Virginia is for Brothers.

Caleb & Callie. Richmond, VA Dec. 26, 2010

December 25, 2010. White Christmas.

View into the backyard from Caleb's tree house just as the snow began to fall on Christmas Day.

Tommy Ton Feature on A Current Affair & Liz Goldywyn on NOWNESS

Tommy Ton's NOWNESS photo of Liz Goldwyn & her curated installation at A Current Affair

For a feature on one of my favorite sites, NOWNESS, photographer/blogger Tommy Ton of the Jak & Jil blog (also a favorite) came out to LA and interviewed/photographed the always lovely Liz Goldwyn and A Current Affair, the vintage pop-up marketplace she hosted in conjunction with her paperback book launch "Pretty Things: The Last Generation of Burlesque Queens."

A Current Affair was founded by Joey Grana of Scout and Richard Wainwright, a private vintage dealer. While this event is an ongoing client of Trent PR, its also a pleasure as I've been a vintage fashion lover since my teen years.

Guests of the event included Marisa Tomei, Jessica Stroup, Lisa Eisner, as well as many of the best Hollywood stylists, designers, and style influencers.

As someone who has always felt the thrill of the hunt when searching for vintage treasures, I love the below quote from Tommy's interview with Liz.

TT: Where does enthusiasm or passion—like collecting or historical research—cross over into fetish?

LG: I think anyone who is a collector is totally eccentric. It is an obsession that drives them for sure. And, yes, it’s fetishistic.

Liz & her beautiful book. (Only $20 so get it now!). Photo by Melissa Manning/thelookpartnership.com

Cat Dorah, Peter Hawkings, and Lisa Eisner. Photo by Melissa Manning/thelookpartnership.com

<3>Photo by Melissa Manning/thelookpartnership.com

Beau & Aero has some amazing things that fit my often done "theme" dressing of native princess meets Colonial soldier ;) Photo by Melissa Manning/thelookpartnership.com

For more info & pics go to: A Current Affair

David Bowie & Bing Crosby

My dear mommy sent me this video all the way from Virginia :) It is one of my all-time holiday favorites :)

Enjoy,
Jessica

Mick Rock Week in LA

Bowie & Ronson. (c) Mick Rock.

Truman Capote & Andy Warhol (with Andy's Polaroid camera in the foreground) (c) Mick Rock.

One of my first emails today was from the man who showed us all what rock & roll really looks like, Mick Rock. Its rather dreamy to be working on a project with Mick and he couldn't be any more wonderful as a person to work with. His images not only captured those stolen & intimate moments amongst friends, but also high influenced the fashion world in showing off the looks of some of our most favorite pop culture icons.

Saturday, December 18th from 4-6PM Mick will be on hand signing his new book at the opening of his new exhibition at Confederacy in LA. Its a great opportunity to have a chat and get a personalized gift for yourself or a loved one.

MICK ROCK EXPOSED: THE FACES OF ROCK N' ROLL
Exhibition & Book Launch at Confederacy
curated by Annie Wharton

Confederacy

4661 Hollywood Blvd

(between Vermont & Hillhurst)

Los Angeles, CA 90027

The show opens to the public December 18, 2010.

Public book signing at Confederacy on Saturday, December 18, 4-6pm

Kate Moss (c) Mick Rock.

Daft Punk. (c) Mick Rock.

John Lennon

I knew his music before I came out of the womb. Such an influence on so many of us and the world. And what an all-time couple. I can just hit repeat on this song for an hour or more....

♥ & peace.

Just because

you have one, doesn't mean you have to BE one ;)

Patti Smith

I Am Love

Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Just see it...its stunning. Opulent, elegant, operatic.

Tilda Swinton, what can I say? She's purely amazing. However, every time Marisa Berenson is on camera, I'm entirely distracted. She moves like a sleek cat and lights up the screen with her smile. Berenson was a major model in the 60s & 70s and her maternal grandmother was fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

Double exposure

i was watching the "Secretariat" trailer and wanted to see the sunset shot again... as I paused it and re-wound, I caught this image in the transition. A great double exposure of 2 things that go so well together. Kinda 70s style.

Uncompromising

The coolest cat woman ever. Ms. Eartha Kitt telling it like it is.

Mr. Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson is a man who to me always captures the spirit of what it is to be an American. I think if he and Thomas Jefferson would have been around at the same time, they would have been fast friends. Of course I find him wonderfully talented, but I also think Willie has always had cool style. ;)

A Casual Day

The talented Lance Drake popped by on a cozy & casual Hollywood afternoon. He always mesmerizes my regal rescue beasts Mimi & Callie :) (The vintage leopard booties are from SCOUT on Cherokee Ave in Hollywood.)

