Here are Valentina Di Pinto‘s essentials who is a Fashion Editor for Glamour Italy and whose style I just love, and whose humor (yes, it’s my favorite personality trait a person can have) and haircut I secretly dream of stealing.

My Top: my essential is a leather t-shirt from COS. When it’s really cold it is better to wear something under or over it and if it’s hot …it’s better to stay in the shade!

My Bottom: Very, very thin leather pants from H&M, a leather ’50′s skirt by Salvatore Ferragamo and oversized leather pants by Au Jour Le Jour. I’m not kidding– I’m in a leather mood!

My Jeans: Black or grey are the essentials! I usually don’t spend too much money on them because I love to change it up a lot, so jeans from H&M.

My Evening: Transparent, transparent and even more transparent…from Acne to Valentino, whatever the fabric, it has to be soft and chic. Transparency + transparency = covered!

My Intimates: In contrast with the clothes: really colorful with dark clothes and skin tones with prints from American Apparel.

My Coat: My last buys are both bicolor: black and beige. One really grungy style from Hache and one vintage from Kamanta, in double face materials. Really aristocratic.

My Bag: Like almost every season….. a new clutch bag from Marni! But a clutch is usually not enough for everyday life, so a really cool bucket bag is the right answer. From Marni too.

My Shoes: Flat or really high, nothing in the middle! The essential this season is a chain on them. Like the shinning ones from Stella McCartney or the black & white one from Etro.

My Accessories: I’m becoming addict for necklaces; I’ve never worn them before! Lizzie Fortunato and Leda Otto are essentials for me.

My Watch: It’s one of my favorite pieces, always. My essential is a vintage one from Vacheron Constantin that my grandfather gave to my father and my father gave to me.

My Glasses: RetroSUPERfuture, they are my must! I love to wear the men’s version, they’re bigger on my face!

My Scent: Like a lot of things in my style: sunglasses, jacket, and watch; my perfume also comes from a male world. For ten years, Intense by Costume National is my second skin.

My Brunette: My hair chooses for me. They have a different life, really far away from me. They wake up when they want and they don’t care about what I like.

My Lip: Coral color it’s my must, especially one from YSL.

My Skin: Good cream, like Kiehl’s oil-free lotion, and not too much make up. Sometimes it’s not enough, but a nice smile balances everything.

My Inspiration: Any woman with a story can be an inspiration. Peggy Moffitt, Monica Vitti, Lauren Bacall, Mia Farrow, Julianne Moore and more.

Today, I want to republish – and to have it translated in english for the first time ! – that text I wrote in …2007, just before the big bun became my everyday classic !!! Kisses and have a wonderful Sunday!

I sometimes get the craziest fashion ideas that make their way into the deep back recesses of my virtual lookbook, full with platinum hair, florescent leggings, and Westons (actually, that’s been done). And sometimes, a little nugget from my sub-conscious fashion sense makes its way by accident into a drawing and reminds me of my crazy ideas of the past.

Sometimes all this makes its way into a party itself… Take for example our special Fuck Valentine’s Day party that we decided to rename (a little more modestly) It’s Complicated Party*. It’s a chic little affair** organized at the very chic Cé where the very chic Contessa gave me the chicest compliment saying “Wow, your hair looks so good when you let it down, Garance.”  To which Jen thought it time to add, “Yeah, it looks way better than that protestant bun you always like to wear.”

Yep.

I’m not the type to get offended, especially when the remark comes from a girl who still hasn’t gotten any flowers in the mail from St. Valentine and it’s almost midnight… (though they did end up coming… I wouldn’t have been so harsh.)

But yeah, I thought I had to do something.

I didn’t let my hair grow out just so that people would call me a nun!

I let my hair grow out so I could have fun with it, let it down, twist it, mousse it (yeah, okay, not too much with the moussing), to do up-dos, to be like Carrie Bradshaw, you know? Except brunette and with no Manolos. Okay, maybe more like a poor-man’s Carrie Bradshaw.

So back to the sudden appearance of my crazy idea, and the incredibly sound argument that any woman with things to do on her agenda can’t spend her entire life with her hair down***.

I thought about doing a bun. Yeah, the one in the picture, up high. And then there’s this picture here. And the bun Carrie has. Or even the editorial in Elle #3236 that was just so awesome that I thought about tattooing it all over my body just in case…

I even did a terrible job scanning in the Elle for you!

The thing that I’m wondering though is whether or not you can even do this in real life?

Or am I swimming too deeply in the deep-end of some fashion pool to realize that a bun like that is just going to make me look like a post-nuclear apocalypse Medusa?

If that’s the case, I’m begging you, please tell me.

