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March 16, 2010
SXSW 15: A Flash of Color for the Invisible Man
I am the Invisible Man. That’s part of my social strategy. Play it against the wall. Greet. Listen. Ask questions. Divert. Tell stories at the appropriate junctures. Never call attention oneself. This is not the only — or even the most common — strategy for social columnists, but it works for me. People tell me things. For the most part, they trust me to use that information judiciously.
Heading to Jo’s on Second to post more on SXSW, drinking in the crowds and the good spirits on the street, I made a left turn into Kappie Bliss’s Beyond Tradition. I’ve always liked Kappie. She’s fashionable without being outrageous. She supports local artists and designers. She’s kind and — let’s just say it — closer to my age than the dominant style-makers in Austin.
I had my eye on some of My-Cherie Haley’s marvelously crinkly, light, highly hued scarves. They fit men or women. But could I pull them off? With confidence? I purchased one of the least peacocky ones ($50 for the long, very dark blue sample shown here). Two SXSW parties later, I begged inherently poised Christine Perrault Moline to style it for me in a couple of loops around my neck. There it rested for the remainder of the evening. Maybe for the remaining SXSW night parties.
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March 14, 2010
SXSW 9: Spiderwood Studios Party at Speakeasy Terrace
After passing on several parties because the lines moved like glaciers — before global warming — I decided to stick one out. It was a bash thrown by Bastrop’s Spiderwood Studios on the Speakeasy Terrace. I wanted to honor the local heroes and experience the rooftop lounge on an ideal night.
“314” and Michael Donlin
The queue snaked across the entrances to Sky and the Shiner Saloon, almost to the Marq. For long time, it didn’t move at all. Still, I met Michael Donlin, a SXSW registration volunteer, originally from Hawaii, who had done fishing time in Alaska before working for a dubious Austin business. He wore a Platinum badge, making my Gold look a little shabby.
We made friends with a clean-cut gentleman in nice threads who refused to give his name. He offered us, however, his number, 314, embossed on a card like the special passes earned by George Clooney in “Up in the Air.” Don’t know what it means, but it delivered him right into Speakeasy.
Ron Carter and Tommy G. Warren
On the rooftop, I exchanged news with Spiderwood owner, Tommy G. Warren, who brought me up to speed on filmmaking in the Lost Pines. (I still must get out there!) The mood was mellow, even with a live band, and I considered lingering even longer with other raconteurs I’d met, but Frog Design called me East.
[Note: Live blogging is nearly impossible during SXSW. Live tweeting works. So for the latest, scan down this page to the black box with current tweets, or follow me @outandabout. The posts here will always summarize an earlier experience.]
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March 10, 2010
Not SXSW: Your A List: Best Place to Score a Last-Minute Gift
I’ve labeled the headlines about this week’s A List winners “Not SXSW.” That’s not exactly accurate. Any visitor for the massive three-part festival and conference could use the information contained herein.
Thirty percent of the A List readers recommended Breed & Co., the Austin veteran that is demurely called a “hardware store.” Don’t be fooled. Some of the cleverest gifts in kitchenware, plants, novelties and other household needs can be purchased there.
Waterloo Records, never far from any A List poll, came in second with 14 percent, while Toy Joy and BookPeople split just above and just below 13 percent.
Emerald’s — yes, still on North Lamar Boulevard, minus the Coconuts — rang up 8 percent. Zinger buzzed in with 6 percent.
Tesoros Trading Co. — so perfect for SoCo, it’s hard to believe it didn’t start there — tied with Terra Toys, and just ahead Sue Patrick and Aviary.
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February 21, 2010
Viva Las Vegas-Monte Carlo at the Austin Music Hall
Let’s get to the business at hand: The fashion show. Last year, I judged Sue Webber’s sleek, sexy, cool, confident parade of bedecked models for Viva Las Vegas the best fashion show of the year. In fact, the best I’d seen. In Austin. Ever.
Misti Poppitt and Troy Cormier
This year, the show earned lots of creativity points, as Webber explored the formal wear, casino couture and Mediterranean colors for a Monte Carlo edition of the gala for AIDS Services of Austin. Props — such as umbrellas in the opening number — were numerous, and humor often reigned. So did men. Last year, older, more macho models outranked the thin, willowy regulars. So Webber returned to that theme and amplified it, tweaked it.
Lorri French and Susan Burton
What she lost was consistency and development, and in some cases, class. Some models towered above their cohorts (My-Cherie Haley), while others broke the Austin mold (one fierce tattooed dude named Phoenix triumphantly broke with the macho mode). Uncharacteristically, technical glitches interrupted the flow of action. Still, at moments, the music, lighting, models and apparel came together in an exhilarating manner.
Yvonne and Trevor Schwartz
What about the rest of the night? No need to worry about the hardiness of these Austin partiers, even with Carnaval Brasileiro right across the river and competing fundraisers at the MACC, Four Seasons Hotel and elsewhere. Here, the assemblage cast around the charity gambling tables, wandered among the silent-auction items or lined up for cocktails and high-intensity grub.
Brittany Prejean, Brittany Brunson and Patrick Brunson
A beaming ASA board chairman Robert Dailey estimated the head count at the Austin Music Hall at nearly 1,000. We dallied with Austin Chronicle’s Stephen Moser, grandly positioned in a commanding chair at the end of the runway; Mint Owl’s Chris Cantoya and model-perfect Laura Aidan, 34th Street Cafe’s Cameron Lockley with friends Drew Wilson and Joe Pierce, adorable charity triplets Dr. John Hogg, David Garza and Joanna Linden (remember: Hispanic Scholarship Consortium fundraiser is Thursday!), Dell Children’s Armando Zambrano, and a wide-eyed Texas Rep. Donna Howard.
Drew Wilson, Cameron Lockley and Joe Pierce
Social footnote: I had every intention to round out the evening at Carnaval. I don’t know whether it was the transition from beach vacation, the clogged streets around the Palmer Events Center, or uncertainty whether I’d gain entry among the glittered masses (didn’t receive my OK until too late). For whatever reason, I instead headed home after just two social events my first night back in the saddle. There’s always next year …
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February 7, 2010
Fashion Freakout at Mohawk
In terms of audience loyalty, the Fashion Freakout ranks up there with Austin’s top annual runway shows. But one must be patient. I arrived at Mohawk almost an hour after the announced start time. A few folks batched up inside, or near the patio stage, or on one of two terraces. Cocktails and a few magnificently dressed guests occupied the time.
Stephanie Villalobos and Tammy Grumberg
No fashion show yet. The event, staged mostly by Prototype Vintage Design, had attracted some fervent devotees of the 1970s and ’80s, reeking of disco, glitz and the urban street. Memories … scattered pictures … of the smiles we left behind …
Chris Lyons and Lauren Robertson
I engaged in a particularly long conversation with Lauren Robertson, who moved away from Austin in the late ’90s and had just relocated here from San Francisco. She rightly observed that, while in the Bay Area, things seemed “set,” here, everything feels wide open. Anything could happen. We recounted how, just 10 years ago, runway shows were rarer than expertly made cocktails. Now …
CJ Anderson and Richard Orr
I also enjoyed a chat with Grace Rogers, a journalism student at the University of Texas, who looked as if she just left the Zach Theatre stage in one of Dave Steakley’s classy pop shows. Her friend, Karma Stewart, was the belle of the upper terrace, though, in her grandmother’s flashy threads. She ruled.
Grace Rogers an Karma Stewart
OK, regular readers are tired of this trope, but there I was, almost 2 hours after I had arrived, and still no show. Fashion Freakout was running on club time. Which is no time for me. The rest of the guests — now filling all the spaces — remained loyal, however, pushing toward the runway. I’ll return to this hipster jewel next season, but with a better notion in advance about the actual walk time.
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January 24, 2010
Live It Up Party at the Austonian
The Austonian generates super-sized reactions. Perhaps because the residential tower, slated to open in June, is, at 56 stories, the tallest west of the Mississippi in a city that, until recently, preferred a relatively low skyline. Or maybe because of the price tags on the sleek condos, soaring into the millions of dollars, at a time when many families find it hard to make ends meet.
Julie Thornton and Hans Dietrich
Or place the blame on the name, appearing to fuse our fair city with the suffix historically reserved for Houston, my former hometown, which, only after Dallas, is the bogey man of Austin development. I’d add to the list the a rumor mill — a restaurant offered $20 million for the top floor! Kanye West purchased one of the penthouses! — that are met by official Austonians with coy comebacks such as: “I hadn’t heard that.” (“Yes” or “no” will do.)
Decorator Karen Hall and soon-to-be Austonian Emily Moreland
Still, everyone is curious. With a rush of anticipation, I’ve attended three events in the raw spaces of the streamlined, elliptical spire. At the Ballet Fête, on a rainy night, I was stunned by the views, which seemed to erase Austin landmarks and map lines like runny watercolors. Later, at the Runway to Heaven charity fashion show, I recognized what a potentially smashing space the Congress Avenue lobby could be.
Lily Lloyd, Elizabeth Pitts and Susan Dunaway
Friday, at Live It Up, the last such party before the opening, four floors were filled with gawkers. A surprising number lingered on the first floor, near the Second Street entrance, a convivial enough spot. Floor 54, destined as a penthouse, hosted a pop band and easiest access to limitless views, along with bar stations.
Jana and Eric Visser
Narrower Floor 55 will become the private club, which can be divided into sections for parties. Friday, it held the loud jazz band. Even thinner Floor 56 will be the gym. The gym? Really? The highest perch in Austin, the place where the Hill Country and the Lost Pines can be grasped with the swivel of the head, will be a workout area? Sounds like a placeholder to me. (Though I do look forward to Pamela LeBlanc’s likely column on “Sweating in the Clouds.”)
Sarah Blackburn and Jennifer Guthrie
Tout de Austin attended Live It Up, and not just haute société. (Perhaps I should use Spanish terms, since the finances were hatched in Spain.) Those of us cursed with acrophobia crept as close to the sheer glass cliffs as we dared. On a clear night, this will be the place to throw a cocktail party. But you won’t get me out on the tiny balconies.
Pei-San Brown and Christi Cuellar
The Austonian will continue to be the talk of the town. Much of consequence will happen here. That’s predetermined. And most of the annoying rumors will vanish like the top of the altitudinous tower on a foggy night.
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January 23, 2010
Dominic Anton Models + Fashion at the Phoenix
Defined as a business, modeling is a mystery in Austin. There’s not a lot of money to be made, strictly in the local market. This, despite the rapid expansion of the fashion scene, and seemingly daily reel of runway shows, photo shoots and special events.
Angi Shaul, Jamie O’Toole, Brianna Villareal and Katie Scott
Yet Austin is brimming with smart, smartly turned-out people who could make a stab at a modeling career before facing the danger age of 25. Two who did well, Anthony Domniguez and Jennifer Reyna, are former models hoping to help others mold careers in that world through Dominic Anton Models + Fashion.
Anthony Dominguez and Jennifer Reyna
I’d met Anthony on several occasions. The ex-El Pasoan and his striking wife, Sonia Dominguez, were naturals for Out & About exposure. And I knew he had earned his MBA, bolstering his business credentials. So I was delighted to attend the launch party for new outing, presented Friday at the Phoenix.
Hector Chavez and Robert Chavez
At first — and please don’t get me wrong — I thought I’d stumbled onto the wrong party. A few dozen randomly attired people were sitting — sitting! — against wall-side banquettes staring into the void, sipping the free drinks. (No, I didn’t photograph any of them. I’m not mean. Just observant.)
McLane and Kim Lawrence
From my previous observations, models don’t sit anywhere for long. And they don’t leave the house without checking the mirror a few times. Eventually, however, the crowd thickened and the model potentials, male and female, made themselves known.
Sonia Dominguez and Larissa Ness
Representatives from media, music, nightlife and other industries joined in. Still, a remarkably subdued affair for such an auspicious occasion. My conversations turned rich and full by the time I left.
Roger Tanner and Heather Newby
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January 13, 2010
Your A-List: Best Shoe Store
Hey, it was a race!
Pun emphatically intended.
Yet Goodie Two Shoes gave it a run for its riches by tapping into 19 percent. Strut held its frame high with 12 percent.
Three stores tied for fourth: Karavel, Rogue Equipment and Adelante at almost 7 percent each.
InStep and Fitting Stool were not far behind at 6 percent, while Blackmail and Bettysport brought up the rear with 5 percent and 4 percent.
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December 30, 2009
Your A-List: Best Women's Clothing Shop
As a man, it’s hard not to envy the range of options women enjoy shopping for clothing in Austin. Besides the traditional department stores and specialty shops, as well as high-end and bargain alternatives, boutiques pop up wherever you look.
Coming in second was a certified Austin institution, By George, which ran up 16 percent. Third went to newer Strut, which tried on 14 percent.
Emerald’s, another veteran, took 10 percent, while Goodie Two Shoes stomped up 9 percent.
Following behind: Blackmail (7 percent); Parts and Labour (6 percent); C. Jane (6 percent); Girl Next Door (5 percent); and Feathers (3 percent).
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December 9, 2009
Your A-List: Best Place to Be Surrounded by Pretty People
My write-in ballot for Best Place to Be Surrounded by Pretty People would be — all over Austin!
Nevertheless, plenty of readers endorsed their favorite places for people watching — and meeting — in the A-List poll. The winner: Qua, best known for its shark tank dance floor, but also a creatively conceived lounge on West Fifth Street. It danced away with 22 percent of the vote.
Classy and stylish, the Belmont wrapped up 19 percent, while the in-progress shopping center, the Domain, strolled away with 17 percent.
The Four Seasons Hotel, beloved by celebrities, took 11 percent; the Second Street District, which hosts several hot boutiques, snapped up 10 percent.
Six percent or less voted for Beauty Bar, Rain, Imperia, Phoenix and Six.
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December 2, 2009
Your A-List: Best Place to Buy Funky Furniture
The word “funky” is slippery. Thus, when we asked readers to vote on their favorite place to buy funky furniture, the results embraced global importers, vintage boutiques and bare-bones charity resale outlets.
Uncommon Objects, the stylish vintage consignment shop on South Congress Avenue, came in second with 18 percent.
Goodwill, which has long recycled objects to help people with barriers to employment, came in third with 14 percent, followed closely by hip Room Service Vintage at 13 percent.
Receiving 4 percent or less: Uptown Modern, Nest, Prototype Vintage, Aviary, Mercury Design Studio and BoConcept.
(Photo courtesy of Four Hands.)
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November 25, 2009
Your A-List: Best Sale
One of the city’s older and quirkier traditions, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, won the A-List readers poll for Best Sale with 23 percent of the vote. This year, it returns to the Austin Convention Center, which doesn’t exactly match the sale’s funky character.
No. 2 was the City-Wide Garage Sale with 21 percent; No. 3 Four Hands Warehouse Sale at 15 percent; and No. 4 A Christmas Affair with 11 percent. Assembled in the middle of the pack were Blue Genie Christmas Bazaar, Settlement Home Garage Sale and Buffalo Exchange Sidewalk Sale.
Also in the running: Austin Record Convention, Service Menswear 50-Percent-Off Sale and Literacy Austin Bookfest.
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November 19, 2009
The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House, Part 3
For more of this story, scroll down to previous posts, or go here for Part 1 and Part 2.
Humanities Texas began examining the building five years ago.
“As a statewide organization, we needed a visible presence near the Capitol,” says executive director Michael Gillette. “Our office condominium, which was located five miles south of downtown, had the visibility of a post office box and lacked suitable program space for events.
What tipped them off about the building they had just purchased? Touring Byrne-Reed with distinguished architect Larry Speck, Downtown Austin Alliance executive director Charles Betts and philanthropist Jo Anne Christian, Gillette was able to assess its full potential. Speck was concerned with finding the correct tiles to replicate the original roof, bricks to match those that were cut out to make room for the 1970s windows and how to deal with botched air-conditioning and wiring.
“Charlie Betts was unrelenting in his disgust at the ’70s redo,” Gillette wrote in his notes at the time. “He and Larry agreed that the architect, if there had even been one, should have been shot. The photograph of the original house brought into focus the property’s potential for Larry. As we stood on the sidewalk, he declared with great emphasis that if we can take the building back to its original mansion, we would be real heroes. He added that doing so would be a huge accomplishment for Austin, one that would put Humanities Texas on the map.”
The organization will use the living room, dining room and other downstairs areas for public spaces; upstairs for private offices. A third floor, built within the attic, also will be used for offices, and the basement will become space for exhibition preparation and storage. The project, now under way, will restore the enormous porches and terraces — perfect for parties.
“As a statewide nonprofit that advances culture, heritage and education, Humanities Texas is an appropriate steward to restore and occupy this grand historic building,” Gillette says. “In contrast to the restoration of a private residence or place of business, this endeavor is historic preservation with a public purpose. Local residents and Texans generally will be able to use, appreciate, and enjoy this landmark.
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The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House, Part 2
For Part 1, scroll down to previous post, or go here.
The Reeds remodeled the house, adding, for instance, ornate gold ornamentation to what is now the “dining room.” This clashes somewhat with the original dark stained wood, simple clean lines and squared details, as shown in historical photographs of the living room, says respected architect Emily Little of ClaytonLevyLittle.
Page built other Austin homes, including the Gilfillan House at 603 W. Eighth St., which Little and her team studied to learn more about the architect’s thoughts.
Virtually no one remembers how the Byrne-Reed House actually looked when the Reed children grew up there because ownership changed hands and the neighborhood’s character changed.
After World War II, 15th Street was widened and eventually bridged Lamar Boulevard and Shoal Creek, creating a commercial throughway where residences once ruled (and cutting off the neighborhood from Judge’s Hill to the north). The Byrne-Reed House was converted into offices. Then in 1970, the building’s origin as a family home was muffled under white, stucco arcades. For almost 40 years, commuters sped by on 15th Street without guessing that a historical treasure lay beneath an exterior more appropriate for an insurance office, which is what it was for a while.
“For 30-plus years, I had been averting my eyes,” Little says. “It has not been exactly a beautiful architectural feature of Austin since its 1970s remodel, although very indicative of the style of that time. Once I saw the historic photos, I began to look more closely and saw the hipped roof peeking over the east stucco façade, and hints of the ornate cornice still visible at the north entry. It is a remarkable structure in its own right. The fact that most of it still exists beneath this stucco shroud makes it even more remarkable.” In recent weeks, the stucco exterior has been shorn and more original elements have been uncovered.
“We have been fortunate to find existing elements intact of the most significant feature, particularly the plaster cornice on the exterior of the building,” Little says. “Original windows and wood screens have been found intact, but covered up. We have yet to find an original door, so we will use historical photographs of the home for reference.”
More to come …
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The Manor Reborn: Restoring the Byrne-Reed House, Part 1
They slipped a page from “The Great Gatsby.”
As preserved in a Reed family photograph, the five young friends, in ruddy health, lounge on the spacious terrace of a home on Rio Grande Street. They dress in summer whites that dip down to swallow necks and backs. Their imperturbable leisure bespeaks the status of privilege in small-town Austin of the early 20th century. (Austin population in 1900: 22,258 — about the size of Seguin today.)
We might never know. Their world is gone. And, for a long time, their house was gone, too. Or, rather, chopped up, twisted to face West 15th Street, hidden under a nondescript sheath of modern stucco and used for offices.
Now the Byrne-Reed House, built circa 1905, will be restored to its original glory, thanks to its current occupant, Humanities Texas, which fosters the study of history, literature, philosophy, ethics, language, art and related disciplines across the state. Aided by a $1 million challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas group undertook the $4.6 million project, $2 million of which paid for the property. Humanities Texas expects to complete the renovation by July 2010 and to occupy the building the following month.
With its art nouveau frieze, mission-style roof tiles, Romanesque arches and Prairie-style porches, the Byrne-Reed House — named for its most prominent residents — fits no particular style. Yet the materials used by architect C.H. Page Jr. are all local: Elgin brick, Hill Country limestone, Austin-fashioned iron and Texas pine.
So besides the leading families who lived there, the house deserves special attention as an example of Texas eclecticism executed in native materials.
According to Humanities Texas, the first occupants were Edmund and Ellen Sneed Byrne. He was a cotton broker, she the daughter of an influential family. They lived on Rio Grande until Ellen died in 1915.
For 33 years, it belonged to David Cleveland Reed and Laura Moses Reed. Ruth Reed, pictured above with her bob-haired friends, was one of their children. David, a civic leader and philanthropist, ran an export business, invested in cattle ranches and oil and served as a partner in the Driskill Hotel.
