March 2007

March 28th 2007
New York City

We’ve had so many fabulous girls wearing HOLLYWOULD lately, with fashion plates from Palm Beach to San Francisco sporting our new Spring collection, as well as everyone’s favorite pin-up girl, Miss Dita Von Teese (see photos right).

In the meantime, I arrived back from Italy and headed straight to a birthday party for Euan Rellie, whose lovely wife Lucy gave birth to a bouncing baby boy just a few days later! Congratulations Lucy & Euan! The party was packed with everyone’s fashion favorites, but I have to say that after Lucy & Euan, the Second-Most-Gorgeous-Couple-In-The-Room Award has to go to Rachel Roy & Damon Dash, who really couldn’t be any more divine.

On March 17^th I awoke to the sound of bagpipes, and headed outside to find out what was the fuss. The minute I hit the sidewalk I heard a shout, “Yo, O’Malley”, and reply, “Wussup O’Sullivan”, and realized that my neighborhood had been invaded by The Irish. Thanks to the Fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade, by 11am my entire block was packed with folks in head-to-toe green, who had apparently been drinking Guinness since the wee hours of the morning. There were kilts, Irish flags, “England Get Out” banners, buckets of green beer, and more leprechauns than a Lucky Charms factory.

That evening I put on my green (and orange) and headed to Victor Glemaud’s for margaritas and a home-cooked roast with the boys. Victor is a chef extraordinaire, and everything was delicious including the guests.

This week I was lucky enough to be asked to judge the BACARDI Limon “Express Your Style” Fashion Design Competition along with HOLLYWOULD’s favorite startlet, Vanessa Minnillo, who looked gorgeous in her HOLLYWOULD Gold Elastic “Would” shoes. We love Vanessa not only for her amazing beauty, but also because she is smart, funny, and a fabulous sport – a typical HOLLYWOULD Girl! After spending the day with Vanessa, we think Nick Lachey is might be the smartest guy in the world.

And last but not least, we are happy to report that not only one but two couples who met at our Valentine’s Day Kegger are still dating! No pressure to anyone, but HOLLYWOULD Keggers have produced more than a few marriages, and most recently a child, so we expect an invite to the wedding…

March 19th 2007
New York City

HOLLYWOULD IS HIRING!

HOLLYWOULD FLAGSHIP STORE MANAGER, NYC

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years experience in retail sales; high-end fashion only
• Ability to take initiative, be a self-starter and independently problem solve 

Responsibilities/Necessary Experience:

Manager will be accountable for meeting sales goals by working with walk-in and phone customers. Manager will be responsible for retail sales plans and growing and maintaining a client book.

• Customer Service:  Provide sales help to walk in, phone and mail-order customers; including tracking all sales, returns and transfers into and out of the store.
• Store Operations:  Daily reporting of accounts; responsible for loss prevention; maintain store display and appearance; manage and train part-time associates.
• Marketing: Create events and marketing plans to generate sales and foster brand name recognition.
• Shipping: Responsible for tracking & working with shippers for all inventory shipped to & from HOLLYWOULD New York.  

Application:

• Please send cover letter and resume to rachel@hollywould.com with “Store Manager Application” in subject line.
• Only applicants with relevant experience and qualifications will be answered; No walk-ins.

March 12th 2007
Florence, Italy

At HOLLYWOULD we have never awarded any prizes for EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH, as all HOLLYWOULD employees are consistently outstanding.  However, one of our most treasured part-time staffers, Gloria Cuttone, has recently moved on to bigger and better things, and we will greatly, greatly miss her.  So, for February I would like to name Gloria the HOLLYWOULD EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!

Below is a note Gloria wrote me on her last day, but before you read it I will give you a little history…

I met Gloria on a flight from Rome to NYC about 6 years ago, when she was returning from visiting her Italian cousins in Calabria, which is a town in the south, mafioso, tip of Italy.  She was studying fashion in NYC at the time and and I instantly liked her because she was from Queens and reminded me of Fran Drescher, so I gave her my email address and told her she should try to study abroad. 

A few weeks later she emailed to tell me she was going to do a semester in London, at which point I immediately put her in contact with friends at Alexander McQueen so she could have an internship at McQueen while she was there.  Needless to say, they loved her too, and by the time she got back to NYC I was begging her to come work in our store on Saturdays. 

Despite the fact that she’s had many high-profile fashion jobs since, Gloria has always kept her Saturday job at HOLLYWOULD, which is just one more reason to love her.  And although we will miss her greatly, we understand that a girl can’t work Saturdays forever, so we wish her the best of luck and are letting her leave us, as long as she promises to attend all HOLLYWOULD parties until the end of time!

Here is Gloria’s note:

I awoke for my last day of work at the HOLLYWOULD shop to a frigid, snowy Saturday morning. As I lazily made my way to my car for my final hours as a HOLLYWOULD part-time employee, I was shocked to find my car, completely engulfed in a sheet of ice. With little time to spare, I began digging through my trunk in hopes of finding an ice scraper to free my car from the icy shell.

