Review: Classy By Derek Blasberg

My friend Kate Ringo Suzuki from the blog Everyday Glamour has kindly agreed to serve as the first guest columnist for I Want To Be A Roitfeld and we are thrilled to welcome her witty words of wisdom to these pages. Kate has reviewed Derek Blasberg's new book Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady for all of us to enjoy. Merci mille fois, Kate!

Everyday Glamour Book Review: Classy
By Kate Ringo Suzuki

Etiquette books are for sissiphants who wear twin sets and sensible shoes and sit around crocheting pot holders. Or so I thought. Enter small town Midwestern boy turned Big Apple fashion journalist, Derek Blasberg, author of Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady. Mr. Blasberg has a bone to pick with all you fabulous young ladies out there who have trouble differentiating between what’s sexy and what’s skanky. Oh yeah. You see, he’s a sensible guy, (coming from Missouri and all), who has had the lucky opportunity to not only travel the globe but also attend some pretty amazing parties in the New York fashion, art, and social scenes.

Mr. Blasberg has seen some class acts and he’s also seen some trampy vamps. It truly annoys him that the tramps have been getting the spotlight lately. I mean, hello! Britney Spears, I’m talking to you, put on some panties and learn how to exit a car properly! With role models like sweet Britney (and more) how can an Everyday Glamour Chick (E.G.C.) be expected to know how to have appeal without resorting to exposing her nether regions?

Look no further, E.G.C.s! Classy is a user-friendly style and etiquette book that can turn any skank into a sophisticated, alluring, well-rounded, and classy young lady. Chapters are set up like magazine articles, replete with charts, illustrations, snazzy quotes, and best of all, before and after pictures. After pictures get the “Yes: That’s Classy!” seal of approval, while the before pictures get the “No! Tramp Stamp.” badge. And it also doesn’t hurt that the book itself fits neatly into most handbags — for easy reading wherever you go!

So remember, E.G.C.s, being nice and polite doesn’t mean you’re a stick in the mud, dressing like a blow-up doll isn’t the only way to get attention, using your “inside voice” can be more powerful than a dozen screaming skanks, and being well-rounded has nothing to do with your proportions! Classy, by Derek Blasberg, gets the Everyday Glamour stamp of approval!

Everyday Glamour Book Review: Classy © 2010 Kate Ringo Suzuki. All Rights Reserved.
Classy images courtesy of brunchatbarneys.blogspot.com.

Roitfeld And Berger Reunion

This is the current Twitter photo of Magnus Berger which shows him cozying up with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld whom I believed was his former girlfriend. Suddenly I am not so sure, Magnus just began this Twitter account a little more than a month ago. Where does Robert Konjic fit into the picture? If you know what I would l like to know please let me know.

Image of Magnus Berger's Twitter account courtesy of Twitter.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's Library

Muito obrigada to my friend Sil for when I visited her blog Li em Algum Lugar, or in English "I read somewhere," I remembered that we have yet to explore the library of Julia Restoin-Roitfeld. As you can see in the photographs of her apartment taken by Todd Selby last year, Julia has an admirable collection of books but an aversion to shelves. Instead she stacks her books neatly against one wall of her living room, ever so chic and minimalist.

Clearly her brother Vladimir is not the only one in the family with a taste for photography and art, along with film these topics are the focus in most of the volumes seen here with chronologically archived issues of Vogue Paris comprising the remainder. Following is a list of les livres de Julia Restoin-Roitfeld. A few of the titles are out of print but I have linked to more information about the books if available. What are your thoughts on Mademoiselle Restoin-Roitfeld's library?

Portraits Richard Avedon

Small Wars An-My Lê

Woman in the Mirror: 1945-2004 Richard Avedon

Nudes Thomas Ruff

Tempo, Tempo! The Bauhaus Photomontages of Marianne Brandt Elizabeth Otto

Chanel

Collection Privée Benno Graziani

Let Me In! Mario Testino

Self Service Spring/Summer 2008

Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings

Field Trips Robert Smithson/Bernd & Hilla Becher

Saul Leiter: Early Color

Peter Beard, Volumes I and II

Brigitte Bardot

Marilyn: A Biography Norman Mailer

The Rolling Stones: The First Twenty Years David Dalton

Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph

Christian Dior

Close Up Martin Schoeller

The Polaroid Book

Photographs of Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and her library © 2009 Todd Selby. All Rights Reserved.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's Closet, Part II

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld opened her closet in this video for Fashionair.com last August, sharing many of her favorites in her stellar collection of vintage and designer pieces. Her friend Natalie Joos expands on this with her recent photographs of "Julia's Treasures" as she calls them. Among the gems Julia models for us: her vintage cabaret dress from Ganesha in Ibiza, her Norma Kamali bathing suit from Resurrection in New York (seen above), her Yves Saint Laurent lingerie which she calls her "Shakira dress" from New York Vintage, a leopard ruffle dress from a Miu Miu consulting gig, and her Christmas gift from her generous brother Vladimir, a Chanel bag formerly owned by her style icon Catherine Deneuve. Have I mentioned lately, I Want To Be A Roitfeld...

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld in Norma Kamali bathing suit photograph © 2010 Natalie Joos. All Rights Reserved.

Restoin-Roitfeld In Intermission

Daniel Magnussen launches the first Swedish issue of Intermission on April 12 and none other than Julia Restoin-Roitfeld has scored the cover. Intermission is a fashion and art magazine based in Copenhagen, Magnussen is the former editor-in-chief and creative director of He. Also featured in this issue: Magnus Berger (aka Julia's ex), Pamela Love, Pierre Hardy, Adam Kimmel, Jessica Stam, Scott Sternberg, and Greg Foley. The magazine will be on sale at Opening Ceremony stores and on European newsstands.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld on Intermission cover image © 2010 Intermission Magazine. All Rights Reserved.