More to come …
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A Christmas Affair Gala at the Palmer Events Center
The Junior League of Austin is no newcomer to good works …
Cindy Hayes and Faith Roberts
And its Christmas Affair is Austin to the core (goes back 34 years) …
John Guerra and Bill Wendlandt,
Its very popularity is a major reason the Palmer Events Center was built …
Elizabeth Serrato, Currie Bucher and Courtenay Puckett
You see, creating the Long Center out of the old dual-use Palmer Auditorium would have left the powerful Junior League in the lurch …
Michael Kellerman and Thessaly Startz
For the few of you who haven’t attended, it’s a market fair laid out in a enormous, strict grid …
Lindsey Hess, Tracy O’Hargan and Denise Horvileur
Its funkier and equally seasoned cousin, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, displays similar apparel, crafts, decorations and gifts. The Christmas Affair leans a little more upscale …
Nick Fuhrman with Ben and Inez Joyce
I was delighted to see two fantastic purveyors of jewelry and accessories — Kendra Scott and Eliza Page — well-represented and busy in more open, modern stalls …
Lauren Shallcross and Jenny Longwell
The annual Christmas Affair Gala, staged Thursday, kicks off the market …
Diane and Howard Falkenberg
It’s “black-tie-optional,” so you see everything from extravagant gowns to jeans and Ts …
Garrett Heifrin and Camille Jobe
This year, some of the refreshments were moved into the north and west hallways, decorated in a Serengeti Desert theme …
Darrell and Heather May
This relieved the crowding in the market’s center, but it also diluted some of the energy …
I ran into lots of friends and lingered longer than I expected. Still, it’s mostly a woman’s world. I found virtually no menswear or accessories …
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November 18, 2009
Your A-List: Best Beauty Salon
Earlier this year, Beauty Store Salon and Spa won the A-List readers poll for Best Place to Get Your Hair Done with 39 percent of the vote.
Competitors didn’t even clip close. Jackson Ruiz buzzed up 10 percent. Avant curled up 9 percent. Birds Barbershop shaved off 6 percent.
The rest — Urban Betty, Wet Salon, Salon 505, Vain, Salon Sirrah and Zig Zag — rinsed out four percent or less.
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November 11, 2009
Your A-List: Best Jeans
At least that’s what your votes implied. Twenty-six percent of the readers voted for Blue Elephant in the A-List poll for Best Jeans.
Hem and Buffalo Exchange tied exactly for second place at 17 percent. So nice that all three are close to campuses — and to each otheer.
Lucky lucked out with 10 percent, while Urban Outfitters slipped into 8 percent. Service Menswear in 04 tailored 6 percent of the vote.
Taking 4 percent or less were Diesel, Physical Fit, Luxe Apothetique, By George and Therapy.
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Preservation Awards at the Driskill Hotel
Who hyperventilates at preservation awards? Me. Historic preservation is so closely linked to everything crucial about Austin’s environment, economy and community, it was hard not to shriek approval during a genteel Heritage Society of Austin event at the palatial Driskill Hotel …
Mandy Dealey and Wayne Bell
The first half of the luncheon program on Tuesday was given over to video and live presentations of the Preservation Awards winners. Architect Wayne Bell, dean of the Texas preservation movement and coordinator to the state’s Main Street Program, presided …
There’s no way to squeeze in all the names and the astonishing histories of the projects, so a few highlights must suffice. In the case of the Schenken-Oatman House, neighbors banded together to prevent the demolition and underwrite the restoration of a 1909 Hyde Park cottage that once belonged to Austin Statesman printer Adelbert Schenken and, later, Pearl Oatman, widow of a drayman, and her daughter Pearl Oatman Welch. The restorers found all kinds of surprising original features in the house …
John Donisi and Andrew Martin
Most people can point out the “castle” on West 11th Street above Lamar Boulevard, but the history of the Texas Military Institute is a mystery to most of us. It served, for instance, as offices for controversial developer Gary Bradley and was almost lost to Austin through bankruptcy court. Attorney Vic Ayad and architect Dick Clark saved the castle and restored much of it …
The Phillips House on E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is a stunning modernist masterpiece from architect John Chase Jr., the first African American to enroll in and graduate from the UT School of Architecture. You’ve probably wondered about its Frank Llloyd Wright influences, but the video shows that the interiors are just as fascinating …
Janice Burckhardt and Jordan Gunter
The Chester and Caroline Drake House is one of those fine homes downtown near the Austin Community College campus. Built in 1884, it’s gone through a lot of changes and lawyer Thomas Fagerberg has rehabilitated it for mixed residence and offices. (I always mourn when one of those houses doesn’t include a resident occupant.) …
Two downtown buildings across the street from each other on Congress Avenue also won awards, the handsome homes of Annies and Patagonia. I urge you to check them out personally. Also honored was the humble Hoffbrau on West Sixth Street, whose history during the Depression, World War II and since I never knew. Time for a steak! …
Peter Kennedy and Maria Cigarroa
Personal awards went to Fred L. McGhee, a scholar who documented the pioneer status of East Austin public housing projects such as Santa Rita Courts, Rosewood Courts and Chalmers Courts, and their relationship to President (then Congressman) Lyndon Johnson; also to the indestructible Jane Sibley, whose preservation efforts have included the Old Fort Parade Ground in Fort Stockton, the Rock Art Foundation, Davis-Sibley House, Symphony Square and the Long Center …
The second half of the program was devoted to a highly practiced speech by the Urban Land Institute’s Edward McMahon. Preaching to the choir — plus city and state officials — McMahon talked about sustainability, smart growth, green building and a sense of place as they related to historic preservation …
Maria Ballas and Glen Colman
Perhaps McMahon’s most effective argument deals with the enduring economic value of aesthetics. And of course, my mind always wanders to Austin examples. The value of trees and landscaping? I think of how East Riverside Drive and other gateways into the city could be transformed. The affect of locality and beauty on tourism, the world’s largest industry? Almost every Austin visitor tramps some part of Congress Avenue from the Capitol to Live Oak Street, then Sixth Street east and west, also Lady Bird Lake from every angle. And yet how little we spend on them (A former mayor once told me aesthetic arguments never win in this city.) …
The only time McMahon faced silence was when he discounted the value of golf courses. Yes, they raise the value of residential properties around them, but at what cost? Why not open land or parks instead? So few people actually use the golf courses. I’m sure city leaders in the room were mulling over the relative value of MUNY, a political hot potato …
The call for legitimate preservation has been around Austin for at least 50 years. It has won hundreds of battles, lost only a few. The Heritage Society of Austin deserves a few of its own awards.
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November 8, 2009
Runway to Heaven at the Austonian
Erin Weitzel, Mallory Farr and Kelly Hansard
When the time came, the Runway to Heaven charity fashion show at the Austonian turned out just fine for the average viewer …
Cassandra Graza and Nadia Bening
Instead of landing on one of those upper floors with out-of-body views, Runway was held in the unfinished ground-floor space, where the Ballet Fete after-party frolicked …
Francie and Trent Thurman
That worked out well, because any space upstairs would have involved obstructed views, and this vast, open hall fit the look and scale of the show …
James and Ronit Mele
The seating area was subdivided into so many VIP and VVIP districts, it was easy to get confused, and, for the first time, I witnessed some squabbling about relative proximity to the long, segmented stage …
Robert Turluck and Jamie Stewart
But the seating came after the lengthy entry line and the somewhat disorganized shepherding of guests to their appropriate districts (I encountered no problems because I like to stand in the back) …
Ronda Gray and Kimberly Thomsen
A large subset of the guests were there to cheer the winners of the Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards, who were presented for a second time this week — four of them also served as celebrity models …
Jim Duran (mystyle-austin) and Anne Elizabeth Wynn
As with the earlier Glossy 8 VIP Party on Stratford Drive, this event was brightened by Dripping Springs Vodka drinkies and outstanding sushi from Piranha, the Arlington-based restaurant group which has planted a colony over by the Austin Convention Center …
Renee Sobremonte and Anju Garg
Austin Children’s Shelter and Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas were the chosen charities this year, probably receiving more attention than hard cash, but we’ll quiz leaders for net takes …
Nikki Fowler and Ryan Tumey
Superwoman Sue Webber volunteered to whip the runway show into shape at the last minute, and her firm hand was readily evident once the models began to strut …
Huey Nguyen and Mai Lu
Regular readers of this blog know better than to expect a fashion review from this social columnist, but my eyes weren’t glued shut …
Laura Villagran and Kevin Smothers
UT student Alexandra King’s loose, fun creations looked promising, while Linda Asaf’s more mature work, crowned by a timely wedding gown, were suitably flattering …
Brian McKinely and Anita Benner
Of course, I was most interested in the menswear, and Versace’s unstructured jackets snapped me to attention a few times. Yet the standouts were the sophisticated, plastic inventions of Poleci, whose urban wear triumphed at the end of the show …
My-Cherie Haley, Rochelle Rae and Laura Labay
And truly, if you didn’t know in advance all the beforehand and behind-the-scenes angst and misdirection, you could never tell that anything was wrong …
One last note: This runway show thing is getting a little out of hand. Austinites still flock to them, but can we really sustain reasonable standards when they are staged at least once a week here? Just a thought.
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Design Excellence Awards at the Westwood Country Club
The Austin Design Community could not have composed a more serene midday for the 2009 Design Excellence Awards ceremony at niche-retreat Westwood Country Club …
Lisa Anderson and Brian Ledet
We could only stay for salad and ice tea at the luncheon served by the Design Community and the American Society of Interior Design. Speeches praised Texas and Austin in particular for growing the organization while it shrinks elsewhere …
Jeanne Whittington and Jennifer Burggraaf
And now on to the Winners (take a deep breath): Commercial Large > 5000 sqf: The Bommarito Group … Commercial Retail / Hospitality: Laurie Smith Design Associates …Commercial Singular Space:The Bommarito Group … Residential Bathroom: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Kitchen: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Model / Parade / Showhouse: Panache Interiors; Residential - Residence Contemporary Large > 3,500 sqf: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Singular Space: Linda McCalla Interiors …
Greg Lee and Marla Bommarito
More Winners: Residential Sustainable Residence: Count and Castle Designs … Residential Remodel Large > 3500sqf: Linda McCalla Interiors …Residential Remodel Small < 3500 sqf: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Product Design / Special Detail / Custom Original Piece: he Bommarito Group … Visual Merchandizing Display: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Rising Star Remodel: Michelle Thomas Design … Rising Star Sustainable Residence: Chelsea Remy Design … Rising Star Singular Space: Michelle Thomas Design … Best of Show: The Bommarito Group …
Laurie Britt and Taverner Bushman
Merit Award Winners: Commercial Large > 5000sqf : Laurie Smith Design Associates … Commercial Retail Hospitality: Tracy Overbeck Stead Interior Design / Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Bathroom: Susie Johnson Interior Design Inc./ Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Kitchen: Richens Designs Inc. / Count and Castle Designs … Residential Residence Traditional Large > 3,500 sqf: Kasey McCarty Interior Design Studio … Residential Residence Contemporary Large > 3500 sqf : Susie Johnson Interior Designs Inc. … Residential Singular Space: Linda McCalla Interior Design … Residential Remodel Small < 3500 sqf: Susie Johnson Interior Designs Inc. … Historic Preservation / Adaptive Reuse: JEIDesign Inc.; Product Design / Special Detail / Custom Original Piece: Linda McCalla Interior Design …
Katherine Weems and Stephanie Martenson
Whew! That’s a lot of awards!
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November 7, 2009
Glossy 8 VIP Party at Stratford Drive Home
As a general rule, daily newspapers don’t throw memorable parties …
Winners of the 2009 Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards: Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato (who won as a couple), Maria Groten, Nancy Scanlan, Coi Burruss, Trent Thurman, Christine Perrault Moline, Sylvia Orozco and Andrea McWilliams.
The American-Statesman is no exception (unless you count the Capitol 10,000 or some XL promotional concerts from the distant past) …
Dean and Andrea McWilliams
Other media outlets specialize in staging social events, but even their professional skeptics would agree that the Statesman’s Glossy 8 VIP party on Thursday will linger in memory
Sylvia Orozco and Melissa Segrest
The location counted. The new Dick Clark-designed, hilltop home of Jodi and Fred Zipp (Statesman editor) is a modernist stunner, every detail pristine and exacting …
John Watson, Nancy Scanlan, Laura Scanlan Cho and Ken Cho
Helping out was a refined party plan, overseen by Kevin Smothers of Pulse and executed by Elite Events, along with assistance by the Statesman’s editorial and marketing departments. …
Eric and Maria Groten
The food—creative sushi provided by Kenzo and the crew from Piranha Killer Sushi—was a knock-out. Little stands offered Dripping Springs Vodka martinis or lighter drinks. …
Crystal Conti and Rep. Mark Strama
But the real stars were the Glossy 8 — really nine sharp dressers, since one slot went to a married couple — absolutely smashing as they descended the stairs during presentations …
Kelley Shaw and Renee Sobremonte
Winners of the 2009 Glossy 8 Stylemaker Awards: Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato (who won as a couple), Maria Groten, Nancy Scanlan, Coi Burruss, Trent Thurman, Christine Perrault Moline, Sylvia Orozco and Andrea McWilliams
Lauren Madden and Armando Zambrano
They inspired an already stylish crowd that floated from the interior spaces to the pool-cooled deck …
Graham Daly, Melissa Nicewarner-Daly, Jeff McKnight and Amber Groce
The mood continued ebullient for the entire evening …
David Garza, Joanne Linden, Rachel Saldana and Dr. John Hogg
All this previews Linda Asaf’s Runway to Heaven charity event tonight at the unfinished Austonian …
Cherie Mathews and Sloan Foster
Where the Glossy 8 will reappear on the stage …
George and Sylvia Gutierrez with Art and Tanya Acevedo
Read the story to see why these nine fashion leaders were nominated by readers and chosen by a Glossy panel …
Mary and Rusty Tally with Linda Asaaf
Photos by Robert Godwin
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November 4, 2009
Your A-List: Best Shopping Center
I’m serious. Twelve years ago, when we moved two blocks off South Congress Avenue, we had no idea it would become one of Austin’s top tourist attractions. The parking overflow annoys at times, but who would argue with the snappy shops, cool restaurants and sidewalks full of fellow pedestrians? (We’ll leave out any discussion of property values and tax rates.)
The somewhat similar but boxier Hill Country Galleria bagged 9 percent, while the Arboretum rang up 5 percent, tying with the Second Street District. The rest — Shops at the Galleria, Lakeline Mall, Highland Mall, Prime Outlets, Tanger Outlets, La Frontera, Wolf Ranch and Capital Plaza — earned 3 percent or less.
Sweet that ol’ Capital Plaza was remembered.
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Kanye West buys into Austonian?
Kanye West had purchased the top floor of the Austonian.
A building source says: “I hadn’t heard that.”
Can anyone confirm?
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October 31, 2009
Chloe & Nuo at Parts & Labour
Two things enticed me to Parts & Labour on Thursday …
Marques Harper and Chloe Dao
On a celebrity level, Houston’s Chloe Dao was showing some of her signature bags, a lure for any “Project Runway” devotee (she won on the second season, recall) …
Adam Vuong and Eddie Libranda
On the personal level, Nuo’s Hank Holland would be there. The VP for marketing at the Austin firm that makes Dao’s travel collection had left me with several social insights at a AU40 happy hour a few weeks ago, and I wanted to see his work …
Amanda George and Brittany Villareal
For its part, Parts & Labour nicely fills out its new, larger location, a former alteration shop on South Congress Avenue. The owners continue to flesh out the intersection of super-casual (printed T-shirts) and kicky designs with vintage inspirations …
Keith Yawn and Katie Johnson
Dao’s bags for Nuo bristle with bold geometrics echoing the early 1970s. I settled instead for one of the men’s laptop satchels in sage canvas trimmed in a fawn-like hue, not of Dao’s design …
Justin Britten and Dan Wilson
A full-time pedestrian must purchase a new satchel once a year. Lance Armstrong sold me on my last one, a black Timbuk2, at Mellow Johnny’s. Hank Holland sold me on this one. It’s just right for my Macbook Air and I’ve already shouldered it all over town.
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October 27, 2009
Stephen Moser's 52nd Birthday Party at Oilcan Harry's
We consummated another year with Stephen Moser …
The Moser clan
That complicated, guileless, erratic, predictable, generous, greedy, wicked, innocent, witty, senseless, candid, weird, cosmopolitan, local, proud, bellicose, sweet, maddening designer, writer and man about town.
Stephen Moser and Patricia Paredes
Is he our Oscar Wilde? Our Diana Vreeland? Our Perez Hilton? One thing’s for certain: He’s never boring …
John Salazar and Stephen Rice
And that was the case at Oilcan Harry’s for his 52nd birthday party on Sunday, two years after being diagnosed with high-potency prostate cancer, a few months after being arrested for arson, a few days after his name hit The New York Times’ The Haggler column, there he was, resplendent in a fringed jacket and studded with turquoise. It was a smaller party than his last two, but no less weighted …
Jane McCann and Neil Diaz
A recent post on this blog bloodied the water for his haters. They had their say. And some of them might be justified. After all, Stephen’s relationship with his public has always been, well, tangled …
Lauren Smith Ford and Amy Bodle
But I still think Stephen is among the rarest creatures this town has ever produced — someone whom each and every one of us can agree we will never in our lifetimes see again. Tennessee Williams dreamed him. [For those of you counting, this was Party No. 21 out of 25 on this Big October Weekend. Four more posts to go if I last.]
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October 24, 2009
Dress by Candlelight at Spazio
Racing from party to party this weekend …
Joy and Jeremy Kling
I wasn’t, by any means, going to miss Dress by Candlelight at Spazio on Thursday …
Keesha Waits and Gloriana Koll
After all, it benefits Candlelight Ranch, the Hill Country retreat that serves children with disabilities …
Melissa Martin and Matt Muir
With Saks help, a fashion show was organized along Spazio’s central artery. Couldn’t stay for the walk itself, but caught up with some of the style and charity stars (including Ranch ED Harriett Kirsh Pozen and the Avatar himself Stephen Moser, who made a grand entrance) …
Jett Butler and Kristina Schlegel
Oh please, please somebody come up with a supervised social calender for next season, so I don’t miss so much!
[For those of you counting, this was Party No. 9 of 25 on this Big October Weekend.]
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October 21, 2009
Your A-List: Best Men's Clothing Store
A-List readers plainly preferred one particular shop when asked to pick the city’s Best Men’s Clothing Store. Capra & Cavelli — which sells exquisite suits alongside casual apparel — figured in a full 46 percent of the vote.
A nationwide, youth-targeted chain, Urban Outfitters, and a local, hip joint, Service Menswear, battled for second place. The first slipped by the second 12 percent to 11 percent.
Men’s Wearhouse measured up to 8 percent, while Buffalo Exchange brought in 7 percent. Upscale Jos. A. Bank rang up 6 percent.
Hutson, Estilo, Keepers, Blackmail, Slate and Creatures — rounded out the list with 2 percent or less.
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October 17, 2009
Charity Bash at Mana Culture
I can barely contain my admiration for Charity Bash.
Pake Stephens and Jennifer Martison
The youthful gang of fundraisers has made philanthropy the coolest game in town.
Michael Sorrels and M.J. Roberts
They understand that one must give good party — food, drink, entertainment, atmosphere, style — and that can be done without breaking the bank. Or taking away from the charities in the limelight.
Leilah and Michael Cantos-Busch
Friday night, the Bashers made good at Mana Culture, an accessories boutique on South First Street.
Jahvani and Jonathan Sievert
Early on, the event was peppered with puppies, infants and painted servers. Excellent food and music.
Amy Johnson, Natalia Wasko, Lacy Lloyd and Lauren Munselle
Mana owners Jonathan and Jahvani Sievert have lent a worldly Pacific feel to their line, which is also still available on South Congress Avenue as well. We wish our new neighbors the best.
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October 8, 2009
Little Black Dress Design Contest at Blackmail
“And nobody cried …”
Designer Malissa Long and model Shelby Carrothers
That was one measure of success for Gail Chovan, organizer of the second annual Little Black Dress Design Contest at Blackmail.
Chris Krager and filmmaker Amy Grappell
There’s a definite “Project Runway” aspect to the event: Local designers compete through a challenge — here, creating a response to Coco Chanel’s little black dress — then judges deliver public critiques in front of the designers and their models.
Judge and fashion writer Marques Harper and event organizer Gail Chovan
Several innovations helped streamline the event, such as limiting the verbal critiques to the eight finalists after a showing of the 20 competing dresses.
James and Cristana Holmes (owner of Olivia restaurant) and Evan Voyles (Neon Jungle)
Also, the showing was moved to the front of Blackmail, Chovan’s dress shop on South Congress Avenue, for better views from either side of the window.
Jana Boose Miller, Linda Wagner and Laura EliasonN
The distinguished judges — Stephen Moser, Linda Asaf, Marques Harper, Anne Elizabeth Wynn — kept their criticisms polite, learned. Mostly, however, they gushed over those lovely little dresses.
Cheline Jaidar and Stephanie Topoglus Rice
As well they should.
Deborah Carroll (Mamma Jamma Ride) and Nina Seely (Ralph Lauren)
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September 25, 2009
Tribeza Style Week Street Party at the Domain
For the casual consumer like myself, Tribeza Style Week is a welcome way to sample the world of fashion …
Dale Dewey and Karen Landa
Now that Tribeza magazine is published by stylish power couple Karen Landa and Dale Dewey, along with George Elliman, Style Week is even more prominent on the social scene …
Bailey Blackmore and Gerald Shilow
Tuesday, a tiny portion of the spotlight at the Tribeza Style Week fashion show was snatched away by the Bravo TV crew test-shooting a proposed reality series. But it only brought the event more publicity …
Andrea McWilliams and Madison McWilliams
Thursday’s main event was a street party at the Domain, which included performances by the Zach Theatre crew (At Neiman Marcus, I caught part of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” which I really must see before it closes).
