Un Piccolo Amore: Cherry Grove, Fire Island, NY
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Sunset at Cherry Grove, Fire Island, NY
What a lovely lovely day! I decided to go to Fire Island by myself and just took off on early Sunday morning as Emi and Gael are still in Italy. Walking down to LIRR Atlantic Avenue station, I found myself humming to silky breeze and gorgeous morning sun. I felt good about getting out of home on a early Sunday morning. I felt a couple butterflies flying in my stomach from slight excitement about my little adventure ahead! A small deli in front of the train station tells me to grab frozen water bottles instead. He knew I was going to go to beach. Smart! These 2 bottles will surely get me through the hot day on the beach. Thank you!
2 water bottles, a book, a small bag of cashew and almond, 2 peaches. And most of all, my happy spirit for a day full of adventure! Come follow me!
LIRR at Atlantic Avenue. Get $31.00 full package pass for a round trip train ride, taxi and ferry ride. Simple.
My reading for the day. ” Please Look After Mom” by Kyung Sook Shin. There’s an English edition too. About to get on a train!
I’ll say the highlight of the whole trip is actually the ferry ride. This 20 minute ferry ride always makes going to Fire Island that much more special. It makes you feel like you are going somewhere far far away from the city! Don’t forget to apply sunscreen!
It’s absolutely a perfect day! Crisp breeze and beautiful sun. It feels amazing on a ferry!
Arriving!
There are lots of restaurants by the port. Actually port is called ” town” as this is where all the shops and amenities are. It’s a small and friendly community.
Getting into the town. Entire island is connected with famous board walk passage. It’s really cute!
Lovely board walk is blessed by never ending beach shacks. Wish I had one…!
Dear crossing! They are super calm in Cherry Grove. Just don’t touch them. You know why!
Hello my Dear!
More shacks…
It feels amazing walking and poking around!
Can’t help myself with these cutest board walks. And all those trees.. Awwwwoooooo!!!
Totally bumping into old friends here in Cherry Grove!!!! Simone and Alison were staying at one of these cute shacks literally 30 seconds away from the beach! Charlie, her baby next to me! We are totally hanging out here today! Fabrizio and wife Anna are here too! What a small world!
Super calm and clean beautiful water! There’s no one around. It’s great!
I swam and swam and took a nap, chatted, lovely lunch back at Simone’s, swam again and… Repeat!
Washing off sand first before a quick lunch!
Emi and Gael, I so wish you were here with me! We will come back together!
To know how to get to Fire Island,
Click here.
Enjoy!
When Fashion surpasses Art: Savage Beauty, Alexander McQueen, Met
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The Alexander McQueen exhibit: Savage Beauty at Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
I have been dreading to go to Met to see Savage Beauty as whoever went to the exhibit said, “It’s so popular you need to be in the line for so long like hours then it’s too crowded that it’s hard to see all in detail!” But regardless, I knew it was going to be amazing. ” Exhibit will make you cry!” that’s what I heard a lot too. I was lucky enough to get free private access to the Museum this Monday through a friend at the museum as the Museum is closed on Mondays. But due to the high demand of this show, Museum had introduced ” Met Mondays with McQueen” starting from June 6. And it will cost you hefty $50.00 entrance fee but I highly recommend it otherwise not sure how you can say you really saw the exhibition with all that big crowd. And very nice audio tour ( narrated by Andrew Bolton, Sara Jessica Parker, Philip Treacy and more!) is on the house with this special Monday tour I believe.
Last Year, The 40 years of YSL Retrospective at Paris was amazing, beautiful and unbelievable. But still it stayed in fashion. Beautiful clothing with impeccable workmanship in beautiful setting. But Savage Beauty definitely felt closer to an art exhibit. McQueen’s fashion surpasses countless Artists’ art out there today. And I like to pay a huge credit to Mr. Andrew Bolton, the curator of this exhibit and Costume Institute who handled many years’ yearly gala. I had a privilege to work with him personally on a small project related to the last year’s Gala, American women as Gap was major sponsor to the exhibit.
