Prada SpA Group

Whoever said N.Y.U. was full of scruffy, coffee-shop vigilantes may need to update their aesthetic databases. After all, Greenwich Village is no longer a haven for the budding Walt Whitmans and Romany Maries of yesteryear. Nay, the Manhattan neighborhood that houses a growing population of hedge-funders and well-heeled fashionistas is also home to a blossoming set of likeminded youngsters. Natch! Case in point: Chloe, a 22-year-old N.Y.U. student.  read more »

Our fellow blog, The Culture Czar, reported earlier today that the storied Gucci dynasty will be the subject of a new film by blood-and-guts director Ridley Scott. (Yes, the same guy who made Gladiator and G.I. Jane.) What’s more, as Fashionista reminded us this afternoon, Mr. Scott is not altogether ill-prepared to take on such a stylish subject, however much blood gets spilled. He shot a short for Prada last winter, in which Canadian model Daria Werbowy dons several archived outfits made by the Italian clothier. Apparently, the theme of the mini-film came from a poem the director’s daughter, Jordan, stumbled across. We’re on pins and needles to see if Mr. Ford will be played by Blow Out’s Jonathan Antin or Entourage’s Jeremy Piven.  read more »

It was after midnight last Saturday, and Bungalow 8 was filling up.  read more »

I believe that New Yorkers can now be divided fairly and squarely into two distinct groups: those wh  read more »

ERICA: Italy was insanely fantastic ... dreamy ... delicious ...decadent. In truth, we never really considered any other Honeymoon locale, and I'm pretty darn glad we were so short sighted.

We started off our trip in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. This city is just dripping with chic and charm. When you go, bring Jackie O sunglasses, some sexy Prada slip-on walking shoes and the biggest memory chip you can find for your digital camera, because around every corner are some of the most stunning, spectacular views I've every laid my peepers on. The beach there looks pretty from afar, but its actually fairly rocky and not so glam. We spent $20 Euros to get ourselves some lounge chairs one day and after about 45 minutes, both of us were bored out of our minds and sick of looking at the parade of women walking by who were wearing bikinis and really should NOT be wearing bikinis. We took day trips to Capri (which believe it or not was even more chic than Positano and Ravello) and really lived it up like the Glitterati.  read more »

The Transom hasn't caught up with Tatler--arguably the world's greatest magazine--in a while. In the November issue, we find the stunning story of Cindy Bilton, who lives at a "Palladian mansion" called Croome Court, in Worcestershire. (Its walled garden was the first to be designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. Ms. Bilton's husband, Lawrence, would like to build and sell bungalows on the property; the National Trust nearly crapped itself.)

Ms. Bilton reports that the last time she came to New York, it was on the Concorde, with a suite at the Four Seasons. But at the behest of a gang of Buddhists, and some unnamed TV crew, she returned earlier this year to spend four days as a homeless person.

In preparation, she bought a new jacket, as she thought her Prada wouldn't "quite cut it on the streets." Also, on the way to the airport, she purchased some Tom Ford sunglasses. Here are some of the things she learned about our fair city during her four days:

· Long synagogue services on the Lower East Side are improved by water bottles full of vodka. · It feels better to smoke butts from the gutter than it does to ask fresh ones of passers-by. · Bryant Park has great public bathrooms! · People don't seem to notice the homeless. They walk right by them! · The Staten Island Ferry is warm--and free! · Stupid people begin cycling on the Hudson River park paths well before dawn. · The Mercer Hotel doormen, shockingly, don't admit homeless people.

David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada, from a screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna, is loosely based  read more »

The Devil Wears Prada is the first classy, elegant and really entertaining film of 2006.  read more »

The Devil Wears Prada is the first classy, elegant and really entertaining film of 2006.  read more »

It Should Happen to You  read more »

• Two planes crashed in 1960, killing several and destroying a Park Slope block, not to mention a community. Over 40 years later, the site finally sees new life--in the wake of a residential boom, no less. (New York)
• Bogota inspires Bronx with ... a bicycle path!(WNYC)
• Metropolis gets poetic about 7 WTC: "It was a cold, clear autumn night and the view from the 49th floor, lit by LED-filled balloons, was just astonishing. For the first time it seemed that this replacement for the old 7 WTC, an unexceptional 1980s granite-clad tower that caved in at 5:28 p.m. on September 11, was not just a snappy speculative building but a genuine piece of architecture."
• The NYPD is watching. But maybe the 500 extra cameras will protect us against those nasty shakedowns. (Unless, you like that.) (AP)
• Miuccia Prada is here to reopen her store--skateboard ramp intact--with the inaugural exhibition "Waist Down." But some people just care about wearing the label, not the clothes. (Sigh) (New York)
• Enjoy the (annoying) attention of tableside service at these fine dining institutions. (New York)
• Or, enjoy homestyle cooking and booth seating at Red Hook newcomer Good Fork. (New York)
• Big Love in Staten Island: "Run as a nonprofit, Ganas is possibly New York City's only experiment in affordable communal living that doesn't require you to join a cult." (New York)
• Arch rivalry between eyebrow shapers. It's just too good. (New York)
• Don't mistake vegans for some sandal wearing peaceniks. They'll kick your ass with socialist fervor. (Metro)
- Riva Froymovich
• 0 comments

