Chances are you've been watching this year's winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Occasionally NBC's coverage will include some footage of the city and the culture that make Vancouver the beautiful city it is, but most of the time, a closeup of a skier or an ice skate could be anywhere in the world.   I wanted to share with you a beautiful video of Vancouver at night - from above the city and from the waterfront. In the winter months, Vancouver has only 8 hours of daylight so this time lapse video shows the city's skyline at night as clouds flow past buildings and bridges like liquid.   The cars and the people fly by in bright streams of color and you can even see the lights of the ski events on the mountains up above the city. Time is sped up so each scene spans 12+ hours and while watching it I can't help but wonder what actually occured during that time - someone completed a triple toe loop and someone else fell on the last turn of the relay. Dreams were born and dreams were broken. It's life condensed. They've trained their whole lives for that one moment, hoping their personal best becomes the best in the world.   If you sped up 12 hours of your life, what color would it be?  Would there be wild movement and bright lights? Or would it be a steady stillness of light and quiet?    Hopefully your days include a little bit of both.  You don't have to be an Olympic athlete to aspire to reach your personal best, sometimes just realizing what that is, can be your own gold metal.   Enjoy!

Each season has it's own colors, sounds and scents.  It's hard to compare the shocking brights of fall leaves to a brilliant blue summer sky but winter has a sort of secondary layer of emotion and a stark brilliance all it's own.  The trees are dormant. The ground is cold and hard. Nothing grows. But the quiet beauty of a pure white snowfall against the bare trees is a reminder to pause. It's sort of Mother Earth's downtime.  A powdery fresh snow absorbs sound which lowers the ambient noise over a landscape. This quiet peace is a simple but remarkable difference compared to the bubbly brilliance of birds and sunlight in spring and the roar of a summer thunderstorm.  Winter can be your transition, your in-between days because it's an important note in the music of the seasons.  The pause in the chorus, the white space on the page. Without space we wouldn't have matter.  Winter is punctuated by marking the passing of the year. It's more than flipping a page in the calendar. This year is gone but a new one is beginning. We wouldn't have spring without the cold change of winter.  And we don't have new growth without reflection.  Hope this season you get time to stop and watch the snow fall.   Thought you might enjoy this video tribute to George Winston's December. It's long, but then again, so is Winter.

In honor of the changing season we wanted to share some colors of Autumn. Pretty soon the green summer leaves will turn to golds and brilliant reds and, here in New York,  will turn the banks of the Hudson river into an amazing display of nature's glory.  But you too can add this beautiful color palette to your wardrobe. And you'll need some warm layers to protect against the crisp, cold air when you plan a pumpkin picking expedition or evening stroll through the park.  For me, the poncho is the best item to break out for the fall. It's perfect with my favorite jeans and its much roomier than a sweater.  And the bonus of a poncho? The twirl!  Maybe I'll even do a few pirouettes to just to see the range.  Who said growing up meant we had to stop being ballerinas?  Here's to getting reacquainted with a season of bright orange pumpkins, crisp October skies, hot tasty cider and layer upon layers of beautiful colors!  (I think there's a song here about 'warm woolen mittens and whiskers on kittens' but that's going a bit too far now, isn't it?)

Summertime is great for so many reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is that the warm weather allows us to integrate nature and the arts.  In New York City, nature is a hot commodity: a 4' x 4' foot roofdeck with grass and a tree is considered exotic.  But city planners have granted us several beautiful and spacious parks right in the middle of all this concrete for all visitors to enjoy.  Central Park is by far the largest and most elaborate of these parks and Conservancy has quite a schedule of summer concerts.  Tonight the New York Philharmonic will be performing Mahler's Symphony #1 and Copland's 'Old American Songs.'  Also tonight outside in the Sculpture Garden at MoMA,  Brazilian pop singer/guitarist Adriana Calcanhotto will be performing as part of MoMA Music: BRAZIL.

So whether you are in the city and are already planning your trip to the 'Great Lawn' this evening, or if you are in another town, I hope you get the chance to enjoy music at sunset, with the blades of cool grass between your toes and fireflies in your hair.   Remember, every occasion calls for the right clothing ensemble so here's a tip from one of our designers, Hannah, on what to consider when planning your evening outside under the stars.

