The story of a life

To me a Christmas tree should be (to quote Harry Chapin) the "story of a life", displaying a collection of momentoes akin to a wall of family photos. I have such fond memories of each Christmas, growing up, getting out the bag of motley ornaments, some in better shape than others... mostly glass... and reflecting on each piece as we hung them on the tree. Then came the late 80s when colour coordinated trees became the trend, or trees with just one type of ornament, or trees with a particular "direction", so that every tree you saw looked like it belonged in a department store. My mum stood her ground on our funny old family tree though, even though in my wisdom I can remember suggesting that we should make our tree look a bit more "smart".

When my kids were born I started collecting Christmas ornaments by the amazing Christopher Radko Company. They are expensive so it has been a slow process, but the story of our family life continues to unfold, and our collection grows with it. These sit alongside a myriad of the handmade and in some cases downright dodgy, but all are at peace with each other.

As much as I love our Radko blown glass ornaments, every year the piece we argue over most (who will hang it!!!) is our "twin towers" - which I bought Xmas 2000 at Gracious Home in New York. It always takes pride of place in the front of our tree. I will never forget my profound sadness in hanging it on our tree in New York City in 2001, two months after the towers fell. Part of our story.

While I'm on a poignant roll, "Story of a Life" is one of the loveliest songs by one of the most talented singer songwriters ever, and I can't believe it is 30 years since Harry Chapin died. What a profound loss. Harry I will always enjoy taking stock of our family tree each year and reflecting on the story of our life.

Happy Holidays.

Patti Hansen

I have long held that Patti Hansen is the most beautiful woman ever, so I love the cover of this month's Town & Country. I don't feel like I see enough of her now, even though she seems to improve with age. I have not read Keith's book "Life" yet (still using it as a doorstop) but I hope to get to it this holiday season.

I was so moved by her interview in Vogue (August 2010) when she opened up about the bladder cancer she had been battling, after a brush with/bout with breast cancer in 2005 (neither of those terms seem right do they? but that's just how she downplays it... cool lady.) She seems like a real go-to-girl. Someone who has managed to instil an incredible sense of family into a rather nomadic bunch of people - daughters, models; papa, a rolling stone. Despite having several family homes it seems that they do all retreat to each of them and "act" quite normal, in a hubby-doing-sketches-for-you-using-his-own-blood kind of way. And apparently she bakes cookies in all of them.

She seriously rocks.

images: Town&Country, Fashion Model Directory, Who's Dated Who, NY Post, Zimbio

Evelyn Lauder you were an amazing woman

If you're in the market for a gorgeous house in Brooklyn...

Jenna Lyons and her husband have put their stunning light-filled townhouse on the market for personal reasons it seems ("not that there's anything wrong with that"!) While she has made a lot of choices that I would not necessarily make (I'm talking about the house) it is nonetheless a super stylish pad, stamped with her own low/high end style. I love it - would quickly ditch the antlers and fur though...

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images via Sotheby's International Realty

JDCamicetta Fall launch

Di and I were thrilled to have Gaye Gibson host the launch of our JDCamicetta Fall collection at Sidewalk on Tuesday. If you're in Hong Kong you can pop in and see it there! As you can see from the snaps there are also some resort pieces, perfect for popping somewhere over the holidays (or frankly for Hong Kong weather now!) 

Our mandate remains: fluid dress styles, some of which are morphing into shirts and maxis.... easy to style and make them your own. Beach cover-up or pop a slip underneath for more polish. Lace for day? Why not. But of course also for evening. Skinny jeans underneath, cardi or blazer? Yes. 

We are looking forward to the arrival of our Fall shirtdresses in wool, heavier cottons and denims (come on down Mary Tyler Moore!) Stay tuned for that.... always something in the works at Camp Camicetta!

Thanks to Eclectic Cool for the images.

Images by Eclectic Cool

Sidewalk, 4-6 Gough St Hong Kong

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What a difference a week makes...

Now I know every man and his dog is blogging about the weather in New York.... so here is my plus one! These snaps were taken at our gorgeous friends' house in Rye. Last Sunday two of my girls and the divine Delves boys were enjoying some Halloween merriment in the front yard, then a week later...... 

Photos courtesy of Mr Delves, my favourite photographer

Steven Gambrel

There are a few interior designers whose work I always earmark, their artistry often gracing the pages of Elle Decor or the other American shelter magazines I have been ravaging for more than 20 years. In listing their names I will omit some, but off the top of my head Celerie Kemble, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Daniel Romualdez, Victoria Hagan, Robert and Courtney Novogratz, Emma Pilkington or even (when I'm feeling grown up) Bunny Williams. There is not a published project by any of these designers that I have not torn out, examined, filed, coveted.

However, my Michael Kors of interior design, my absolute rockstar, is definitely Steven Gambrel and FINALLY he has a book coming out, "Time and Place" (though sadly we have to wait until April for the pleasure.)

In "Shingle Chic" (Elle Decor, June/July 2002) the fab editor Mitchell Owens, now at Architectural Digest, described a wonderful house Steven Gambrel had renovated for a client, conjuring "a cottage that a globe-trotting great-aunt might have inherited probably back in the 1940s, filled with a transatlantic haul picked up everywhere from San Francisco to St. Tropez, a place where she partied hearty through the '60s and then left to a sporty young relation." I don't think I ever looked at an interior in the same way again. This is the special gift Gambrel has, giving a house such presence that you really can imagine a wonderful, even eccentric character infusing it with life. 

I have thumbed through the images of this Gambrel-designed pad, pictured in House Beautiful, so often that I feel like I have stayed in the house. Or at the very least visited and enjoyed a mint julep. It houses works by artists like Massimo Vitali and Marine Hugonnier, a gorgeous mix of furnishing and texture, and I particularly love the kitchen lighting. It was Steven Gambrel who inadvertently taught me that you don't need to use downlights (who knew!), lighting should be purpose placed, and shadows and dark corners are ok... a house does not need to be lit up like an airport. I'm not sure that our architects have enjoyed translating that into a lighting plan for our house-on-the-way! But I'm hoping it will give it warmth and depth in all the right places. 

House Beautiful, August 2009