The People I Like

My Mother

May 11th, 2013

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, so today I would like to honor my mother, Aileen Skrypek.

Right now she and my father are hanging out with our kids in France (they live outside of Boston) while my husband and I spend a few days together in Venice. That’s a good mother.

I love my mom. She’s a crazy Irish lady, but in the best possible way. She grew up on a dairy farm south of Cork, amidst a bunch of cows and seven brothers and sisters. That alone is crazy. Then, one day, upon finishing her nursing studies, she decided to come to the US for a year and met my father after he “accidentally” spilled his drink on her at a “party.” (It turns out that this “party” was actually a bar, but my mother never wanted us to know that she met my father in a bar, so she edited her story a bit. I found out when I was in college!)

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The Best Dressed of the Met Ball

May 7th, 2013

The back of Rooney Mara last night.

Nobody likes to wear a fancy dress more than I do. So last night, after a few glimpses from Instagram of a couple of dresses that would be worn later that evening (I’m six hours ahead) to the 2013 Met Ball, I went to bed a little sad. Country living has its benefits, but getting properly dressed on a regular basis isn’t one of them.

This morning, in order to feel like I have come connection to the civilized world, I sat down at my computer and decided to make a “best dressed list” for you, but I was very disappointed. The theme of the night – and the current exhibition – was “Punk: Chaos to Couture.” I’m not a huge punk person, though I’m not afraid of a few spikes in my shoes or jewelry, but you generally won’t find me in torn clothing. Alas, some of the punk looks (most of them), weren’t for me… even the couture looks weren’t my favorites, but I narrowed down the best of them, in my opinion, and here they are in no particular order:

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Florence Lobet

April 30th, 2013

Florence Lobet with photographs by Stephane Graff.

I have known Florence for ages. Over a decade now. We met at a dinner in New York, both of us, randomly, friends with the actor Billy Zane. Like I said: random.

I was immediately drawn to Florence. She is quintessentially French. She is gorgeous with long hair that undulates like a river of dark chocolate down her back. She also had those deep green doe eyes that only French girls have. She could cut rocks with her cheekbones. Yet she doesn’t play up her looks. If anything, she plays them down. She doesn’t wear much make up, if any, and she is always dressed a like a bohemian. It suits her perfectly.

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Bill Cunningham

April 20th, 2013

Bill Cunningham. Photo by The Sartorialist

There are many things to like about fashion. How it makes you feel when you wear a new dress, put on heels, a pair of leg-elongating, high-waisted trousers. I love that designers rely on history and cultural influences to create new and inspiring collections season after season. Thanks to them and their clothes, what we wear can, if only for a moment, transport us to another era, make us feel part of another culture, a piece of history or simply cooler than we really are if we, say, wear something from Givenchy or Rick Owens.

As inspiring as fashion can be, nothing and no one is more inspirational in the fashion realm than Mr. Bill Cunningham. To see this pillar of kindness at the shows, with his smile so genuine it seems to eradicate all the cattiness that surrounds it, he, like fashion itself, transports me to a better time. No one works like this man anymore and it actually shames me. Night and day, day and night, he breathes his job. It is his unencumbering passion. A passion that doesn’t seem to destroy him, like so many passions can.

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My Girls

April 17th, 2013

Carolyn Cummings, Beth Baker, Kristin Victoria Barron, me, Roanne Adams, Giovanna Battaglia, Renee Lacombe

April 26th will mark our fifth wedding anniversary. Okay, March 7th is the “official” day – we had to get legally married in the US before we could get married in a French church – but April 26th was the day when I wore the big white dress… well, white dresses. I had a few of them. And these were the women who stood beside me. And still stand beside me. I love them all. The are all as beautiful inside as they are outside.

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Ted Skrypek: My father, the tax guy.

April 15th, 2013

Happy April 15th, everyone! Especially to my father, Ted Skrypek. My dad is an accountant, thus the reason why I chose today to honor him, but he’s a whole lot more than that. Aside from just putting me on this earth, he’s done many things to shape the person I’ve become.

Yes, he fought a lot of my choices, tried his best to bully me into staying in business school and thought I had my head firmly planted in the ground when I told him I was transferring from NYU’s Stern into the College of Arts and Science to study Art History. “What are you going to do with that?” he asked disdainfully. And he was right to ask. He was, after all, along with my mother, paying for my education… and my housing… and my sushi lunches. Yep, sorry about that Dad, but it was you, if you remember, who introduced me to sushi in the first place. I could have opted for the school meal plan, I guess, but I was living in Manhattan. A school cafeteria? I didn’t think so.

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Lee Razdiwill

April 10th, 2013

I know this isn’t the most original of people to like, but I really do like Lee Razdiwill. Especially since reading the profile on her in the new T Magazine back in February.

Aside from being incredibly chic, the story of her life intoxicates me because it was so well-lived. There is no other word for it. She had a difficult childhood, but she withstood it and it, it appears, didn’t let it crush her, rather it prepared her for the misfortunes and challenges that she faced later on.

She is strong woman and handles herself impeccably. She is full of grace and humor, curiosity and courage. She had many loves, including one she ended up losing to her sister – Aristotle Onassis.

I can’t imagine living her life, but I find it spellbinding to think about it…

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Miniaudière

March 24th, 2013

Miniaudière by Gucci, from French Vogue, April 2013

I like her because she is beautiful. She is green… as in with envy. She looks good with red… and even with a cigarette.

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Dawn Goldworm, the Nose.

March 22nd, 2013

Dawn in Palais Royal

Dawn and I met while we were both studying at New York University – we had several Art History classes together. She was the pretty blond with a good fashion sense and I felt I had to get to know her.

I’m glad I did.

Dawn’s career path is one of the more interesting ones I’ve seen arise amongst my NYU peers. Most Art History majors I know go into magazines (mostly fashion) or end up working at galleries or consulting on interiors or become experts at auction houses. Dawn chose a different route. One that I find quite exciting and new. Dawn’s business is olfactive branding.

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Godfrey Deeny and Markus Ebner

March 19th, 2013

Markus Ebner (left) and Godfrey Deeny (right)

Godfrey Deeny, my editor when I was at Fashion Wire Daily, was recently appointed editor at large for women’s fashion at Le Figaro, the French Newspaper. Markus Ebner is the editor-in-chief of Achtung, the German fashion magazine. These two are attached at the hip. Partners in crime. Where there is one during fashion week, the other is not far. (They also work on Achtung and Sepp, a football/fashion magazine that they started together, so it isn’t really that surprising.)

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