LAURIE: I made my once-yearly visit to Barneys the other day. Or rather, I made my once-yearly visit to the 8th floor, a.k.a. Barneys Co-Op, a.k.a the only floor on which I do not get the sense that they are calling security on me--me with my broken-zippered windbreaker and the slight, sweaty sheen I get from riding the subway, no matter what time of year. I know that some of the city's wealthiest people dress like bums, but I doubt that high-end retail staffs mistake me for one of those people.

So I did my usual routine: Enter on Madison, cut a sharp left to the elevators, avoid eye contact with everyone and head right up to 8. On the way back down, I like to take the escalators and peek in on every floor. I usually stop and check out the lingerie on 6; sometimes an $80 bra gets marked down to $20. One summer evening several years ago, I was so rattled by the uppity saleswoman sizing up my Old Navy tank top and grubby sandals that I put a gorgeous, delicate, full-price, dry-clean-only set of bra and undies by Prada on my beleaguered Visa card. Two balance transfers, an accidental and devastating trip to the laundromat and a debt-reduction program later, I'm sure that I'm still paying that shit off.  read more »

But this time, on a mixed-brand rack in the center of the sales floor, I found a simple, casual white cotton dress, strapless, knee-length, and priced at just over a hundred bucks. I tried it on: it fit, and it would fit if I shaved off a few pounds, put on a few pounds, or stayed exactly the same. It was the very first potential wedding dress I tried on, and I bought it without even soliciting a second opinion.

• Bill Weld, former Massachusetts governor running in New York, compared eminent domain to "Communist China." (The Real Deal)
• A real-estate guide to Bob Dylan. (Gothamist)
• Niche marketing has created gay ghettos. (Matrix)
• Perhaps before one invests in a Honduran island that Americans know little about, one must think about resources. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Next in home decoration tips: where to put your Oscar. Frank Sinatra used his as a doorstop. (The New York Times)
• When the Church sells off property to make cash, others call for accountability in business. (The Walk-Through)
• New Jersey has a gas problem. And it bothers the financial district to the point of evacuation. (Gothamist)
• Because the neighborhoods are on the rise for residential sales, a $4 million Greenpoint-Williamsburg Industrial Fund will be used to help manufacturing firms relocate. (The Real Deal)
• Apartment Therapy holds a contest for cool apartments under 650 square feet, because, well, that takes creativity. (Apartment Therapy)
• Priorities in development: Office of Emergency Management to be replaced by Basketball City. (The New York Sun)
• Although the store is closed in Soho, Prada's " mistress of us all" premieres in Paris this week. (International Herald Tribune)

- Riva Froymovich

If you’ve ever visited a former Communist republic, you know that graffiti can be a problem.  read more »

If you’ve ever visited a former Communist republic, you know that graffiti can be a problem.  read more »

