This time of year, I usually start to think about a new datebook. When I'm not relying on my At-a-Glance Administrator (I've been using it since 7th grade, but try to keep it undercover because of its not-so-stylish appearance), I am carrying a Smythson.
The British stationary and leather goods company dates back to 1887 and has several royal warrants. In recent years, it's become known for colorful leather notebooks embossed with cheeky phrases such as "I've Got Nothing to Wear," "Seize the Day" and "Yes We Can." (I wonder if President Obama has his own copy?)
To keep things fresh, each year Smythson has also been collaborating with young British design talents on a limited-edition collection of notebooks, diaries and stationary. For 2011, they've chosen up-and-coming Scottish designer Holly Fulton, who is making a name for herself with her whimsical, Memphis-inspired print dresses and geometric wood, plastic and stud jewelry.
I love the Art Deco-like illustration on this book (above). Plus, you gotta love a designer who takes "Joan Collins on a cruise" as inspiration for her spring runway collection (right).
The "Dynasty" icon has been quite the fashion muse lately. She's also the star of the CFDA award-winning jewelry designer Alexis Bittar's ad campaigns.
Frankly, we're kind of over Vanity Fair playing global fashion police, but when the magazine's 2010 International Best-Dressed List was announced Tuesday, where did we find ourselves? You guessed it -- checking the list to see who made the cut.
We try hard to keep up with the planet's most fashionable -- and fashion-forward -- folks. We really do. It's in our job description. But this year's crop has us a bit baffled. Among the names one might reasonably expect -- David Beckham, Charlotte Gainsbourg -- were a lot of European royalty we'd never heard of (including the Duchess of Alba, who is credited as having "more than 44 noble and 150 hereditary titles" -- though we're guessing "Jessica Alba's grandmum" isn't one of them).
Here's a link to a printable view of the whole list (the format's not especially pretty, but it'll save you if you don't want to click through all 45 slides).
Among the ladies on this year's list are First Lady Michelle Obama (whose husband failed to make the cut this year); fashion designer Tory Burch; actress Carey Mulligan; France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (again); and Samantha Cameron, wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron (she also happens to be a creative consultant for Smythson). Of course, Lady Gaga's "just-gotta-be-me" attitude -- and wardrobe -- earned her a spot as well (her look is described as "Dada Catholic girl").
Notable new names on the men's side include polo player and model Nacho Figueras (included as a twofer with his photographer-model wife, Delfina Blaquier), Lanvin designer and creative director Alber Elbaz, "NBC Nightly News" anchorman Brian Williams, Alec Baldwin, jeweler-actor Waris Ahluwalia and Pharrell Williams.
Photos: Among the newly minted style icons on the 2010 Vanity Fair International Best-Dressed List is "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams, left. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times. Entertainer Lady Gaga also made the cut. Credit Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times
Fancy a Ruscha for your rucksack or a Baldessari in your briefcase? Then plan on popping by the Beverly Hills Smythson store tomorrow and snapping up one of its completely covetable, extremely limited-edition art diaries.The Bond Street purveyor of status stationery has collaborated with artists Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Rachel Whiteread and Gary Hume to create genuine works of art that can help you keep a handle on your genuine works of art — in a meta, M.C. Escher sort of way. Each size (the 5.5-inch by 3.5-inch, 224-page “Panama,” $700, and 7.75-inch by 5.75-inch, 192-page “Mayfair,” $900, includes the same featherweight, pale blue, silver-edged sheets. And along with monthly and yearly (2009 and 2010) planners, there’s a compendium of art dealers, record prices, emerging art markets and extensive listings of art fairs, museums and galleries (edited by the London-based Art Newspaper). But contrary to what our mothers always taught us, in this instance it’s what’s on the outside that really matters — each artist’s handiwork is translated into just 200 of each size book, bound in lambskin and individually numbered. The glossy, simplified outlines of Gary Hume’s American Tan X 2006-07 and A Great Victory 2006-07 are re-created in colored leather inlays. Samples from Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (nets) 2002 series of etchings are rendered by dipping a digitally etched brass blocking die in silver, Baldessari’s ear and nose imagery is captured on vegetable-tanned lambskin, and a riff on Ruscha's 1984 painting I Forgot to Remember to Forget is split into two diaries — the larger printed with “I Remembered to Forget” and the smaller “I Forgot to Remember.” The Smythson store at 222 N. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is one of only two U.S. retailers stocking the line, (the other is in New York), but if you want to make sure your date with a cover artist is on the books, you might want to place a pre-order online at smythson.com. -- Adam Tschorn Smythson's limited-edition art diaries made in collaboration with Ed Ruscha, top, and John Baldassari, bottom, are among those that go on sale Sept. 30. Only 200 of each size by each of four artists will be sold. Photos courtesy of Smythson of Bond Street.