Just write P.N.A.M. and I’ll understand.

———–

* What, you’re not on Facebook yet? Well, I guess that makes perfect sense. Feel free to stay that way and allow me to explain… on Facebook, you’re either single, in a relationship, married, it’s complicated, or in an open relationship which kind of seems like all of the above or something. I dunno.

** weirdly composed of almost all bloggers. I wonder if there is some relationship here between cause and effect? Do we maybe need to pry ourselves away from our screens and head out into the real world or something? The real world… a place with a million of nuanced options that lie between married and it’s complicated. Wait, everything isn’t just black and white?

*** Actually, I know tons of women who spend their entire life with their hair down, but sometimes you have to just let things be to keep the stream-of-consciousness spirit of the post. (If you didn’t understand anything I just said, don’t you worry one second, because I didn’t either.)

P.S. Remember my FIT Lecture I told you about on Wednesday? It’s tomorrow! If you’re in New York come join me! 4pm in the Katie Murphy Amphitheater, D Building, FIT (27th & 7th Ave)

Garance, I have extremely curly hair, much like yours. I’m wondering what products you use seeing as you seem to have the non frizz zone down to a science. Please share your secret!!! Magen.

Magen, hello! The goddess with the thrown together bun curly hair is talking to you. Okay, here we go…

It’s true, I’ve tried everything and I’ve realized two essential truths:

1/ Every head of hair is different and so what works for me isn’t necessarily going to work for you.

2/ Every location is different and the water and air (humidity levels) in any given place can completely change the texture of your hair.

So, it really comes down to you trying everything and adapting what works. For me, since getting here to New York, my hair has exploded. My curls are ten times crazier than they were in Paris and frizzies are my daily nightmare. Here’s the battalion of products I use just to calm my hair hysteria:

• Shampoo

- The Shampoing à la Moelle de Bambou by Leonor Greyl is my favorite. I feel like it thoroughly nourishes and protects my hair.

• Conditioner

- I tend to go with whatever’s here as long as it softens my hair. Right now, I really like Bumble and Bumble’s Let it Shine. Because really, what’s more important to me is :

• Leave in Conditioner

This is just crazy in my cabinet. I’ve got a million of them. My two favorites are:

- Creme with Silk Groom, by Kiehl’s : whenever my hair is just too crazy. This balm adds considerable weight to the texture and shine and is great for days when I don’t have time to really style my hair. It calms everything down and gives me some nice bouncy curls. Be careful not to put too much in though or it can get greasy.

- One of my all time favorites whether I’m in Paris, New York or Timbuktu (Never been, but you know what I mean), is the crème Oleo-Curl by Kérastase. It works great anywhere. It’s a lot lighter than the one from Kiehl’s and is so great when I have time to dry my hair because it gives it some nice curls without weighing it down. My hair is soft and shiny and not at all greasy.

And just because I’m always testing out new things, I bought some Moroccan Oil (haven’t tried it yet), the Supershine Moisturizing Cream by Oribe (tried it, sooo good), Brilliant Glossing by Fekkai (awesome) and still a million others that I’ll tell you about if I get good results.

One last thing… When I put my hair up (which is often), to avoid little frizzes escaping out, I spray a little shot of Elnett hairspray. And for really bad hair days, last time I talked to you about my dry shampoo.

There you have it, all my favorite products. Everything here I’ve used for years so go give ‘em a try.

Outside of that, I’ve recently discovered a cool new trick, I like to wash my hair in the evening. I dry it quickly and put in some leave in conditionner and I don’t know why but after a night on the pillow, my hair is super soft and not frizzy at all.

And there you go Magen! I hoped I answered your question? That’s it for my anti-frizz science!

What about you guys? Do you have any advice for curly hair that works for you?

——–

Other entries from the Reader’s Mailbox ?

What’s the perfect pant length?
How to wear black nail polish?
How to put together a functional (and fabulous) wardrobe?
How to take care of your eyebrows?
What do you think of juice cleanses?

And of course, if you want to ask me a question, you can do it here. Big hugs!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

After hearing all the hullabaloo about the Clarisonic brush (that vibrating facial brush), “My skin is softer than ever!!!” “I’ve never had pores so clear!” “I love my brush so much I take it to bed with me!!!” I ended up going to Sephora to see for myself…

As soon as I walked in, the Clarisonic stand jumped right out at me. It was as shiny as can be. Right smack dab in the middle was the brush, with the soft allure of a nightstand sex-toy on its throne. I walk up, feel its bristles. Wow, it really is so soft. I make it vibrate. Hmmm, good vibes.

