W Magazine, Part Five

I'd like to express my most sincere gratitude to everyone who's been clicking over to W magazine to read my recent series of posts for them. The all-important editors over there absolutely notice your presence (one of them said their blog traffic really goes up on those days), and so that tiny little movement with your mouse goes a long way. If I haven't said it lately, I really appreciate you all.

This final week's theme is color and how hues that represent your personality can make your rooms more alive, your wardrobe more evocative and your inner spirit more visible. Intrigued? Click HERE (and thank you).

Have Bag, Will Travel

Going somewhere? This wash bag makes a stylish companion, whether you're venturing across the ocean or just across town for a sexy sleepover.

Click HERE to read my latest column in W Magazine and find out what else I'm recommending to expand your horizons.

Jane Birkin, Meet Rupert Birkin

When is a classic white shirt more than a classic white shirt? When it dates from the 19th century, evokes the rustic/sexy sensibility of both D. H. Lawrence and a gap-toothed French style icon and promises to just keep getting better and better over time.

Click HERE to read my latest column in W and become a woman (or man) in love.

W Magazine, Revisited

To my great delight, I've been asked to do another guest stint for W Magazine. The first post is up today and subsequent ones will run every Friday (there will be five in all).

Today's topic deals with organization or, as it's usually referred to in my house, "turning shambolic into sexy."

Click HERE and find out why my pick below will save you on those mornings when not even your hair is on your side.

W Magazine, Part Five (The Finale)

A sincere thank you to everyone who has been reading my guest blogging posts for W magazine. They've asked me to come back in January for another gig and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Today's theme is all about wanderlust, a word so evocative of its meaning that, in my experience, it has been known to bring about the inescapable impulse to travel merely by uttering it aloud. Use it carefully.

Click HERE and have brilliant weekends, everyone.

(from "British Watercolors of the Eastern Mediterranean",

currently on display at the Huntington Library)

W Magazine, Part Four

I've long dreamt of owning a bag that evokes animals in Old Master paintings and lately it's been haunting my waking thoughts too.

(Follower of Marmaduke Craddock, c.1660-1717)

I don't know why this is. Maybe because in these uncertain times, the idea of walking around with a bit of art history slung across my body seems strangely grounding. Or maybe because anything old and curious feels very modern right now. (That whole quasi-Edwardian, New Antiquarian thing.) Or maybe it's just because pets have been proven to keep your stress level down.

(W.E. Turner, c. 1870)

Whatever the reasons, I've recently discovered some bags that afflict me with a glassy gaze and labored breathing...in a good way.

They're hand-stitched, made from distressed, overdyed leather and recycled materials and somehow manage to be rough and delicate at the same time, which is an instant sell to me as I devoutly believe that great style is all about oxymorons. (Terrible beauty, ornate monasticism, rough-hewn lushness and all that.)

To discover the designer, click HERE and scroll down.

W Magazine, Part Three

Find out why I'm betting that two Welsh words with hardly any vowels will soon be a fixture in your design vocabulary.

(from George Smith's new line)

Hint: It's all about that chair fabric. Click HERE.

W Magazine, Part Two

Oh, and don't forget to pop over to W today and read my second installment of fall picks. The one pictured below has me praying for rain.

Curious? Click HERE.

First of all, thank you to everyone who replied to my last post. Piero's family is beyond touched at all your heartfelt words of condolence. They keep logging online to read all the wonderful comments and it has made a difference to them at this difficult time. I always tell my husband that I have the kindest, most interesting and considerate readers in the world, and you've proved me right yet again.

As I will be away for the next few days, I wanted to let you know that W Magazine contacted me recently to do a little guest blogging for them over the next few weeks, and of course I said yes (and then promptly dropped my iPhone). The first post is up today (click HERE to read it) and subsequent ones will appear on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thank you to senior editor Jenny Comita who is the most delightful point person ever.

I'll be back in full force on Monday.

Heaps of Gratitude...

...to W Magazine for their profile of me on their "Editors' Blog." I have been a fervent reader of W since my college days and still receive the same frisson of anticipation whenever I spy the newest issue in my mailbox. Nothing else quite seems to satisfy my itch for wanderlust and glamour like they do and being mentioned on their site has me feeling very honored indeed. Thank you so much, W Magazine!