Laura Benedict and Rebecca Schoolar in “Beehive” gear
Just as importantly — and this is underestimated by those who doubt the efficacy of social reporting — I picked up tips that could easily turn into ever more news stories.
Graydon Parrish and Heath Riddles
There’s more than one way to peel that news onion.
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September 23, 2009
Austin is becoming Dallas. Really?
Let’s talk Dallas. Not the TV show. The city. Or at least the mythical city.
Let’s look at the word “pretentious.” First definition according to the online Free Dictionary: “Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified.” Traditionally, Dallas would fall under that usage, since it often compares itself to New York City or other sophisticated centers.
Austin never does. It’s the original of its genre. It’s not pretending to be anything else, even when it builds condos, welcomes celebrities or dresses up a tad for evening events. Those are just different expressions of Austin.
What about the term “Dallas”? When I moved here in the 1980s, the most poisonous accusation was “Houstonization.” It fit well to the sprawling, untamed, indistinguishable freeway cultures spoking out from Austin’s center.
Now, the civic pejorative is more likely to be “Dallas.” And the reason is clear: People here do dress up a bit more on certain nights. Prices at restaurants, clubs and shops are higher. People come from more varied backgrounds.
But before you go crazy, think about Austin’s most-traveled and of-the-moment shopping and restaurant district — SoCo. Among more than 100 businesses, exactly one comes from out-of-town or national-chain: American Apparel.
These are expressions of Austin’s culture, not of Dallas’. So where are the cultural traitors? I’m not seeing them, at least not in the urban core.
Dallas is about money. Austin is about soul. No amount of Austin-generated fashion, celebrities or condos will change that
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'Real Housewife' rumors at re-energized Tribeza Fashion Show
My heart sank and my stomach churned when I heard the rumor …
Bill and Venus Strawn, Mary and Rusty Tally
At the Tribeza Fashion Show, we heard Bravo was poking around to shoot a “Real Housewives” edition here …
Sandy Kao, Gerald Tan and Mani Tyler
I’m sorry, the shows are entertaining and everything (ask comedian Kathy Griffin, who can re-enact entire episodes) …
Eric and Maria Groten
But Orange County, New Jersey and Atlanta look so tawdry on the series (or, depending on your point of view, more tawdry) …
Why not Dallas? Now there’s a rich, deep mine of crazy …
Bethany Boucher and Ethan Shropshire
John Koriot, Kristi Stotts and Jessica Duarte
The rumors distracted from the re-energized Tribeza Fashion Show on the Long Center Plaza, where the rain gods relented and a cool breeze brushed the hillside …
Lauren Smith Ford and Patty Hoffpauir
VIP tents offered short visits with clutches of pretty people and little delicacies …
My-Cherie Haley and George Elliman
Then the fashion show started on a long, long runway, interrupted at times by guests walking the runway themselves (including the equivalent of a fashion show streaker). Bad manners …
Of the collections, I was most attracted to those paraded by Keepers and By George, but there were many layered, fascinating clothes …
Josue Robles and Abraham Padilla
Thomas Urgento and Dagny Piasecki
The show might have been a second or two too long, but what a great kick-off for Tribeza Style Week. Salud!
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September 22, 2009
How not to dress when you go out in Austin
Dismiss the following, if you will, as “periodic columnist rant syndrome.”
Recently, a fine local charity staged a benefit at a snazzy Austin hotel. The event started in the early evening, perhaps to let parents relieve babysitters at a decent hour, or so folks could arrive directly from work.
I know, not the kindest remark. And this column is devoted to kindness. But oh my, the unflattering looks one encounters on this beat.
You see, as work-wear has become more casual in Austin, the same apparel doesn’t always translate past dusk.
The main crime, however, is ill-fitting clothes. We’re not referring to costliness, or quality, or rarity, or body types, or high fashion, but just clothes that compliment the individual figure.
For women, moving from the office to the ballroom, lounge or club starts with something as simple as visiting a salon within the last month or so. Then, once you arrive, check hair and make-up in the nearest women’s room.
Cover up what needs covering. (Ditto uncovering.) And embellish otherwise bland office-wear with a brilliant scarf or other accessories, the things everyone notice first.
For men, the fashion crimes intensify, because we are not expected to shine at these events. Is a pressed sports coat too much to ask for? And if you go without jackets during our six months of jungle heat, can the slacks at least match the belt, shirt and shoes? Khakis and other easy-fit clothes can look sharp, but what works on the golf course does not always adapt well over cocktails and cuisine.
I saved the worst for last: There was a man — not a boy — a man in shorts.
Now, I wear jeans, T-shirts and polos to the newsroom. And shorts are fine for the lake, backyard barbecues and certain errands.
But, over a certain age, they should be banned from nightlife. Nothing is more distressing, walking down Congress Avenue, or heading to one of Austin’s entertainment districts, than the sight of an over-40 man who really should know better, dressed as if he were still living in West Campus.
Wear what you want, of course. This is not Dallas.
But be considerate of your hosts. Wear nicer clothes to nicer events. And just glance in the mirror once before going out.
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September 16, 2009
The Beauty of Life at Renaissance Austin Hotel
Charity and style share a long, entwined history. In Austin, that tradition has been extended annually — and gracefully — by the Beauty of Life luncheon to benefit Hospice Austin.
Lisa Jessup, Helen Watkins and Mackenzie Martin
Tuesday, almost all the guests were women. So much so, speakers addressed the crowd as “Ladies …” And these women were unquestionably self-selected for the fashion and shopping genes.
Jean Marie Dina and Susan Shaffer
In fact, bracketing the luncheon, speeches and demonstrations were opportunities — to shop! A good portion of the atrium of the Renaissance Austin Hotel was rearranged into a bazaar for high-end goods and services. There, one could also pose for fashion spread in media event sponsor Glossy magazine (photographed by the talented Annie Ray, hers entirely superior to my party snaps shown here).
Patti David and Justin Porter
Spirited Anne Elizabeth Wynn, dressed in a boldly geometric red-and-black suit, emceed the luncheon portion of the event. She introduced Hospice Austin staff, volunteers and board members. We were reminded of the essential care provided by the nonprofit that started out as Christopher House.
Tammy Hale, Eric Sheppard and Jill Skinner
Then Wynn brought to the stage New York fashion maven Charla Krupp, whose best-selling “How Not to Look Old” is packed with tips for women of a certain age. She endorsed energetic engagement with life, Madonna-like confidence and dressing neither too old or too young. (Skirts right at the knees, ladies!)
Lisa Miller, John Miller and Amy Hansen
Krupp came with Do Bee and Don’t Bee fashion slides and a suitcase full of clothes to unload: Mamma jeans, muffin-top jeans, sweatpants, oversize T-shirts, etc. While most of her advice followed basic common sense, her presentation was light, amusing and sprinkled with local references. Ideal for a light luncheon.
Marjorie Mulanax and Anne Elizabeth Wynn
Earlier, four Hospice Austin employees paraded across the stage after style makeovers. Sometimes I think makeovers are over-rated. But the visual transformations from the “before” images projected on screens to the “after” effects before our eyes was pretty startling.
Absolute truth: I thought Hospice Austin executive director Marjorie Mulanax, who sat across the table from me, was actually a model, dressed as she was in an exquisite silver-gray outfit and coiffed to perfection. Also, she didn’t touch her lunch. Until after her makeover spotlight moment.
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September 14, 2009
2009 Fortunate 500: Style
2009 FORTUNATE 500
STYLE
For a previously posted micro-profile of Zion Francis, go here.
Linda Asaf. Linda Asaf Design, Downtown Austin Alliance
Chris Cantoya. Mint Owl
Jamie Chioco. Chioco Design
Gail Chovan and Evan Voyles. Blackmail, Neon Jungle
Stephanie Coultress and Todd O’Neill. Estilo
Katy and Matthew Culmo. By George
Giacomo Forbes. Giacomo Forbes Hair Studio
Lauren Smith Ford and Bennett Ford. Tribeza
Alyson Fox. www.alysonfox.com
Roy Fredericks. Avant Salon
My-Cherie and Anthony Haley. Shimmer & Bliss Accessories, Webber Productions, HRWK Global, Seton Forum, Austin Black Lawyers Association, Digital Media Council, StrataTX
Jenny Hart. Sublime Stitching, Austin Fashion Awards
Patty Hoffpauir. Hospice Austin, Beauty of Life, School of Human Ecology
Evelyn Jackson. JR Salon Spa
Barbara Kelso. Ann Kelso Salon and CitySpa
Jeff Kirk. Kirk Gallery
Monica and Hank Korman. Russell Korman Fine Jewelry
Karen Landa and Dale Dewey. Tribeza, St David’s Foundation, Ballet Austin, Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum, Hospice Austin
Jane Vanisko McCan. Shiki
Sherry Matthews and Dick Clark. Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing, Dick Clark Architecture
Lance Avery Morgan. Brilliant
Joel Mozersky. One Eleven Design, La Condesa, Malverde
Nancy Nichols. Neiman Marcus
Shirley Pinkson. W3LL
Michael Portman. Birds Barbershop
Jayson Rapaport. Birds Barbershop
Talena Rasmussen and Lizelle Villapando. Parts & Labour, New Bohemia, New Brohemia, Little Bohemia
Vickie Roan. The Menagerie, Long Center
Allen Ruiz. Jackson Ruiz Salon
Fern and Jerre Santini. Abode, Austin Museum of Art, SnatchLatch
Kendra Scott. Kendra Scott Design, LifeWorks, Dell Children’s Medical Center
Shaesby Scott. Shaesby Jewelry
Nina and Frank Seely. Ralph Lauren, Long Center, People’s Community Clinic of Austin, Austin Jazz Workshop
Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato. Eliza Page, Zocalo Design & Advertising
Connie Strang. Avant Salon
Tracey Overbeck Stead. Tracey Overbeck Stead Interior Design
Megan Summerville. Sew Sister Fabrics, 2009 Texas’ Next Top Designer
Sue Webber. Sue Webber Productions
COMPLETE 2009 FORTUNATE 500 LISTS:
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September 13, 2009
Night of the Child Gala at the Four Seasons
There’s almost no way to have a bad time at the Four Seasons …
Amanda Dudley, Jessica Gerard and Ann Davis
Which is why it remains a top destination for Austin galas …
Daniel and Julia Mercado
On a night crammed with social options, I spent part of Sunday evening at Night of the Child …
Ashleigh and Greg Wilkes
It raises money for A World for Children. It’s a group — new to me — that provides services for children in foster care …
Lacie Ritchie and Ellen Troxclair
The gimmick of the gala were gowns from St. Thomas boutique, auctioned through sealed bids with minimums starting at $89 …
Sharon Willis, Monica Burcham and Haythem Dawlett
Considering that the priciest outfit — lace-like coat worn here by fave model Bobbie Ragsdale — whatever you bid would be a bargain …
While the silent auction in the lobby seemed normal — how many signed Longhorn footballs or jerseys can we bid on? — the gown display was a bit innovative …
Bobbie Ragsdale, Heather Shaw
Models circulated through all the corridors, wearing identifying numbers as well as the apparel …
Oscar Laimez and Monika Sunholz
Since many of the female guests were also suitably gussied up, it was sometimes hard telling the models from the would-be purchasers …
Andy and Alissa Hutton
I love charity events where I know almost no one. (It means the universe of social givers continues to expand.) …
Summer Burns and Nate Paul
And here, I just knew the pros — models, auctioneers, photographers, waiters — the usual Four Seasons gang.
Jim and Julie Lavender
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September 7, 2009
Fortunate 500 Top Picks: Style
The Top Picks for the 2009 Fortunate 500 list of socially active area citizens were published in Glossy on Friday. In Out & About, we’ll mete out those Top Picks over the next few days. Then, beginning Tuesday, we’ll release the full lists and galleries.
Top Pick: Zion Francis.
She’s more than a top Austin model, actress, civil engineer and soon-to-be sustainability consultant. Often, Zion Francis — known simply as Zion —is the light of random Austin social gatherings. One’s eye can’t get enough of her — slender, poised, always styled a bit differently for each occasion. After graduating from the University of Texas, Zion worked as a model for clients such as Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Sak’s, Lake Austin Spa and Resort, NIKE, Tribeza’s Style Week and Rare Magazine. She’s also served as a runway instructor and a guest host on the Food Network’s “Rescue Chef.” She plays a character in an educational cartoon series and has been featured in Essence Magazine. She won the first-ever critics choice prize for Best Female Fashion Model at the Austin Fashion Awards. When she’s not working? “I enjoy outdoor adventure sports, international eco-traveling, and all things healthy and socially conscious,” she says. Hard to beat that.
For more 2009 Fortunate 500 updates, follow the category link below.
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August 30, 2009
Art + Style Poolside Fashion Show at Amli on 2cd
Boutique sampler shows are finicky creatures …
Sonia and Anthony Dominguez
You know, the ones where several shops send some unrelated merchandise down a runway …
William Buchanan and Sonja Sorensen
Where’s the idea? What’s the context? …
Lacey Pack and Michelle Flores
Saturday’s Art + Style Poolside Fashion Show at Amli on 2cd for Austin Art Alliance proved a sterling exception to this rule, partly because Jen Shoemaker, now of the Phoenix, was involved …
Brent and Laura Lane
First, the setting: The apartment tower’s pool deck during a rosy sunset, the conditions comparatively dry and cool …
Barbara Ann Kelso, Cherie Matthews and Sloan Foster
Then there were the refreshments: Little stands that demonstrated how to construct a Bombay Sapphire Collins: You made it yourself, with help …
Julia Mooradian and Matt Campbell
Then the runway — a bridge over the long, narrow pool … And DJ Kurupt spinning some of my favorite tunes at just the right volume for each part of the evening …
Viviane Mitchell and Braxton Clement
But wait! Where were the lights? It’s dusk now! (I joined another guest redirecting the theatrical lighting focused on the gin stands, not the models!) …
Laura Clemmer, Brett Coleman and Caroline Hughes
Then came the summery wear from shop after shop along West Second Street …
Erin Rivers, Jo Ong and Valerie Jayne
Some strappy, some flowing, some tight: It all looked of one cloth, meaning from the same mind’s eye …
Brittani Flanagan, Arika Haynes and Virginia Le
All young. All nightlife-ready. Not that all of it worked — the denim especially looked bland from a distance, and a couple pieces didn’t fit at all — but enough to make for a thoroughly satisfying runway show.
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August 28, 2009
Young Women's Alliance Fashion Show at the Parish
This abbreviated post virtually defines drive-by reporting …
Gina Whitney and Lori Lewis
On a busy Thursday night, I had hoped to cover the Young Women’s Alliance fashion show …
Julia Genin and Lauren Oholendt
Striding down East Sixth Street, I could spy a long line of stylishly dressed people outside the Parish …
Travis Wester and Jessica Pierce
I thought about the line. I thought about how stuffy and close the Parish can get with a large crowd. I thought about the rest of the night …
Marshall Kenderdine and Katie Blount
Forgive me. Instead of forcing my way upstairs, I chatting with folks in line and took their pictures …
Dimple Patel and Krystal Stone
I’m sure everything went well inside. Later that evening, I caught up with the new season of “Project Runway” to make up for it.
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August 26, 2009
Your A-List: Best Vintage Store
Top-notch or trashy, you’ll find the right look at Austin vintage stores. And usually for a fair price. It may take some shopping around, but that’s part of the larger sartorial undertaking, right?
Buffalo Exchange, national chain based in Tucson, Ariz. and represented in Austin on the Upper Drag, stampeded into second place with 17 percent. Amelia’s Retro-Vogue & Relics on South Lamar Boulevard and Goodwill outlets at numerous locations were not far behind with 13 percent and 11 percent respectively.
Stocking the finals slots were Room Service (5 percent); New Bohemia (4 percent); as well as Big Bertha’s, Flashback, Salvation Army and Feathers, all at 2 percent.
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August 19, 2009
Your A-List: Best Place to Buy Fashion Accessories
Always choose the accessories last. That’s what people notice. And, after following the social circuit, I can attest that’s true. A bright scarf, a richly hued tie, a flattering necklace, a fashionable watch — they all catch the eye first.
The winner, however, is Luxe, also known as Luxe Apothetique. Located in the Domain, it’s a full-service establishment, with hair, skin, gift and apparel functions, as well as delicious accessories.
Emeralds, the longtime, bustling shop on Lamar Boulevard formerly known as Emeralds and Coconuts, came in second with 14 percent.
All the rest — Goodie Two Shoes, Downstairs Apparel, Girl Next Door, Parts and Labour, SoLA, New Bohemia, Peyton’s Place, Eliza Page, Blackmail, Creatures, Garden Room, Feathers, Minx, Shiki, Estilo and By George — crowded together at less than 10 percent.
Hey, you might not guess by looking at me, but I shop at some of these places!
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July 31, 2009
DeanFredrick Austin at Eliza Page
Jeweler Dean Fredrick and boutique owner Elizabeth Serrato won golden boots at the Austin Fashion Awards.
Elizabeth Serrato and Dean Fredrick
So they teamed up for a party at Serrato’s Eliza Page shop on West Second Street.
Sara Boynton and Stacy Waupsh
Shiny singles and couples mingled among the shiny merchandise and wall surfaces. (Meaning my photos came out a bit shiny, too.)
Heather Attridge, Kevin Boos
I like that both winners emphasize local design and artisanship.
Bryttany Anastas, Chase Bradley
Film maker and casting agent Amy Grappell, music promoter Ihor Gowda and stylists Tracy O’Hargan and Eric Massey were in attendance. Event promoter N.C. Diaz introduced me to a stunning Chef Coi from “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Chef Coi, Eric Massey
The style sector is where everyone cool in Austin seems to meet up.
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July 20, 2009
Austin Fashion Awards at The Long Center
Style writer Marques Harper has already said it all, and said it well …
Alpha Rev revs up Austin Fashion Awards
The first-ever Austin Fashion Awards ceremony could have been a disaster …
Illson and Samantha Santoski at the Austin Fashion Awards
It was not …
Tecla Cosgrove, Jon Hubble and Monica Burcham at the Austin Fashion Awards
Given media check-in at 4:30 p.m. and red carpet at 5 p.m. …
Tolly Moseley at Rene Geneva at the Austin Fashion Awards
The show got a very slow start at the Long Center …
Chelle Morison and Sierra Edgar at the Austin Fashion Awards
But how can you argue when the festivities are charged up by your favorite Austin band, Alpha Rev? … And the next band is the Soldier Thread, another in my Top 10?
Matt and Debbie Livingston at the Austin Fashion Awards
The theatrical mechanics of the event were a little loosey-goosey …
Penny Jackson and Kia Matthews at the Austin Fashion Awards
But hey, having put together the no-budget Austin Critics Table Awards ceremony with fellow arts journalists for almost 20 years …
DJ Kurupt and Jen Shoemaker at the Austin Fashion Awards
I can attest that this show was pretty impressive and ambitious …
Masae Falcon and Jake Lewis at the Austin Fashion Awards
I agree with Harper: More images needed, more transparency in the process and more respect for some of the fashion elders in town …
Marlena Cole and Rudy Dunbar at the Austin Fashion Awards
I’m just glad nobody mocked the silver-gray-on-black embroidered Fender shirt I tried to pull off …
Robert Edward and Lacey Austin at the Austin Fashion Awards
I’m no clothes horse. More like a clothes mule! And the few Fender-ized photos I’ve spotted of me on Facebook were instantly untagged (no fault of the shooters) …
Sarah Freitas and Tre Dotson at the Austin Fashion Awards
Back to the show and the week: They broke ground and deserve a second iteration …
Katie Moran an Jason Lindenschmidt at the Austin Fashion Awards
Big toasts to Matt Swinney, whose vision lifted Austin fashion up where it belongs …
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July 17, 2009
Mint Owl Fashion Show at Blu
Walking through the tropical heat …
Leslie Yates, Mark Mitchell
To Thursday’s Fashion Week parties meant that I arrived late to some …
Lindsay Grivich, Kly Ynostrosa
Like the Mint Owl Fashion show at Blu, the cool little lounge at the base of the 360 Tower …
Kyle Kemp, Calvin Friesth
Yet designer Chris Cantoya and organizer Jessica James’s magic lingered in the air (with a strong presence from Keepers men’s wear) …
Chris Cantoya, Jessica James
Blu’s social attractions have improved since George Gutierrez — formerly of Olso and Pangaea, eventually of the Peacock — took on the project …
George Gutierrez, Isaac Carrasco
Social engagers of all ages lingered inside and along the sidewalk, some clearly models for Cantoya’s visions …
Gena McGill, Olin McGill
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Yelp StyleXplosion at Mohawk
Sometimes, the most engaging social action simmers outside the party …
Camille Dehaney, Clayton Fry, Emeka Okorafor
The Yelp StyleXplosion — part of Austin Fashion Week — at Mohawk was packed like a Czech sausage …
Lauren Smith, Corissa Wandmacher, Cesar Calderon
The line strung around the corner of 10th and Red River Streets, which broiled, despite the setting sun …
Ravel Thai, Sheila Chin, Marsha Chang
Still, the folks in line easily entertained each other …
Sarah Schweppe, David Goodman, Kitty Kress
Coincidentally, at least one person (Marsha Chang) shared the outside line with me at my last Yelp social event …
J.D. Medrano, Thy-Ann Nguyen, Amena Sengal
Eventually, I skedaddled. Four more parties on my list after this. Heard from Miro Rivera’s Clayton Fry — and other sources — that the party inside proved equally entertaining. Next time …
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Austin Fashion Week Party at Shiki
Were I a woman …
Shawn Farmer, Kelly Butz
Or maybe a transvestite, I would have walked to my six downtown parties last night …
Kezia Warner, Adrienne Yunger
In one of Shiki’s cool, draping, ’60s-inspired, yet thoroughly contemporary outfits …
Jane Vanisko McCan, Laura Estes
Instead, I wore tight black pants and a fairly loose Calvin Klein shirt …
Tres Beale, Coleen Bradley
Still, I delighted in meeting the women at Shiki on West Second Street …
Jamie Parker, Twila Vogelsass
They’ve got a way …
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July 15, 2009
Austin Fashion Week Kickoff at DeanFredrick
What’s a trend-spotter to do?
