One of our favorite West Village boutiques,
Ludivine, has opened a second location uptown. Now Upper East Siders can get their fill of Vanessa Bruno and other French labels that are all
tres jolie! We shop at Ludivine all the time for ourselves and with our clients because of their highly edited collection of the pieces that are both chic and wearable. You won’t leave empty handed!
While we are celebrating more French style in New York, we wanted to pay tribute to our favorite French style icons. From the top: Empress Josephine (we love an Empire waist), Marie Antointette (for her excess and innovation), Catherine Deneuve (we especially love the costumes of Belle du Jour), Brigitte Bardot (in all her bombshell glory), Audrey Tautou (we loved the sexy slinky designer dresses she donned in Priceless as well as her gamine off-screen style), Vanessa Paradis (for her haute bohemian mix), Carla Bruni (in a skirt suit as First Lady or in jeans and a t-shirt with a guitar as a musician), Jane Birkin and her girls Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg (all with individual je ne sai quoi).
Ludivine, 1612 Lexington Ave. between 82nd and 83rd St., 212-249-4053.
Ludivine, 172 W. 4th St., between 6th and Great Jones St., 646-336-6576.
The long wait was finally over last week as Topshop’s much anticipated Soho location opened. We had to check it out for ourselves, so we braved the April showers (um, severe storms) for a taste of fast fashion. We always like a few of the Kate Moss for Topshop pieces and the rest of the offerings won’t disappoint those looking for a quick style fix. I walked away with a crisp white dress for the Hamptons this summer. However, beware of the insanely long fitting rooms lines – make sure you pick up everything you want to try on before you get in line.
We also picked our favorite ensembles from the Topshop dinner at Balthazar. See our stylish faves from left: Marchesa designer and CDC style icon Georgina Chapman, our favorite young Hollywood actress Emma Roberts looking sophisticated yet youthful as usual, chanteuse Jennifer Hudson had become a pro at dressing for her body shape, the Green family (patriarch is Topshop owner Sir Phillip Green) is a fashionable clan, what seems to be the most in love couple in NYC, Lorenzo Martone and Marc Jacobs were simple and suave and late night host Jimmy Fallon and musician/DJ Mark Ronson represented for the boys in slim fitting suits.
And we can’t forget the driving force at Topshop, Amanda’s favorite, the /model/designer/muse Kate Moss.
- Lucia Marcelle Tait
