Sunday, May 18

I arrive in London and head straight to my friend Davinia Wang’s house in Holland Park. She owns Edon Manor in Tribeca, which is named after her English country house, where we’ll be heading at the end of the week. We freshen up, then head to Oxford Street to do some shopping. We find an amazing Chinese restaurant called Royal China and pig out before calling it an early night.

Monday, May 19

I have a photo shoot with Alice Dellal, who I am obsessed with. It’s for my Uniqlo collaboration, which I just found out sold out in 30 minutes in Japan, woohoo! After the shoot, I meet up with some friends who came to London with me and we do some sightseeing around the city, which basically means more shopping.

Tuesday, May 20

We have a press breakfast at Harvey Nichols, where I score an invitation to the sample sale at Dover Street Market. That night we met up with Alice again for dinner at Nobu. The scene is really conservative, but we take over a booth, have some of the most delicious drinks on the menu, and make the place exciting. Afterwards we run into one of Alice’s friends, who brings us to Tango, a club around the corner. Again, the crowd is a bit off, but we have so much fun dancing and drinking that we almost forgot about who else is there.

Wednesday, May 21

Another early meeting, this time with Vogue.co.uk for breakfast at Claridge’s. It’s always amusing when we end up somewhere totally proper. I feel like Gwen Stefani in the “Blow Ya Mind” video when they crash the fancy party. Next we have a whole day of appointments with editors at our amazing host Davinia’s house. Then the plan is to check out Bistrotheque, so I’m super-excited.Photo: Sherly Rabbani and Josephine Solimene

The works in “Arctic Hysteria: New Art From Finland,” now on view at New York’s P.S. 1, are marked by a dark, eccentric humor. Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen’s “Complaints Choir in Chicago” elevates griping into grandiose four-part harmony. Anni Rapinoja’s “couture” pieces feature shoes, coats, and hats made from reeds, pussy willows, and other leaves, mimicking patterns found in nature. One video, by Tea Mäkipää, presents the landscape from a camera affixed to a reindeer’s antlers (above), while the Pink Twins’ videos examine human perception through the use of digitally manipulated source material—like satellite pictures from NASA—and electronic music. “The sensibility is very informed, very reserved,” explained co-curator and P.S. 1 Director Alanna Heiss at the opening reception last night. “It’s beautiful and extraterrestrial.” We spoke with the Pink Twins’ Juha and Vesa Vehviläinen, who were in New York for the first time. “People look at patterns and images and say that this reminds them of something, which is central to the way our minds work,” Juha said. “We try to activate those connections.”— Blythe Sheldon

Photo: Tea Mäkipää, “My Life as a Reindeer,” 2008, still image from video installation. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Vesa Ranta.

Disclaimer: The following post does not represent an endorsement. We here at Style.com merely consider it our solemn duty to inform the public that Rodial has a new product called Boob Job, which the company contends will boost bust size sans surgery. Myrrh resin is purported to enhance fat storage in the breast area, microfibers and wheat protein are promoted as having instant toning and firming properties, and whatever “pomegranate ellagic tannin cell protection” is, Boob Job has that, too. We may not be able to sort through the beautyspeak, but we do know that beach season looms ever sooner, and that new bikini isn’t going to fill itself out. No product testing has been conducted by Style.com. But if anyone reading this takes a stab at a Boob Job massage and sees a difference, we are more than happy to gather those results. Clarification: We are awaiting word on whether or not this product works with bated breasts. Ahem. With bated breath.—Maya Singer

Photo: Courtesy of Rodial

June 20, 2008

We arrived in Hong Kong from Dubai late last night, and wake up to stunning views of Victoria Harbour. The first stop of the day is Pacific Place to see Lane Crawford, i.T, and Joyce. Then we jump on a double-decker tram and head toward a neighborhood known as SOHO (South of Hollywood). Despite the scorching hot (a recurring theme on this trip), we visit antique stores on Hollywood Road and take in the local life and trendy stores on Stanton and Elgin streets. We follow that with a taxi ride up to Victoria Peak, which has breathtaking views of Hong Kong and the surrounding area.

June 21, 2008

We start the day with a short ferry ride across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon, where we head for the Hong Kong Museum of Art and its collection of porcelain and ceramics. Then it’s back on the ferry for the return trip to Hong Kong, where we stumble upon some cool stores around Paterson and Cleveland streets. Next is Hong Kong’s “best dim sum”—Maxim’s Palace at City Hall. Quick decision-making is key here. We take a taxi back to SOHO for the Man Mo temple (above), then more antique shops on Hollywood Road before winding up the day with dinner at the Mandarin Grill & Bar. Next stop: Seoul.

June 26

It’s my first trip to Tokyo in eight years and I’m happy to be back. We go to Roppongi Hills, the “city within a city” shopping mall. Then we head over to Harajuku, home to H3O, our Tokyo press and sales office. Harajuku is one of the city’s main fashion districts and has lots of great little cafés and restaurants.

Then we go over to Nakameguro, which is more low-profile but nonetheless an emerging hipster hangout. We walk along the Meguro River, which is lined with cafés and stores, and end the night with dinner at Higashiyama.