Claudia Blanchette, Erin Morrill
Like style reporter Marques Harper, I’m finding the first wondrous Austin Fashion Week difficult to digest.
Michael Palombo, Dean Fredrick
Hundreds of events, often at the same time. No matter. We face this every spring and fall during music and film festival time.
Brooke Truan, Isadora Truan, Laura Grable
My first visitation was to drop by DeanFredrick, the chic jeweler improbably ensconced on East Fifth Street between Studio 501 and Progress coffeehouse.
Jennie Chen, John Knox
I found a snappy crowd there, some leafing through catalogs for the company’s serial sparklers, others posing for fashion photographs.
Annie Ray, Cassie Little
Michael Palombo of Mulberry supplied the edibles. Graham Wilkison sang and strummed softly in a corner. Claudia Blanchette invited me to the Austin Hand-Made re-opening on Thursday. (Now that will be a busy night!) And I met Dean Fredrick, whom I promised to revisit, when the crowds from Fashion Week dissipate.
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July 10, 2009
Envy Magazine Party at SoLa Condos
South Lamar Boulevard bustles with potential.
Jacob Cottingham, Catherine Nicole
It lacks the compact, pedestrian-friendly density of South Congress Avenue — and traffic along the boulevard can be daunting — but SoLa is catching up with SoCo in other ways.
Mackenzie Price, Mark Bennett
For instance, projects like the SoLa condos on Bluebonnet Lane. Moderately priced (for central Austin), vertical and set up for entertaining, these residences throw in a view of downtown from many third floors.
Bart Padar, Pansy Cornett, Brian Cornett
We explored several units during an Envy Magazine party, staged the help of restaurants (Primizie, Rio Grande, etc.), the inevitable Sweet Leaf Tea and AustinArtGarage.com, which dressed the walls with local work.
Jim Trungle, Heather Carroll, Jason Hill
Think about it: South Lamar is bracketed by two magnificent amenities, Central Market and Whole Foods. It offers a range of eateries, from Uchi and Olivia to Maria’s Tacos and Sazón. Top-notch entertainment can be had at the Broken Spoke, Saxon Pub and Alamo Drafthouse. Dozens of boutiques and more mundane shops line the boulevard.
Michael Perez, Mayra Rowley
Now if they could give it real sidewalks and a sustained visual identity.
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June 28, 2009
'Layin' In the Cut' Fashion Show at the Copa
Two sets of dancers were scheduled to prance the runway at the Copa …
Israel Campos, Vanessa de Becze
Several local fashion designers supplied their fineries …
Scott Veggeberg, Bennet Pifer
Music? Prepped. Drinks? Cold …
Lance Lepovitz, Lizzy Dupont
Where was the show? …
Valeri Abrego-Liszewski, Maggie Maye
I know, I know. I should be used to it by now …
Boogie Bones, Chrissy Mason
But if you ask people to show up at 9 p.m., then well after 10 p.m. nobody is making a move toward the stage, I’m sorry …
Shauna Danos, Garrett Reist
Best of shows to you. I mean it, but I’m gone …
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June 26, 2009
StrataTX Fashion Show at Kirk Gallery
Austin fashion shows have evolved …
Teresa Cantu, My Cherie Haley, Kristen Shestko, Megan O’Leary
Runways and theatrics are optional …
Laura Aidan, Chris Cantoya
The StrataTX accessories display Wednesday at Kirk Gallery proved a case in point …
Jennifer Wijangco, Katy Daiger
Models migrated to a few, scattered pedestals during the 30-minute showing …
Carly Morris, John Chapman
All the merchandise could be seen up-close, described by an emcee and the Austin designers themselves …
Simon Boyce, Meg Merritt
StrataTX is the youth support group for the Texas Cultural Trust …
Nick Ducoff and Elizabeth Sigal
And the show was assembled by My Cherie Haley and her company, Shimmer and Bliss …
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June 20, 2009
Happy Hour at Joie de Vie
As beauty shops evolved into salons, which themselves evolved into spas, any number of enticements drew customers. Massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, apparel, entertainment — the list of luxuries goes on and on.
Emily Hatfield, Erick Sanger
So why not happy hours to jumpstart the weekend? Joie de Vie on East Sixth Street is not the first to try this strategy. Yet it’s the first to snag me in its honey trap.
Sara Garza, Linz Sessions
In conjunction with Beauty Bar, the large, multi-level salon and spa hosts cool, little Friday happy hours. A DJ upstairs. A bartender downstairs. (Both inked unto supersaturation.)
Annette Beavers, Dawn Hill, Christina White
It’s an excuse to try a new cocktail, start a new conversation, make a new contact or friend.
Julie Debarros, Miguel Angel (DJ Details)
Only one thing missing: Event valet parking. Personally, I can park and walk — or just walk — but many customers are intimidated by that particular stretch of East Sixth, in the shadow of Interstate 35. Why not hire one who’ll work for tips during such operations?
Andrianna Factor, Emily Gerson
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May 22, 2009
Austin Foundation for Architecture at Austin City Lofts
When Larry Speck arrived in Austin during the 1970s, colleagues warned him that little or no top-notch architectural design was practiced in the city.
Paul Woodruff, Larry Speck
He discovered they were right. But Austin has changed tremendously since then. And the city is flocked with high-level designers.
Louise Harpman, Lucia Woodruff
Now architects and their allies are promoting good design through the Austin Foundation for Architecture, which complements the influences of AIA-Austin, Downtown Austin Alliance, University of Texas School of Architecture and others.
Melba Whatley, Ted Whatley
Thursday, Speck was one of the hosts for a Discover Design progressive dinner at the Austin City Lofts, which he designed and where he now lives. Our first stop was the corner, two-bedroom unit of elegantly put-together Louise Harpman, who had encouraged me to attend on a night when I was tidying up newsroom assignments before a long weekend.
Chad Marsh, Jennifer Marsh
Her concrete, metal and glass unit is decorated with old, functional objects, like wooden, industrial tools and theatrical wig stands. On the top floor, we explored the split-level penthouse of Heather McKinneyand John Pomeroy. Dominated by a 20-foot-high wall of books on one side and dramatic views on two others, this is urban living at its most alluring.
Laura Bohls, Rex Bohls
I couldn’t stay to eat, or to examine Speck’s own digs, but I hope to do that someday. From top to bottom, the Austin City Lofts tower is expertly finished. Credit Speck, who designed the Barbara Jordan Terminal at ABIA, the Austin Convention Center, the buildings that flank Austin City Hall and other familiar monuments.
John Pomeroy, Heather McKinney
I talked at length with Melba Whatley, who helps oversee the architectural development of the St. Edward’s University campus, where I teach. Already, international design magazines are swooping down to profile the school’s thoughtful building additions.
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May 20, 2009
Your A-List, Best Place to Get Your Hair Did
Winner of the A-List vote for Best Place to Get Your Hair Did is the appropriately named — but still not widely known — Beauty Store Salon and Spa, found at multiple locations. The company glammed up 39 percent of the vote. Primping not far behind was rapidly expanding Avant with 32 percent.
Jackson Ruiz, one of the first to offer a fully modern beauty experience, combed out 6 percent, just ahead of the self-consciously ironic Birds Barbershop at 5 percent. Salon Sirrah, Wet Salon, Ann Kelso and Salon 505 bunched together, as did Vain, Urban Betty, Zig Zag, Maximum FX, Electra, Roar, Fringe and Path. Trimming the last spots were Bradz and Method.
Note: The Internet image attached to the text is not related to the Beauty Store. We could find nothing — a first for Your A-List reports — from Beauty Store to use for our posting. Open to suggestions…
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May 12, 2009
Austin glamour revisited 3
For Parts 1 & 2 of this reworking of the Austin glamour topic, see posts below.
Nightlife. Believe it or not, this was the glamour sector to emerge last. Austin always supported scores of music venues, gay clubs, beer halls and shot bars. Now, nightlife has spread well beyond East Sixth Street and the Warehouse District. A punky, indie scene hunkers down on Red River Street while an early-night, young-professional agglomeration strings along West Sixth Street. Still developing: Ultra-lounges like Pangaea, Qua, Imperia, Malverde and Buzios Room that pander to the bold and the beautiful.
And sports. Don’t forget sports: National and international celebrities like Lance Armstrong, Andy Roddick and Mack Brown call Austin home.
With all this glam, has Austin lost its soul? Nah. All those pretty people? They’re Austinites. So still open, active and authentic. You’ve got my word for it.
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May 11, 2009
Austin glamour revisited 2
For Part 1 of this reworking of the Austin glamour topic, see post below.
Arts. During the 2000s, the city’s arts scene grew up. Austin always produced artists. It just didn’t have places to put them. Now, the Long Center for the Performing Arts gives a home to the indigenous symphony, opera, ballet and theater troupes, while the Blanton Museum of Art provides the University of Texas’ outstanding collections a dignified home. Hot spots like the Mexican American Cultural Center and Carver Museum and Cultural Center opened recently. Warehouse theaters and collective galleries spread everywhere, especially in East Austin (don’t miss the East Austin Studio Tour in November). Watch out for new digs for the deserving Austin Museum of Art and Zach Theatre in the next decade.
More to come …
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Austin glamour revisited 1
The following short series of posts reworks previous reporting and writing on Austin’s glamour scene, this time for our This is Austin newcomer magazine.
That’s right, funky, green, laid-back, sandal-clad, guitar-toting, tech-dweeby Austin. A recent Travel & Leisure magazine poll rated Austin among the top cities for people-watching. In other words, tourists actually travel to Austin for its pretty people.
Whence came this Austin glamour?
Music. During the 1970s, musicians flocked to Austin. They played the blues, folk and progressive country. Sometimes all at once. Later, punk, rockabilly, indie, jazz, hip-hop and indie ambient scenes thrived. Something about all that rock-star glam rubbed off. Walk up and down South Congress Avenue if you don’t believe me. Or spend some time at the globally-influential South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival in March or the Austin City Limits Festival in October. Cool.
Movies. During the 1980s, the Austin Film Society and the University of Texas film program generated a tribe of highly original movie-makers including Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Elizabeth Avellan and Mike Judge. Later, stars such as Sandra Bullock, Dennis Quaid and Matthew McConaughey declared Austin their first or second home. The city also hosts two major film confabs: The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in March and the Austin Film Festival in October. Good times to spot stars.
More to come …
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May 8, 2009
Celestino for Dell Children's Medical Center Foundation at Spazio
Classic.
Venus Strawn, Sergio Guadarrama
Or at least classical.
Nevada Pressley, Daniel Zwiener, Shadia Omar
That’s the best way to describe Celestino.
Julie Maples, Caren Burbach, Monica Byram
That’s the line by Sergio Guadarrama, formerly of Austin, now of New York.
Tamara Dorrance, Lilly Moskal
A pristine runway show at the pristine furniture and art gallery Spazio showed off Guadarrama’s feminine, wearable designs.
Ana Perkins, Cyndy Perkins
Scalloped beads, stiff tops and soft drapes came in waves down the runway, a lot of it with a wedding sensibility.
Tyler Carr, Amer Elliot of Brilliant Magazine
The fashion show benefited — or at least showcased — the Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas, the city’s most successful nonprofit start-up.
Amber Kuhaneck, Ashley Escobar
In just a few years, it has raised more than $100 million for the new medical center at Mueller.
James Tohill, Everdil Tohill
As usual with Austin events, the guests and their attire skewed all the way from punky hip-hop to highly polished high fashion.
Lukas Ulrich, Adriana Gudarrama, Brett Worrell
And there’s still a place for a man in a cowboy hat.
The Celestino group.
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April 17, 2009
Ligne Roset Boutique Opening Reception
Sometimes I just rub my eyes. Surely I’ll wake up and the sudden improvements in Austin’s nascent glamor scene will have vanished like so many mirages.
Bruce Wolfe, Jennie Branch
But no. The city continues to attract top-notch retailers. Thursday night, Bruce Wolfe opened our town’s Ligne Roset boutique, a high notch on the mod meter inconceivable just a few months ago.
Antoine Roset, Jill Douglas
The venerable French design firm, headquartered near Lyons, joins a half dozen other modish furniture and art galleries in the Second Street district. (And those fit comfortably with the restaurants, bars, clothing shops and accessories outlets.)
Jamie Smith, Gary McGaughey
This imaginative yet clean-lined look certainly fits the lifestyles of the upwardly residential better than the Dallas-based apparel store that preceded it. I met Antoine Roset, the dashing fifth-generation representative of his furniture family. He works at the firm’s New York offices.
Laura Garanzuay, Diana Fuentes
Wolfe himself was in fine form, and thanked Austin designer Linda Asaf for encouraging him to open the boutique.
Armand Daniels, Nicole Ellison
I rarely mention the cocktails served at these events, but someone had the clever idea of serving sparkling drinks mixed with elegant St. Germain liqueur. Fit the mood exactly.
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Reception for Linda Asaf's Modern Goddess Collection
The perkiest news at designer Linda Asaf’s Modern Goddess Collection Reception was not the classically draped models floating from room to room at her West Sixth Street studios.
Maddie Goodnight, Shawn Goodnight, Danielle Evans
It was the promise that those studios would soon undergo a renovation, making them less boxy and confining in the homey former bungalow.
Michael Bridlinger, Megan Pinto
Of course the style community showed up for Asaf’s low-key showing, to paw the sensuous spring and summer fabrics.
Katherine Johnson, Karen Miller
That’s because Asaf remains among the most amiable and connected designers in town.
Chris Griffin, Dora Parrish
In fact, she was sending her guests onward to another party, the opening of Bruce Wolfe’s Ligne Roset boutique on West Second Street, which immediately followed hers.
Sharon Chen, Runi Weerasooriya
Generous and savvy. Having Lignet Roset in town is a cold fat juicy plum for the contemporary retail community. Asaf knows that.
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April 7, 2009
Media Relations 7: Five Media for Eliza Page
At the McCombs School of Business, students in Ben Bentzin’s marketing class spend a good chunk of the semester helping out local businesses with recently acquired skills. Banking off that premise, I geared my quickie media-relations workshop for those particular semester-long projects during two of Bentzin’s classes on Thursday.
I’m now tracking several students marketing/media relations groups. It will take a while to enter the reports into the system. I promise to follow them for at least a month.
As usual, each group of six or more students divided up the tasks of pitching me live — via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, texting, imaging, phone and face-to-face — and I responded honestly as a working journalist.
Student Group: Five Media
Austin Client: Eliza Page
Elizabeth Serrato’s Second Street District boutique, Eliza Page, is well known in style circles. So the student group, Five Media, had a problem: How to make Serrato’s story fresh?
Through electronic messages, they emphasized Serrato’s outreach to local jewelry designers. This is a promising pitch, but as of yet, too vague and general. Which designers? And why?
The vague pitch is hardly uncommon. I just received one from an Austin source who has been pushing his ballroom dancing program for what seems like decades, and it’s the same every time: Do a story on us. What story? Let’s be specific.
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April 1, 2009
The Last Hours of El Rey
A victim of timing, the El Rey Barber, Spa & Executive Club closed last night. Not with a whimper, but with a slam bang. A loud crowd — back-slapping, joking and sighing — crammed into the leather-clad lounge to say goodbye.
Although management reported a rise in demand for haircuts, mani-pedis, etc., it was too late. The overhead for its ground-floor spaces in the Plaza Lofts proved too high to sustain the traffic.
We spoke at length with Donaji Lira, who always brightened up El Rey, and to several regulars, like Mitch Jacobson, whose board services have included time with Austin Musical Theatre, One World Theatre and the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
I had planned to meet there with Bernie Siben, Austin’s former piano-bar star, who moved back to town a few months ago. El Rey proved too loud for our conversation, so we strolled down to La Condesa and tarried at the sidewalk seating.
Siben, originally from Brooklyn, tinkled the ivories during the 1970s and ’80s at clubs such as Casablana on 15th Street. He then spent 18 years in Dallas, where his day job allowed performances in that city’s several piano bars. He recently moved back here from Vidalia, Ca.
Now he’s looking for a piano bar to pursue his avocation. Good luck. We talked about the history of local cabaret during the last 20 years and how traditional piano bars — not counting novelty fun like Pete’s or hotel-lobby spots — never seem to take root. We’ll watch Siben to see if he can help make it happen here.
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March 25, 2009
Your A-List, Guiltiest Pleasure
This may be a first for Your A-List.
We received exactly one endorsement for this category: In Touch Med Spa.
OK, we’ll go with that.
According to its My Space page, this spa offers: “Facials, Endermologie, Medical Aesthetics, Chiropractic, Eyelash Extentions, Medical Weight Loss”
We called the listed number 328-0333 and confirmed that the establishment thrives at 3425 Bee Caves Road. It’s for real.
We wondered why it was hard to dig up information on In Touch. “Our Web site is still under construction,” apologized helpful office director Ajay Bryan.
Ah.
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March 11, 2009
Your A-List, Best Place to Score a Last-Minute Gift
A-List voters have done your work for you. They’ve voted on the best shops to score a last-minute gift. And Numero Uno was the local hardware store with the high-end accessories, Breed & Co., which attracted 20 percent of the vote. You can purchase flowers, plants, food, cookware and decorative accents as well as hammers, paint and ladders.
BookPeople — selling much more than just books — took second with 13 percent of the vote. Waterloo Records, which carries all your favorite local musicians, came in third with 12 percent. And look: Another hardware store, Zinger, scored fourth with 10 percent.
Several traditional Austin businesses did well in this category — Toy Joy (9 percent); Emeralds (8 percent); Sue Patrick (6 percent); Tesoros Trading Co. (6 percent); Terra Toys (4 percent). Following the parade with 3 percent or less are Aviary, Blanton Museum of Art gift shop, Sparks, Austin Museum of Art store, Mercury Design Studio and Big Red Sun.
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Helen Thompson Reception at Kirk Gallery
The Austin style community reveres writer and editor Helen Thompson. A certified veteran of local, regional and national publications, Thompson nevertheless maintains a rigorously contemporary tone and diction.
Elaine Garza, Helen Thompson
A little VIP party at Kirk Gallery downtown celebrated her editorship of Austin Monthly Homes, the domestic design, decor and lifestyle variation on the city slick, Austin Monthly.
Jeff Sartor, Tiffany Taylor, Leon Chen, all of Tiffs Treats Cookie Company
A certain cross-section of the guest list was foreseen: AM writers (J.B. Hager); AM reps (Ashley Nelson); AM publicists (Elaine Garza and gal pal Sam Davidson); AM or party vendors (we met a charming young man, Jeffrey Sartor, pushing his company’s delivered cookies — Tiffs Treats).
Stephen Moser, Jeff Kirk
Also present were the dear, inveterate socializers (Stephen Moser, Stephen Rice, Heath Riddles); the consummate host (Jeff Kirk) and Kirk Gallery neighbors (jewel-festooned Kappie Bliss and Charles Erwin from Beyond Tradition).
Ashley Nelson, Henry Burk
We also finally met Tad Speegle, whom we promised to introduce to Austin’s social scene, oh, a year ago, but we kept missing each other at parties. He wore some enormous, distinctive accessories which we are dying to ask about — along with that promised post-Vicodin martini.
Kathy Kelley, Bobby Bacon
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March 10, 2009
Toast of the Town Fashion Show at Neiman Marcus
Small is all this season. Organizers have scaled back galas. Social events that formerly would have filled banquet rooms are now making do with domestic arrangements.
