Koh calm

The Library at the Library in Koh Samui, Thailand Lemlem Tebteb Split Coverup in Earth

 

 

 

 

 

 

A beach and more books than I could ever read: sounds like an ideal Saturday (as my thermometer stubbornly sticks below zero). The serene scene at The Library boutique hotel in Koh Samui, Thailand pairs the lapping sounds of waves with literary-styled amenities: the communal Library stacks tomes alongside DVDs, the beachside pool is dyed as red as the Scarlett Letter, rooms are delineated by page numbers and alabaster sculptures of figures reading pepper the property. If today I woke up in Thailand, I would pad down to the Library in this tunic by Lemlem (a feel-good brand made by traditional weavers in Ethiopia) and spend the day reading, inside the cool confines or outside in sand and sun.

NoLa alchemy

The Music Box, a now shuttered musical architecture installation in New Orleans, LA. Kaarem Dust Sleeveless Dress in Orchid Leaf Print.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alchemy is at work in New Orleans in the form of a community arts project called Dithyrambalina. Part sonic playground, part performance venue, part conceptual laboratory, Dithyrambalina nurtures musical architecture in NoLa. What is musical architecture? When community arts org New Orleans Airlift first explored the concept through The Music Box: A Shantytown Sound Laboratory, the Smithsonian Magazine offered a defining description: “Rigged by a team of musicians, artists, inventors and tinkers to coax novel sounds from salvaged building materials – musical architecture.” The Music Box embedded instruments within the splintered walls of shacks; imagine playing loose planks like organ keys. The magical miniature village, built by more than 25 artists, electrified the neighborhood: 70-plus world-class musicians played the architectural orchestra, for an audience of more than 15,000 visitors. Critics sung its praises: “A breathtaking feat of DIY engineering, a living, breathing, sound-making member of the neighborhood” (ArtNet); and “Bravo to all of the brilliant builders, musicians and visionaries. The Music Box is many dreams come true” (New Orleans Times –Picayune).

The Music Box has since closed, but this year will see its resurrection in Dithyrambalina, a roving village made up of five playable houses set to visit neighborhoods around the Big Easy and beyond (the ultimate goal: to find a permanent site). The first new house is slated to open by late April, hopefully in time for my first-ever trip to New Orleans. I’m packing this Kaarem dress, a piece channeling the alchemic nature of musical architecture.

Tee time

The Textile Arts Center in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Rachel Rose Navy Waves Silk Tee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to unlock my latent talents. If I still lived in Brooklyn, I would beeline for the Textile Arts Center and take a class with one of the rising star designers on the faculty roster. Oh, the dilemma of what to do: Coil baskets? Dye indigo? Weave with nature? Paint tees with Rachel Rose, maker of this wavy silk top?

Beyond the bevy of adult and youth classes, the Center also houses Sewing Seeds, a program dedicated to disseminating information and inspiration on natural dyes. Did you know carrot tops, onion skins and rhubarb leaves can be used to dye fabric? News to me too.

Headstrong history

Seven Park Place at St. James's Hotel and Club in London. Cedric Charlier Crinkled Wide Leg Pant in Jaune.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was named after Katharine Hepburn, a fiery legacy I’ve gladly embraced my whole life. But today, I came across a quote that deepened my sense of the star, widely considered to be the greatest female actor in Hollywood history. In the quotation, Lauren Bacall paints a portrait of her friend layering vulnerability and devotion atop the headstrong hue so widely depicted.

“There was always vivid Kate carrying her broken full length mirror to the set every day in Africa – Kate in tears at the death of friend Fanny Brice – Kate eating peaches out of a can in Africa – cooking for Spence – sitting at his feet keeping his coffee hot while hanging on his every word – Kate holding a small bouquet of flowers my first day home from the hospital with her godson, Sam. Kate was a doer – a worker – a riser above all things – exasperating – intimidating – loyal – funny – loving – sentimental – proud – passionate in her likes and dislikes – a lover of beauty – nature – she was all those things and even more.”