June 27

We go back to H3O, where we meet with Shizue Hamano from Vogue Nippon. We discuss the Polaroids that I’ve been asked to take over the past couple of days for Vogue Nippon’s regular feature “Tokyo Story.” Finally, we’re off to Shibuya to check out the city’s hectic and intense center of youth culture. We stay until darkness falls and all the flashing neon is switched on. Moving away from the crowds, we head down a dark side alley only lit by lanterns. Up a tiny staircase, we find the smallest bar imaginable, appropriately named TIGHT. It only seats three. We decide it’s the perfect spot for a drink before a decadent dinner at Morimoto XEX.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, I dashed to Shinjuku to do some shopping at Isetan. It’s a fantastic store, with an entire building devoted to menswear and a whole floor just for bags! Afterwards, I head downstairs for a light snack—they have a fabulous international gourmet food “boutique” with everything from Pierre Hermé macaroons to candy-colored rice cakes from Kyoto. Then I hop on the train to Harajuku. It’s late afternoon and the gothic Lolita girls are out in full force in front of La Foret, a department store that has several floors devoted to Lolita fashion. This is my favorite area for people-watching because I always see something new.

Later, I meet up with friends for a shabu shabu dinner (where you cook meat and vegetables in a mini hot pot) at Midtown Tokyo. We stop by Estination at Roopongi Hills on our way there. There’s a private sale going on, and I can’t help but pick up a few more things! We end the night with drinks at the Park Hyatt, which has an amazing view of Tokyo. The neon-lit cityscape reminds me of fabrics that I picked out for Spring ‘09 a few weeks earlier.

In their most recent beauty/fashion collaboration, Stila Cosmetics has created a limited-edition compact inspired by the makeup at Marchesa’s Fall 2008 runway presentation. “We look for designers who represent our philosophy of how we see ourselves,” Sarah Lucero, Stila’s director of artistry and education, says of the brand’s Backstage Beauty Collection. And how is that? “Classic but modern,” Lucero says, adding, “We can represent our beautiful makeup with their beautiful designs.” The black patent compact houses an eye palette of whites, peaches, and grays to conjure the “dreamy, Elizabethan classic girl” that Lucero helped create to complement Marchesa’s jewel-toned gowns. As a bonus, there’s a faux-leather rosette wrapped around the packaging that can be worn as a bracelet—or a necklace, if you’re feeling that whole early-nineties choker vibe.—Celia Ellenberg

Photo: Stila Cosmetics

There was a French street party Wednesday night on Milan’s Via Sant’Andrea. A platform had been erected in front of the new Roger Vivier store, and it was outfitted with men dressed as Parisian-style coppers and a singer belting out her version of Edith Piaf songs. Lingering outside the shop were
Lapo Elkann, Patrick Demarchelier, Matteo Marzotto, and Diego Della Valle. Inside, Inès de la Fressange, the current ambassador for the brand, was chatting away to an editor: “You must be exhausted with so many shows! How do you do it? Crème de la Mer?” she asked. “Ah, no,” her companion
replied. “Just lots of foundation.” We found Bruno Frisoni tucked in a back room—or as he called it, his “cabinet des curosités”—on the top floor. We asked him why he’d decided against the mirror/chromo/empty look with this store. “My aim was to make it very secret and personal,” he
said. “I mixed gallery pieces from Van der Straeten, in Paris, with mounted corals, and etchings by Picasso.”—Jasmine Serrurier

Photo:
Venturelli/WireImage

The photo booth set up downstairs at the entrance to Donatella’s palazzo on Thursday night was so distracting we almost forgot why we were there: to attend an intimate soirée to toast glamour, celebrity, fashion, and all that is Versace. On the top floor, the Queenz of Noize were spinning some seriously good eighties tracks. After a good boogie, it was time to gate-crash the exclusive dinner downstairs. We found Patrick Dempsey. Minus his protective entourage, he was a sitting duck for our questions. We honed in. So, now that you’re working with Versace, are you more careful about the way you dress? “I’m a guys’ guy,” he replied. “But now that I have been given this opportunity with Versace, I will definitely think more carefully before I dress, because I represent…” Then everything went blank. We can’t remember another word he said. We turned to Mario Testino, who’d been present, for help. “Ah,” he said with much amusement. “Patrick is so handsome, so alluring, that my female assistants had exactly the same problem.”—Jasmine Serrurier

Photo: ©Guindani/Massè/Tomà/SGP</p

The Sonia Rykiel show that will take place later today won’t be the usual outing for the label. For one thing, it’s the first of two 40th birthday collections (the second will be Spring 2009, which will be shown in October). And it will also be the first time a third person—newly appointed creative director Gabrielle Greiss, who’s been Sonia’s right hand for the past two years—takes a bow with the mother-daughter team of Sonia and Nathalie Rykiel. "We have a new family. How do you say ‘recomposé’? A modern family, one that is not led by blood but by culture," the younger Rykiel told us. "We’ve decided to give Gabrielle credit because she is worth it. She understands the brand. We are entering our fourth chapter and we want to keep our individuality, but build into the future." As for what we can expect to see on the runway, all Greiss would reveal is that they’ve been listening "to a lot of Marc Bolan."

—Gudrun Willcocks