I always make sure to wear something feminine and summery, but totally easy and comfortable.  A knee-skimming dress or full skirt usually works best to stay lady-like when sitting on a blanket.  A wrap or cardigan is essential, not only to stay warm, but also to protect from mosquitoes!!!   Although I always have had aspirations of being "that girl" and packing the perfect picnic basket, I usually end up picking up last-minute fresh sushi, a florally and crisp bottle of Viognier, and a bar of dark chocolate.  Lastly, I always pack a deck of cards for the impromptu game of Rummy.

The hot air balloon may be something of an old-time, traditional form of travel gone the way of the unicycle (the first manned balloon flight was in 1783) but with today's new amazing designs and colors, they are truly a impressive sight.  Balloon festivals happen all over the world and we have some coming up here in the New York area this summer. People come from miles around to arrive in the early morning hours to witness the 'inflation' and the 'ascension.'  Sounds religious - and my guess is that when 25 to 40 of these massive colorful shapes take flight against a brilliant blue sky, one may feel like there is a higher power. In this case, propane, nylon and a basket capable of carrying almost 3 tons.  These balloons come in all shapes and colors (Darth Vader, honeybees, cartoon characters) but I prefer the simple colors and patterns and beautiful silence as they seem to simultaneously hover and soar.   And there is no match for the view from the basket. Take a look at this great shot of a red balloon and it's reflection in a pond below. Hope you're having a beautifully colorful summer!  Check for any balloon festivals in your area and if you capture any great color, send us a picture. We'd love to share it!

Spring is the best season for marveling at the talents of Mother Nature. We can’t help but be amazed at the richness and depth of the colors that naturally occur on our planet.  And one of the best examples of color in nature is the Cherry Blossom.  In certain areas of the world, Hanami is a much-anticipated event. Hanami is the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry blossom season. This past weekend the cherry trees blossomed in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Pink. Everywhere! Take a moment to look through the pictures and the beautiful time lapse photography offered on their website.  And then, see if you can integrate pink into your life, your wardrobe and into your home. 

Echo’s book Color at Home has a whole chapter devoted to pink in its many different shades and hues and how it can work in all areas of your home. Color At Home explores the emotional territory mapped by each hue and will help you choose and define your preferred palette for any room where you’d like to add color.   From the Pink chapter:  “No longer just for little girls, people now ‘think pink’ everywhere from country farmhouses to maxed-out modern lofts. You might say pink has a split personality. Yes it can be soft and reassuring, but it can also be sexy and hot. Pink can be bright bubblegum, deep raspberry, or muted antique mauve.  It can be predictable, as in a girl’s nursery, or boldly unexpected when seen in darker shades in a stately living room. Few colors are as traditional in the home as rose – from tea rose to dusty rose to rosewood. But these days, pink has given way to shades with far more flamboyant personalities. Think of the pop of a cotton candy-colored Victorian house in a New England snowstorm or the sophistication of flamingo-pink walls in a dining room. Take bright lipstick pink, accent it with black and gold, and the look is couture sleek. Pure chic. Young in spirit, neon pink and fuchsia are frisky, flirtatious.  In short, pink is demure… and daring, full of all the joyful contradictions of everyday life.”

It’s common knowledge that a tremendous amount of design inspiration comes from nature – flowers, leaves, fruit, animal skins, insects, textures, colors – the list is endless.   Studying nature can bring a real appreciation for the beauty of textile designs.  But recently I found that textiles had given me a greater appreciation for nature!  There is a type of fabric called Ikat – which is created by dying the yarns before they are put onto the loom and woven into fabric.  The resulting pattern, due to the inevitable shifting of the threads, has a distinctive irregular “flame-stitch” appearance.  Ikats have been one of the hottest trends in fashion, showing up in every type of fabric and product, especially in scarves and wraps.  So my eye was obviously attuned to ikats, when I came upon a “Mother-in-Law’s Tongue” plant.  You can imagine that a plant with a name like that might not normally be considered beautiful, and usually I just walk by these spiky, uncultivated ground covering plants.  But not this time!  All I could think of was how beautiful the pattern on the leaves was and how they looked so in style!  Here are some of our Ikats: the oversized ikat wrap, the ikat floral tunic and the inspirational Mother-in Law’s Tongue!  -Meg