So in honor of Hepburn, I present a vignette inspired by her transcendent spirit: daffodil yellow, menswear-inspired-but-oh-so-feminine crinkled crepe pants worn (in my imagination) inside Seven Park Place, a Michelin-starred restaurant by famed chef William Drabble within St. James’s, a former men’s club now boutique hotel in London. A historically exclusionary space reborn in style, fit for a sparkling feminist.

Swedish solarium

A sunny reading loft in a Swedish apartment.  

Equipment Liliane washed silk pajama set

 

 

 

 

 

Another dreamy window seat on a Saturday (perhaps this will become a weekly installment). Plucked from a two-story apartment in Sweden, this light-washed nook is lofted above the living area – the perfect roost for reading. Endearingly disheveled, I wouldn’t change a thing: the rooftop vista, the nest of pillows, the knitted throw, the bowls of coffee, the stacks of mags. But I would add me to this scene, lounging in these cheery silk pjs, made playful with cartoony toadstools and rabbits.

Austin soul

Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin, TX Arielle De Pinto Two Tone Drip Earrings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who knew SOUL was a partial anagram of LOUISANA? Neon designer/artist Evan Voyles deconstructed an old highway sign announcing the southern state, reimagining the letters as the SOUL that shines above the pool at the Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin, TX. Designer Liz Lambert has transformed the old Victorian house and grassy property into a design oasis in downtown Austin. Drawing inspiration from Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music and poetry, Lambert created a rich aesthetic that DesignSponge described as “Old World European taken over by rock n’ roll decadence.” Vintage finds and a vibrant palette – cobalt walls, red Chesterfields, white leather headboards – embolden the space, and hipster amenities – every room boasts record players and bookshelves stocked with poetry, art and music titles – complete the experience. These Arielle De Pinto tangled drip earrings would suit the rockstar royalty vibe.

Hostel takeover

A bunkbed at Downtown Beds in central Mexico City.  

 

 

Loeffler Randall Rooney Fisherman Sandals

 

Mexico City has been on my mind, thanks to friends’ glowing reviews and the most recent 36 Hours In. And now I can picture the (bunk) bed where I’ll lay my head. Hotel firm Grupo Habita applied its high-design aesthetic to its first hostel, Downtown Beds, near the central Plaza de la Constitucion. Downtown Beds fills the servants’ quarters of a colonial palace (the palace itself is now Grupo Habita’s upscale Downtown Mexico). With innovative material use and a fresh aesthetic throughout, the group was able to create a design-driven experience for a fraction of the price of its other properties. Key details makes Downtown Beds sparkle, like the acid-green lattice brick used on bunk beds, the restored barrel vault ceilings in some rooms, and the interior courtyard with its crimson bar and café seating. With the hostel's beds costing as little as $15 per night, I can splurge on these similarly spunky Loeffler Randall sandals.

Cardboard genius

Shigeru Ban's Cardboard Cathedral. Photo: Stephen Goodenough for the New York Times.  

 

TeslerMendelovitch Rosewood Clutch. Sold on Etsy.com

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, a seismic event happened in the architecture world: Japanese architect Shigeru Ban won the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel of architecture awards, a decisive move away from the celebrity monuments often lauded toward architecture focused on the greater social good.  According to the NY Times article announcing the award, Ban has challenged the notion of “what it means to have a roof over your head” by creating temporary shelters, often using cardboard and paper, in areas devastated by natural disasters. When a 2011 earthquake leveled a 19th-century cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, Ban designed a transitional sanctuary with a nave of cardboard tubes. Dubbed the Cardboard Cathedral, the 700-seat church still stands until funds can be raised for a permanent structure. “His work is airy, curvaceous, balletic,” wrote NY Times critic Michael Kimmelman in 2007. “… he is an old-school Modernist with a poet’s touch and an engineer’s inventiveness.” The same could be said of design duo TeslerMendelovitch, kindred innovators of Ban who actually do the inverse by using wood instead of more playable materials in their architectural clutches.

