Photography | Quite Continental

About Last Night || Celebrating Tomboy Style at Rugby Ralph Lauren

08/06/2012 § Leave a comment

Last night, I was very pleased to celebrate the release of Tomboy Style by the exceptionally lovely Lizzie Garrett Mettler at the Rugby Ralph Lauren store on University Place. It was a such a lovely party, I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures to share with you…

So great to see Lizzie on the east coast!
Was hoping to kidnap her and make her stay, but I was unsuccessful.

Loved how Rugby styled four of Lizzie’s Tomboy archetypes:
(from left) the prep, the naturalist, the sophisticate, the rebel.

With my gorgeous friend Marisa Zupan, Managing Editor at Rugby Ralph Lauren, blogger at The Significant Other, and all around awesome lady. I’m especially loving her new bangs.

Haven’t yet picked up your copy of Tomboy Style? What are you waiting for?

And if you are in Boston this Saturday, be sure to stop by the Rugby Ralph Lauren store on Newbury Street between 5 and 7pm to meet Lizzie and get your book signed! Rugby is also sponsoring an awesome Tomboy Style giveaway, which you can find out about on Lizzie’s blog here.
I’d wish you good luck, but you know I’m hoping to win, natch…

Movin’ On Up.

04/06/2012 § 10 Comments

I don’t frequently talk about my day job, I realize (I work for a political risk consulting firm), but today is a very special day because we open our doors in a new location. As I packed up in preparation for the move, I came to realize that in the five years I have been in New York, I have only worked in one very small slice of Manhattan. Namely, the patch of midtown between 40th and 45th Streets and 7th and Madison Avenues. Every morning I said hello to Grand Central, Bryant Park, Times Square, and the New York Public Library. The not so distant pinnacles of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center, grandly scraping the sky as I skipped off to grab coffee. And while I am excited to settle in to a new area — our shiny new office will be in the Flatiron District now — I couldn’t help but already be a bit nostalgic for my former digs. And so, in honor of the move, I wanted to share a few of the many pictures I’ve taken over the years.

Onward, upward (and 20 blocks downtown) I go!

(clockwise, from top left) The Morgan Library,
Bryant Park in spring, Lord and Taylor, our former office’s front entrance.

The New York Public Library, in fog, spring, and snow,
and the grand reading room with its paneled ceiling.

The Bank of America tower, northbound on Madison Avenue,
the constellations inside Grand Central Terminal,
the bar at the Campbell Apartment.

Bryant Park: the carousel, the Bryant Park Hotel,
summer movies on the lawn, ice skating in winter.

The Library Walk tiles, the steps to the library at night,
the counter at the Grand Central Oyster Bar,
and a very curious lion (?) I passed every day on E. 41st.

The Knox Hat Building, Times Square at night,
Grand Central in the morning, Fifth Avenue parades.

My morning coffee pit stop, the amazing fashion newsstand Around the World,
and two views from our office terrace.

One thing I will definitely miss: our amazing terrace overlooking Fifth Ave.
A few pictures from the last hurrah.

Improper Bostonians

22/05/2012 § 5 Comments

I’m off to Boston for a few days on business, and I thought it would be the perfect time to share this set of photos I discovered in the Life Archive. They were taken in 1949 at the original Filene’s Basement, then called the “Automatic Bargain Basement” for the automatic schedule of its discount percentages (pegged to the number of days the item had been on sale). Created in 1909 in the basement of Boston’s flagship Filene’s department store, Filene’s Basement was eventually spun off as its own entity and outlived the department store until it too became defunct in 2011. Fun fact: it’s actually where the term “bargain basement” originated.

Sadly the gorgeous original flagship store at Downtown Crossing in Boston, built in 1912 and where these photos were taken, was largely demolished in 2007 after Filene’s went out of business. Because only the building’s facade was landmarked, developers were free to gut the interiors of the building, which also dated back to 1912. When those developers lost funding, the building was just left gutted — a huge, gaping hole with the facade looming like the ghost of sales past. (I haven’t been to Downtown Crossing lately to see if anything has changed at the site — has anyone?)

In these photos, Life photographer George Silk captured the annual $11 suit and topcoat sale at Filene’s Basement. Just like today’s sample sales, customers started forming a line for the 8:30am sale at 6:30am, and made a mad dash as soon as the doors were flung open. In less than three hours, 5,000 garments were sold. In the article, entitled “Improper Bostonians” (which you can read here), Life delightedly informs us that a 200-pound woman fainted and had to be carried away, a blind man was nearly trampled and a man posed as a salesman and swiped someone’s $11!

Nice to see sample sales haven’t really changed all that much in over
60 years, even if the customers do look a little more refined!