Now, I must say- we all know that HOLLYWOULD girls are smart, funny and quite thrifty- but to tell you the truth, I was in no way prepared for this situation. I climbed into the front seat and started the engine. I sat for a minute and began contemplating how I would get my poor car out and make it to the little shop on Elizabeth Street on time.

I began rummaging through the glove compartment- pens, papers, and booklets- nothing that would suffice to get my car loose of the surrounding ice and snow. My last chance of getting it free?  A small bag in the back seat of my car. I opened up the pouch and found an old pair of taxi yellow ballet flats that had been worn one too many times and suddenly (!) I had an idea.

I stepped outside, ballets in hand- and began chiseling and cracking away at the ice one step at a time. Before I knew it, I had carved my way out of the ice and made my way to work. Oh, HOLLYWOULD - how I’ll miss you…..

We will miss you too!

And, speaking of HOLLYWOULD Star Employees, I have just received photos of our fabulous intern Octavia Obolensky wearing HOLLYWOULD to her formal at Harpeth Hall, also known as Reese Witherspoon’s alma matter.  Octavia is wearing a one-of-a-kind HOLLYWOULD long silver halter dress, which we were happy to lend to her for all of her hard days spent this summer running around town in the name of fashion.  Thank you Octavia for looking so drop-dead fabulous in HOLLYWOULD!

March 10th 2007
Paris, France

Some people’s favorite time of the year is Christmas, for some it’s Thanksgiving, and for some it’s the Fourth of July.  My favorite time of year thankfully happens twice, in a week long holiday called “Paris Fashion Week”. 

Oh la la, J’adore Paris Fashion Week in ways that New York Fashion Week will never, ever understand.  The parties are so much more fun, the people are so much more chic, and the shows are so much more entertaining.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people who thinks that everything in Europe is better than the USA.  As someone who lives between both spots, I have to say that each has its benefits.  However, when it comes to Fashion Week, Paris wins hands down.

Let me start by explaining, for the benefit of my mother, that I really and truly hardly ever drink.  I tend to save up my alcohol intake for occasions such as fashion week in Paris, which may be part of the reason I find the whole excursion so much fun.  It may also explain why, although I had planned to take fabulous photos and document each and every fabulous soiree for you girls, I often times forgot I even had my camera and the details of the week run into one long party.  Je suis désolé, mes amis. 

To sum things up and for lack of memory, the week’s events comprised much time spent at l’Hotel du Ritz, a stampede at a Babyshambles concert, a fabulous John Galliano show, a party to celebrate 25 years of Nike Air Force One, The Giambattista Valli party at the Maison France-Amérique, lunch at L’Avenue, Scarlett Johansson at Le Baron, some other party in some fancy rive gauche apartment that served very strange hors d'oeuvres, and much, much more.  My partner in crime for the week was genius fashion stylist Polina Aranova, who always looks like a cross between Brigitte Bardot & Marianne Faithfull – in other words, très fabuleux.

March 6th 2007
Paris, France

I am in Paris for Fashion Week and think it may take me a week to recover from all the fun, but in the meantime you may want to check out our favorite website www.splendora.com to look for surprise discounts and fabulous prizes from HOLLYWOULD.  It’s all top secret for Splendora readers only, so you’ll have to pop over to their site to get the scoop! 

March 1st 2007
Florence, Italy

So much to tell!  Since I last wrote I have been in NYC, Palm Beach, Miami, Paris, and am now in Florence, which is why I haven’t had time to dish the scoop.

Since it is March 1^st, I’ll start with our brand new CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH, Abby G, who looks gorgeous in her HOLLYWOULD dress on her honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas (see note below)!

Dear HOLLYWOULD,

I have adored your shoes for years (since they were sold in light blue boxes with stars all over them) and had the opportunity to wear one of your fabulous dresses on my recent honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas.

Thanks for designing such adorable pieces!!

xoxo, Abby

Abby, we think you’re fabulous, and have hereby crowned you HOLLYWOULD CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH for March.  This means Abby wins a $150 Gift Certificate to the HOLLYWOULD store! Congratulations Abby and Thank You for wearing HOLLYWOULD in style!

If any of you would like to be our next HOLLYWOULD CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH, send a photo of yourself in HOLLYWOULD to shop@ilovehollywould.com today, and be sure to title your email CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH!

In other news, as you can see from the photos (right), our partying didn’t slow down after our Valentine’s Day Kegger, as we headed straight to Palm Beach for President’s Day Weekend to launch our Spring 2007 Collection with a cocktail celebration in the courtyard of our shop.  All of Palm Beach’s best & brightest turned out in HOLLYWOULD, for mojitos, music, parrots, and guacamole.  Big shout out to all the girls who came wearing HOLLYWOULD despite the cold weather, including Ivanka Trump, Flo Fulton, Lindsay Fox, Emily Perrotto, Morgan White, Kari Talley and many, many more.

For those of you who haven’t yet made your new Spring 2007 purchases, I highly recommend ordering online this week, as sizes and styles are already selling out, and you won’t want to miss what I happen to think is our cutest collection yet!