Men's Fashion Week may have wrapped up in Paris on Wednesday, but a few New York gents invented an entirely new trend Thursday evening at the Park Avenue Armory: suits paired with duck boots. The Observer spotted several guys at the Winter Antiques Show's Young Collectors Night sporting the fashionably questionable but seasonally necessary look-including one brave young man in full white-tie top hat and tails, with his trousers tucked carelessly into a large... MORE >
Even exquisitely uncomfortable pointy-toed dress shoes can't keep Michael Kors from practically any retail neighborhood in the city he so desires. It reportedly took ages to lure the designer to check out Unago's former space on Madison Avenue for his New York City flagship. But once they got him through the door, the negotiations took only an... MORE >
Herein, the evolving attitude of reporter and editor Choire Sicha concerning entrepreneurship and the level of froth surrounding the New York technology "scene." Okay, for starters, updating these people's "Facebook fan pages" is not actually a job, so it can't even be an "it" job? For seconders, and I really do say this with some love for the people involved, but really, has any micro-bubble in history had its head forcibly shoved so far inside its... MORE >
By Alexandra Peers | January 19, 2011 | 1:38 pm
Calm down, you are still the zodiac sign you think you are. The Observer put astrologer Susan Miller on the cover last year because of her cult following in the fashion and Hollywood industries, where Cynthia Rowley, Lindsay Lohan, Mary Kate Olsen, among others, are avowed fans. A seemingly normal and practical woman - she'll predict leaky pipes, identity theft, and tax problems along with true love - Miller since been hired since by such... MORE >
Despite the occasional hiccup, it looks like the controversial Park51 Islamic community center downtown has weathered the furor that consumed it last year and will get built some day if the ambitious project can find $100... MORE >
Like King Midas, Karl Lagerfeld can bestow a princely glow to whatever surrounding he graces with his presence. He's Karl Lagerfeld, ruler of Chanel, reigning titan of... MORE >
By Bob Morris | January 4, 2011 | 7:07 pm
If there's one thing New Yorkers know how to get worked up about, it's their leisure time. That's why a question like 'Where were you for the holidays?' never gets a simple answer. People are either competitive about going someplace ahead of the curve or defensive about going someplace behind it. Florida to visit parents or Disney World is often explained with chagrin. And those who stick around the city can be quite aggressive... MORE >
The fashion industry revolves around rapidly changing trends, with market leaders emerging from the pack thanks to their ineffable sense of style. Now Polyvore, a site where users can clip items from anywhere on the web and mix and match them to create "look books," is trying to bring some data-driven web analytics to this... MORE >
By Kyle Pope | December 21, 2010 | 1:50 am
While not much good has come from the Great Recession, there is this: It has created an entirely new power dynamic in New York. For decades, the power structure in this city was firmly established, even calcified. The same people. The same agendas. The same outcomes. Which isn't to say that our business, political and culture leaders have been all bad; indeed, under their (usually) benevolent direction, the city thrived, in spite of it all. But... MORE >
Paint! Lampshades! "Dean of American Design" Elissa Cullman on therapy for apartments and why "in New York, our coats are our... MORE >
The moment sisters-in-law Veronica Swanson Beard and Veronica Miele Beard (both married to nephews of Peter Beard) first dreamed up their eponymous fashion label, Veronica Beard, they knew exactly who should be wearing their clothes. "When we thought of our ideal customer, we had Gwyneth in mind," said the soigné brunette, Veronica M. The burgeoning designers were right on target. Ms. Paltrow was so besotted with their collection that she gave them a glowing... MORE >
By Bob Morris | December 14, 2010 | 9:27 pm
Unless you're in college or living in Greenpoint, giving a birthday dinner in a restaurant implies paying for your guests. But if you're an influencer? That's another story. Influencers are the new fresh-air children. They aren't just famous people or the media, obvious targets of corporate largesse. They are the aggressive new breed of socials from new or inherited wealth that get everything for free.... MORE >
By Bob Morris | December 7, 2010 | 9:05 pm
It's been a hard week for the pathologically self-involved. In a cruel and obsessive-compulsive burst of house cleaning, the American Psychiatric Association announced the elimination of five perfectly good mental disorders for the next edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. But while the loss of schizoid, paranoid, dependent and histrionic disorders are causing some discomfort among New Yorkers, it is the grave loss of Narcissistic Personality Disorder from the list that is cutting... MORE >
The new Sperone Westwater gallery at 257 Bowery, just a block away from the New Museum, is Lord Norman Foster's second building to be completed in New York after the Hearst Tower. The Lower East Side is getting real arty! Lord Foster finished his first sketches for the gallery at a holiday party in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 2007, when the gallerists Angela Westwater and Gian Enzo Sperone showed him photos of the L.E.S. lot... MORE >
By Bob Morris | November 30, 2010 | 9:31 pm
We were going around the Thanksgiving table last week giving thanks when one of my in-laws seized the opportunity to grandstand about the plight of Native Americans. The table fell into a dead... MORE >