Weekend wilderness

Steep Ravine Cabins in Mount Tamalpais State Park in Northern California. Antik Batik Madrid Fly Away Cardigan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In plotting my return to urban life, I’m scouting escape routes: accessible adventures doable over weekends. Steep Revine Cabins belie their proximity to the Bay Area – only an hour’s drive north – by offering seaside seclusion in Mount Tamalpais State Park (only reserved guests know the gate code). I love camping sans tents; each of the 10 cabins offer a table, benches, sleeping platforms (akin to two doubles), a countertop, closet and – best of all – wood-burning stove (all for $100 a night). Crashing surf, crackling fire, bundling up in big sweaters as the sun falls away: perfect weekend wilderness.

Mountain memorial

Salvation Mountain by Leonard Knight in Imperial County, CA. Photo: Chris Wang Mara Hoffman Waist Cutout Tea Length Dress

In college, I wrote my senior thesis – a collection of interrelated short stories – on self-taught/outsider/naïve artists (all those slashes attest to this spectral category of creativity). Such artists share an irrepressible drive to visually express themselves, an instinct epitomized by Leonard Knight. A Vermont native, Knight had been a welder, handyman, auto body mechanic, guitar teacher and painter before he decamped to Slab City, a squatters’ colony on a former military base several hours east of LA. In this lawless land, he built a three-story monolith to his faith, Salvation Mountain – a terraced rainbow made of adobe, straw and umpteen gallons of paint, cloaked in Bible verses and crowned with a cross. He shared his creation with others; visitors summit Salvation by following a golden path. Knight died last month at age 82. Without him, his mountain may languish; the site requires constant maintenance to combat the harsh conditions of the Colorado Desert. Can words help save Salvation Mountain? In 2002, California Senator Barbara Boxer described it as “a unique and visionary sculpture… a national treasure... profoundly strange and beautifully accessible.” I want to go (in this omniscient dress) and add my voice to its preservation.

Fresh page

The quintessential reading nook. Burberry Accessories Belted Cashmere Robe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday mornings usually find me lolling in bed with magazines, an indulgent routine that sometimes leaves me feeling lazy. Would a reading nook break the continuum between sleep and relaxation? It would certainly give me a reason to wear a plush cashmere robe. This spot seams ideal, sited somewhere near surf, bright with natural light, cushioned by overstuffed pillows. My imprint on this world would see some clutter and a cup of coffee, yet still serene.

Transformative design

Whatiftheworld, a gallery representing young contemporary South African artists. Theyskens' Theory Jagger textured linen and cotton-blend vest.

 

As the World Design Capital 2014, Cape Town will be awash all year in design projects aimed at transforming the city. With more than 470 initiatives in the works, the city will live out design as a way to reconnect, reconcile, communicate, transform, solve and inspire. An ambitious mission to be sure, every creative in Cape Town seems to have rallied behind the cause, making 2014 the year to visit Cape Town. Some hotels are helping their guests tap into the creativity coursing through the city: as the New York Times reported yesterday, the One&Only Cape Town is organizing tours of the Lalela Project’s arts education program in the Imizamo Yethu settlement, as well as curator-led tours of contemporary galleries in the city, with stops including Whatiftheworld, a gallery set in a decommissioned synagogue specializing in emerging artists. I’m going; all I needed was a deadline.

Desert transition

Dome in the Desert in Joshua Tree, CA (rent on airbnb). Maison Scotch Le Garcon Jean in Smooting Blue, Spring 2014.

 

After hermitting most of the winter, I look for ways to transition outward, away from quiet living into the more boisterous vibe of summer. This Dome in the Desert seems like the perfect launch pad for a mellow/loud hybrid, for exploring by day and nesting by night. Sitting only miles away from the town of Joshua Tree and the national park, the dome’s interior and exterior amenities feel like a bespoke fit for me: inside, there’s a wood burning stove, board games and books, and a collection of coffee makers; outside, there’s 800,000 acres of cactus-speckled wilderness, with trails to hike and rocks to scramble. I picture coming home at night, mind full from peak climbing and petroglyph spotting, and cooking a big fresh meal in these wacky jeans, a palimpsest of patterns, like the desert itself.

