Creative Economies at the Dekka Boutique Opening (1338 U Street, NW)

It’s April 5, 2008 and our words of advice to the fashion minded are, “ Don’t let DC meter maids force you to shop outside of your hometown!” Instead, recapture those dollar bills and save them for DC’s new miniature mall featuring 10 upstart designers, make up mavens, musicians and painters. Three cheers for Joshua Tiktin and wife Luciana for coming up with a novel idea to keep fashion alive and well within the city limits!

A Fete through the Renoir

One must never let go before having managed to set down one's first impressions. –Pierre Bonnard

Beverly Perry, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy for Pepco Holdings, Inc. with a friend.

Playing Alice in Wonderland for an evening was a lark after stepping into the former home of Duncan Phillips (aka Phillip Collection) for the museum’s annual fundraiser inspired by the seminal Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir. After a decadent dinner featuring lobster salad, filet mignon and close proximity to breathtaking original masterpieces by Degas, Bonnard, Diebenkorn and others, guests strolled over to the tres elegant Anderson House located at 21st and Massachusetts Ave, NW for an extended evening of dancing and divine desserts. (Doesn't Beverly Perry of Pepco look fabulous?)


The Anderson House boasts breathtaking art, dizzying ceiling heights and sumptuous furnishings. In addition to serving as destination for DC’s most exclusive receptions, the Anderson House is one of the few palatial residences of the 20th century and served as the winter home of Ambassador Larz Anderson, III (US Ambassador to Belgium and Japan) and his wife, Isabel. Isabel Anderson gave the home to the Society of Cincinnati (http://www.hereditary.us/cin_anderson.htm) when her husband died. In 1837.

Darling, you can find fashion in the most unusual places. Did you know that up until 1812 US diplomats like Larz Anderson designed their own uniforms? Mine would be nipped to form a wasp waist a la Christian Dior with butterflies embroidered on both lapels! Yummy.

Required Reading at Christian Dior

The Marvelous Wall Hanging in the Christian Dior boutique in Chevy Chase.

Fashion is an act of faith. –Christian Dior

Chatting with French Attorney Marie-France Pochna, author of Christian Dior the Biography at The Collection in Chevy Chase rekindled my belief that beauty is truly egalitarian and exists all around us, even in daily life. During the April 1st book reading and fashion presentation, Ms. Pochna illuminated the life and times of Christian Dior whose beginnings seemed to have little to do with fashion but who later made “luxury and dreams fit perfectly.” A man of extraordinary good taste, Christian Dior lives, according to John Galliano as “an eternal symbol of beauty, grace and joi de vivre.” Magnifique!

Jair Lynch Speaks Fashionably about Urban Planning

Architecture is Fashion…its all about proportions. –Coco Chanel

March 26, 2008 the National Building Museum featured Jair Lynch and his grand plans to provide a marvelous edifice on U Street, NW that can serve as places to live and work. The new Soleo community will provide Washington, DC’s creative economy with much needed and much more affordable housing options. Lynch, urban planner extraordinaire gets what others in DC government don’t - without a creative class, we will lose the one thing that makes us different from our neighboring suburbs…variety.

History Lesson at the Hillwood Estate

Still wondering where Fabulous lives? In Washington, DC she lives on Linnean Avenue at the Hillwood castle, the former residence of Marjorie Merriweather Post. On March 19, 2008 forty ladies and one gent gathered together for a mid- afternoon lecture on the French House of Callot Soeurs presented by Assistant Museum Curator, Howard Kurtz. The presentation was one of a series of fashion discussions on Mrs. Merriweather Post’s favorite fashion designers. After the lecture and slide presentation, guests toured Mrs. Post’s closets and viewed the exquisite Callot Soeur garments up close.

Marjorie Merriweather Post ( 1887-1973) was a “fourteen karat symbol of social supremacy“ who “was so extraordinary beautiful and had such lavish jewels and clothes and lived in such a grand style that people were awed and frightened.” Mrs. Post was well known for dressing in a dizzying array of lavish outfits. According to Kurtz, she would change her apparel at least four times a day. Her closets held hundreds of dresses from the best fashion houses of the day, all expertly tailored and coordinated with matching hats, shoes, gloves and furs. In the Post household, everything had a place and there was a place for everything: a closet for hats, a closet for shoes and even a closet for furniture which she changed often.

In 1971, at the age of 81, Mrs. Post was still considered to be one of the best and most expensively dressed women in the world!

Darling, what did I tell you? We’ve been fashionable for years!