I grab a sales clerk:

“What do you think of this thing? Is it a little to abrasive? What product do you use it with? I have shiny skin and my one and only goal in life is to get my skin to be matte. Would this work for me? And do the little bacterias sit around and multiply in the bristles?”

This is what she says:

“Oh no no no. I love this thing. It’s not abrasive at all! Just feel the brush, touch it, TOUCH IT!!! It’s so soft. You can use it with your usual makeup remover. And just for total disclosure, I have shiny skin too. I bought one and well, look at the result!!! HOW GREAT IS THAT!?!?!”

Surprised, I smile at her with wide eyes. Total disclosure – I was amazed by just how shiny her skin was, like, you could see it from across the store: Her skin was shiny, I mean shiny, like really really shiny!!! Worse than a glazed donut. And if that’s what it does… Euhhhh…

I leave empty handed, a little disappointed, but still a little intrigued.

Ok. It was time to give a call to my skin savior, my skin’s best friend, the guru of my happy pores, the person whom leaving behind in Paris is my biggest regret in life… My dermatologist, the dear Doctor Marie-Catherine Planté.

Right off the bat, I ask her what she thinks of Clarisonic. She doesn’t seem too convinced (remember, she was the one who told me to stop using water), tells me that she’s going to look into a few things, and a few days later, I get an e-mail from her… Here’s a quick synopsis:

“Bonjour Garance,

I took a look time to study this skin torture device! Like I told you on the telephone, I’m going to have to put myself in the con-column against this machine.

So. Keep it simple: Your skin,when it comes to your face, have sebaceous glands that secrete sebum, a little greasy film that protects it. By continually destroying this sebum which is a normal bodily function and a protector, you’re putting your skin in danger.

The more we scrub the skin, the more it thickens to protect us.

It’s the same with exfoliation. It’s paradoxical, but it actually makes the skin thicker. So you think you’re refining the texture of the skin, you’re actually doing the opposite. And all the tiny little cavities and other lesions will burrow deeper which can end up giving the skin a grainy looking appearance. The skin will become like a memory foam mattress!

I think women should respect their faces like they respect their Louboutins : no water, no brushes, no abrasive products.

Talk to you soon Garance!”

Well. I think I made up my mind… I will stick to my essentials.

Whet about you, what do you think ? What is your favorite way to clean your skin ?

PS : A big thank you to Dr. Planté!!!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

There are certain women you see all the time on my blog, and that’s just simply because they inspire me the most.

Take Elisa for example. During the fashion weeks, I can always pick her out in a crowd. She’s the queen of color blocking and has the most feminine tomboy look I’ve ever seen. I just love it. That said, I wondered what she would say if I asked her the same questions Emmanuelle Alt was asked (that interview about Emmanuelle’s staples really stuck with me and I find myself going back to it all the time, and it even dates back to the 90s! Truly a timeless woman…) It was super last minute and she was in the middle of a shoot (Elisa is a stylist) but since she’s just such a dear heart, here’s what she responded…

My Top: a silk shirt buttoned all the way up, in any blue or turquoise shade.

My Bottom: Men’s shaped trousers that are a bit short at the ankles. My favorites are vintage Chloé from the Phoebe Philo period.

My Jeans: I have to say I have just recently started to wear jeans (I discovered them while I was pregnant) but my favorites now are a pair of skinny, but not too tight at the ankles (I hate that-I call it the leggings effect), beige Zara ones! I have worn that so much they are falling into pieces : (

My Evening: I’m always swearing on silk! Whatever it could be…a blouse with a pair of shantung masculine trousers or a Dries Van Noten silk dress (I’m obsessed right now with an emerald green one…)

My Intimates: La Perla for their amazing bras and Intimissimi panties, invisible ones: no stitching, no elastic bands, perfection!

My Coat: Mmmh I have too many and I love to change it all the time… But I would say my essential for this winter, and I’m really wearing it all the time, is a suuuuper light and incredibly soft blue-grey Fendi. It has a pretty classic shape, it’s knee length, with a hidden button.

My Bag: It’s the same as the coats … I don’t really have one in particular but in my wardrobe there are for sure essentials to have:

-One clutch bag or an envelope-shaped one.

-A really big one, like a shopping bag shape, a cabas in French, where you can put your life in it and mine includes a baby, so I always need enough space to put toys, etc…

My Shoes: Well, you know I’m a shoe freak… I don’t even know how many pairs I own…but for essentials I would definitely say:

-A pair of flat derbys, like the Fred from Louboutin.

-A pair of Repetto Zizi.

- A pair of very extravagant, very high heels like Pierre Hardy.

