Lux Lotus

My Life in Pictures: Don't Wait Up

Off to dinner and then a black tie party at the Players Club, discovered parting my hair on the side is just as good as brushing it. Ain't life grand? 2010, we're gonna get on just fine.

The Americans

This afternoon at the Met... Robert Frank's The Americans, an iconic exhibition of 83 photographs the Swiss-born photographer took criss-crossing the country in the '50s, with text by Kerouac.

Unexpectedly more captivating: a small folio he made called Black White and Things, depicting "somber people or black events, quiet people and peaceful places, and the things people come in contact with," and introduced with the quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. A photograph of a woman, clad in a fur stole and form-fitting gown with bell-shaped hem that falls widely from the knee, taken from behind as she passes through a doorway –– and away from the viewer –– in Paris, 1952, stopped me cold to contemplate how many entrances and exits unfold in our lives. Was it the first time he saw her? Or the last?

Then, Sant Ambroeus and a view of Madison Avenue at twilight, known as l'heure bleue for what it both reveals and conceals.

Jules et Jim

Somehow Jules et Jim came up in conversation the other day. That's practically my favorite thing in the whole world, I exclaimed. "Yeah, me too, and the reason that you're never allowed to drive a car while I'm in it," came the perfectly deadpan reply. It became quickly apparent, though, that we were talking about two slightly different stories. I'd read the book, he'd seen the film. Today I got a text that he's reading it. I'm going to Kim's and get the movie.

On Intuition

Twice this week, I was walking away from something when I changed my mind and went back. Last night, after meditation at Tibet House, I stopped at Souen for Mu tea and a quick bite to eat, and eyed a muffin at the counter as I left. I made it halfway down the block before I decided it was worth cold hands holding the bag on my long walk home and returned. And now, as I sit down to breakfast, the anticipation of pleasure makes it seem doubly so! It was enough to remind me to pull out a little plate I bought on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris years ago. It caught my eye as we passed a shop and I insisted on going back. I knew it was mine.

LuxLoves: Public Enemies

Whenever Public Enemies was in theaters, I saw it, maybe six months ago. The film is frenetically violent, and our anti-hero comes to similar ends, of course. It distinguished itself though, with the chemistry between Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard, playing star-crossed lovers John Dillinger and Billie Frechette. Maybe the last time they are together, or close to it, they are sitting in a snowy clearing, and she says something simple like, wherever you're going, I wanna go there with you, and the elemental heat could melt the screen. I also found her wardrobe to be extremely memorable, perhaps for some semblance of that factor. It's the look I've been shooting for lately. Sure, she's the classic Depression-era gangster's moll, and dresses the part, but she also has this untouchable center, the gravity of a woman who buoyantly exceeds her circumstances on strength of spirit alone.

The Quotable Pure Evil

"Word of mouth is key to the movement’s success, Pure Evil says: ‘Street artists are more aware of the art marketplace now. But it’s seeing what everyone else is doing that makes you want to step up your act. We’re not doing it to be accepted by galleries but by our peers. Street art doesn’t rely on reviews; there are no tastemakers.’ Instead, he says, the internet is best for spreading the word: ‘If someone does something brilliant in São Paulo you can see it days later in London.’" –– Time Out London

Stars

Today has been all sparkling charm.... Terese Svoboda took me for lunch at the Century Association, a posh club for artists in Midtown. The parlor floor, with its extensive studies, flocked damask wallpaper and portrait of a youthful Henry James, knocks me out! We were celebrating the good buzz Terese has gotten for Weapons Grade and Trailer Girl. She'll be reading from Pirate Talk, out next fall from Dzanc, tomorrow night (Thursday) for Opium at Bowery Poetry Club. Ben Greenman will also be there! I adore my clients, and spending time with them. My job is so much fun.

Then I went to get my hair cut and styled by Gerald DeCock in his extraordinary penthouse at the Hotel Chelsea (pictured).

And rounded out the evening by stopping by KGB Bar to see my old friend Gwenda Bond, who I've followed online for years and seldom have the pleasure of enjoying her company in person. 

A funny thing in the past day is that I came across several mentions of stars. Perhaps I notice them because I like them so much? Most moving was a quote by Nietzsche, “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” Last weekend I watched Baby Face, with Barbara Stanwyck, whose character is inspired by him when not collecting furs, hearts and bank notes.

Lucky, lovely day. What a gift, just to live it.

Cape Town

I was at a party on Saturday night, and wore that 1930s gown I bought this summer and people kept asking me about my style and my lipstick, NARS' Fire Down Below (note to self: I need to ask the host about my Yves Saint Laurent "star" heels; I think they're in the coffee table?). I have a few secrets, as you know, and also, the things I wear the most are often gifts–– I like it when people dress me up in their love. My mother sent me this scarlet Lanz of Salburg cape this weekend! Some other people I rely upon to keep me looking good: Gerald DeCock for hair, Jennifer Chai for acupuncture, and the ladies at the tailor shop on Canal Street near Orchard where I take my coats and stoles to get spruced up.

Joy

There are still a few days yet until I'm off for the holidays, but sitting on my bed, listening to West Coast folk after a very long day, it feels as good a time as any to start slowing down. Make it a trend. Don't fret though, beauty, I'll pop back in with anything glamorous to report, natch. Like my old bestie coming to visit tomorrow, or my hotly-anticipated lunch at the Century Club next week. And...

Stellar reading if you need some! The six books I publicized this year, in chronological order:

• Jonathan Baumbach's YOU or The Invention of Memory 
• Mark Sarvas's Harry, Revised
• Ben Greenman's Please Step Back
• Jean Thompson's Do Not Deny Me
• Terese Svoboda's Weapons Grade and Trailer Girl

And, of course, if you enjoy reading Lux Lotus, please consider making a donation of any amount to Girls Write Now, the organization that gets most of my free time and all of my love. We need a little of yours too, right now––

Big kiss,

LC

Windowlicker

There's a line in To Catch a Thief where Grace Kelly says something like, I don't wear jewelry because I don't like anything cold touching my skin. Rubies are hot.

[Pendant, $1,260 at Overstock]

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - often appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST-ish.