Taken by George Silk for Life Magazine, via the Life Archive.

Rabbit Hole || Vogue Spain Archives

17/05/2012 § 7 Comments

A newly released cache of vintage beach photographs taken for Vogue Spain?
Don’t mind if I do…

Hop further down the rabbit hole here.

Field Notes || Brimfield Antique Show

13/05/2012 § 1 Comment

Had a lovely time visiting the Brimfield Antique Show on Friday with Lani! Luckily, we had lovely weather to match. Unluckily, the week’s rain had kept away a lot of the other antique hunters for the better part of the week, resulting in a very crowded and lengthy drive in, but we didn’t let that get us down!

As to be expected of the Northeast’s (and perhaps the country’s?) largest antique show, Brimfield doesn’t really offer many deals. The Brimfield dealer is savvy, picky even. They know that somewhere, someone is wandering around in the fields that would be willing to pay their inflated prices, either because they don’t know any better or because they just don’t care about the cost. And for good reason, as the creative services and design teams of some of the biggest mainstream Americana brands (Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie and Fitch) regularly sweep through Brimfield looking for inspiration (and pay top dollar for it).

That said, going to Brimfield is still a lot of fun — there’s great food and even better people watching. There’s also some truly weird stuff out there. It’s definitely my favorite Brimfield pastime to play “Didn’t you tell me you needed _______?” In which the blank is filled in with the weirdest thing within sight, e.g, a Liberace pillow, a 5 foot-tall tea kettle, and the like.

Canadian yacht club plaques from the 1930s.

My Brimfield kit included:
wellies, a waxed cotton parka, and a Boat and Tote bag

The fonts! So good!

Butter dishes and Somersize. Best product placement ever.

Lani is excited for…

…some amazing lobster rolls.

Love my new leopard and zebra!
They join a thrifted elephant in my burgeoning apartment menagerie.

Behind the Scenes || QC Styles the Wolverine 1000 Mile Collection by Samantha Pleet Lookbook

04/05/2012 § 2 Comments

Big news!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of styling the Wolverine 1000 Mile Collection by Samantha Pleet Fall/Winter 2012 lookbook, and I am very excited to let you know that it will be released this upcoming Monday! I’m especially proud of everyone’s work on the finished product and can’t wait to share it with you next week!

In the meantime, your exclusive look behind the scenes:

Casting in Samantha’s atelier.

Getting ready for our first shot of the day with model Anna: (from left) Christina Vernon from Wolverine, photographer Mikael Kennedy, designer Samantha Pleet and Marshall Davis from Wolverine

Anna’s gorgeous vintage jacket is courtesy of Brooklyn Dry Goods.

Photo courtesy of BPMW

Me putting the finishing touches on model Victoria,
with gorgeous accessories supplied by The Shiny Squirrel.

Shoe-palooza! The entire collection is so gorgeous, isn’t it?
You can imagine my dismay at not being the sample size.

Hair by Kristin Sky Olsen.

Our amazingly talented photographer Mikael Kennedy, was a joy to work with!

Also of note, Mikael just returned from an epic trip across the country with fellow photographer Sean Sullivan, founder of the blog The Impossible Cool. Called Ramblers Bone, they documented their journey in breathtaking, wanderlust-inducing photographic detail that you must check out immediately.

Accessories by Ax + Apple, Elizabeth Knight Jewelry,
Species by the Thousands and Cursive Design; courtesy of The Shiny Squirrel

Binder clips are a stylist’s best friend.

Photo courtesy of BPMW

Me and Anna. Sidenote: Did you notice my straight hair?!

Marshall’s expert shoe-tying technique.

Shoot at the BPMW showroom.

Don’t forget to check back in with me on Monday for the lookbook reveal!
So excited!

For more information on the Wolverine 1000 Mile Collection
by Samantha Pleet, head here.

**UPDATE 5/7/2012**
See my post on the lookbook here.

New Addition || Put A Horse On It: Life Magazine, 1937

01/05/2012 § 5 Comments

This weekend while on a walk in my neighborhood, I stopped by one of my favorite shops in Tribeca, Philip Williams Posters, on a bit of a lark. While the store is best known for its collection of vintage posters, my attention was drawn from the window by what looked like a massive stack of magazines. Once inside, I simultaneously realized that they were Life Magazines and that my afternoon was pretty much sealed.

You already know how much I love Life Magazine: I collect them, I read virtual copies on Google Books and wander for (way too many) hours in the online archive. Coming at this cache of vintage media from multiple directions sometimes provides the opportunity for the kind of pleasant surprise I had this weekend.

