Happy Spring!

I'm in Buenos Aires for a conference of the Society of News Design, and this is the first week of spring! The stores are showing summer clothes and sandals, but it feels more like March in NYC and I'm so glad to have brought boots and a coat along on this trip. Not much in the way of winter clothes to buy here, but what's left is on sale. Stay tuned ...

Jeanne-Claude & Georgia

One of the few women in the world recognizable by the color of her hair is environmental-installation artist and sculptor Jeanne-Claude. Here with Christo, her husband and collaborator, at the Whitney Museum opening of the show, Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction. Needless to say, it was a very colorful night.

Surgical Toes

So I accompanied a dear pal to her first post-op doctor’s appointment. I was glad for the chance to thank this wonderful surgeon for taking such great care of my friend. I also got to see how warm and attentive her whole staff is. Then I looked down at the feet of this renowned surgeon and saw her toes—awesome, right? Really fun, but perfectly professional. Thank you, Dr. A and your awesome team. You totally rock!

p.s. I also took this as a definite sign that I should be writing this blog about color …

Looking Back

Recent tag sales finds: Tupperware tumblers and a Vogue from 1937--Christian Dior perfume ad, illustration by Rene Gruau.

You've Come a Long Way, Guy

A long, long, time ago, before political correctness, I worked with an editor who allowed us to use any color as long as it was red or blue. Black was "too funereal"; green and brown were "not primary enough"; yellow was primary, but too light; pink, of course, was girlie; and purple was "the gay color." It might be hard now to imagine that kind of color dogma, but we're talking Corporate America about a decade before Ralph Lauren's Purple Label even launched.

So when the new Saks men's catalog arrived, I couldn't help imagining his encounter with "Guy Stuff." The question is, has he caught up with the times, or does he think there's just a big spelling mistake on the cover?

Goodbye Summer ...

Leather beach ball, 1920s.

just a little while longer ...

Nothing says summer like bright sun and deep shadows on a grass green hose. Not that I used it all that much this year--one of the wettest summers I can remember in NYC.