And Mr. Bolton, you’ve had beautifully executed Savage Beauty to translate Alexander McQueen’s dark, strong, complex and bold approach to his artful inner world. The rooms were perfectly McQueen. The lighting, the materials of the wall, the music and utterly dark and chick showcases and the stage. I absolutely loved it. The Colors in the room, runway clips, the most amazing head and shoulder pieces, the materials of the setting… I could go on and on about this. It felt beautifully expensive and perfectly regal but also completely modern and dare futuristic. Just like who Alexander McQueen was.
The entrance! Red tinted microscopic glass pieces and ostrich feather dress on the left and the infamous Razor clam shell dress on the right. It kills me. I highly recommend you to get the Audio tour. You get to hear stories behind from actual people who worked on or worn the actual pieces.
The first room, ”The Romantic Mind”, is dedicated to the tailored and mostly jacket pieces. Lots of these pieces were landed by the actual owners for the exhibit. McQueen’s Savile Row in London’s tailoring experience is showing through these pieces. Only showing a few pieces here.
The washed concrete wall and naive wood flank is familiar contrast we see everyday now but again it works beautifully against McQueen’s impeccable hard tailoring.
The second room, “The Romantic Gothic” filled with aged mirrors.
This guilded golden glass showcase is absolutely to die for and the amazing McQueen’s work…
“The Cabinet of Curiosity”, a room dedicated to many of McQueen’s amazing Accessories and their relationship to related items. This room truly made me fill like I was in a Art exhibition.
My heart deeply aching…. The Spine corset with a tail.
Approaching to the Fan dress. Just like those delicately cut out Japanese wooden fan.
Yes, She’s turning.
There are ton more in this “Closet of Curiosity” room. I kept going back in there. It was hard to end myself and move on.
” The Romantic Nationalism”, McQueen celebrates his root, London. He was very proud of the city where he came from.
“The Romantic Primitivism”
” Romantic Exoticism”
“Romantic Naturalism, the last room”
I only have a few pictures from the Savage Beauty in this post. You need to see All in person. It ends on August 7. So hurry up!
It was truly one of the most amazing exhibitions I have seen. Not just McQueen itself but the whole package, it is a great exhibition. Also excellent website.
And NEVER TO MISS, click on THIS to watch clips of McQueen’s runway shows.
Indigo, Indigo, Indigo: Merci now, Paris
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The Fiat 500 covered in printed patch work of Indigo patterns at shop’s front court yard, the car is always an anecdote of what you will see the inside of the shop, Merci
This man was shopping the entire shop on Skype via I phone.
I find the Merci as one of the most inspiring places as they always approach one thing that far, deep in such interesting ways from every different angle possible from what you put on your body to what you put down on the dinner table, sleep in, cuddle in, carry in, travel with or whatever that is. The relevancy to your everyday life is powerful. Merci’s at that point where they can take anything regardless what the world is into and make the most out of in the best yet approachable way to every individual in all different ages. It makes you desire it. You fancy it and dream of what it would be like if you brought that 2 glasses with blue bottom to your own little home from the shop and serve fresh lemonade to your best friend visits you. It makes your skin tingle to fancy to have that bright blue couch with your loved ones sitting in your living room while you are cooking something delicious possibly wearing that indigo linen apron on with bright orange lipstic on and how fun it would be that everything matches and your lips will just flirt the whole thing.
Merci beautifully stimulates your senses and thoughts that you may have not thinking of or feeling for a long time.
Healthy inspiration you have needed.
If you are in Paris, this is the One you must check out!
Autumn in New York : Patrick Dougherty’s Natural History.
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Japan Garden at Brooklyn Botanical Garden: I totally had Monet moment here…! All the beautiful leaves…
Ahhh, It was a beautiful sunny autumn day to stroll around Brooklyn. We had visited Brooklyn Botanical garden to check out an artist, Patrick Dougherty and his work, “Natural History“: a first site specific art project that was done for Brooklyn Botanical Garden for garden’s 100 year anniversary, an amazing stick work that Dougherty had done for 3 weeks time period back in August this year. It’s a beautiful work and I’m just about to share some pics and my thoughts with you, but also please enjoy the peak of beautiful autumn in right here in Brooklyn, NY! It is almost a privilege to be able to see seasonal changes of the mother nature around us in a big city like NY. Gorgeous Autumn light and colors…
Patrick Dougherty’s woven-wood sculpture in honor of Brooklyn Botanical garden’s centennial.