First off, you put a horse on anything and I will at least give it a second look. You put one on the cover of a Life Magazine from the 1930s and mention it’s a polo pony? Dead. Before even cracking this baby open, I knew it was coming home with me. But when I did, I realized I was already familiar with the photos inside as they were part of a set that I had discovered in the archives a few weeks ago — and trust me when I say there is nothing in there tagged “polo” that I haven’t already seen.

I especially love the advertisements.

The feature is about George H. “Pete” Bostwick (August 14, 1909 – January 13, 1982), steeplechase jockey, horse trainer, 8-goal polo player and grandson to Jabez A. Bostwick, a founder and treasurer of Standard Oil Company of New York and partner of John D. Rockefeller. Pete’s favored game, high-goal polo, was a pastime of the wealthy in the 1930s, but Pete made an unprecedented, egalitarian move: he invited the public to watch him and his friends play at Bostwick Field on Long Island, charging only fifty cents for admission. It was an immediate hit.

These photos were taken 1937 in Long Island by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Because relatively few actually made it into the issue, having access to the archive allowed me to really enjoy even more photos than were published. This is about to be a long post, so I must apologize in advance if you don’t enjoy looking at black and white photos of horses, polo or people in their Sunday best. I will apologize, but I’ll think you’re kinda crazy.

A 28 year-old Pete Bostwick, center.
“There is no use sitting in school when one
can sit on a horse and go somewhere.“

Pete Bostwick: lover of polo, beer and cable knit sweaters.

If you’d like to read the feature yourself, you can find it here, via Google Books.

Philip Williams Posters || 122 Chambers St., Tribeca || 212.513.0313

Field Notes || Herb Ritts: L.A. Style at the Getty Center

30/04/2012 § 1 Comment

New York is a vertical city, and its skyscrapers are climbing ever higher (case in point, just today my next-door neighbor One World Trade claimed the title of tallest building in New York). All that height, especially in the canyons of the Financial District or parts of Midtown, can feel a bit oppressive at times to someone like me, who grew up in one of the most horizontal cities in the world. For comparison’s sake I could give you some facts and figures about square mileage and population — essentially: LA is larger, while NYC is more populous — but nowhere is this “horizontal-ness” illustrated better than from the observation pavilions of the Getty Center.

Known for its impressive views from the Pacific to Downtown, the Getty Center is one of the best places to take in the urban sprawl that is Los Angeles (if it happens to be a clear day). Designed by Richard Meier, the Center also houses a large portion of the Getty art collection and has been the setting for a marriage proposal or two…thousand.

Familiar vistas aside, I also made the trip to the Center to catch the Herb Ritts retrospective, L.A. Style. Best known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and fashion editorials, equally impressive are Ritts’ nudes and his exploration of the concept of gender. A compact exhibition, complete with large-scale prints, vintage magazines and a screening of his music videos (e.g., Janet Jackson’s Love Will Never Do (Without You), Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game), L.A. Style is an excellent collection of some Ritts’ most iconic images, taken in the 1980s and 90s.

Herb Ritts: L.A. Style at the Getty Center
April 3 – August 26, 2012

The Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Open Tuesday – Sunday

The Grand Tour || The House Where Satchmo Played

29/04/2012 § 3 Comments

Most homes of a certain age in Los Angeles usually come with old Hollywood stories of former residents. This Spanish beauty in Westwood, owned by good friends of mine, is no different. Home to Spencer Tracy and his wife for a time, and host to an intimate concert by Louis Armstrong, this estate has a charmingly eccentric layout, complete with original tile work, exposed beams, hardwood floors, interesting built-ins and one of the only SoCal basements I am personally aware of.

A relatively recent purchase, the owners are still hard at work with renovations but I twisted some arms and was allowed to take a few photos of their progress thus far. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Field Notes || A Long Los Angeles Weekend

29/04/2012 § 3 Comments

As I mentioned last week, I scooted off to Los Angeles to surprise my family and enjoy a long weekend in my hometown. Armed with an exceptionally affordable rental car that I had to fill with exceptionally expensive gas, I bopped around from Manhattan Beach to Porter Ranch, and from Santa Monica to Downtown. And while I will admit that while I am on the East Coast I frequently have moments when I miss driving, a few minutes of sitting on the 405 definitely cured me of that for awhile…but it didn’t keep me from visiting some great places.

Breakfast at the counter at John O’Groats, a westside institution.
Don’t miss their biscuits.

Drinks at the Beverly Wilshire.

Manhattan Beach.

Where the car is king, you can’t help having so many good sightings…

A very foggy Sepulveda Pass.

An evening in Beachwood Canyon with Lizzie: dinner at Franklin & Company,
browsing at Counterpoint Records, peeking in the doors of the Villa Carlotta.