My Friend Jane is an amazing belly dancer

Jane has some of the most amazing photos from her work of anyone I know. Case in point. A job in St. Louis from last summer. Who knew St. Louis was so radical? This is from a Carts & Cocktails fundraiser for Laumeier Sculpture Park.

Barbara Lynn. She plays guitar like a lady...

Completely amazing. Beautiful voice, cool lyrics, great style, and lady-like guitar playing skills.

Patti Smith wins National Book Award!

Patti Smith is the perfect woman as far as I am concerned. Reading "Just Kids" further confirmed this. I started the book on a trip to NY while staying at the Chelsea Hotel. I can't say enough of how inspiring and touching the book is. It gives you a look at the tender and nurturing side of this incredible woman. Its a very lovely and intimate glimpse into the lives of these two broke young lovers turned life-long friends and collaborators.

Congrats to Ms. Smith!

Her book made me wish that in all of my gypsy travels, many lives, and moves around the country, I would have kept writings and journals more instead of the often ceremonial burning once I moved on to a new life chapter. (For me, sometimes looking back on certain experiences can be a bit too painful.)

Here is a great interview with her on NPR's Fresh Air. (Thanks to Stephanie Ballauer Pair for sending that my way!)

Great quote from the LA Times: "I've loved books all my life," a teary-eyed Smith said as she took the stage at the gala ceremony in New York. As a clerk at Scribner's Bookstore, she said, she shelved the National Book Award winners. "I used to wonder what it would feel like" —

Design Loves Art

LA folks, get out to the PDC tonight 5-8PM to see all the fantastic art openings at Annie Wharton Los Angeles, Yann Perreau's Here is Elsewhere Gallery, Jenny Le & Janet Levy's curated group show at See Line Gallery, and Piero Golia's Project Space amongst others.

We've got my friend Reggie Casagrande in the See Line show, Annie always has amazing foresight into what artists are happening, and Yann has a brillliant take on embracing Venice, California's artists.

Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood, CA, 90069
OPENING 18th of November from 5 -8.30 pm
Hours: Tues - Fri: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Class & Fun. The way it should be.

some ballet dancing around the bungalow. a joyous Tchaikovsky mood to welcome the coming beauty of winter :)

the start gets me everytime... and then it escalates. <3

Some Ancient Roman Words On My Mind

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart. --Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.

desert and mineral springs escape

I'm not, but its a beautiful song.

Out of the blue, I just had a memory from age 9 or so of my aunt Judy's ELVIS PRESLEY rug.

LACMA socializing & fundraising

The always dapper Giovanni Ribisi and a 1400 BC sculpture from Mexico in the newly opened LACMA Resnick pavilion.

William Lemon (L) and Jessica Trent attend the FENDI boutique opening hosted by Chloe Sevigny and in conjunction with LACMA. October 7, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

(Will wears a vintage suit picked up in Louisiana I'm in vintage Holly's Harp silk jersey, our yet to be named hosiery, Alaia belt...)

More below on the LACMA gala from a couple of weeks ago.

The Unmasking of LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion

An exquisite evening that was perfectly produced, last weekend LACMA unmasked their amazing $53 million dollar Renzo Piano designed Resnick Pavilion. This block of Los Angeles is truly like a time machine, from 40,000 year old bubbling tar pits and fossils at the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits to colossal basalt heads now on view at LACMA from the Olmec civilization of Mexico, circa 1400 BC. Click HERE for the rest of the story.

Gelila Asefa Puck always wears the best accessory, a beautiful smile, here pictured with the amazing John Baldessari.

Wren designer Melissa Coker in her own label, accompanied by her sweet pal Thomas Whiteside.

Guinevere van Seenus and photographer David Mushegain.

Me in a 1960s vintage gown, Chanel corset belt, & my new ELYSIAN hosiery line hand-painted by my collaborator William Lemon III with Charlotte Eyerman in Lutz & a vintage Whiting & Davis bag.

OohlaLA...Paris in LA. Sebastien Tellier & Friends Bon Anniversaire

sebastien tellier - look from EL NINO on Vimeo.