Debbie Novelli Farrell, Tobie Funte
For some causes, this is nothing new. Toast of the Town, which benefits the Neal Kocurek Scholarships, has subdivided its fundraisers for 25 years. This season, between April and May, 25 mini-parties are planned for private homes.
Cara Abazari, Lindsey McDonald
Nobody makes all of them (or do they?). Especially since each event comes with a different dress code. That would mean 25 new outfits for some fashionistas. So Toast of the Town threw a fashion show at Neiman Marcus on Tuesday to help match those sometimes fanciful codes (Texas Glamour, Golf Formal, etc.).
Nora Myint, Vivian Lee
The celestial Karen Landa, remembering that I had written a Glossy column about such codes, invited me to the event, and Robert Nash came along to multiply the male factor at the event significantly.
Stacey Parker, Christina Hester
Like so many NM events, it was pitched just right. Only sad note: the store’s accessories specialist Jamie Broadhurst is leaving to help open a new Orange County store. Jamie has some serious fans out there in fashion land. We wish him luck.
Karen Landa Jamie Broadhurst, Cindy Busby (Toast co-chair)
What of the fashions on display? Everybody knows that’s not my specialty. Although I will applaud the return of rich colors and “investment shopping,” the only kind I’ve done.
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March 8, 2009
Faceted Jewel: Hogg/Garza House, 2
For Part 1, see post below …
The doctor is related to, but not directly descended from, Jim Hogg, the state’s first native governor, and his daughter, the Houston arts-and-parks patron Ima Hogg. He grew up mostly in Gilmer, along with other East Texas relatives in the Hogg family. A natural host, Hogg speaks with a Deep South lilt rarely heard in Austin.
Garza and Hogg met here — they were driving identical white Ford trucks, which started their first conversation — and while the doctor came with a family history of art collection, Garza also shares a love of Latino art, including Mexican painter Ruben Herrera, a distant relation, whose work will be exhibited at Mexic-Arte Museum soon.
The Mexic-Arte connection is not coincidental. In fact, for Garza and Hogg, it’s the main point for opening their home in April. The up-from-grassroots museum will hold its annual gala — a 25th anniversary celebration — at the home, instead in one of the usual downtown institutional suspects.
“By saving some money that might go to a hotel, we’re giving more money to the community,” says Mexic-Arte board president-elect Carlos Martinez, who promises a big announcement at the gala. “We’re going to put that $20,000 or $40,000 back into museum operations.”
“It’s especially exciting for us when you consider that architecture is also an art” says museum director Silvia Orozco.
Timely belt-tightening is a fair reason to hold a more domestic gala this season (other groups, including Austin Lyric Opera, are going that route). Yet I can guarantee that most of the expected 150 couples will come away with infinitely more descriptive storiesfrom the Garza/Hogg jewel than they would from a hotel ballroom.
The People’s Community Clinic gathering there Thursday buzzed like few other parties in months. Guests peeked into every cranny, relaxed on every terrace, scrutinized every view. The couple, who’ve been together six years, also plan a fundraiser for the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium.
“I was raised to leave the world a better place,” Garza says of his multi-generational Austin family.
Time will tell, but this faceted beacon could one day be considered a major player — perhaps a major masterpiece? — among all those mid-centuries.
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March 7, 2009
Faceted Jewel: Hogg/Garza House, 1
Swing around old West Lake Hills often enough, and through the oak-shrouded heights, one can spy dozens of modest-sized, mid-century, minor masterpieces.
Each geometric house sits on a solid base, at peace with a selected plane along the hillside. Split levels often cantilever over a view of downtown Austin, or another tree-mantled mount across the canyon.
Don’t worry. There’s always a view, as reliably as there’s always a big shade tree smack in front of every bungalow in Central Austin.
Curve long enough along the ridges above Westlake Boulevard and Red Bud Trail and you will encounter a newer home informed by its mid-century predecessor — it sits on the same raw footprint as a house owned by the former mayor of West Lake Hills — yet this contemporary wonder has been finely tooled into an exquisite jewel of a showplace.
Glass embraces every facet and interior spaces are built around a dual art collection — including a pale Dale Chihuly chandelier.
“I wanted an entertaining space and I wanted an art space,” says tall, willowy Dr. John Hogg, who shares the stunner with more earth-bound partner David Garza, who owns a construction company. “But most of all, I wanted a view from every room.”
Working with several designers, but settling on award-hoarder Kevin Alter, Hogg got what he wanted. The architect and the client climbed trees — “I’m a true tree-hugger,” Hogg says — for days to discover the most expansive views of downtown that would also provide privacy from prying eyes below their perch.
“We have no curtains,” Hogg says. “Someday, we’ll put up some sheers. But we rise with the sun and live by what’s outside our windows.”
A good deal of credit for the project goes to Janell Chesnut, Hogg’s mother, who helped find and secure the property when the then-Atlanta-based Hogg decided, after 9/11, “I didn’t want to die in Georgia.”
More to come …
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February 25, 2009
From the 42nd Floor of Spring
If you needed any persuasion that Austin’s high-rise residences provide exceptional amenities — or at least exceptional views — a visit to the 42nd floor of the Spring Condominiums last night would have changed your mind.
Susan Harrell, Kevin Winner, Karen Ruggiero
Folks lined up in Mardi Gras beads to take the construction elevator to the top floor, where 360-degree views of Austin flooded in with the sunset.
Amanda Winford, Mark Winford
Zowie! The green hills to the west, along with the lake, are visual lures, but I was most struck by the flattering views of downtown and the new towers to the east. (As one wag put it: “It’s like living in Hoboken (N.J.) because you can look back on Manhattan.”)
Lindsey Levin, Matt Levin
The crowd, which included condo buyers, inveterate downtowners and the plainly curious, couldn’t get enough of the spread and, especially, the faceted views.
Aundre Dukes, Thomas Bercy
Mock downtown condos if you will, but this is the kind of living one could get very used to.
Lindsey Dukes, Michael Casias
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February 4, 2009
Leadership Austin Engage Breakfast: Cracking Austin's Glamour Scene 4
You already have my opening remarks for the Engage Breakfast held by Leadership Austin at Chez Zee yesterday. The group, which trains Austin’s next round of community leaders in business and nonprofits, is so well organized, my thoughts were solidified and published online — posted in three parts as “Cracking Austin’s Glamour Scene” (follow the “Style” category link below — well in advance and employed for my print column yesterday.
Jeanne Guy, Lulu Flores, Megan Spencer
So instead, I’ll focus on three subjects that came up in the discussion and will be explored for future columns.
Paul Jaquez, Anish Michael
First, economist Jon Hockenyos took my idea of the glamour scene and added the concept of a “glamour class,” which he defined as people who move to Austin without needing a job here. They either come with settled means or they can work long-distance. So you don’t attract this class with a semiconductor plant or a construction job because they are here, instead, because they could live anywhere, but prefer Austin’s physical, social and cultural attractions. (He reminded everyone that the Texas Hill Country was listed as the No. 1 destination listed in the New York Times travel story earlier this year.)
Maria Adame, Edward Kargo, Liz Craft
Asking a familiar, but always important question, theater producer Jason Neulander asked if all the new downtown density and development would price artists out of Austin. This is a claim that Hockenyos and I had heard for years, but when I ask artists fed up with the cost of living here, where they are headed, they usually say “New York” or “San Francisco” or someplace with double, triple or quadruple our cost of living. I threw out the unquantified supposition that Austin hangs happily onto the lowest rung of “destination cities” for America’s young and restless. You could probably name 12-15 other places people say they like to move to — cost of living is higher in all of them. Must explore.
Bill Noble, Jane Garrison
One last question, asked by moderator Jim Walker, choked me up. In documenting Austin’s new cafe society — clustered around movies, fine dining, arts, nightlife, music and fashion — am I finding this to be a “white” scene, leaving out the city’s minorities? I can truthfully respond that I expected that, but instead I’ve been deeply gratified to find it not the case. Granted, those on the lowest end of the economic spectrum cannot usually participate in the glamour scene, but the there is gorgeously heterogeneous when it comes to race, age and sexuality.
I credit a younger generation, which doesn’t appear to classify people the way my generation did. And I am so beholden to them.
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January 30, 2009
Cracking Austin's Glamour Scene 3
For Parts 1 & 2, see posts below…
Let me offer two very different examples of how Austin’s new glamour scene intersects with its traditional social consciousness. Last Saturday, at the Austin Convention Center, an enormous gala raised more than $1 million for the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. That’s a number unheard of just a few ago, when Neiman-Marcus, considering its first Austin store, counted more than 120 charitable galas annually that might, not beside the point, also move their merchandise.
Why not just give the money directly to charities? After all, the collective bar tab for the J. Black’s event was likely double the amount raised for good causes. Because people are social animals — and their bonding over face-to-face socializing can lead to a deeper emotional investment in a philanthropic endeavor than just writing a check. (Volunteering can do a similar thing, but different roles attract different social actors.)
All this said, some of the loudest bashing of Austin’s cafe society has been muted by the national recession and its local implications. Signature restaurants — such as Mars, Castle Hill and Starlite — have closed, are closing or are being retooled. The next phase of the Domain has been postponed and several boutiques along Second Street are already shuttered or have been replaced. Ultra-clubs are changing their tunes — Pangaea is now offering that Austin stand-by, live music, while Qua has lowered its age limit and its dress standards.
But what of those who moved here to participate in this newest incarnation of Austin? Is the glamour scene sustainable? I’ll leave that to finer economic minds, but I’ve witnessed, locally and in my travels, no cessation of interest in Austin as a destination. The city still casts its spell.
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Cracking Austin's Glamour Scene 2
For Part 1, see post below:
For many Central Texans, Austin’s glamour scene is invisible. Nestled in older neighborhoods or cocooned in the suburbs, they hold firm to a notion and visual impression of the city well settled by the 1970s and somewhat immune to the vagaries of fashion.
The most persistent complaint has been that the new-fangled fine dining, fashion, nightlife, movie-making and even some indigenous arts and music are inauthentic, inherently shallow and alien to Austin’s laid-back, funky, socially conscious lifestyle. This combines with the age-old resentments against those with means to indulge in such “luxuries.”
I distinctly recall a neighborhood association meeting called in a living room three blocks from my South Austin house when the tide of opinion against the proposed Long Center for the Performing Arts in the 1990s was so high, one participant demanded that we “demonize” the arts backers as the same activists had traditionally done real estate developers.
The certainty that an arts center threatened Austin’s establishment “weirdness” also carried an social-justice message: Money spent on the such glamour-tarnished projects were essentially taking social services from the mouths of the city’s impoverished.
This false “either/or” mindset persists today. It takes its most vociferous — and oddly uncharitable — strains when all newcomers with different styles and interests are brushed with the same broad strokes, most often classified without demographic clarity as “Californians.”
What all this fails to take in account is that people often immigrate to Austin to participate in the existing culture, and, despite their apparent dedication to what’s fashionable, they prove as sentient, engaged and socially committed as the longtimers who complain about the social and cultural changes.
More to come …
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Cracking Austin's Glamour Scene 1
Preliminary thoughts for a Leadership Austin breakfast at Chez Zee next week:
The light-bulb moment came at Austin Java at City Hall on a sunny afternoon last year. I realized that every third person who passed the coffee shop on West Second Street could pass as a model. When did Austin accumulate so much beauty and style — and what did it mean about the city’s evolving culture?
On my beat as social columnist, I witness Austin’s glamour scene nightly at movie premieres, art openings, club gigs, charity galas and chic restaurants.
All this is, historically speaking, new. The music scene coalesced into recognizable form about 30 years ago; its film counterpart 20 years ago. Fine dining — virtually nonexistent when I arrived in 1984 — added more than 125 white-linen eateries with celebrity chefs in the past 15 years.
The performing and visual arts seriously professionalized about 10 years ago and built significant museums and arts centers. Meanwhile architecture and fashion came of age, adding dozens of design firms and boutiques. Runway shows, once a rarity, are staged almost every week, sometimes more than one a night, and a half dozen glossy magazines were founded to follow Austin’s hard-to-define style.
The nightlife industry — once conflated with the music industry, which never made much money beyond fronting liquor sales for clubs — altered as well, adding ultra-lounges and wine bars to the usual beloved dives, dance halls, coffee houses and funky music venues. And every night, representatives of these various glamour fields mix with others to create a genuine cafe society, clustered around momentarily fashionable spots.
More to come…
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January 22, 2009
A few more words about El Rey
I was not the target market for the original El Rey incarnation.
Conceived as a retreat for men with means, the spa and club at the base of the Plaza Lofts sounded a lot like the aristocratic, all-male clubs made familiar through British and East Coast novels. Combine that notion — dark woods, enormous leather chairs and sofas, retreats within retreats — with more modern services, like the inevitable mani-pedi, and you had El Rey.
I toured the place before Wednesday’s gathering of social columnists and came away impressed by the extreme care devoted to each space, from the warmed massage rooms to the product-packed locker room.
But will I return? I already have the best massage therapist in town (Bruce Christman, who works primarily out of his Barton Hills home) and four excellent hair-clippers at Avenue Barber Shop, a short stroll from our front door. I’ve resisted the mani-pedi route, but I noted that, at El Rey, the stations are private, unlike the chatty areas at day spas designed for primarily female clients.
The lounge really intrigues me, however, and I’ll probably return very soon for drinks before a show or special power interview. It nicely complements the other grown-up lounges downtown, with the added attraction of being a bit remote from the din and activity of the streets.
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January 16, 2009
Shopping Parties at Estilo and Beyond Tradition
Don’t know why more retailers don’t get this: People buy when they are in the party mode. Money was definitely changing hands at Estilo and Beyond Tradition on Thursday as the shops straddling West Second Street helped define shopping as socializing.
Nathan Smith, Juan A. Martinez, Lisa Matulis
Michael Perez, Katrina Le
Toohey Thepsoumane, Marianna Mooring
Meredith Davis, John Hubble, Rebeca Ortiz
Bridget Ramey, Ester Gamezo
Mickey Johnson, Teresa Nguyn
Grant Shaw, Todd O’Neill, Bruce Lowder
Kappie Bliss, H.C. Arnold (whose fractured, figurative art was selling off the walls of Beyond Tradition), Charles Erwin
Claire Wiley, Geoffrey Journeay-Maker, John Heard
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January 5, 2009
A Russian Christmas in Aldridge Place
The Spanish colonial house would look absolutely at home in Hollywood. Instead, the Hugo Kuehne-designed abode stands on a corner in Aldridge Place, that genteel sliver of a north-campus neighborhood.
Who would have guessed that inside waits a veritable shrine to Imperial Russian art and architecture. Rob Moshein, the Austin Wine Guy, and his partner Bob Atchison, a painter and Web site designer, have long been fascinated with pre-revolutionary Russia. They traditionally threw Russian Orthodox Easter parties and more recently added a Christmas counterpart.
Sunday, I briefly enjoyed the bounty of their table and toured the two-story wonder, examining room after room of graceful antiques and art. Atchison, who has painted portraits of Prince Charles and Rudolf Nureyev, told me about his early attachments to Russian palaces. Moshein talked about his relations who studied with artist Francois Leger and introduced me to the holiday open house. Also, rose specialist Cher Groody shared some of her adventures touring American arboretums.
Hope a book comes out of her journeys. And out of this house, where I hope to return for a more leisurely stay.
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December 10, 2008
Your A-List: Best Place to Be Surrounded Pretty People
Yet every contest must have a winner. So it’s our duty to report that the top A-List spot went to Qua with 27 percent of the vote. The Fourth Street ultra-lounge made a splash last year when it installed sharks in a pool underneath the dance floor and because its dress code is slightly less casual than other Austin clubs’. (More recently, they’ve instituted college nights, when just about any attire goes.)
The Belmont, a little bit of old Vegas or Hollywood on West Sixth, came in second with 19 percent, while The Domain, the upscale shopping destination arranged like an amusement park, took third with 10 percent. Seven places — Second Street District, Beauty Bar, Four Seasons, Driskill, Union Park, J. Black’s and Pangaea — tied for fourth with 5 percent. Rain was not far behind with 4 percent, followed closely by Six with 3 percent. Red Fez, Peacock and Brown Bar took 2 percent or less.
Two credible write-ins: Parkside and Imperia
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December 7, 2008
Happy and hip if not exactly hippie at W3LL
Bridges on the Park has discovered the secret already employed by merchants along South Congress, West Sixth, Upper Guadalupe and Second Street. Give open-house parties at the same time. That way, revelers and potential customers can make processional visits to each shop.
Michael King, Kerissa Bearch, Andrew Rutkowski
The whole time I spent at W3LL’s Hippie Party on Saturday, I was fielding reports from other parties in the South Lamar Boulevard complex. Once again, the natural skin-care gurus attracted a spectacularly attractive crowd. Only problem, I’d photographed many if not most of them before.
Lance Lockett, Eric Cavanaugh
So, after chatting with hip but un-hippie stylistas Jeff Kirk, Esti Choi, Christopher Carbone, Chris Cantoya, Josh Allen, David Morris Parson, Zion Francis, Marques Harper, James Walker, Shirley Pinkson and more over pomegranate martinis, and checking out the scrubs, scents and creams, I snapped some of the folks I didn’t already know.
Jake Humphrey, Mimi Rose
Then it was off to Silent Disco at Mint.
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December 6, 2008
A personal first at the St. Cecilia Hotel
I wouldn’t call the moment historic, but I was tickled nonetheless to be the first-ever guest invited into the St. Cecilia Hotel lounge. It wasn’t until my departure from the transformed Victorian compound that trend-spotter Elaine Garza pointed out my accidental pioneer status. I felt, for a moment, special.
The St. Cecilia is the latest project from cultural prognosticator Liz Lambert, who helped revolutionize nearby South Congress Avenue with the Hotel San Jose (occupancy still at 95 percent, when the rest of Austin’s hotel industry is looking at less than 65 percent) and the coolest SoCo business ever — Jo’s Hot Coffee.
Lambert and friends started with the lacy, hilltop 1886 Miller-Crockett house, long used for weddings, special events and a bed-and-breakfast, on Academy Drive (up behind Doc’s Motorworks). Over many months they created a ultra-boutique 14-room hotel. Not a bed and breakfast. A real hotel with private room entries and patios, as well as a subte rock ‘n’ roll theme. The old building is split into a few super-suites outfitted with outrageous furniture collected by Lambert in her travels. (Priced, I must say, to a rock star’s budget.)
I actually preferred the more modern “bungalows” and the lounge/lobby, designed in streamlined sensitivity by the estimable Emily Little. The two-story bungalows — perfect for parties — surround a long, inviting pool. The lounge — sorry, for patrons only — is a little wonder, with overstuffed furniture, fireplace and thoughtfully selected eats and drinks. I could have lingered there for hours with Lambert, her girlfriend and Out 100 selection Amy Cook, of course Garza, and the hotel’s able GM, Michael Nestor.
I loved hearing about the process of developing the hotel’s vibe, which includes turntables in every room and a limited selection of vinyl to rent. We guarantee that some post-concert parties staged here will be legendary, but, according to Lambert and crew, under control. People will surely respect what enormous that care went into designing, renovating and maintaining such an enchanted retreat.
Look for design and style writer Melanie Spencer’s profile of Lambert and St. Cecilia in the American-Statesman soon. Also, photos to come soon.
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December 5, 2008
Tribeza spreads out at BoConcept
Allow me to elaborate on my earlier Tribeza post. I think recent immigrants to Austin don’t realize what this little, oblong publication has accomplished. Through keen design and photography, especially, it altered the way glamor was covered in Austin. It didn’t invent the intersection of architecture, arts, fashion and fine dining, but Tribeza packaged these and other glamor phenomena for the 21st Century.
Mousumi Shaw, Bjorn Billhardt
Zarghun Dean and company also pioneered marketing through partying, at least here. Every advertiser is somehow linked to Tribeza readership through happy hours, issue launches and private dinners. It’s a formula that attracted a healthy crowd to BoConcept on West Second Street to toast an issue that includes profiles of Taylor Kitsch, Rebecca Robertson, Silvia Orozco, Chris Cowden, Michael Hsu, Nav Sooch and Richard and Alan Topfer
Honoree Chris Cowden, Quincy Adams Erickson (who was working the Tyson Cole event next door, before she slipped over to BoConcept
A fair number of the outrageously attractive young women — and men — were there hoping to meet “Friday Night Lights” star Kitsch. Sorry, as far as know, he didn’t show. But hey, just come downtown. He lives on the near South Side. We spot him all over the place. As for the Tribeza party, it was hard to leave, but a half dozen other shops along Second Street beckoned.
Misty Incontrera, Steven Incontrera
I had planned to hook up with Tad Speegle at Beyond Tradition. The Austin newcomer had been e-mailing me since his arrival in town. I’d try to meet him, only to be stymied by scheduling. He was showing jewelry, I understand, at BT, whose owner informed me when I arrived, he had just left for the night. Ah well …
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November 26, 2008
Your A-List, Best Sale
Merrily, two of the biggest sales are on their way. I don’t mean the Black Friday madness, but rather two retail/cultural traditions cherished by Austinites.