Old Havana meets French Quarter

The interior courtyard of the American Trade Hotel in Panama City. Photo: Spencer Lowell. Michelle Clog by A Détacher. Available at Anaïse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not long ago, centuries-old Casco Viejo was a crumbling patch of Panama City. A stucco palace of luxury apartments, built in 1917, had been taken over by five drug gangs, each occupying a floor. After UNESCO deemed Casco Viejo a World Heritage Site in 1997, an intrepid development group led by the palace builder’s great-great-grandson, lawyer Ramon Arias, began preserving properties within the district – gentrification embodied by the palace’s new occupant, the American Trade Hotel, a collaboration with Atelier Ace (of the trendy Ace Hotel chain). Beyond its stately structure (arched windows, interior gardens, red-tile roofs), hip interiors (a blend of Bertoia chairs and Mexican midcentury-inspired pieces) and alluring amenities (coffee bar, jazz club, farm-to-table restaurant), the hotel lives out its community-development creed: developer Conservatorio dissolved local gangs by putting members to work on construction crews, and the hotel staff includes graduates of a rehabilitation program for abused women. “Buildings are more interesting with people,” said Conservatorio’s restoration architect Hildegard Vasquez in a W magazine article. “You can’t just fixture the architecture – you have to fix the people. And in the process, they change you, too.” A room with a view and values.

Marfa lights

The Kozy Coach at El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas. Rio Dress, part of Free People's New Romantics collection, Spring 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With pillows of fresh snow outside, I’m dreaming of the desert – the light, the heat, the sand, the expanse. For years, Marfa, Texas has topped my travel list, but I have yet to go. Familiar with the rustic edges of ranching, I want to see a world where working the land lives in harmony with land-based artists. El Cosmico seems like the perfect place to site my daydreaming with its hammock grove, outdoor bathing and porches aplenty. Choosing between trailers, tepees or tents sounds like a fun breed of free will to me (made all the more fun in this Free People frock).

Suspension please

Treehouse at Swallowtail Studios in Petaluma, CA (rent on airbnb). Tumalo Camp Shirt in Navy Check, part of Pendleton's The Portland Collection, Spring 2014, available soon

 

It’s been years since I climbed a tree – a confession that, once made, must be remedied. This NoCal treehouse – wedged within a mighty eucalyptus tree – beckons the all-too grounded (me). Weathered stairs lead three stories up to a bi-level cabin bracketed by bark. Neighbors include horses, a barn beloved by the Grateful Dead, and a cozy wine-country town. But I would leave all that below and nest – wrapped in flannel, with a book or New Yorkers, falling in and out of naps, writing some, sans cellular. Suspended.

Temple skyscape

"Gathered Sky" by James Turrell at Temple Hotel in Beijing. Photo by Ben McMillan, article from the Wall Street Journal. Somewhere in the Indian Ocean necklace by Holst + Lee. Handmade with nylon rope, turquoise stones, brass fixtures and woven chain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s dusk in Beijing. I lie on the floor of an ancient Buddhist temple, exposed sky above. The last colors of the day melt over me. Bats dash across the ceiling cutout. A star blinks. James Turrell, a reclusive genius with light, traveled to China to fine-tune “Gathered Sky” at the new Temple Hotel. I imagine his astonishment at the calm achieved within the restored grounds, within the cacophonous capital – a site symbolic of the city itself. Built in the mid-18th century, the temple became a factory after the Cultural Revolution, churning out bicycles, medical supplies and black-and-white TVs (the latter: a stunning foil for Turrell’s profound palette). I shall visit, wearing Holst + Lee’s Somewhere in the Indian Ocean necklace, a handmade collar echoing the fans of color inside the temple.

A beginning

Ontological Road Map 081811 (detail) by Robert Walden, ink on paper, 2011. Chambray Machinist Jumpsuit by Madewell, Spring 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it’s because I live in winter, awash in white and ash. Maybe it’s because I miss the brocade of Brooklyn. Or because I still think in Vietnamese and imagine an alternate life abroad. Or the way my writerly mind works, constantly crafting characters and scenes. For these reasons and a myriad more, I’m always scheming where to go next, and what to wear when I’m there. So to exer(or)cise my sartorial wanderlust, I present Wear + Here.