We know there is a strong Paris to Los Angeles connection, so naturally Parisian label Record Makers, who are renowned for nurturing electronic music favorites from the likes of Air to Sebastien Tellier, bring their 10 year celebration to Los Angeles this week. The celebratory events kick off with an art exhibition featuring work by the artists whose contributions have proved vital to the visual world of Record Makers. The exhibition opens tonight, Wednesday September 29 from 7-10 p.m. at Space 15 Twenty

The Parisian party continues with a concert tomorrow night at the El Rey featuring Monsieur Tellier along with Acid Washed who will be performing their modern disco for the first time in California.

There is also a free iPhone app and a compilation album to keep you celebrating even if you can’t make it to these fantastic events in person.

More info HERE

Maya Angelou

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." – Maya Angelou

LACMA Resnick Opening Gala Avant-Garde After Party This Saturday

My first post for

Photo: A turban by Paul Poiret from 1911, on display as part of LACMA’s Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail exhibit that opens t0 the public on October 2.

This Saturday, September 25th is the LACMA Resnick Opening Gala Avant-Garde After Party — a great combination of art and fashion with previews of the following inaugural exhibitions:

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915 (which we mentioned earlier this summer)
Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection
Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico

Andre Leon Talley shot some of the costumes from the European collection for the September issue of Vogue. Adding to the fun for the evening will be a performance by The Chapin Sisters.

Co-chairs include Jenni Kayne Ehrlich and Maggie Kayne. Host committee members include one of my favorite LA fashion/art couples, stylist Jessica de Ruiter and artist Jed Lind. Other host committee members include Sabina and David Nathanson, Hilary Tisch, Chloe Sevigny, Mary Kate Olsen, Band of Outsider’ Scott Sternberg, Cameron Silver of Decades, gallerist P.C Valmorbida, and models Guinevere van Seenus and Erin Wasson.

Click HERE to read the rest on my post for Style Section LA

Covering fashion, nightlife, shopping and culture, Style Section L.A. is the leading regional digital media outlet dedicated to showcasing the talents and trends that shape style in Los Angeles.

Wish I were still in NY tonight. Pavement in Central Park

My friend Karyn is a lucky gal to be seeing these guys tonight in Central Park. Wish I were there. Steve West, the drummer, hails from Richmond. I was a superfan of his band Contoocook Line, prior to Pavement. I carved the band's name alongside mine in the wet cement in Richmond and may have jumped on stage with them once and sang... Do you remember that Jodi? Ha!



One of the coolest songs you uncontrollably tap your foot to.

Happy Autumnal Equinox & Welcome to Libra Time!

Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
And the more noble instinct that aspires
-- Longfellow.

An "Old" Favorite

Breaking out an old favorite, Before Sunset.
Celine: I guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times.
Jesse: And you can screw it up, you know, misconnect.

Love the dialogue & dynamic between Ethan Hawke and Julia Delpy in both this and Before Sunrise. Richard Linkletter, great directing.

NY Fashion Week Street Style

Cameraphone photo by Ryan Koopmans

NY fashion week eviction chic. Shot on the street in the LES in a mid-century lucite chair while LOLing, the evictee wears Dries Van Noten blouse. Margiela cork boots. Missoni bag. Hijacked Super/retrosuperfuture shades. Faithful Burton luggage (which also acted as a day bed for a moment....)

My mom says nothing has changed much since age 5 when I dragged around 2 bags full of stuffed animals, plastic horses, books, and art supplies... well, really, that lasted for several years ;)

I'm in ♥ & I'm in heaven. Max Raabe & the Palast Orchestra.

Faultlessly fitting tuxedo, hair slicked back, a cheeky look, Max Raabe is a German singer and band leader of the Palast Orchester. He and his orchestra specialize in recreating the sound of German dance and film music of the 1920s and 1930s with amusing nostalgia.

R. Kelly - When A Woman Loves

In love with this beautifully chic video directed by my friend Jeremy Rall. He has an impeccable eye and style. I can see each still being an amazing photograph on its own. The video harkens back to the simplicity of classic cinema. What an amazing voice and range & dramatic flair R. Kelly has! Some true lyrics. Great combo of talent. Enjoy!

(click to see it on youtube as for some reason you can't see the entire screen on my blog & you don't want to miss out )

Fade away never

The title is a pun - the song is not in fact about the European nomenclature of pencil leads or cigarettes, but actually dedicated to Hollywood film star Humphrey Bogart. ("2HB" = "to Humphrey Bogart".) In particular, it references the Bogart classic Casablanca.

The song is gentle and mellow in tone, evoking a smoky cabaret atmosphere and classic black and white films.