The Blue Genie Christmas Bazaar and Armadillo Christmas Bazaar came within one vote of tying for the A-List Best Sale contest — the Genie getting the upper hand. One event is thrown by scruffy artists on the East Side, the other by scruffy — well, more cleaned up these days — artists on the West Side. Each obtained 17 percent of the vote.
The City-Wide Garage Sale, a similar group effort without the holiday requirement, came in third with 15 percent of the tally, while Four Hands warehouse sale cleaned up 10 percent. Le Garage Sale got 8 percent and A Christmas Affair, the tony Junior League fundraiser raised 7 percent.
The Buffalo Exchange sidewalk sale pulled in a respectable 6 percent, just ahead of the Literacy Austin Bookfest. A very targeted retail event, the Service Menswear 50 percent-off sale, earned 4 percent while the Austin Record Convention and Strut’s first-of-the-month sale tied at just over 3 percent. Taking less than that were the Flipnotics sidewalk sale and Austin Books and Comics anniversary sale.
Can you tell what Austin collects?
Write-in: Settlement Home Garage Sale
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November 19, 2008
Your A-List, Best Beauty Salon
Snatching second with 31 percent is a smaller salon group with three Austin locations — Avant. Everybody else, mostly one-off Austin salons — Jackson Ruiz, Birds, Aziz, Salon 505, Ann Kelso, Bradz, Joie de Vie and Vain — took 3 percent or less of the vote.
Looks like it pays to locate where the traffic allows.
Write-ins: Innu, Milk+Honey, Topaz, Two Wild Sisters, Urban Betty, Viva
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Your A-List, Biggest Eyesore
Sometimes at Your A-List, a category is created just for write-ins. Such is the case with Biggest Eyesore. And the five-way tie for the top spot indicates that people are irritated, but we aren’t exactly sure at what.
The Monarch, for instance, is a high-rise apartment executed in a safe, almost bland modernist style. The only possibly offensive elements are the wing-like structures on the top. Are they really eyesores? Given the context of other Austin high-rises, are the wings so out of character?
One reader wrote in “empty house near the dog park at Interstate 35 and Riverside.” That would be the historic Norwood estate, stripped of its ornaments and mothballed by a well-meaning group hoping to salvage it. It’s a mess now, but it’s really “in storage” until someone restores it.
Still another decries the condos going up behind Shady Grove. Fine, you are mad that the mobile homes and some trees are gone. But there’s no building there yet. How can a temporary construction site be a permanent eyesore?
The final “winner” is the most interesting: the Holly Street Power Plant. Here’s a decommissioned utility structure destined to be gutted and replaced with something more neighborhood friendly — a park. Why expend a vote on a dead building on its way out? Unless its simply to continue the political discussion of why it was built and maintained there in the first place. I suspect that’s the case.
You have spoken, but the message remains unclear when it comes to defining “eyesore.”
Photo: City council member Mike Martinez, left, and former Austin Energy general manager Juan Garza, right, look over an artist rendering of suggested park space that will eventually replace the Holly Street Plant
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November 17, 2008
Orbitz Salon Fashion Show at Club DeVille
Remember when Austin produced exactly one runway fashion show a year? Usually a frowsy deal from what was then called the Home Economics Department at the University of Texas. That was it. Nobody thought, “Hey, boys and girls, we can’t go to Fashion Week in Bryant Park, but let’s put on a show in the barn!”
Sarah Kim, Elle Park, Esti Choi from www.buydefinition.com (independent designers from around the world)
Blame “Project Runway” or Austin’s teeming style scene, but nowadays, not a week goes by without a runway parade. Which brings us to Orbit Salon’s Grit ‘n’ Glamour Fashion Show. Late Saturday, a mob gathered around Club DeVille’s outdoor stage to gawk at quirky urban styles from various hot local shops. Flashes crackled. Friends cheered. Apparel raced by all too quickly.
Stephen Andrews, Jenny Garcia
Here’s the deal: Of the 20 or so models, only three, maybe four, looked comfortable in their own skins on stage. They were cute, and, yes, the clothes often sizzled (including one eye-popping see-through number — girl, it was cold!). But darn it if the models didn’t rush from the spotlight as if the crowd was about to devour them live.
Emily Eisele, Dan Nelson
Relax. Luxuriate. Play. The consumer for an Austin fashion show is already pretty happy and indulgent. You look good. Feel good about it. Nothing makes us cringe more than watching people who would really rather not be watched.
Click here to view A-List photos from the show.
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November 13, 2008
Guest bogger Mackenzie Jenkins: Strut on First Thursday
Guest blogger (and St. Ed’s student) Mackenzie Jenkins writes about Strut in Day by Day with Mack.
For some reason I always seem to miss First Thursday on South Congress. The fact that it is the first Thursday of the month slips my mind, or I have already made prior arrangements. Either way, I had not experienced one of Austin’s special little gems.
This time I remembered.
I was sitting in class Thursday afternoon, doing an in class exercise involving interviews of our fellow classmates. It’s supposed to help us become comfortable with asking complete strangers personal and intrusive questions about their lives. Fortunately I was spared any awkwardness this time because I got paired up with the one person out of our entire class that I actually knew.
During my mock interview with Tristan, it dawned on me. For the very first time I ACTUALLY recalled the date. Even better, I still had time to drive across the street to Strut and maybe, actually, finally, have the chance to buy something that was discounted for a change.
Luckily this day I had no prior obligations, so right after class I rushed with a smile on my face and my wallet full of cash ready to be spent on first Thursday souvenirs from Strut. Of course, since everybody else typically remembers to do their shopping on First Thursday, there were no parking spots in the designated lot, so I had to settle for a spot in front of a house in a neighborhood not too far from the store.
Once I finally arrived at the doors of the little white store, it was clear that I was not the only one who remembered the date. The place was packed. I looked around for a while but after I saw the long lines to the dressing rooms it was clear that my patience was not going to hold up for long. The employee in charge of getting shoe sizes was moving particularly speedy so I figured it was my best bet. I decided on a pair of strappy black heels and made my way to the jewelry section. The jewelry area was another place less crowded with shoppers. I picked out a pair of gold hoops and headed for check out.
I’m still not sure if I needed either of the items, but the fact that I bought them on First Thursday is what makes it all worth it.
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November 10, 2008
Choosing the next Glossy 8
Perhaps you recall Carla McDonald, posing pertly in her sparkling cocktail dress and rose-tipped shoes. Or perhaps Anne Elizabeth Wynn stood out in her low-cut, vibrant turquoise with leather cinch and fishnet hose. Or maybe your memory settles on a striking couple, Gail Chovan and Evan Voyles, effortlessly relaxed in their cool SoCo black.
The Glossy 8, your selections for the best-dressed Austinites, electrified the October edition of this publication.
Soon after, the Glossy staff sat down to comb through the nominations and select winners who represented a broad cross-section of Austin style. It wasn’t easy. And perhaps you will realize why if you take up our invitation to help select the next Glossy 8.
Who stands out in a crowd? Who leads Austin fashion in new directions or maintains standards for more traditional wear? Better yet, who belongs on the cover of Glossy in 2009?
We want to know. The sooner, the better. If you arrive home tonight after an especially memorable evening and think, “Wow. Madame X always wears exactly the right outfit. Wait, shouldn’t she rate the Glossy 8?” It’s best not to recycle this year’s winners. After all, they already set some pretty high fashion standards. Instead, give us a new set to ponder as we anticipate Glossy 8 2009.
Send your nominations to mbarnes@statesman.com with a short testimonial.
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October 28, 2008
Greg Miller at Spazio
Let’s just agree that he was ahead of his time. When Lytle Pressley opened Spazio in 1999, almost no one believed a high-end modernist/contemporary furniture gallery with a sprinkling of expensive art would survive on West Sixth Street. Sure, the high-tech boom had spread wealth near and far, but faux Tuscan villas in the hills far outnumbered the few examples of modernist Central Austin infill.
Lytle Pressely with Haven Farcy, who hung the show, and Diana Amador. Note the easy mix of cultures.
Not only did Pressley survive the tech bust that followed, he proved the skeptics, like myself, wrong. Now, a parade of smaller, but equally high-minded furniture stores — including Kirk, Loft and Design within Reach — compete for the same downtown market, as multiplying modernist residence towers provide a ready supply of shoppers.
Joy Kling, Susan Brandt — mix in more cultures.
Pressley has not given up on art, either. Saturday, he opened a show for Greg Miller, whose big, graphically sophiticated concentrations of American pop culture seem as much at home in Austin as in his current base, Los Angeles. Already, several of the pricier pieces had sold, pre-opening.
Artist Greg Miller and girlfriend, graphic designer Barbara Chan
One of the joys of this job is reconsidering people on repeated exposure. I can’t claim to know Pressley personally, and this black-clad, silver-maned, vaguely distant figure — who might look more comfortable in Berlin or Chelsea — usually hovers in the margins of his own shows. But I’m now willing to give Pressley credit: He saw this trend coming, identified it as “Austin” and as his own.
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October 22, 2008
Carla McDonald in Town & Country
Is Carla McDonald flawless or what? The astonishingly busy wife, mother and businesswoman is everywhere. She’s a regular on the Fortunate 500 All-Stars list. She just made the first-ever Glossy 8 list of Austin’s best dressed — after appearing in Brilliant, Tribeza and just about every other local publication.
Now she’s featured in Town & Country’s pages posing for Becca and John Thrash’s American Friends of the Louvre gala. (That’s her bottom right.) Note that she’s wearing an Oscar de la Renta from the Fall 2008 collection. The woman I sometimes call “Marla” is “It.”
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October 16, 2008
The Rise School Benefit with Donna Stockton-Hicks
“Which shoe store do you represent?” asked the doe-eyed young woman at the door. Excuse me? She explained that almost all the revelers at the stately Pemberton home that night were ladies, and most of the attendant men were shoe salesmen. Huh.
Donna Stockton-Hicks, Kristin Armstrong, Venus Strawn
The estate in question was none other than the home of radio magnate Steve Hicks and busy philanthropist Donna Stockton-Hicks. A 1920s Renaissance Revival creekside mansion has been adroitly renovated by Stockton-Hicks, who exposed the glowing wood and tiles and let the masterpiece speak for itself. (It far outstrips its better-known sibling, Laguna Gloria.) Everything, including the garden’s belvedere, has been rendered in the utmost taste. The Hicks plan to reconfigure the sumptuous gardens and expand the south lawn for even more social space.
Kathy Taylor, Mike Genug (the close friends swear they didn’t coordinate outfits. And yes, her name is Mike.)
Stockton-Hicks, looking supremely comfortable in this Old World atmosphere, explained why the Rise School of Austin has attracted so many influential friends. Designed for children with Down syndrome, it has quickly become a savior for parents unsure of where to find the appropriate early childhood education. Sally Brown, wife to everybody’s hero — this week — UT coach Mack Brown, is a prime force behind the school, which is expected to expand to all the Big 12 campuses.
Garden’s Patty Hoffpauir with Vicki Howard, Nikki Mackenzie
Stockton-Hicks is a generous hostess, but she sticks to causes in which the Hicks family participates personally. This week’s event was immaculately organized (save the valet parking snafus) and climaxed with a shoe-related performance by Austin Cabaret Theatre’s Stuart Moulton doing his best Cher drag. You just never know when and where Cher will turn up.
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October 12, 2008
California Beatitudes, No. 20: Sunset on Highway 1
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
Almost every moment of this annual Indian Summer has been savored like the most precious wines. As I write, an amiable breeze brushes away all cares in our friend’s modest valley backyard. Fresh tortilla soup is on its way. UT beat OU. We can forget the economy and the poisoning of the election for a few hours more.
A good way to end the Beatitudes and Salt of the Earth entries: Sunset on California Highway 1. Why does this highway exist at all? It must cost millions to rebuild every year, what with the rock slides and fissures. And, except for a handful of cliff-hugging buildings, it serves no clear customer. Other than global consumers of its terrifyingly sublime beauty.
I’m not for heights, speed or bridges. So why drive 1? It’s a little thrilling. And a picnic where a rocky creek enters the rockier ocean clarifies why we endure so much mundane bull in our lives. For these moments.
We saw elephant seals, harbor seals and California sea lions. We heard of earthquakes, but felt none. We tasted far too much of the Golden State’s agricultural bounty. But we’ll return again. For another Indian Summer.
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October 3, 2008
Little Black Dress Madness
It was a hothouse scene in more than one way. Blackmail on South Congress Avenue oozed with style tonight as owner Gail Chovan assembled the first Little Black Dress Contest.
Shanna Howard, Shannon Lavine, Jeremy Rathke
An overflow crowd pressed toward the 20 or so models and their 20 or so designers as they walked before judges Stephen Moser, Anne Elizabeth Wynn and Marques Harper.
Edgar Gonzalez, Nicole Boudreaux, Jake Humphrey
It was difficult to follow it all, but Leslie Fender ultimately won out with a sleek number worn by Christine Abernethy. We’ll let Marques talk about actual apparel — not my strong point — but the party was a hit. The combined Blackmail and Vivid shops are not overly spacious, but enough to house the captivating crush.
Christie Abernethy, Leslie Fender
Some of Our Town’s most stimulating figures attended. With a little more production, this could become a tradition. We couldn’t have enjoyed it more.
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Full Glossy 8 Report, Part 3
Continued from post below…
Other Statesman presenters included Addie Broyles, Marques Harper, Kathy Blackwell and Melanie Spencer. They fared better pronouncing the tongue-twisting designer names than I did. What I know about high fashion could fit into a thimble, though I deeply admire those who can distinguish a Yohji Yamamoto from an Ann Demeulemeester.
Michelle Valles
Most viewers were sweet and forgiving on the topic. After all, it was our readers who nominated the winners. They know what they are doing.
Susanne Dawley Byram
And soon, we’ll reveal how to nominate Austin Style Makers for next year. Read your Glossy, if you get ‘em, or look for it online at austin360.com or statesman.com.
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Full Glossy 8 Report, Part 2
Continued from post below…
Around 6:30 p.m. representatives from the glamor industries began arriving, dressed to the tens. The Statesman employees looked like, well, journalists, albeit journalists with some style sense. I had the good sense, for instance, to beg Neiman’s staff to pick out an blue, textured Armani jacket as a loaner.
Ashley Chiles
When time came for the awards, community development director Retta Kelley introduced the concept and the charity beneficiary, Season for Caring, which has raised more than $3 million for Central Texas families in need.
Lance Avery Morgan
I came next, teasing Retta about her Lauren Bacall stage voice. As each winner ascended the tiny stage, two models wearing fashions inspired by the honorees — some pictured here — walked the zebra-print runway.
Gail Chovan, Evan Voyles
More to come…
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Full Glossy 8 Report, Part 1
Magazines give parties. The New Yorker throws a whole festival. During South by Southwest, lifestyle and music magazines compete to stage the buzziest events in town (usually Spin wins). The Austin City Limits Music Festival has started to attract the same social media treatment, with serial parties given by Paste, Blender, Paper, Envy, NME and others.
Carla McDonald
On regular basis, locally based slicks have linked thematic socializing to their issue launches. Tribeza is king, with happy hours, formal dinners and multiple events tied to fashion week. L Style G Style and Fave spotlight different retailers, while Rare has recently showcased new lofts, condos and other residences with parties. Brilliant has branched out into the clubs, throwing over-the-top bashes at Pangaea.
Nelson Linder
Glossy, the American-Statesman’s near-monthly magazine on the art of style, had never given a party until Thursday. So we were a bit nervous. The venue for the Austin Style Maker Awards — Neiman Marcus — was familiar and comforting, the staff cool and professional. And, of course, the prize-takers themselves, pictured here and in following posts, demonstrated plenty of class.
Anne Elizabeth Wynn
To be continued…
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October 2, 2008
Glossy 8: The first report
I won’t go into detail yet, but the first ever Glossy 8 went well. The crowd that gathered at Neiman Marcus tonight was smart and fun. After mingling in the NM men’s department, they turned their attention to the stage, where Statesman reps introduced the Austin Style Maker Award winners and the models who wore threads inspired by the honorees’ fashion sense.
Yes, I mispronounced some designers’ names. Yes, the show didn’t clip along the way we would have liked. But I was proud that the team put together a stylish show that celebrated Austin’s varied fashion leaders. We’ll reveal the winners tomorrow morning and we’ll talk about how to nominate Style Makers 2009.
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October 1, 2008
Rehearsing the Austin Style Maker Awards
In just over 24 hours, the public will know the winner of the vice-presidential debate, also the winners of the Austin Style Maker Awards. The “Glossy 8” will be revealed during a 6:30 p.m. party at Neiman Marcus. As Melanie Spencer says: “TiVo the debate. Attend the Glossy 8.”
For Neiman Marcus: Lisa Trahan, Bethany Thomason, Nancy Nichols
To prep for the party, which will introduce the eight — nine actually, since one unit is a couple — the three main forces behind the event met. That would be representatives from the American-Statesman features editorial staff, the newspaper’s marketing department and the department store’s staff.
For Statesman Marketing Department: Phyllis Campos, Beth South, Krystal Halfmann, Retta Kelley
A guests mingle in the men’s wear department, Retta Kelley will introduce the idea behind the awards — the money benefits the Season for Caring program — and then the individual presenters, among them Spencer, Addie Broyles, Marques Harper and myself. The winners will be accompanied by models wearing NM clothes chosen by the honorees.
For Statesman Features Department: Kathy Blackwell, Melanie Spencer, Marques Harper, Addie Broyles
Then the party really begins. Mingling ensues. The band plays on. And we head home to see whether Sarah Palin or Joe Biden made a bigger fool of themselves.
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Your A-List, Best Hotel
Compared to the Driskill, the Hotel San Jose is a boutique outfit, a former motor court on South Congress Avenue. Meticulously transformed into the epitome of Austin cool with a paradisical courtyard garden by Liz Lambert and pals, it took 24 percent. The lakeside Four Seasons Hotel, the supremely tasteful representative of the global chain that boasts immaculate service, earned 17 percent.
The InterContinental Stephen F. Austin, downtown’s other historic hotel and a genteel retreat, took in 6 percent. The still relatively new Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, located in spectacular setting out near Bastrop, got 5 percent. Hilton Austin, which commandeers the majority of convention business, reeled in 4 percent. Taking less than 4 percent were Omni Austin Downtown, Lakeway Resort & Spa, South Austin Motel and Renaissance Austin.
When the Stephen F. opened a few years back, we claimed the right to spend a night each at all three downtown luxury hotels for a special XL report. We liked all three equally, for different reasons. Still, that year’s expense account never recovered.
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September 30, 2008
Reminder: Austin Style Maker event Oct. 2
Who dresses best in Austin? We’ll let you decide. Meantime, with the help of readers, a few stellar fashionistas have been selected for the Austin Style Maker Awards.
You can wait until the October issue of Glossy (available next month on statesman.com) to discover the eight winners or attend a charity benefit at 6:30 p.m. Thursday Oct. 2 at Neiman Marcus. After cocktails, the Glossy 8 will introduce some threads on the runway. Proceeds from the $85 tickets will go to Season for Caring, the American-Statesman’s annual holiday drive for families in need. Information at statesman.com/glossy8tickets.
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September 22, 2008
Viva Day Spa Grand Opening at Bridges on the Park
No wonder austin360.com publishes a column called “Luxe Life.” Austin is now spa city. The latest pampering center is a second location for Viva at Bridges on the Park.
Shannon Mouser, Laurie Aroch, Maya Aroch
Owners Shannon Mauser, Laurie Aroch and Maya Aroch gave us an enlightening tour of the rooms for facials, massages, manicures, pedicures and product testing. The centerpiece is a circular lounge, where I wanted to linger for hours.
Juanita Escamilla, Barbara Hochman
Yet the party was outside on the patio, just downhill from the new metal awnings for Paggi House, which re-opens in October. It’s a more than pleasant place for a gathering on a cool night.
Like the party for neighboring skin-care boutique W3LL, this one was littered with the prettiest of people. A little heavier on the ink and subculture.
Mark Hurtado, River Menks
But everyone seemed spa-centered and spa-healthy.
Tina Frinney, Yvette Garza
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September 19, 2008
Design Workshop launch on Congress Avenue
The lightly renovated building would never draw the eye. It sits on the corner of Congress Avenue and Eighth Street. A burrito shop occupies the ground floor.
Mary Margaret Farabee, Patricia Albright, Derek McCall
Yet three flights up, architectural wonders appear. Ground plans, renderings and enticing landscape photographs flood the walls of Design Workshop, officially launched Thursday with a party that drew big Austin design and society names: Hal Box, Fritz Steiner, Dana Friis-Hansen, Judith Sims, Mary Margaret Farabee, Clare Hudspeth, Sue Graves and Kevin Keim among them.
Rebecca Leonard, Fritz Steiner
Never heard of Design Workshop? Neither had I. Or had Box, the grand man of Austin architecture. It started as an Aspen, Colo. firm specializing in small projects, then used its landscape, urban and tourism planning skills to expand worldwide.
Tiffany Theriot, Zhe Wang
DM has employed two people in Austin for some time, but only recently opened its local offices at 801 Congress Ave. Keep your eyes open for these wizards of design.