• Design review boards are the "queer eye for the straight guy" of civic policy, and approve or disapprove of the aesthetic of community buildings http://www.inman.com/inmanstories.aspx?ID=49869 ">(Inman News)
• Life on Vashon Island, just a commute over the Puget Sound or an Internet line to Seattle or Tacoma. (The New York Times)
• Now it's come to renting out a hole in the wall stuffed with a mattress. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/nyregion/03mattress.html?ex=1296622800... ">(The New York Times)
• Lady Minerva's view of Lady Liberty will not be blocked by a developer's new Green-Wood condominium--he promises. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/nyregion/02ink.html?_r=2&%20ref=slogin... "> (The New York Times)
• Unlimited artwork for those with limited space. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/020206/the-gallery/the-gallery-miles-... ">(Apartment Therapy)
• Brooklyn politicians dedicate themselves to an open space in Brooklyn Bridge Park with a warning to the state authority to find revenue sources outside the neighborhood, not through high-priced condos.http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/61306.htm "> (New York Post)
• Cyberdoormen are protecting smaller buildings that can't afford an actual person with "a network of cameras, intercoms, card access points, and alarms linked by high-speed Internet to a remote 24-hour monitoring location." http://www.nysun.com/article/26915?access=806422 ">(New York Sun)
• City editors and nightlife reviewers mail in the bars that have been robbing their wallets. http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0606,zappia,72038,15.html ">(The Village Voice)
• The most expensive penthouse in the United States rests atop The Pierre Hotel, all 14,000 square feet of it. The triplex includes the Pierre's original ballroom with 23-foot-high curved ceilings, five master bedrooms and fireplaces, four terraces, and a 360-degree view of New York at a mere $70 million. (Forbes)
• Some women have it all, and some are still trying to sell it, like Diane von Furstenberg.http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/02/02/inside_the_von_furstenberg_com... "> (Curbed)
• Apartments getting redesigned by fashion designers: "There is no reason," broker Michael Shvo said, "that in our industry today we not look as good as a Prada ad." http://www.tropolism.com/2006/02/tropolism_trends_fashion_desig.php ">(Tropolism)
• Using architecture and the power to raze buildings to destroy whole cultures. http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=429&storyCode=3062126 ">(Building Design)
• A transatlantic race to create a robot can build an entire house from an architect's computer-based design against Loughborough University looks like a win for University of Southern California's department of industrial and systems engineering. (Building Design)
• The "shifting cast of characters" at the World Trade Center site. (Gotham Gazette)

- Riva Froymovich

History was made at the Golden Globes.  read more »

Over the past week, Ana Marie Cox's debut novel, Dog Days, has netted three -- count 'em! one-two-three -- articles in The New York Times. And none of their authors seem to be on quite the same page. Janet Maslin (1/3): "Dog Days manages to be doubly conventional: it follows both an old-fashioned love-betrayal-redemption arc and the newer, bitchier nanny-Prada chick-lit motif...Any smart Web site would mock her [protagonist's] final gesture: turning on her laptop and writing the opening lines of this book." Christopher Buckley (1/8): "...if this sparkly, witty - occasionally vicious - little novel is any indication of Wonkette's talent, then Cox ought to log out of cyberspace and start calling herself Novelette." David Carr (1/5): "Dog Days is like a lot of first-time novels in that it takes the author's day-to-day existence and heats it up a few notches...the plot is on the hoary side." [He also calls Cox "a Katharine Hepburn with a severe case of potty mouth.") If the Times continues apace, its writers may just exceed the book's own word count with alternate expressions of praise and political piñata-whacking.  read more »

Hi Choire:

My name is Friday and on behalf of Simon & Schuster I'm currently helping spread the word about Lauren Weisberger's latest work, Everyone Worth Knowing. Weisberger is best-known for her earlier work, The Devil Wears Prada. I think your site's target audience would really appreciate this book. Would you be interested in receiving a free copy of a Weisberger's book in exchange for a piece on your site? Maybe several copies for a contest?

You may want to write a review about the book, hold a book contest, write a small blurb and feature it somewhere on your site, or something along those line (if you come up with another idea, please let me know.) In return for your kindness and help, I will happily send you a copy.

You can find out more about this book or purchase it at the SimonSays [Simon & Schuster] website: http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=33&pid=510946

For assets that you can use to beef up your features or reviews, please go to: http://www.soulkool.net/gr/weisberger/ If you're interested, please get back to me and we can work out whatever is necessary.  read more »

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warmest Regards, Friday

On a recent Saturday afternoon, my friend Francesca and I enjoyed a fairy-tale shopping day.  read more »

On a recent Saturday afternoon, my friend Francesca and I enjoyed a fairy-tale shopping day.  read more »

The Transom bit off more than it could chew this week--check its beard growth level for proof (Shaving? When?)--so it's been a bit quiet around these parts. (Also, blame Brokeback Mountain.)

However, now in the quiet lull of a Thursday evening, a couple things must be shared:

· The Transom must point out that this week's Nikki Finke column on Mike Ovitz's art collection as a way to learn everything you need to know about Mr. Ovitz is freaking brilliant. (It also tells you everything you need to know about what a completely shitty industry art dealing is--witness Mike Ovitz trying to cheat $20K off the price of a painting that he'd then take four months to pay for. Classic.) God bless ya, Ms. Finke. · This week, New York was host to the Country Music Awards, and The Transom studiously ignored the myriad events that splattered on the city. Friend of The Transom, Campbell "Boldface" Robertson, hit the nail on the head this week:

The prevailing idea appears to have been setting up events that pair country stars with ostensibly non-country locales to see if there is a great explosion, littering the pavement with Prada handbags, bolo ties and a seemingly contradictory sense of both loss and entitlement, and leaving behind a trail of delightful little culture-clash stories in the media.