The woody materials come from Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island. The harvest site was chosen of garden’s director of Science because of its proximity to the Garden and it’s large population of nonnative willow, which is designated an invasive species in New York State. The exhibition will run for a full year.
Weaving, snagging and flexing sticks into nest-like architectural forms evoke themes of shelter, habitat and sustainability. Created of organic matter, Dougherty’s works have a natural life cycle that changes over the time as the sticks settle and decay, eventually returning to the earth where they came from…
The sculpture gives you endless possibilities of new shapes and angles. Honestly, I felt like I could stay at the site forever. It was hard to leave. Look up, look down, go in, come out, follow the surface in circle… I kept feeling like my hair will start swirling with curved sticks. I can’t pinpoint out what exactly it is but it almost gave me a bit of butterflies in my stomach. I felt like I was a little kid and envied and imagined what if I had such a thing in our massive garden….
Gael mingled with bunch of excite kids for a while… If you only had a furry costume on, it could instantly turn into “Where the wild things are…”
Here we have a book purchased at Storm King Art Center: ” Natural Architecture“, The cover work is by Patrick Dougherty.
The Artist above and more shots from the Garden…
Get out there and Embrace this beautiful Autumn!
Back to Heyri Art Valley, Korea: It’s family time!
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This trip is coming to an end and actually I am not feeling so great, so staying at Aunt’s home for a day with family feels priceless. Aunt and uncle have been living in Heyri Art Valley now for a few years and I think that is so great and am very happy for them to have such a beautiful living space in this artistic community sharing all the creative thoughts and life style. So excite to have really hearty good home food after the 2 weeks of trip on the road!!
A fine artist ( oil painting and pottery), story teller, farmer, amazing organic home cook and my aunt chopping and cooking. These leaves( Sorry, I do not recall what this was at all! Aunt had used maybe good 10 different kind of herbs and some kind of leaves from her garden to cook with) are going into her steamed rice with shitake mushrooms.
Sauteed home grown squash: Cut them in chunks and start them with olive oil in a hot wok, garlic, fresh red chili chunks, salt cured baby shrimps… And Mom helping!
Oven broiled herring; Aunt poured over soy sauce with chopped green scallion right before serving it and below is quickly blenched calamaris on the bed of fresh baby sesame leaves and mixed green from aunt’s garden. You dip them in the vinegary chili sauce. Delicious!
Dinner table is coming together! Sliced cucumber dressed in chili paste and vinegar, baby radish kim chi, mountain vegies steamed and dressed in sesame seeds, garlic, onion, olive oil…
Yeah, dinner is on the table! Steamed vegie rice, Kim chi soup, calamari, more kim chi Broiled herring, steamed squash leaves for ” ssam: wrap”, and many more. And a glass of red… Happy Happy! Cousin Yoonhee on the left and her hubby, Sanghun back in the kitchen area. That was the most amazing Korean food in a long time! We chatted, laughed and ate again and again. It was so nice to have everyone together in one place and enjoyed each others…!
The next morning after another big morning meal ( ha!), Aunt, Mom and I went out for a stroll around the Art Valley. There were quite a few exhibitions including a famous Korean singer, Jo Young Nam’s Solo exhibition at ” Hangil Gallery” right by the Aunt’s place.
These plastic pieces with design are called ” Wha-To”: pretty much Korean ‘Cards”, like Poker in a sense. The artist had used wha-to in such a clever way. Wha-To is such a gamble that is beloved by entire nation for a longest time and also a national issue since people over do this down to loose their homes and family. Some people get so addict to this… like any other gambles out there.
Oh The Artist loves, the poet ‘ Lee Sang’..!
And again, the whole culture of architecture in Heyri Art Valley is quite innovative. Every building in the valley needs to be consist of using Metal, Glass, Wood , Rocks and Concrete as main materials with no pointy roof and painted exterior. It sounds bit limiting yet also it harmonizes the valley as a whole and also I believe it pushes the architects to be creative in different area such as shape, light and space.
The ” Book House”, a book store above the Hangil Gallery.
