Unconventional chic

Lacoste's spring 2011 ads are pure fashion genius, the kind of thing that gets me excited about advertising. I'm a proud sucker for good marketing, and this is right up my alley. Featuring some of today's biggest models (Liya Kebede, Anja Rubik & Noah Mills, from above) wearing classic white polos over black tie evening wear, the campaign states "Unconventional Chic: Lacoste." Suddenly I cannot live without a simple white Lacoste polo: homerun!

Year in fashion

I'll be posting some of my own faves from the year gone by, but you must keep your eye on the incomparable Tommy Ton's picks for the year - exquisite!

Wine country

Wine barrels at the excellent Chappellet Winery outside St. Helena, CA

The lounge at Farm restaurant at the Carneros Inn

A view of wine country from the Carneros Inn

Carneros Inn

I made a new friend at the Carneros

The Bay Bridge on the way back to San Francisco

Glamour heiress

The gorgeous Julia Restoin Roitfeld, whose mother Carine is a close friend and former collaborator of Tom Ford's, was a perfect model for Mr. Ford's refined-sexy comeback collection, with her seamless mix of tasteful and edgy. These photos were taken by her and will appear in V Magazine.

One more thing, Santa!

$1,375

$1,445

Balenciaga spring'11 watches - I think they are kind of a steal! Which color should I get?

Norma Kamali

The fanciful neon flags at Norma Kamali's store on West 56th Street in NYC.

Oh, Santa

The Andy Warhol Diaries

Chanel Black Velvet nailpolish

Tiffany Moderne bracelet

Tamra Davis's The Radiant Child on DVD

Pamela Love's necklace for Purple Boutique

Phillippe Starck Louis Ghost chair for Kartell

Duckie Brown for Florsheim tall brogue boot

Too good

It's certainly tired at this point to rave over our beloved Emmanuelle Alt's "effortless" style, but this picture is just too good.

photo, of course, Tommy Ton

Nibbles of a certain world

My favorite Dean & Deluca in the country is in Georgetown (though I didn't pop in at the Napa location last week). In college we called it "our mama's kitchen," got sushi and Sapporos on the patio, and spotted John Kerry shopping for groceries. In a certain world, women push the chic D&D shopping carts among the gorgeous prepared foods for an easy dinner and buy apples for $3 a pound. Above, my very chic friend Trinity sips Pellegrino and puts her fabulous hat to good use to hide from my Blackberry lens.

Well stocked

I love these photos of the beautifully kept bar and fabulous match collection at the home of Kate & Andy Spade. I love to collect matches at the various restaurants and hotels I visit and like to think I have a similarly chic collection - though I should take his cue and display them on a tray!

photos The Selby

Back in black

I still haven't seen Black Swan (I know, I should probably just kill myself), but I was beyond thrilled to see this '90s icon on the premiere's red carpet! I'm a tremendous fan of Winona's, and I think it's long past due we saw her in a major movie again, even if in a small role. She looks so devastatingly chic here in Givenchy that I'm still not over it, some two weeks after the fact.

photo Just Jared

Pre-fall of the empire

For some designers, pre-fall presentations consist of Hanne Gaby standing in front of a white wall wearing about 28 different looks. For Chanel's empire, of course, it's a full-scale fashion show (albeit no 80-piece orchestra or building size lion) with nearly 70 looks and a whole new direction. I loved these imperial-chic looks on some of my fave girls, Karmen Pedaru and Freja Beja Erichsen. Freja's bejeweled, shoulderless jacket is the standout item of the show for me.

Peep the whole thing here.

Karlie, Karlie, Karlie

I used to be not a very big fan of Karlie Kloss, the now 18-year old megastar from Missouri. A couple years ago -- you know, when she was around 12 and walking every show from NYC to Paris -- something annoyed me about her. I'm still a little mystified (and disappointed) to see things like when Donna Karan casts teenage Karlie in her "25 years for a woman, by a woman" anniversary ads. But you can consider me converted.

I'm still not over these Peter Lindbergh "Checks in the City" shots from Vogue's September issue.

Higher and higher

Bank of America Tower, the 2nd tallest building in Manhattan

Your love keeps lifting me...

Night at the museum

The home of Dr. Samantha Boardman and Aby Rosen is a world of wonders, like a bizarre and fabulous dream, filled to the brim with Warhol, Bacon, Koons, Hirst, Picasso and so much more. Every piece of furniture, every household item is a work of art, but you can tell the couple treasures it all - they are not just trophies on the wall. You must take the full tour on Vogue's new "APT with LSD" feature.

Woman on the verge

I am dying for this photo of Salma Hayek, in Alexander McQueen, on the cover of V Spain, shot by Karl Lagerfeld. Too many good things going on in just one image!