· The Transom has also noticed that Manhattan parties suffer from fools' need to overdocument. Does no one trust the written word any longer? No?

And now, camera-less, The Transom must go follow Rosario Dawson to a party. It is our lot in life.  read more »

— Choire Sicha

What a terrible thing it is to have one's cynicism validated. From this Sunday's Style section piece on Lauren "Devil Wears Prada" Weisberger:

"It's a fairy tale come true, ain't it?" said David Rosenthal, the publisher of Simon & Schuster, which published her second book last month. "And she's got great legs. What more can you ask for?"

 read more »

Tired of toeing the line? Dying to take a walk on the wild side? Looking to bust a new taboo?  read more »

This week, Everyone Worth Knowing, the second novel by Lauren Weisberger—she of best-selling The D  read more »

Kindred Spirits    read more »

Kindred Spirits

“I do yoga and I try to get Tom to join in,” said Kathy Freston.  read more »

As in today's Observer, NY Daily News gossips Rush and Molloy get in a little on Lauren Weisberger's new book, noting that "The Devil Wears Prada author gets even in her new book with witty Gawker founder Elizabeth Spiers, who trashed her on the blog. 'If anyone finds out exactly what Ms. Weisberger is an 'insider' in, do let us know,' she wrote," they say.

Of course, that Gawker item was written after Ms. Spiers was safely ensconced at New York magazine, but the point remains. (In fact, there's a new theme in chick lit of (totally fantasized) horrible abusive bloggers in the Big City; see also Deborah Schoeneman's forthcoming book.)  read more »

In any event, the name "Weisberger" appears 25 times on Gawker, and 13 of those appearances are during Ms. Spiers' tenure. Here are a few selected items of Ms. Spiers' horrible, cruel mauling of Ms. Weisberger:

July 7, 2003: "When the NYT had former Harper's Bazaar editor and [Vogue editor] Anna Wintour protegee Kate Betts review The Devil Wears Prada, (Lauren Weisberger's roman-a-clef about her job as Anna's assistant) I thought it was incredibly unfair..." April 24, 2003: "Shameless but relevant self-promotion: I interviewed Lauren Weisberger, the author of The Devil Wears Prada (a roman a clef about Vogue editor Anna Wintour) on Monday for Salon." April 14, 2003: "How naive do you have to be to sign up to work for [Vogue Editor] Anna Wintour, expecting that she's going to be nice to you? She's Anna Wintour, for god's sake! Of course she's going to abuse you! It's her job!" April 13, 2003: "As far as book reviews go, Betts' review isn't an actual review. There's no discussion of the novel as a piece of literature. It's really just an ethical analysis of Weisberger's decision to trash her ex-boss in print..." Yow! Harsh! Meow!

I am a sucker for any accessory or garment of the moment, always the first name on a waiting list fo  read more »

For their latest venture, John McDonald and Josh Pickard, partners in midtown's Lever House, have tr  read more »

We’re just a bunch of fat pigs, drowning in a sea of vulgarity.  read more »

I've always been afraid of Bellevue.  read more »

On the northwest corner of Mercer Street and Prince Street : One massive, shining, white brick wall,  read more »

Free-swinging ingenue bashes Wintour in best-selling novel, favorite of subway-riding assistants eve  read more »

Grocer Unwittingly ProvidesWriting Accessory to Crime  read more »

Zeal Gets the BetterOf Broadway Bookseller  read more »

Trading Up , by Candace Bushnell.  read more »

Calling all label queens!  read more »

Wednesday 14th We're knee-deep in May, and that means drag queens, your skin going blotchy becau  read more »

The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger.  read more »

I've rarely loved a play as much Our Lady of 121st Street .  read more »

Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers , by Alissa Quart. Perseus, 239 pages, $25.  read more »

Kicking and Screaming, Soho StandbyIs Dragged Into New Millennium  read more »

Radiation-blocking potassium-iodide pills do not a holiday gift make.  read more »

Dear Parent:

Thank you for requesting an application to our preschool.  read more »

In the early 1990's, you gave birth to a gorgeous little girl.  read more »

Wednesday 23rd Wilhelmina or won'tchemina?  read more »

On Thursday, Sept.  read more »

Wednesday 25th It's still summer? When will this fetid season be over?  read more »

Something is stirring in the depths of the Fashion Jungle. It's me.  read more »