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Mean-Eyed Cat style spread in Men's Health
Austin looks hotter than Africa in the October issue of Men’s Health magazine. Producer Kathy Marcus and photographer Tony Duran created the multi-page fashion spread at the Mean-Eyed Cat and at Joe and Sharon Ely’s ranch near the Salt Lick. Dubbed “Working Man Blues,” the images serve up plenty of denim and sweat.
“We shot in 102-degree weather — surrounded by the construction — around the Mean-Eyed Cat,” Marcus says. “They graciously opened up their doors for three hours to the crew. Fortunately they wanted a gritty Texas look and the weather and dirt cooperated.”
It’s a flip cover issue, featuring Rib Hillis on the “Blue” side. That leads to the Austin spread on pages 10-17. The Men’s Health crew also included former Austinite and fashion director Brian Boye.
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September 15, 2008
Get ready for the Glossy 8
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W3LL Grand Opening Party
I suppose if you’re opening a skin-care boutique it pays to show a little skin.
Ray Meditz, Zion, Jonathan Ramos
Quite a stretch of well-tended epidermis was on display at W3LL — we are breaking our rules about unconventional spelling for this calming shop at Bridges on the Park — and since the party was thrown by Fave magazine, the mix was as much male as female.
Jarred Simons, Chris Hatcher
We attended as part of our Hurricane Ike social watch, but for revelers at this particular cocktail party, the storm was yesterday’s news. Some models, such as Zion and My Cherie Haley, wore tiny cocktail dresses by Gail Chovan of Blackmail, at least at first. Ray Meditz and Jonathan Ramos wore virtually nothing as they passed around hydrating water on trays.
James Walker, Shirley Pinkson, Dr. Renee Snyder
We spoke at some length with the three founders of W3LL — hence the numeral — who all met at the University of Texas in the 1980s. Renee Snyder is the doctor. Smartly suited Shirley Pinkson formerly catered to celebrities in New York and hopes to take her make-up line there. James Walker I spoke to only briefly, but I see him out fairly regularly and will catch up soon.
My Cherie Haley, Megan O’Leary
It’s odd at 6 feet 1 inch feeling short, but at these style events, the average height is, well, altitudinous. After a couple of wee white cranberry vodka martinis and lots of conversation, I headed back out into the humidity, only to give up half way through the evening, confident that I had sampled the Ike-iness of the weekend.
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September 13, 2008
Comedy team: Carson Kressley & Anita Perry
Friday morning during the Hospice Austin Beauty of Life charity event at the Renaissance Austin Hotel, the makeover star of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “How to Look Good Naked” remarked on the attractiveness of Gov. Rick Perry.
Playing straight gal to his gay comic, first lady Anita Perry asked, changing the subject, what to take along if stranded on a desert island. Her husband, Kressley cracked, to roars of laughter.
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September 10, 2008
Your A-List: Best Landmark
Let’s face it, the Capitol is not entirely original in inspiration. It follows the patterns of Renaissance palaces and Baroque cathedrals, as well as other American government buildings, that antedated it. Yet, rising almost symmetrically from its green grounds in burly, native pink granite, it says “Texas” and only “Texas” to anyone who has ever beheld it.
That’s why it easily won the A-List poll on Best Landmark with 38 percent of the vote, topping the University of Texas Tower ( 24 percent), the ice-sculpture Frost Bank Tower (9 percent), the “Hi, how are you” mural (8 percent) and Mount Bonnell (7 percent). Others receiving votes were the Stevie Ra Vaughan statue (5 percent), Pennybacker Bridge (4 percent), Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge (2 percent), Enchanted Rock (2 percent) and Austin City Hall (1 percent).
Write-in: 360 tower
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September 9, 2008
Welcome to the hood, Dick Clark
SoCo and its utterly singular shops already magnetize tourists. If you’ve ever tried to book a room for out-of-town guests at the Hotel San Jose or Austin Motel, you know there’s a market for more. Bill Gurasich, co-owner of the Mansion at Judges’ Hill, is leading the way. (He was the missing link from previous reports about a hotel slotted for the parking lot owned by the Congress Avenue Baptist Church, which, I am forced to say, is pretty hideous, even for a Baptist church. Surely I’m not the first to point that out).
Neighbors rightly fear more encroachment into the quiet residential streets on either side of the SoCo strip. They remain on guard. But if there were ever a model for organic, indigenous retail development, South Congress Avenue is one. Let’s see, of the two or three national chains down there, one — Starbucks — has announced it’s leaving, which means 98 percent of the stuff is local. Of course, the angled parking is a nightmare, some sidewalks need urgent attention, and we’ll have to wait another 50 years to be included in any trolley plans after the light rail fiasco, but it’s glorious to walk the avenue every day.
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September 7, 2008
Kirk Furniture Preview Reception
Will Austinites buy a three-piece set of original Marcel Breuer chairs and side table for $35,000? Jeff Kirk is betting they will. (Actually, as he points out, had they been originals, they would have been $35,000, but the version he’s selling is only $10,000.) Yet he’s not betting the entire store — that would be Kirk Furniture on Guadalupe Street in the AMLI on Second building — Kirk also stocks various smaller pieces of art work, including palm-sized animal sculptures made from Buenos Aires subway tickets, priced at well under $35,000.
Andrew Lopez, Katha Busk
Austin’s style community flocked to Kirk’s pad for a preview reception, folks including interior-design superstar Joel Mozersky, architect Paul Bielamowicz (I didn’t know Austin’s Page Southerland Page had opened offices in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Kuwait!), Andrew Lopez for Marc English Design, Katha Burk from UT’s design program, Loft owners Kelly and Offir Schwartz … the list goes on.
Kelly and Offir Schwartz
Kirk has carefully planned this place, so I’m guessing he will survive the war zone of construction across the street where the W Hotel and Residences is currently a gaping hole in the ground. His shop is more modestly scaled than the St. Bernard sportswear store next door. And he’s hired staff from the pioneering downtown retailer Design Within Reach.
Jeff Kirk, Ashley Kirk
We ran into Kirk’s buddy, Texas Book Festival literary director Clay Smith — single again — who’s writing a story about income shortfalls at the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival for the Austin Chronicle. Smith is trying to get Kip and I to play a home version of “The Newlywed Game” — with all the incumbent double entendres — at his house, but I’m afraid Kip would need more than a martini to participate in that kind of humiliation.
Monza Lui, Stephanie Tsen, Melissa Lancaster
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September 6, 2008
Rare Open House at Bel Air Phase II
I’ve been dying to see the interiors of the lofts at Bel Air, located on South Congress Avenue south of Ben White Boulevard across from Bob Cole’s Hill’s Cafe. We’d heard about the generous light, the stripped-down modernist finishes and the sturdy steel-and-concrete construction (contrast that with the balloon-wall skeletons of other such recent projects).
Jim Wang, Alex Lee
Plus, it just sounded like a cool place, close enough to downtown to attract urbanistas, but definitely Old South Austin in the way it borders the unimproved fringes of South Congress.
Amanda Brown, Rachel McDaniel, Kristy Freeman
So the Rare Magazine open house event gave me an excuse to check them out. I lingered in a three-story model with a vast rooftop deck and view of a (sad) little park to the north. Everything pointed vertically, with the excitement building as one ascended each stairway. I definitely could see living there, although it’s more matched to a single person’s needs and tastes. (No lack of closets, that’s for sure.)
Poisonberry, Sam Chang
I caught up with several revelers including roller derby gal Poisonberry and scoreboard operator Sam Chang, certainly a contrast in height and personality. Ms. Berry lives in my ‘hood and we discussed the advantages of lower property values south of Ben White.
Matt Mathias, Karen Kolb, Will Steakley
We also mixed with a clutch of beauties from Salon Blue, software developers and bartenders, DJs and journalists, plus Bel Air developer Matt Matthias, a buddy of retired Statesman columnist Mike Kelley. Matthias grew up in Austin and recognized the potential staying value of these lofts. He’s a thoughtful guy, not always the first phrase that comes to mind when discussing developers.
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Catching up with Nina Seely at Botticelli's
I didn’t really know Nina Seely. She didn’t really know me. Yet Nina illuminated so many social events last season — from small parties to big galas — we chose her, along with husband Frank, to represent the Style category in the 2008 Fortunate 500. The Ralph Lauren retailer — formerly in charge of the personal shopping service at Sak’s — never looked anything less than dazzling, and always stopped by for a short, substantive chat, no matter how busy she must have been. Never snooty. Always fun. Very Austin.
Turns out, Nina and I spent chunks of our youths within bicycling distance of each other, me in Bellaire and West University, she in Ashton Oaks, just across the freeway from the Houston Galleria. She’s considerably younger, but she dated a Jebbie (from my alma mater, Strake Jesuit) while she attended Lee High School, where one of my closest friends, the late Mark Whistler, probably shared classes with her. We talked about the vast numbers of Houstonians and DFWers who have made Austin home because of an affinity to the native culture.
We gossiped a little — mais oui! — but we also talked about some of the causes that she champions. (Today, for instance, she’s backing the the Domain PlayBingo Shopping Extravaganza for Abused Children, which I’m afraid I won’t make.) Nina swears she’s cutting back on events this year, but don’t believe her. She and Frank are fixtures — in the best sense of the term — in the fashion, business and charity scenes. We’ll see them out.
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August 27, 2008
Your A-List: Best Vintage Store
Buffalo Exchange, a mere write-in candidate last year, zoomed up to second place with 20 percent of the vote. Goodwill, also a previous write-in, got a full 15 percent. South Congress veteran New Bohemia dropped from 21 percent to 7 percent (where are my SoCo homies?), while another longtimer, Room Service, nabbed 6 percent, closely followed by Amelia’s Retro-Vogue & Relics.
Taking less than 5 percent were Salvation Army, Flashback, Feathers and Big Bertha’s. A few more workouts and I’ll hit the resale ranks hard again.
Write-ins: Assistance League of Austin Thrift Store, Let’s Dish, Roadhouse Rags
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August 22, 2008
Pretty People Can Be Nice, Part 3: Anthony Nak at Eliza Page
See Parts 1 & 2 of “Pretty People Can Be Nice” to follow the narrative and thematic thread of Thursday’s killer parties.
Bhawna Sharma, Gloria Callner
We wound up the evening at Eliza Page, the jewel-like accessories shop on West Second Street, for the world premiere showing of new artistry from the Anthony Nak team. Our first impression was how tall and thin the guests were, though it turned out the tallest, dressed in black, were actually security staff, who could peer over the partiers to check on the safety of the innovative jewelry on display.
Kelley Sullivan, Elizabeth Serrato
We did run into one gentleman with fantastic dreads who declined to be photographed, and we had a short, polite conversation about his reasons (he had declined on an earlier social occasion). I never force people to appear in the newspaper, but I’m always curious why.
Zion, James Walker
Elizabeth Serrato herself introduced me to her stunning employee Kelley Sullivan. Blackmail’s Gail Chovan and I caught up on lots of gossip, some happy, some sad. All the while, we glanced at the goods, which we’d prefer to examine more closely at our leisure, and the party drifted out onto Second Street’s wide sidewalks. What fun.
Brenda New, Regina Witte
I didn’t get a chance to chat with Anthony Camargo and Nak Armstrong, but they continue to keep Austin ever so stylish. I wanted to apologize about aiding and abetting the Madonna rumor earlier this year, but hey, they are grown-ups about their cherished and famous customer.
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Overheard in an elevator
Regular correspondent Jette Momant shares this conversation…
Business Suit: Did you hear about Cal?
Business Suit and Boots: No, what?
BS: He’s moving into one of them downtown urban developments that are going up.
BSAB: Really?
BS: Yep, he must be one of them metro-sexuals.
BSAB: Ye-up.
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August 20, 2008
Your A-List: Best Accessories
And Austin has no shortage of shops for selecting just the right baubles, bangles and beads. Coming in first in the A-List vote for Best Accessories, with 28 percent of the tally, is SoLA, part of the raging South Lamar revival.
Grouped not far behind with 18 percent to 22 percent were Goodie Two Shoes, New Bohemia and By George. Another pack herded between 10 and 15 percent: Downstairs Apparel, Girl Next Door, Legendary Beads and Eliza Page. Pulling in less than 10 percent were Petyon’s Place, Blackmail, Estilo, Moxie & the Compound, Sona, Angelica DeBiase, Shiki and Creatures. That’s some pretty stylish company.
Write-ins: Love, Parts and Labor, Blanton Museum gift shop
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August 7, 2008
"Project Runway' Wednesdays at The Side Bar
What a blithely accessible community: The mass that gathers Wednesdays at The Side Bar on East Seventh Street for showings of “Project Runway” resembles any scrum of sports fans assembled for a big game. “It started mostly as girls,” says Soo Lee-Spaw, the bar’s irrepressible rep. “Now it’s everybody.”
James Apel, Tessa Bourgoin
Hardcore fashionistas were already reserving seats in front of a giant screen half an hour before the 8 p.m. show, and by the time that Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum were explaining this week’s challenge (designing for the Olympic opening ceremony), the place reverberated with anticipation. “People cheer and boo,” says Cassandra Casillas, a regular who had pulled along four or five event newbies last night.
Alicia Tuben, Chuck Frausto
“Everybody’s into it,” says Joseph Moran, a wiry waiter from P.F. Chang’s, who says that Wednesday events often draw a service-industry crowd. Everyone I spoke to mentioned that the show’s earlier air time had resulted a slightly smaller draw this seaeson, but the Side Bar excitement still seemed to overflow onto the patio.
Cassandra Casillas, Corby Bryan
I wondered why single guys like Web designer Russ Ryan hung out at the bar alone, following “Runway” closely on smaller monitors. Then striking beauty Melissa Mizner showed up to share his bar stool. Ah.
Russ Ryan, Melissa Mizner
My adaptation of the “Sex and the City” dictum holds: “First the gays, then the girls, then they guys.”
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August 5, 2008
Cocktails at the Garden Street Compound
Two of our favorite people, Lorne Loganbill and Sterling Price-McKinney, who split their lives between Manhattan and Austin these days, invited Kip and I over for cocktails last night. We previewed the almost completed renovation of 1202 Garden Street, the Victorian farmhouse they purchased 17 years ago from the late Doug Dyer’s family. (Austin Arts Hall of Famer Emily Little oversaw the renovation.)
Kip and I spent the first six years of our marriage living at 1204 Garden and reserve nothing but fond memories of the informal complex, which was the literary birthplace of Joe Sears, Ed Howard and Jaston Williams’ “Greater Tuna,” by the way. Last night — when I was not checking in on “American Gladiator” — we spoke at length and fondly of architecture, museums, art, but also of Karen Kuykendall, the cabaret legend, hostess and diva who passed away around this time last year and served as Price-McKinney’s onstage partner. Wonder how the fundraising is going for the Kuykendall Stage at Zach Theatre.
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August 1, 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: The Complete List
Remember, this is our annual list of Austin’s most social citizens. It honors those Central Texans who go Out & About for the good of the greater social fabric.
Almost all our picks were originally nominated by readers, then followed by our social spies during the subsequent year. (I chatted with most of them, too, at the 1,000 or so social events I attended in the past 12 months.) So now is a prime time to alert us to people who contribute above and beyond to the social scene, so they can be eligible for the 2009 list.
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July 19, 2008
2008 Fortunate 500: Style
STYLE
(first of 13 categories)
Top Pick Nina Seely: Her pixie smile lights up at every event. And so it should. The Ralph Lauren retailer helps out, with husband Frank, People’s Community Clinic and the Austin Jazz Workshop, but she’s a sparkler at parties, and she organized signature events such as the ‘Sex and the City’ cocktail preview for Breast Cancer Resource Center. Plus, she’s just fun.
Nak Armstrong. Anthony Nak
Linda Asaf. Linda Asaf Design, Downtown Austin Alliance
Maria Bergh. Giant Media
Christy Butler. Jewell
Scott Butler. By George
Anthony Camargo. Anthony Nak
Deborah Carter. Pink Salon
Gail Chovan and Evan Voyles. Blackmail, Vivid, Neon Jungle
Stephanie Coultress and Todd O’Neill. Estilo
Katy and Matthew Culmo. By George
Melissa D’Attilio. Fly Productions
Zarghun and Eddaicsa ‘Eddy’ Dean. Tribeza
Riley and Tomas Estebes de Silva. St. Thomas Boutique, Austin Children’s Shelter
Lauren Smith Ford and Bennett Ford. Tribeza
Kirk Haines. Service Menswear, Crown Clothing
My-Cherie Haley. Sue Webber Productions
Patty Hoffpauir. Garden Room, Ballet Austin
Jenny Howe. Devushka
Michael Hsu. Michael Hsu Design Office, 04, Mellow Johnny’s
Kim Jacques. Devushka
Koshla Johansson. Girl Next Door
Ron King. Bo Salon
Wendi Koletar. Kick Pleat
Russell Korman. Russell Korman Fine Jewelry, Texas Wine & Food Festival
Jane Vanisko McCan. Shiki
Lisa Matulis. Delish Cupcakes
Laura Maxwell and Corey White. Hovercraft, Creatures, Millipede
Cile Montgomery. Giant Media
Lance Avery Morgan. Brilliant
Joel Mozersky. One Eleven Design, BettySport, the Drake
James Newman. Service Menswear, Crown Clothing
Nancy Nichols. Neiman Marcus
Currie Person. Spartan
Julia Plume. Texas’ Next Top Designer, Austin Fashion School of Design
Sharon Radovich. Panache Interiors, Symphony Showcase
Talena Rasmussen and Lizelle Villapando. Parts & Labour, New Bohemia, New Brohemia
Vickie Roan. The Menagerie, Pink Car at Your Service
Allen Ruiz. Jackson Ruiz Salon, Best Latino Hairdressers in America
Fern Santini. AbodeKendra Scott. Kendra Scott Design, LifeWorks, Dell Children’s Medical Center
Shaesby Scott. Shaesby Jewelry
Elizabeth and Benjamin Serrato. Eliza Page, Zócalo Design & Advertising
Toni and Eric Simone. Girl Next Door, Erebelle, ClearBlade
Tracey Overbeck Stead. Tracey Overbeck Stead Interior Design
While I’m away in Montana, we’ll reveal one category each day at noon. For a fully updated list, follow the brightly colored Fortunate 500 link at the base of this post.
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July 2, 2008
Saturday Social 6, Part 5: Bo Salon
I missed the Austin Public Library event at the Mexican American Cultural Center — the next planned stop — but zipped over to the Bo Salon party on South Congress Avenue on Saturday (continuation of our trot).
Ron King with The Fierce One
Stylist Ron King was celebrating the completion of the salon’s body bar — “not a day spa,” he says — next to his established hair spot.
Amber Seals, Jeffrey Seals
Model-pretty people sipped vanilla and blackberry martinis and made new friends among the tools of the beauty trade. I must return.
Charm Carlin, Jim Hymes, Sarah LaBorde
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June 16, 2008
Black and White Years plus fashion at The Parish
You never know when a fashion show will just pop up in Austin. Late Saturday, I ducked into the Parish an hour before the Black and White Years were scheduled to play. Really, I just wanted to soak up the AC after hours at the Austin Pride Parade, Republic of Texas Biker Rally and a peek at Sally Jacques’ “Constellation” over at the federal complex. (One must commit entirely to her meditative dances on architecture, otherwise one is easily distracted on the sidewalk.)
Almost instantly, I ran into Randy and Diane Miller. The former New Yorkers — he was with Virgin Records — now live in Tarrytown and manage the very up-and-coming Years. Randy mistook me for Michael Corcoran, not an uncommon occurrence, but once we got past that, we were launching into New York real estate gossip, just as I had earlier in the evening with Austin techster Steven Phenix and his out-of-town guest.
Anyway, a few minutes later, a runway show began with sassy styles from Model Citizen, Knoxy and Loves, Mariessa (designers go by such creative names). Although clearly imagined for very different occasions from the least to the most formal, the women’s and men’s wear could work for any club night.
Then, the band played on. The Years have updated and honed a distinctive 1970s sound, and they even wear moustaches. They’ve earned a devout following and I now count myself among them. I look forward to their progress under Miller’s wise hand.
Heather Walton, Jen Sutor
Jordan Dudley, Lindsey Case, Joshua Clark
Shannon Rodgers, Shaun Avants, Knoxy
Tammy Harden, Sheryl Jones
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June 9, 2008
Vivid / Neon Jungle Relaunch Party
Austinites like to put an inventive twist into every endeavor. Take Gail Chovan and Evan Voyles, the fashion designer and neon artist whose triple endeavor, Blackmail, Neon Jungle and Vivid, serve as the northern gateway to SoCo along the western lateral. The partners relaunched the complex Saturday with a small party that introduced Chovan’s new on-public-view sewing workspace at the back of Vivid and more walls devoted to Voyles’ cool creations. They called the party “A Century of Style,” since they both turned 50 this year.