Underground level of Moa Gallery is just as bright as or even brighter than any spaces on the ground level. Smart usage of minimum amount of glass panel allows to have maxim effect of enough natural light for the space.
Outside of “Ssamji” galley and below: the stair case to the gallery space.
4 very different Rooms to crash for rent with organic cooking classes and a small roof garden growing greens then 2 gallery spaces: all with peaceful hearty and artsy farming and nature in mind. It’s called ” Field Art School” ( Non Baat Art School). They are not just fully opened yet. The rooms are available for rent already though. Below, the cooking class schedule.
The cooking class room and dining room.
The outdoor lounge: a part of lobby/cafe’ they are building. We have the same lamp in our kitchen!
Cool outdoor passage way. The natural wall-field I like to call it. Love it!
The roof top green garden.
One of the 4 room to rent. Each room is completely different in sizes and layouts. 4 different artists were hired to design each room.
Above and below: 2 gallery spaces and Mom and Aunt…
By the way, I picked out this book ” Seoul, have you ever been places like this? 100 spots you want to check out!” at Hangil Book House. (Aunt’s treat) This book excites me so much!! Beautiful pics and interesting places!
It’s so interesting to me to see all these great movement and ideas at Heyri. Ideas to be closer to the nature in style and a peace in your mind, I feel everything here feels modern yet peaceful but not trendy or fast. Maybe forward and ahead but not fast.
Hopefully Heyri Art Valley will be always the leader of the pack showcasing what you can do with your finance and ideas. A forward thinking that is good for your body and soul!
VivA, HeYri!!!!!
Helmut Newton
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What comes around goes around: Celine, Chloe Spring 2010 And their Mother, Isabel Toledo.
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Is it a funny coincidence that ex Chloe, Phoebe Philo has done this canvas with leather trim looks in minimal and bold proportion for Celine Spring 2010 then the new house hold of Chloe, Hannah MacGibbon has done also something very similar or actually almost same kind of pieces such as Military utility gone simple kind of look again using canvas and leather trims.
But move over you two, Before Phoebe and Hannah, there was grande Isabel Toledo. These looks were already done in more daring way by Toledo already in the early 90′.
Toledo’s Suede and Canvas Apron in Early 90’s. A page from the book, Isabel Toledo I bought as Lara’s birthday gift. A gorgeous hard cover coffee table book. “Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out” A great great book. I recommend it!
Below first three: Celine Spring 2010.
Below 2: Chloe Spring 2010
Left: Spring 2010 Campaign for Chloe.
A Spring Fling: Mastering Paris
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So I decided to self master Paris. I’ll be reading a lot. It’s maybe this unusual warm last few days or the lingering traveling mood coming back from Berlin and Paris… Or was it the visit to the book store today? Anyway, wandering around the Borders for couple hours with Gael and Emi, I stopped at Travel section and ended up picking 4 different books about Paris.
A clockwise from the left top corner: Quiet Corners of Paris, Time out Paris, Paris: Made by Hand and Rough Guide Directions Paris.
Each book will function differently and will be quite successful for me to study Paris I believe. The off the beaten path experience that I must have in any places, a great current general list= pretty much a good Concierge service, authentic and less commercial Paris style and bit of history of the city and different point of view on guiding the city.
I do go to Paris time to time, but I always feel like I’m only licking the surface by visiting same places and doing similar things. I feel quite excite! Its too bad that I don’t speak french, but by the end of the spring, I will become quite an expert of the city. This little project totally put me into a mood that I am in Paris..!
Mother’s Poem: “Whisper of Silence”
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2 copies of Mom’s first “Solo” publication of her poems have arrived. It took a while to receive them. She had published a few in the past but this is her first Solo and the first one after my brother had left. So it feels extra special. Ha. I feel like I am discovering my mother all over again. A mother of 2 who lost one. A woman who loves. A woman who endures. A woman who respects. A woman who appreciates. Her soul. Her power. Her power to heal her soul. I look up to her strength and endless creativity. I look up to her dignity. Her Beauty. Mom, I feel your soul.
Your incredibly humble heart and resilience.
The C train home never felt so beautiful as today. Thank God I was seated. I just couldn’t stop my tears.
Mom you are an amazing human being. I love you.
Mother and me, 6 month old.