The instrumentation on the Roxy Music recording is dominated by Ferry's Hohner Pianet N electric piano, and features a saxophone solo in the middle where MacKay's playing is treated with tape echo effects by Brian Eno.

our eyes are bigger than the universe

coincidence

Ace was the place for the Perseids meteor shower

Desert road trip with an old pal. The Perseids meteor shower was truly amazing! The biggest, brightest fireballs shooting across the sky that I have ever seen in my life. We drove up into the mountains in the wee hours of the morning for better views away from lights and were joined by the likes of at least one coyote and several other creatures who preferred just to freak us out in the brush without showing themselves ;) The Ace hotel was ace! 110 in the desert sun forces you to relax. Like being in a sauna for hours, and then floating in a saline pool. Pure delight!

Glam Bowie shoot for LEMON Magazine

Another lemon project. This time the magazine, not the human ;) LEMON magazine. "LEMON is pop culture with a twist. An elaborate, one-of-a-kind annual publication staking its claim at the intersection of 60's-70's Pop and 21st century hyper-culture. Illustrated with specially-commissioned art, design and photography from celebrated artists and acclaimed talents alike, LEMON is an immersive experience in print."

A rare time I did some official styling. Of course the got me with a BOWIE shoot. The female model is my friend Kate Earl, a very talented singer. http://www.lemonland.net/#article2 Makeup by Roxy. Photography by Gabriel Jeffrey. Click HERE for more from the shoot.

Will Lemon III @ Eighth Veil. NY Times T Magazine

Excited to have been working for some time with fellow Libra creative inspirer/collaborator Will Lemon III on his show @ Eighth Veil gallery here in LA, as well as some other projects such as the Odilon A/W 2010 film with Alia Raza and a very cool project coming up in the future.

Come check out his closing night performance on the full moon of August 24th @ 8PM! Eighth Veil. 7174 Sunset Blvd. LA

FULL ARTICLE: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/los-angeles-dispatch-will-lemon-at-eighth-veil-gallery/

I can't thank journalist Steffie Nelson and the staff at the NY Times enough. Thrilled with the piece! Thank you! Snippet from the article below:

The comparison was clear at Lemon’s multimedia exhibition, “Parcival vs. the Sun,” which opened recently at the Eighth Veil gallery in Hollywood and attracted artists, architects, fashion designers and stylists, along with friends and collaborators like Devendra Banhart (a guest musician on “VII Acts”), Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk and Paul Hahn, who runs the band’s production company Daft Arts. They all gathered under a series of large canvas tapestries and looked through a limited-edition book printed by the gallery’s publishing house. Lemon’s intricate, colorful designs depicting the quest of the knight Parcival to find his true self included motifs that are echoed in his skin-printing work.

________________________

The custom linen cloak that Will wore in the performance was a collaboration with Cavern Collection

________________________

Erin Garcia is the amazing sound designer Will collaborated with to compose the piece for the performance. Erin is also a drummer in the band Widows. They met last year when Will recorded & co-produced with Erin a cover of David Bowie's "African Night Flight" with Aska Matsumiya for an upcoming Manimal Vinyl Bowie tribute record.

________________________

The exhibition is inspired in part by the senses. Thanks to IZZE soda (we REALLY love the new ginger flavor) and Lorenza Rose for their beautiful contribution to the sense of taste for the opening night beverages.

The Blood of a Poet: John Maus meets Jean Cocteau

I found this on my friend Betty's site. I always wanted a friend named Betty, and thanks to an introduction at the Italian Cultural Institute by the ever-talented and witty Karl Haendel, I do. (Hi to both if you are reading ;) Betty is based in San Fran and is a passionate magazine publisher, idea generator, collaborator, and curator. Here is one of her sites: first person media: Where artists come to watch "TV". A weekly selection of historical, contemporary films, documentaries, and videos that we find stunning, entertaining and newsworthy.

Betty gets it. She got me with this, as of course did Mr. Maus and Mr. Cocteau. (filmed in 1930...) Obsessed with this beautiful combination....

The Steel Magnolia was part of the Bruce High Quality Foundation's BRUCENNIAL2010

Your steel magnolia was part of the Bruce High Quality Foundation's BRUCENNIAL2010: Miseducation Literary Supplement. Click HERE They are cheeky & I dig their digs on the faction of the art world which is uptight and insular.

