us last week desperate to replace her favorite pair of HOLLYWOULD “Tunisia” sandals from last summer.  Allison also writes for the super website www.shesheme.com, where you can read the extended version of the story below whilst gathering fantastic fashion tips.  In the meantime, here’s the scoop from Allison:

I can not even BEGIN to explain the trauma I have endured. It all started rather normally: I was popping about doing my usual outings - coffee, magazine stand, coffee, dry cleaners - in addition to picking up my very favorite item that I own - HOLLYWOULD Tunisia Sandals - from the cobbler. Interestingly enough, the price of the actual repair has nothing to do with the packaging, as my exquisite sandals came back in a plastic grocery bag. Alas, that was not the real tragedy of the day.

It seems that in some sort of over-worked, under-shopped way, I mistakenly thought my grocery bag-o-shoes was, well trash and chucked the heavenly soles, that I had starved myself and my sweet kitties for, into the dumpster behind a shopping center. As the cruel fates of fashion would have it, I didn't realize my mistake until the next morning when I was carefully applying my volum-eyes mascara. With one eye expertly wanded, I got a sinking sensation in my stomach about my shoes. Racing from the condo to the car, I knew. In a matter of minutes I was at the scene of the crime calling the number on the side of the green monster (you see, the cans had been what they in the industry call, 'serviced'). The stunned and slightly frightened man that answered informed me that the truck was on its way to the county landfill. (You're thinking, She didn't! Oh yes I did.)

Five minutes later I was filing in with dozens of stinky trucks headed up the hill to 'dump' their holdings. It was then that I called she she me; I felt someone should know where I was in case a real tragedy took place. (As crazed as I was, I did know that ending up buried under waste and being pecked by gulls would be worse than losing shoes.) Seeing as how this was my first time at a landfill, I was completely unprepared for the steep hill and the thousands of birds pecking about. Motivated by metallic snakeskin and beads, I hopped out of the car and began my archeological dig. It should be said that resort cashmere and a pouffy skirt are NOT conducive to such environs, but there I was, a silly girl in pumps looking like a crazed character out of A Clockwork Orange with only half my face made-up, digging while being swarmed by gulls. The man driving the truck took pity and began lifting grocery-esque bags up for me to examine, but none contained my cherished shoes....

Oh Allison, we all loved the “Tunisia” sandals too, and unfortunately there aren’t a pair left to be found.  However, I will keep your love for that style in mind when designing Spring 2006, and might have to call the newer, updated version of the shoe the “Allison” as a tribute to you & your trip to the landfill!

March 1st 2005
Florence, Italy

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… All the pretty girls wear HOLLYWOULD.  In case you didn’t notice at the Oscars (despite your front row seats), Leonardo DiCaprio’s supermodel-of-the-world girlfriend Gisele Bündchen was wearing HOLLYWOULDs!  We’re extremely flattered because not only does Gisele have fabulous taste, but she also has every designer on the planet clamoring to dress her and she actually called us to complete her gorgeous Oscar look.  Oh, I pity all of the other women who had to walk that red carpet after Gisele.  Following in the footsteps of the world’s most perfect female cannot be easy.  We love you Gisele!

Speaking of perfect supermodels we love, love, love… the supremely stunning Sophie Dahl was also shopping chez HOLLYWOULD this week!  She popped in to buy herself a few things and our store manager said she was drop-dead divine in every way.  For those of you who think of Sophie as just another pretty face, think again.  She also happens to be a fabulous writer, and her book “The Man with the Dancing Eyes” is one of my all-time faves.  See, HOLLYWOULD girls are not only the prettiest; they’ve also got talent & smarts!

Since we’re on the subject of talent, smarts, and beauty… I would like to give a big, huge, gigantic shout-out to the talented, smart, beautiful Chloe Sevigny for mentioning HOLLYWOULD ballet shoes in W magazine as one of her “favorite accessories”.  Anyone who’s ever picked up a high-end fashion magazine knows that Chloe is always light-years ahead of the trends, so based on her approval, we figure our ballet shoes will be in fashion until the year 2024.  Thank you Chloe!!!

And, proving that Gisele, Sophie, & Chloe aren’t the only hot babes wearing HOLLYWOULD lately, a real American Beauty, Mena Suvari, has also been shopping with us this week, not to mention the lovely & talented Jamie Lynne Discala as well as serene songstress Minnie Driver.  We love you all and are thrilled to have you wear HOLLYWOULD!  xoxo, Holly