I’m reposting what I had written last year in honor of Audrey’s Birthday ~ Bon Anniversaire, darling! Ching, ching, my Huckleberry Friend!

The world sparkled and shined the day the beautiful, incomparable Audrey Hepburn was born. Her generous and philanthropic spirit was an inspiration, and made her even lovelier in life than she was in her films. Not only did she have style in spades but she was a true lady ~ she carried herself with poise and grace, and treated others with kindness and respect. In my book that makes her one in infinity.

So “clink!” to the Birthday Girl and her memorable silver screen personas – Holly, Sabrina, Princess Ann, Jo, Joanna, Eliza, Regina, Gaby – and all the other fabulous characters brought to life by the unforgettable Audrey.

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe tomorrow is another day.” ~Audrey Hepburn

“I’ve got to do something about the way I look. I mean a girl just can’t go to Sing Sing with a green face.” ~ Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

“Oh, but Paris isn’t for changing planes, it’s for changing your outlook! For throwing open the windows and letting in… letting in la vie en rose.” ~Sabrina Fairchild, Sabrina

“I hate this nightgown. I hate all my nightgowns, and I hate all my underwear too…I’m not two hundred years old. Why can’t I sleep in pajamas?” ~Princess Ann, Roman Holiday

“Take the picture, take the picture!” ~Jo Stockton, Funny Face

“I’m three dimensional, as a matter of fact.” ~Joanna Wallace, Two for the Road

“The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated.” ~Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady

“Marriage license, did you say marriage license? Oh I love you Adam, Alex, Peter, Brian, whatever your name is.” ~Regina Lampert, Charade

“Actually, depravity can be terribly boring if you don’t smoke or drink.” ~Gaby Simpson, Paris When It Sizzles

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.” ~ Audrey Hepburn

Channel your inner Audrey today ~ spin a Mancini melody, pop some champagne before breakfast, and queue up the Audrey classics! Enjoy, darlings!

I’m re-posting a previous piece I wrote in honor of the incomparable Lilly Pulitzer.  She will be dearly missed but her colorful spirit and style will shine on. Heaven just got a lot brighter!

Ooh La Lilly!

You don’t have to be the subject of a Slim Aarons photo to appreciate the Ooh La La of Lilly Pulitzer, lovelies.

Classic & chic, preppy & pretty ~ Lilly is a party waiting to happen!

When Manhattan socialite Lillian McKim eloped with Peter Pulitzer and moved to Palm Beach, she needed something to occupy her well-manicured hands…

As the young bride of an owner of several citrus groves, what better endeavor than opening an orange juice stand? Lilly enjoyed this new venture but found herself covered in splashes of fruit juice by the end of the day ~ so she and her dressmaker designed colorful shift dresses in citrus hues to camouflage the stains.

She soon realized customers were thirsty for only one thing: her fabulous frocks! To the delight of local ladies and other chic girlfriends like Jackie O., Lilly closed the juice stand and opened Lilly Pulitzer Inc. in 1959.

“Jackie wore one of my dresses – it was made from kitchen curtain material – and people went crazy. They took off like zingo. Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business.” ~ Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly running from Peter’s plane ~ fabric swatches in hand.

La Lilly in one of her designs ~ love the sassed-up pose.

A prismatic palette of pretty, preppy and posh prints was born ~ and the rest is Palm Beach fashion history.

Pool or beach, yacht or garden, patio or porch, lunching or lounging ~ if you want to make any occasion special, bring on the Lilly.

A Lilly a day keeps the blues away ~ and with her vitamin D infused spring collection, you’ll feel sunshine on your sun-kissed shoulders when you slip on her lovely looks…

“It’s always summer somewhere.” ~Lilly Pulitzer

Here are some of my favorite pattern picks, pretties. Quel dilemma ~ it’s not possible to pick only one… Looks like I’ll need to try something in every chic & cheery print!

Spring Fever Toile

Scorpion Bowl

Jungle Glam Toile

Call Me Kitty Cat

Spritz

“Life‘s a party ~ dress like it!” ~Lilly Pulitzer

Illustration credit, Lilly Pulitzer.

You know those days. You have a fan-flipping-tastic outfit on, feeling like the bee’s knees, and then record scratch! Someone more fabulous flits in the picture with a lovelier, lust-have outfit on, leaving you feeling like a fourth-grader in knee socks (no matter how chic the socks are). Le sigh and c’est la vie, mes chéris.

New Year’s Eve circa my freshman year in college: I was at my friend Jacque’s house with a pack of our sorority sisters, primping before some pop-fizz-clink in NYC. We were feeling pretty pleased with our outfits until someone sassier stepped in. The scene stealer in this case was Jacque’s older sister and the lust-worthy outfit (or more specifically, the coat) wasn’t just from any old store…

It was a gorgeous glam trench coat, in a flirty length just above the knee, in an elegant champagne hue with a shimmery belt and chic fur collar. Her sister click-clacked down the stairs in her heels and golden locks, and dashed out the door. “Where…did she get that coat?” I asked Jacque. “Oh, Bergdorf’s,” she said. “She works there.”

Of course an older sister is always sophisticated, especially in a young girl’s eyes, but Bergdorf’s evokes a certain je ne sais quoi, and I’m not the only one to feel the fashionation…

Bergdorf’s is as famous for dressing its clients as it is for dressing its windows. See for yourself what the infatuation is all about ~ Matthew Miele’s documentary, Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf’s, opens on May 3rd! Color. Me. Giddy.

It promises to take fashion-loving mere mortals behind Bergdorf’s magical window displays to a place where “the rich and famous wield their power and eccentricity, where young and talented designers have their dreams granted and denied, and where money and ambition co-mingle with radical ideas of beauty and provocative style.“

“There is ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and there is Bergdorf’s—it’s just something you fantasize about.”  ~Diane Von Furstenburg

In the meantime, you can get your fashion fix with the “companion” book to the documentary ~ and drink…

“Drinking.” ~Bergdorf’s Personal Shopper Extraordinaire Betty Halbreich’s answer, when asked what she’d be doing if she weren’t at Bergdorf’s.

Photo credits: Bergdorf Goodman, Le Petite Chic.

“I’m sure all of you are wondering what the hell I’m going to do.” ~Anna Wintour, on her new role as Artistic Director, Conde Nast.

At the age of fifteen her iconic blunt bob was born. She served as editor of Bazaar in her twenties. She moved on to British Vogue by her thirties and then landed the editorship of American Vogue in 1988. Hello, dream career.

The first to mix high and low end, her debut cover featured a model in a $50 pair of jeans and a $10,000 jewel-encrusted t-shirt…

She phased supermodel-only covers out…

…and ushered celebrity-clad covers in.

She’s been criticized for models’ weight and The September Issue for 2007 weighed in at 840 pages…

The rest is fashion history in the making, darlings.

So as far as “what the h-e-double-toothpicks” you’ll do, Anna? As long as you keep working your fashion magic, you can do whatever you please, Her Fashion Highness.

“Turn the beat around. It’s not just a song it’s a philosophy.” ~Brad Goreski, favorite stylist, philosopher & fashion crush.

Not only is Season 2 of It’s A Brad Brad World back ~ but I enjoyed a double-dose of Mr. G. with my other make-believe BFF, Andy Cohen on WWHL last night.

What a treat! Two wildly creative, incredibly original, hilarious handsome men ~ who also happen to be the perfect gentlemen.

“Follow your passion. Be yourself, but check yourself before you wreck yourself.” ~Andy Cohen