Lara Nixon (Box Car Bar), Teagean Farmer (Blackmail), Stephanie Lindsey
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May 19, 2008
Austin Gives: Heritage Society Atomic Austin Tour
The folks behind the Heritage Society of Austin were shocked that its “Atomic Austin: Mid-Century Modern” home tour was such a runaway success. Modernist masterpieces, with their puzzled-out geometries, indoor-outdoor extensions and scrupulous attention to detail, have been all the rage for at least two decades, and not just by lovers of irony or kitsch. Saturday, volunteers in period costumes shared fascinating information about each home. And everywhere I went, people said: “The day’s too short. I want to see more.” The event’s closing cocktail party at Robert Nash’s ideally proportioned swankienda in old West Lake Hills sold out as well.
David Erwin, Carol Pirie, Christiane Erwin; the Erwins operate Crestview Doors, which works on mid-century doors, Pirie is with the Texas Film Commission. They stand behind the Granger House in the Old Judge’s Hill neighborhood. Talk about a surprise package — a plain, corrugated street facade hides level after level of open, finely detailed spaces.
Silvia Acevedo (no relation to the police chief, “unless I’m pulled over”) sits by the pool in her period Keds at the Duncan-Buck Drive in Tarrytown, which includes a carefully calibrated guest house/studio/cabana.
Jeff Knipp, Suzanne Knipp waiting for the tour of the Abel House in Balcones, which used all sorts of Japanese inspiration, a sensitive renovation that included the original furniture, and perhaps the most striking exterior on the tour.
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April 23, 2008
Your A-List: Best Newcomer to the Retail Scene
American Apparel, taking Factory People’s hip slot on South Congress, came in second with 20 percent, while spanking new St. Bernard Sports on Third Street skiied to a distant third at 8 percent. Barney’s Co-Op — the more youthful version of my favorite department store — fitted up 7 percent for its Domain incarnation, while Marigold got 6 percent. A long list follows with 5 percent or less: Fit City Sports, La Luz, Peyton’s Place, Bombs Away, Finch, Lotus, Bag Girl, Bows and Arrows, David Yurman, Heather Scott Home Design, Sana, Wendow.
Write-ins: Goody Two Shoes, Parts & Labor
Photo: Marques Harper
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April 16, 2008
Your A-List: Best Place to Buy Beauty Products
“It is a woman and a gay guy’s dream,” says fashion writer Marques Harper of Sephora. “It has everything you could possibly want.”
With three locations, Sephora took first place in the A-List tally for Best Place to Buy Beauty Products, taking 35 percent of the vote.
Young women are particularly drawn to Ulta, which layered on 23 percent, while Seattle-based, service-oriented chain Nordstrom earned 10 percent.
The Beauty Store came in third with 9 percent, Bath and Body Works fourth with just less than that, and Lux Apothetique fifth with 6 percent.
Taking less than 4 percent: Sabia, Emerald’s, Body Shop and Black Butterfly.
Write-in: Myka
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April 5, 2008
Fashion for Compassion at Neiman Marcus
The Austin Children’s Shelter, like other charities that provide essential benefits for young people, has attracted a certain golden set we like to call Friends of Susan Dell. Assiduously slim and leggy, impeccably coiffed and coutered, this tribe of West Austinites, mostly in their 30s and 40s, are selective about the causes they support. But when they choose one, they do it up in style.
Victoria Reed-Fenimore, Hannah Douglas, Tosca Gruber, the best storyteller I’ve met in weeks.
Fashion for Compassion, the first of what promises to be an annual event for the shelter, is likely to net six figures (in fact, Julia Burch reports it netted $160,000). Nothing about Neiman Marcus, the Domain location for the party, is cheap, but the golden glow of the rooms appears worth the expense.
Anil Venkatrao, Hena Venkatrao, Anand Venkatrao, Gitanjali Venkatrao, Rishma Venkatrao.,
We skipped the fashion show itself, talking instead to guests of various backgrounds, and staff, such as shelter Executive Director Gena VanOsselaer, who said the group’s new $13 million facility at the Rathgeber Village in the Meuller redevelopment will be able to serve 78 rather than 30 children at risk of domestic abuse or violence. “We turned away 964 last year,” she said.
Jordan Metteauer, Tara Metteauer (his dealership provided the cute Smart Car up for auction)
Mary Tipps, Pauline Lewis
Honorary chairs John Byram, Susanne Dawley, with Rita Senter, Sandy Senter.
Sterling Boon, Rita Boon
Had to get in the snappy shoes of Grey Goose Vodka representative Claire Winslow, plus her friend Cameron Maxwell.
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April 4, 2008
Fashion Lounge at Pangaea
The 400 block of Colorado Street remains a nightlife magnet, despite the death knell of Ringers and the inevitable aging of hot spots such as Cuba Libre, Kenichi, Starlite, Vicci, Truluck’s and Pangaea. After all, the real test of a club or restaurant is navigating the gap between preliminary sensation and tested staying power.
Tori Huckaba, Seth Huckaba
Places such as Cuba Libre (with the help of Tre Dotson, we find out) learned long ago to spike midweek traffic with special events, such as its pioneering martini and manicure nights. Pangaea is learning from its downstairs neighbor by staging events such as Fashion Lounge, which filled half the club with vendors and shoppers for local styles.
Sarah Lazarus, Tre Dotson
The brainchild of the charismatically energetic Tre Dotson, it makes a lot of sense to draw in the fashionistas on an otherwise slow Thursday. After the fair, the club’s staff quickly transformed Pangaea into a “back club,” one of two spatial arrangements for Wednesdays and Thursdays. Dotson also hinted at more changes on the block, which we hope to report, exclusively, soon.
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March 29, 2008
Dramatic flair at Ebony Fashion Fair
I’ve seen models and I’ve seen models, but the glamorous performers who worked the runway for the Ebony Fashion Fair on Thursday were of a higher rank — dancers and actors, as well as presenters of couture. I’ll leave the commentary about the fashion to distinguished colleague Marques Harper — is all that shine au courant, for instance? — but I will say the party at the Palmer Events Center, which raises money for scholarships while spreading the Ebony brand beyond its 50th anniversary, was a grand act of theater on par with a Broadway musical or the like.
I also saw some scrumptious style in the house.
Former Rep. Wilhelmina Delco, Bennie Owens
Greg Day, Avis Day
Desiree Williams, Cheryl Lee
Martha Rison, Deidra Milling, Marie Aybar — three generations of style
Susan Browne, Brenda Banks
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March 27, 2008
Out & About bites into Austin nightlife
Today: Wyatt Brand Inc. Anniversary Party (for David Wyatt) at the Armstrong School, H-E-B Westlake Market opening in West Lake Hills, Ebony Fashion Show at Palmer Events Center
Friday: “The Unforeseen” media event at Alamo South with Robert Redford and director Laura Dunn, Absinthe Soirée at The Peacock, Opening Gala at the Long Center, including performance by Peter Bay and the Austin Symphony (as well as Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin)
Saturday: Designer Aldo Cibic and Memphis Milano group benefit for the Alley Flat Initiative at Spazio, the Boxing Lesson at Emo’s
Sunday: Austin Music Memorial Induction at the Long Center, Nancy Coplin/Health Alliance for Austin Musicians event at Antone’s
Monday: Reception for City Manager Marc Ott at Monarch Event Center
Photo of Peter Bay by Laura Skelding
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March 13, 2008
SXSW at the Fader Fort
To enter the Fader Fort on East Fourth Street is ascend into rock heaven. The magazine, with the help of Levi’s, which maintains a shop up front, has carved spaces for artists and the media throughout the labyrinthine brick warehouse that once housed part of Austin Youthworks. Each cubby is decorated to the extreme (black and red are popular this year), and the courtyard of the school is transformed into one of the city’s hottest music venues (My Morning Jacket, etc.)
I felt significantly older in this crowd, for the first time during the 10 days of parties. Manchester’s The Answering Machine (Ben, Gemma, Martin, Pat)
Nick Meyerson of The Wonderland Avenue, Lauren Smitherman of TCEQ
Helen Flores-Duron, Luis Andonaegui of — guess what? — Hong Kong Blood Opera
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November 4, 2007
L Style G Style in style
If the party you attended late Saturday appeared bereft of stylish gay and lesbian participants, they were attending the launch of L Style G Style, the latest slick magazine catering to Austin’s LGBT community. The setting — the sidewalk, curb and just-finished lobby of the AMLI apartments at Third and San Antonio streets — telegraphed the urbanity and ambition of the flip mag. The theme was black-and-white and the runway show was, for once, balanced between men’s and women’s wear. The patter remained upbeat well into the evening, interrupted frequently by nearly universal rubbernecking at the collective glamour.
Founder and publisher Alisa Weldon (right) with partner Lynn Yeldell
The keeper of Keepers
It was an evening of brio most everyone
The young and the restless, moving in packs
Two models
More animated guests
And into the night…
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October 21, 2007
Tributes to an Avatar
The exotically wrapped gifts piled up like tributes to an eastern potentate. Which was apt, because Austin’s bejeweled Style Avatar — the title is derived from the Sanskrit — celebrated his 50th birthday in lavish style, attended by hundreds of his devoted followers Friday. The jutting terraces of the Cat Mountain Clubhouse lit up for Stephen Moser, who is looking sleeker every day.
The Avatar flanked by Mark Ashby (Mark Ashby Design) and Nina Seely (Ralph Lauren)
Mayor Will “GQ” Wynn delivered a plush proclamation in honor of the official Stephen McMillan Moser Day. Big guns in the local fashion industry — Linda Asaf, Anthony Camargo, etc. — were there, as was the evening’s host with the most, Cliff Redd of the Long Center for the Performing Arts. We met shopper to the stars Nina Seely, who said that, the first day of fall, cashmere was bounding off the shelves at Ralph Lauren. Also working the crowd with agility was Andy Brown, candidate for the Travis County Democratic Party chairman. (Check his Web site for his endorsements.)
Scads of smart people grabbed my arm for a chat, and I was overcome by that disconnected feeling no social columnist should ever acknowledge: I could positively identify only one in five faces. Clearly, in each case, we had spoken before, and I was able to pick up the conversational threads after a beat or two, but I must have looked ridiculous on each first encounter. The ways in which I can humiliate myself are countless.
Images — better than the ones I took — are promised from Moser’s talented photographers. I’ll post as soon as they arrive.
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October 1, 2007
Linda Asaf's showroom launch
If there’s a better-liked Austin fashion designer than Linda Asaf, I swear I don’t know who it would be. That creator of such alert and richly textured women’s wear now has her own showroom on West Sixth Street in a lovingly rendered bungalow. Friday, we encountered dozens of her devoted admirers with tasting mixes of Izzie beverages and Tito’s Handmade Vodka — an inspired concoction.
We admired the shiny red Fluevogs worn by the newly engaged Eva Helms and the Nilmon dress modeled by Kelley Oswalt. We spent considerable time with Clint Sawin and Patrick Landrum, whose interior design office is right across West Sixth Street. Club magnate Michael Girard was there with Imperia managing partner CK Chin, and we all billowed to the trace music provided by Johnny Robinson.
Michael Girard, Linda Asaf and CK Chin
Patrick Landrum and Clint Sawin
Kelley Oswalt
Johnny Robinson
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September 4, 2007
Mr. Chatterbox Austin
Austin is now the most affluent big city in Texas, according to a breathless story in the Wall Street Journal. See fashion writer Marques Harper’s blog take on the article. Social bright lights Carla McDonald and Lance Avery Morgan won mentions in the story.
The New York Times, meanwhile, is fascinated with a food-and-games organization in Austin that mixes ping-pong with Asian treats. Pictured: Austin Table Tennis Club.
Austin fan Owen Wilson, “looking red-eyed and scraggly,” is back home and well after his suicide attempt. Meanwhile, director and friend Wes Anderson promoted “The Darjeeling Limited,” which stars Wilson, at the Venice Film Festival.
Hawaiian-as-much-as-Austinite these days Willie Nelson is the subject of a profile in the New York Post, which tries to bring East Coast readers up to date on his decades-old contributions.
Floridian-as-much-as-Austinite these days Andy Roddick won his Monday set at the U.S. Open due to Tomas Berdych’s withdrawal. He was also chosen to join the U.S. Davis Cup. But first, formidable hurdle Roger Federer.
Of course these tidbits ignore some of the biggest news: the Longhorns’ narrow victory over predicted pasty Arkansas State (which lowered UT’s ranking to No. 7), the impending sentence of Laura Hall, and, of course, Austin City Limits, which will bring the biggest name in rock to town since the Rolling Stones visited last fall.
Yes, I’m talking about the only celebrity anyone will care about about next week: Bob Dylan. We have plenty of music writers on the case, but if you get a whiff of Dylanesque activities, drop us a line.
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September 1, 2007
A stylish birthday at the Triangle
When I heard that the party would be held in an apartment complex recreation room, my heart sank. Surely it would be an antiseptic affair, with the only style coming from the discreet way revelers avoided tracking in the wet from the inevitable pool.
The Triangle, however, is no ordinary apartment complex, and its rec room glows in high-design mod, with a large, stainless-steel serving area, multiple flat-panel TVs, a pool table (a little cramped) and quiet niches tucked aside large, sociable rooms.
Perfect for a certain fashion writer’s 30th birthday and his flock of friends, neighbors, journalists, publicists and the just plain stylish on Friday. (Sorry for the imperfect pictures, still working out the iPhone functions.)
Joe Melton, Benjamin Harms and Nancy Littlejohn
Raven Hill and Revlynn Lawson
Jenny Miller and Valerie Noes
Isadora Vail and Brandon Cobb
Social connector supremo Elaine Garza and the B-Day Boy
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August 25, 2007
No fashion photog me at Heart House runway
Style: To no one’s surprise, I’m not fashion photographer. I tried to position myself near the runway for the first segment in the Heart House benefit show. (The group provides services for low-income families and just opened a new campus.) About halfway through the Lucky Nahum men’s wear segment — neatly arranged at Vluxe another photographer turned to me and said “Hard on the knees, isn’t it?” I could barely stand up! Needless to say, I didn’t capture any images of the Linda Asaf, Kathy Sever, Chams & Hill, Nilmi Momin or Forest Bell collections. But if anyone is sweet enough to share some, I’ll post them on a austin360.com gallery. And, oh, check out American-Statesman writer Marques Harper looking dapper in cocktail-ready Lucky wear.
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Keepers at Keepers
Style: The quest for the perfect black jacket continues. With Statesman style writer Marques Harper, we dallied at Keepers, the higher-end men’s wear shop at Sixth and Congress. I always want to touch the fabrics in shops like this, so I did, as a small party of fashionistas coalesced around icy gimlets. My favorite selection was a trimmly tailored Versace number with flecks of blue and reddish brown that turned out to be made of bamboo! At $750, it’s a bit out of my range, but I can dream. (And yes, for those who think style is a bore, I’ve always been fascinated, from a distance.) Some other customers:
Chris Taylor and Allen Velasquez of London with Sterling Stark
Aspiring Keepers customers Roxanne Mitchell and Kevin Rathge
Regular Keepers customers James and Melissa Logan with owner Chuck Haidet peeking out behind
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August 21, 2007
How to celebrate the Out & About print era?
Style: Flying high about the first day of Out & About in print. Received couple of dozen responses, most of them congratulatory, others offering sound advice (“Don’t make it about you!”). Well, I’m forced to depart from that counsel today, reporting on the personal as well as the celebrated, while antipicating that wee bottle of Veuve Clicquot chilling in our fridge.
Last night, feeling the urge to shop for my new job description, I drove out to the Domain for the first time. Not easy to access from MoPac, the upscale mixed-use complex looks rather like a standard big-box mall or apartment complex from the south or east. Yet through its heart threads a pedestrian-oriented retail street that, on Monday, looked like an abandoned Hollywood backlot. No kidding. A few idlers lounged at the restaurants, but the boutiques were like something out of “Island of the Lost Shoppers.” (Upside: The clerks, even in the snooty shops, fell over themselves to help me.)
One of my main quests was a lightweight black sports jacket for flexible wear at clubs, openings and business-casual events. I visited high-end niches and the mix-and-match department stores, and, while one could purchase brown other other colored jackets in loose weaves and rumpled structures, all the black editions looked like tuxedo tops: wide, shiny lapels, tailored waists chopped at the bottom and angled pockets. I don’t need a tuxedo top! (Weirdest thing: I had the entire second floor of Macy’s to myself. A marvelous young woman spent some 15 minutes guiding my jacket hunt.)
My main stop, however, was the infinitely refined Apple store for, you guessed it, the must-have iPhone. Oh I know the flaws — no video, smaller keyboard for e-mail function, no cut and paste — but it’s infinitely more attuned to my visual and tactile preferences than other attempts to meld computers, phones, cameras and MP3 players. A lightly whiskered young man danced me through the applications, which I’d already sampled on friends’ iPhones. Buggy or not, I took it. Well worth the price for the most important field tool for Out & About.
The young man turned out to be Parker Worsham, the musician from the band of the same name, and brother to Lauren Worsham (pictured above with name-that-man), who starred in Austin productions of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gypsy,” and who recently wrapped national tour of “The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee,” moving into Upper West Side digs. So even shopping, Out & About makes social connections.
Fame: The first celebrity tip of the new era: The year was 1999. Matthew McConaughey’s movies were drooping at the box office. Still, he rattled all the celebrity columns when he was arrested after a nude bongo-playing episode in his Austin apartment. Back then, police reports cited “a nude white male dancing and playing bongo drums,” while “a clothed Caucasian was dancing and clapping his hands to loud music.”
Who was that male, and what was his relationship to the city’s official hunk? Speculation flew, some of it, needless to say, related to sexual identity. Back then, this newspaper’s gossip column reported an exclusive: McConaughey and a buddy who looked liked “Dazed and Confused” actor Cole Hauser (pictured) were seen that night out on Sixth Street in the company of two women. We can put that mini-mystery to rest: It was Hauser, who stars on the post-Katrina-set policer, “K-Ville,” with Anthony Anderson. Extra bit: Hauser is the great-grandson of Harry Warner, founder of Warner Bros. Studios.
Keep those credible tips coming.
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August 19, 2007
Crossing the velvet boundary at Oilcan's
Out: One scene in “Knocked-Up,” Judd Apatow’s deceptively wise comedy about the endless process of growing up, smacked me right in the kisser.
Earlier in the movie, two women, one slightly older and married, played by a marvelously frazzled Leslie Mann, and the protagonist, radiant Katherine Heigl, go out to sample the night life and are accorded the club version of papal blessing: The velvet rope is pulled back to let them enter before those lined up outside the door. Mann’s vanity is soothed by this compliment, and her sense of well-being only grows when one of the hapless male crew at the heart of the movie hits on her. (We married people sometimes require such small esteem rebuilders.)
Later, in a sour mood, they return to the same club. Now, Heigl is uncomfortably pregnant, and Mann’s face is contracted with anxiety and frustration. They are told to line up with the others. This sets off Mann. The bouncer, in an fantastically rambling speech, schools her on the club’s priorities, which don’t include women of a certain age, even if they are still attractive by most standards.
Now, I’m a good 20 years older than Mann, which means 30 years older than the median age at most Austin clubs. I hate lines outside venues. And I hate people who cut in lines, so I thought, despite my almost visceral sympathy with the character, I’d never have to face that humilation.
But, lo and behold, as we headed over to Oilcan Harry’s around midnight Saturday with a small posse, I blanched when I spied the dreaded velvet rope and a queue cooling its heels outside. (A similar line snaked by Rain.)
Stephen Moser to the rescue. The waves parted, and we entered with the man, adorned in his famous shades and broaches, who seemed to know almost everyone there. That’s quite a feat, when you consider that it was late Saturday, late in the summer, in other words, as busy as the biggest gay bar in Austin gets.
Despite the sweaty masses, I was able to navigate to some quieter corners, where I caught up with various folks I encountered, including tanned and refreshed Todd Dellinger and Robin Lewis from TexArts, one of the groups raising the standards of musical theater in town. (We traded notes on “So You Think You Can Dance?”)
Other than the drama at the rope, my main impression of the venerable club that night, visited after lingering at three earlier parties, was: It’s no wonder that Austin is considered a gay tourist destination. You don’t see this kind of aggregate physical magnetism outside a few select social meccas around the world.
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June 22, 2007
Shoe expedition photo blog
Style: Statesman fashion writer Marques Harper trotted up and down South Congress Avenue with me, looking to expand my meagre selection of shoes. I set out with few requirements: The shoes must be nimble (I walk), comfortable (I stand at my desk) and protean (I attend events in every gradation of formality). Also, I’m too old for excessive whimsy, though I may admire it in others.
The big story we stumbled on: Almost every SoCo shop has given over pride of place to multi-hued vintage cowboy boots. The smaller story: The upscale/casual sneaker remains the shoe of choice on both sides of the street. Here are the wares, and what I purchased at Hovercraft.
Service
Blackmail
Crofts Originals
New Bohemia
Creatures
Hovercraft
PF Flyers No. 9 & Onitsuka Tiger
I’m pleased to report — and this is something for the fashion-challenged like me — after I chose the Tigers, Marques purchased a pair as well.
