Color Week Day 6/ Purple

Purple gets a really bad rap. Over years of working in fashion, I've never seen so many people express so much dislike for a color as they do with poor poor purple. Who knows why? Maybe people think it's too new age-y or eccentric (that might explain why I like it). Lately, purple reminds me the most of the character Marie on Breaking Bad, who has a fanatical love for purple. She would definitely think, as would I, that purple deserves a second chance.


Lavender by Thomas Giddings


on left: Daria Strokous shot by Francois Nars for Vogue Japan June 2012    on right: watercolor by Luli Sanchez


“Operación Dragón”  with model Du Juan  for Vogue Spain September 2012 shot by Miguel Reveriego

I think purple...
looks like: an over the top baroque dinner table set with candles, grapes and wine/ a dark and stormy night
smells like: lavender fields/ the intoxicating scent of lilac
tastes like: plums/ port/ truffles/ violet candies
feels: royal/regal/ decadent
sounds like:  Siouxsie and the Banshees/ Bat for Lashes


image by Sania Pell


on left: Isabel Marant Spring 2013 collection     on right:




on left: Natalia Vodianova shot by Steven Meisel (and styled by Grace Coddington) for Vogue   on right: Vanessa Bruno's Paris apartment


Watercolor and ink piece by Francesca Lancisi

Squam

(instagram photo of an acorn spiral made by one of the Earth Art students at Squam)

My week at Squam Art Workshops has come and gone. Like last year, it’s a time for me to peel away all the masks I hide behind and get in touch with my raw self. I’m definitely known to most as a city girl so I never know what the woods are going to have in store for me but this time they embraced me with open arms and enveloped me with their branches. This year, I came back as a teacher so my experience was totally different. When I say I learned as much as I taught I am being completely honest; it’s one of those things you’re supposed to say but I mean it. I learn so much about myself, about life, about the kindness of strangers, at Squam.

On the second to last night, Alena, a fellow teacher and all-around awesome woman, talked about the ripples that we send out at Squam and in our lives beyond the New Hampshire woods, ripples of love and kindness and hope and how these ripples make new ripples. Every time we choose to be kind and open hearted, we send these ripples out. We affect other people’s lives in some small way and then they pass those ripples on too. I kept this in mind all day Monday when I was back in South Philly, surprising my neighbors and local shopkeepers with my smile and conversation, instead of looking away and keeping my mouth shut. It’s an important lesson.

Squam-ward Bound!

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I snapped this photo. Me, my legs dangling off the dock on the lake, just a few minutes after I arrived at cabin at Squam. Me, just a few hours from giving the opening night speech at Squam, not sure what to expect.
This year I'm returning as a teacher. I have lots of new friends I can't wait to see and a lot of new experiences to be had.
Last year, on my way home from Squam, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and barely recognized my reflection. I looked younger and more relaxed than I had in years. I can't wait to reclaim a little bit of that calm, if only for a few fleeting days.

Staunton in Photos

Labor Day weekend in Staunton, VA, one of the cutest towns I've ever seen...I'm so happy that my sister and brother-in-law bought a house there and can't wait to return!




























walking through town with my family/my favorite flower house/ a trip to the famous Polyface Farms/running through the train station/a cat in the window.

Longwood Gardens: By Night

Ok, yesterday was all about walking the grounds of Longwood Gardens during the day. Today is all about what happens after dark! Until the end of September, the artist Bruce Munro has several light installations that creep throughout the gardens. The feeling of walking through these installations is magical and otherwordly, like descending upon a fairytale land.
And of course, the photos don't even begin to do it justice. Here are a few anyway!



Walking down the path from the conservatory, we have no idea what to expect. It's dark and I can't see five feet in front of me but I can tell that the path is full of people. Suddenly, to the right, just beyond a pond, thousands of lights, like blooming night flowers appear. Their colors shift and they give off the most beautiful reflection into the dark water.
photo by me


Photo by Mark Picthall from Longwood Gardens website


Photo by Michael Keefe from Longwood Gardens website

The path continues and we walk down a bridge strewn with white fairy lights. It's narrow enough that we need to walk single file and I quickly lose track of my friends. But that's ok; all the lights are putting me into a trance and I go into my own head. The path opens onto a dark field full of towers of water bottles lit with colored LED lights that change in sync with a musical score. I wish I could just lie down and spend the rest of the night here. Maybe the rest of my life.


photo by me


photo by Corriette Schoenaerts from Longwood Gardens website

We walk over another bridge, hovering a few feet above swamplands. It's pitch black and thousands, maybe millions of crickets, play their nightly symphony. Suddenly there's a person directing us into the woods, where 20,000 orbs form a carpet of light under the trees. Ok, this is ridiculous! I feel like magic is all around me. I lose everyone again. I don't want to talk, there's nothing to say.

photo by me

Photo by Fred Dunn

As we walk back to the car, everyone's a little tired, a little overwhelmed. We all make plans to come back as soon as possible.

If you want to visit, check out Longwood Garden's tips for seeing Light.