Since its founding, the BRUCENNIAL has evolved into The Bruce High Quality Foundation's signature public program, as well as the most important survey of contemporary art in the world ever. Following the triumphant successes of BRUCENNIAL08: Doing it Again (Bushwick) and BRUCENNIAL09: Smithumenta (Carol Gardens), BRUCENNIAL2010: Miseducation brings together 420 artists from 911 countries working in 666 discrete disciplines to reclaim education as part of an artist's ongoing practice beyond the principals of any one institution or experience.

thoughts are more clear and great ideas often come when i am alone underwater or lying quietly in the sun. - jessica trent

California Design Biennial Opens this Weekend!

I am excited to see the work of all of the amazing designers who have been selected to be in the California Design Biennial at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, which opens this weekend. Its an honor to be on the host committee for the opening alongside so many amazing people I respect, especially as your Virginia/LA Steel Magnolia has only been living in this big city for 3 years.

The LA Times Booth Moore did a great preview on the fashion portion of the exhibition, and I truly look forward to seeing the other categories. The fashion category is curated by the ever so lovely and brilliant Rose Apodaca.

From the press release:

The curators, all design experts, will place the work in a context for the viewer that facilitates a deeper and richer understanding of the design that surrounds them every day. Curators include Louise Sandhaus, graphic designer and California Institute of the Arts professor; Rose Apodaca, pop culture and fashion journalist, and former Women’s Wear Daily West Coast Bureau Chief; Stewart Reed, head of Transportation Design at Art Center College of Design; Frances Anderton, Los Angeles Dwell editor and host of KCRW's DnA: Design and Architecture; and Alissa Walker, freelance design journalist for publications such as Good, Fast Company, and Core77.

I encourage you to come!

Saturday, July 17, 2010, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Opening Reception for California Design Biennial: Action/Reaction
$5 admission, Free for PMCA Members

Summertime sartorial style ca. 1895

Paul Gauguin playing the harmonium in Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha's studio in Paris, 1895. Mucha befriended Gauguin when he was broke, after returning from his first trip to Tahiti, and offered him space in his studio where the two worked on their art, each in their own corner. That is what friends are for!

What fun times this must have been for them both! I love this idea of the two of them with such different styles, working in the same space. I can imagine the conversations. I bet they had endless quantities of champagne on hand from one of Mucha's most known commercial works, seen below.

And then it seems they indeed had some things in common. A very young girlfriend. And who did design that Medée poster? Hmm... Scandals and lover's quarrels in the art world are certainly nothing new.

I have so much to do right now, and I should be sleeping like "normal" people, but here I am writing about a time that would have been a dream for me to live in. I should actually be dreaming.....

Glamour, Fun, & Torment: The Last Time I Saw Paris

"I'll never be a size 10 again," laments Elizabeth Taylor's "Helen" to her husband Van Johnson "Charles" after the recent birth of their child.

Ah, what would they say now if the film were remade starring one of our young actresses, "I'll never be a size 0...."
The film is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Babylon Revisited" and stars Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson. A very tan Roger Moore plays her young boy toy. Donna Reed and Ava Gabor co-star. Ava's accent is entirely dreamy.

Helen Rose designed some absolutely stunning gowns for the film. One was rather Vivienne Westwood ala Carrie's S&TC wedding dress....


Oh, and there is some fast sports car racing too.

Gaetano Pesce @ Italian Cultural Institute LA. NY Times T Mag

Click HERE for the article by Brooke Hodege, curator of one of my most favorite exhibitions at MOCA in the past several years, "Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture."

Solar eclipse.

Plant your seeds of intention.

Never apologize for it

Time alone.

It seems to me so many people don't know how to take time away, to sit in solitude without noise and distraction. To be comfortable being alone with their own thoughts. Or contemplating the simplest thing, like the way a leaf might blow in the breeze.

My aunt Leslie (Bucky) gave this book "A Gift from the Sea" 8 years ago and I do go back to it quite often. I love the truths it holds. I figured out long ago I have to have solitude to recharge and to appreciate all the amazing activity and people I have in my life.

I'm preparing for the shift that occurs with the solar eclipse. Quiet. :)

Way into these: Woolypocket

This will make a perfect, perfect installation on my kitchen wall!

Such a cool invention. Modular plant pockets made completely of post-consumer recyclable materials. They make them for both indoor and outdoor use. I have to know these people! Love their random acts of planting around NY and wish it would happen here in LA just to bring a smile to my face (though of course we are not as in need of it as my big apple friends).

Available @ A + R in Venice here in LA.

The Man Who Fell To Earth

This is the man who fell to earth and turned into a snail. I found him on my porch after you left. He had been drawn to the light and conversation. He was shy at first, but I put on some music, invited him in, and soon he came out of his shell. He had a very long journey, so he's resting right now.