My Accessories: I love and live for accessories so they are definitely an essential for me! What I could not live without are belts, scarves, and necklaces!

My Watch: I don’t wear one, I make them go crazy… But if I would it would be a Chanel one, the small one with the chain bracelet.

My Glasses: Love sunglasses! My essentials are a pair of KBL’s.

My Scent: A very old Sicilian perfume called Zagara, it’s made from oranges and lemon trees flowers, and jasmine flower. I can’t live without it!!!

My Blonde: Platinum blonde always! Very cold tone, almost white! My Hair is always done by Karin Bigler, a wonderful hair stylist with who I work with a lot. She comes to my house or I go to her, since I haaate going to hair salons!

My Lip: Bright matte orange from Mac.

My Skin: Natural, I only use Bare Minerals and Nuxe gold oil.

My Inspiration: My inspirations are sooooo many! Art, photography, movies, vintage, nature !!! I do not really have icons but I do have a great great admiration for Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson…

And there you have it!!! To close, here’s a quick Elisa tour… Big hugs!

Elisa in the photobooth at the Palais de Tokyo…

Elisa at Claus…

Elisa with Giovanna, Italia Poweeeeer ! (In a Lahssan trench, a young designer who makes amazing trenches.)

Elisa before she went all crazy platinum blonde.

A quick look at her shoe collection that I took for Vogue a million and a half years ago…

Translation : Tim Sullivan

Today, I want to republish – and to have it translated in english for the first time ! – that text I wrote in …2007. Kisses and have a wonderful sunday!

My mission on Wednesday, in preparation for an incredibly promising party, was to find the most amazing red lipstick.

After getting slapped in the face with freezing sleet, I ended up at Sephora looking sooo good, if I may say so myself: dripping, pale as a ghost, rather haggard like the girl who just came back from battling the elements, trying to project her fancy purse more than her physical well-being, as there are things that are just more important than ridicule and survival, as you all know.

I head straight toward a shopgirl who seemed pleasant enough, and I confided in her exactly what I needed: I’m looking for a red lipstick. No tint of blue, no orange, a red red, please and thank you.

I ended up seated on some kind of platform where everyone could admire my frightening state of disrepair. The shopgirl, Martha, looked at my lips with the eyes of an inquisitor.

“You need a leeep scrub.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know. You don’t know what I just lived through to get here.”

“Goood. I’ma do you a base.”

“Are you Italian? I love Italy!”

“No. I recommend for you this and this and this and this. I do your makeup. Don’t move.”

“You think that goes well with my complexion? Huh…”

…

“And Foilà: a leeep scrub, a leeep base, a leeep-liner, a leeepsteeke, and I tell you get these makeup removers for leeps. Gooodbye!” Wink.

You want me to pay 100 euros when all I wanted was lipstick, Martha?

I give her back her little wink, and summon all the courage I can. I leave everything right there on the desk, hold my jacket up to cover my face, avoiding the glaring eyes of Martha under the bright lights of Sephora and sneak out.

I ended up finding my leeepsteeeke right below my apartment, at a little pharmacy for a tenth of the price of that whole leeep arsenal.

And I gotta tell you, it looks good on meeeeee!

—————

Wini created the awesome and subtle beauty brand McBride Beauty. I thought it’d be interesting to meet her.

I didn’t know much more about her when I took to the steps of her brownstone. She made me some tea and started talking about anything and everything including her family and her two kids that she raised in tranquil Park Slope. She was telling me that she had her daughter at 41 years old and I just had to ask, “41? Wait… How old are you?”

When she told me she was 48, I was so surprised. I never would have guessed.

You know, I don’t want to say that she “seems much younger” (even if that’s the first thing I thought) because “seems much younger” shouldn’t be the ultimate complement. The ultimate compliment would be something like she’s “in amazing shape.”

I know women of all ages. Each one lives her years in a different way but coming across Wini and her natural beauty – a little Frenchie… I mean, she never wears makeup! -  reminded me that aging gracefully requires an attitude, coolitude, and a certain serenity.

It made me realize what I already knew: that more and more, the tightened, pulled, puffed and frozen* faces that I see have the exact opposite of the desired effect… They just make you look older.

It made me want to ask her a whole bunch of questions:

-

What does staying young mean to you?

Wini: It’s a state of mind. You have to keep moving, physically and mentally and try to stay current. If you think than you’re old and you believe what society tells you to believe about age you fall into that trap! You have to keep moving!

What’s the most important thing for having beautiful skin?

W: Eat healthy, sleep, and be happy. I think staying out of the sun because it’s a big factor, and also not abusing your skin. Whatever you put inside of you will show on the surface whether its food or gossip or stress.

What’s your point of view on plastic surgery?

W : I think everyone has to do whatever they feel comfortable doing. If someone’s not happy with the way they look and they keep obsessing over it you can do with you want or go talk to a therapist! I think to each their own. I can’t see myself doing anything, but I also really like my face right now. Ask me that in 20 years when my eyes are hanging down and I might have a different point of view!

-

Between that and a few other things – like an orange muffin for example-, we also talked about Clarisonic (New Yorkers just love them. You’ve tried them already?) electronic micro-current facials (it’s great. I tried it and remind me to tell you more about it) the creams & lotions she makes (which are 100% natural and smell divinely good) and pfff, so many other things that had nothing at all to do with beauty.

It was so cool and refreshing. On that, I’ll let you go, I’ve gotta go support my local Hells Angels.

———–

*I’m sure that if it’s done well, the results can be marvelous but I just feel like Botox can be addictive : It seems you always want more and people end up not realizing when it’s just too much…

Translation : Tim Sullivan

My friends, I’ve discovered the most amazing thing and I know what you’re going to tell me:

Seriously, we’ve been telling you about it for the past 12,000 years. Where have you been, Garance?

Well, It all started when I lopped off all my hair.

 Oooookay, don’t get all crazy on me. I’m not as gutsy as you think.

I cut some off, like, to the shoulders. Longer than in the illustration. Change without changing, the thrill without the risk, new inventions of the same thing, yeppppp, worse than a presidential election, totally boring.*

But still, I cried a little** when I got back to my house. The texture had changed and it was totally weird. It was 12 times more frizzy and I needed to work on it for like 8 and a half hours *** to make them look, let’s say…Ok.

The problem is, 8 and a half hours later, it’s time to go to bed. Crap. My hair was almost looking good and tomorrow morning, after my shower, I’ll have to start all over again.

Yes, I wash my hair every day. I know it’s not supposed to be good for you but I just can’t do it any other way. If my hair isn’t clean it’s all I can think about all day.

It’s the worst. 

So I had no intentions WHATSOEVER of spending 8 and a half hours on my hair.

And that’s when I came across my golden ticket, MY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR : Dry shampoo. I know. It’s been 12,000 years since we first started hearing about it. So as I listen to you a little, I had bought some Klorane dry shampoo on a full moon (???) but since I’m not the greatest listener, I forgot all about it in my beauty closet. But with that, believe me, I remembered.

From now on, I’m going to listen to every word you say.

So I did what it said, gobbed it on to the roots and had white hair like Karl Lagerfeld. I got a little scared, no lies told, then brushed it out and had my hair sticking straight out like Robert Smith. I got a little more scared (this stuff gives some crazy volume) and then just like that, everything fell back in place and my hair looked amazing.

Like, not at all its usual texture, but super amazing and great. It was thicker, had more body, yet was lighter and a lot less curly. It took weird but had INTERESTING shape and I liked it.

Love. Glory. Beauty.

And with that think I won’t have to wash my hair everyday !!!

Aaaaaah, no seriously. I feel like 2012 is going to be a really interesting hair year.

———-

* One of my reasons for half-assing it has a first name that starts with an S and ends with a T and I had talked to you about it here…

** Hiding in my bathroom seeing as my house is also Gawance Dowé Studio and it’s not the best if the boss is balling her eyes out, we’re not at RACHEL ZOE’s here!!!*

*** Under the frightful gaze of S—t. He says that no he’s not cynical, even though he always told me to keep my hair long, he’s as happy as can be with the change, even though he’s laughing a little under his breath.

——–

* Yeah and now everyone at the studio is going to read this and will know just why I was so upset last week…

I don’t know why but I’m super into pink right now.

I changed my Google Chrome theme yesterday. I went from cheesy Dolce & Gabbana animal print to cheesy floral by Kath Kidston*. I’m in the middle of redesigning my blog and I’m totally going to replace all the red accents with pink ones**. I am definitely going by Stella to procure these little ones here and over to J. Crew to pick through all the pink stuff I saw for spring***. And don’t even get me started on lipstick…

Oooookay. Come to think of it, pink must be in fashion, actually.

Ok but so with lipstick, I think it’s so pretty on blondes, but pink lipstick on a brunette like me, I’m not so sure…

What do you think?

——-

* It would be so cool to make a theme for Chrome!

** If you have any ideas, desires or suggestions send them right over!!! If you know of any super beautifuly designed websites, send some links!

*** I have some photos. I’ll show them to you soon!

Translation : Tim Sullivan

My favorite soap, as much for its color as its smell.  A super minimalist gift!  Pears Soap.