The NY Times 記事「A Day to Dance or Weep?」

誕生日があの911と同じ日。テロ事件以来、二度と自分の誕生日を心から祝えなくなった人、祝ってもらえない人。やりきれない悲しみを抱えた人たちの思いが綴られています。日本だと、例えば「地下鉄サリン事件」の日・・・となるのでしょうか。“出来る事なら誕生日を変えたい”という意見もあり、他人事で済ます前に、もし自分だったらと考えさせられる記事でした。日本にいるときよりIDを見せる機会が多いと思いますが、その度に相手から異様なリアクションをされたら彼らに取ってもウンザリだろう。 911は世界中を震撼させた事件だけに、アメリカ人以外にも同じ悩みを持つ人も多いことだろう。

September 3, 2010

A Day to Dance or Weep?

By AIMEE LEE BALL

ON the morning of her 40th birthday, Dana Foote woke up to blue skies and indulgent plans: a massage, a facial and a party with friends at a favorite Italian restaurant in her Greenwich Village neighborhood. She dropped off her young son and daughter at school and was chatting on the sidewalk with a few other mothers when a plane flew overhead, noticeably loud and low. A few minutes later, a school official came out to report that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. And Ms. Foote arrived home just in time to see the second plane crash, from the terrace of her apartment.
Perhaps it is needless to say: the birthday was forgotten.
Every year since, there is a strange confluence of events for those born on Sept. 11. It might be a point of pride to share a birthday with literary lions (D. H. Lawrence and O. Henry) or celebrities (Maria Bartiromo, Brian De Palma, Valentino and Moby), but sharing the day with a national tragedy is a conundrum.
Many believe that it’s inappropriate to be festive while the rest of the country observes a somber anniversary. Every time they fill out a form at a doctor’s office, show a driver’s license to rent a car, clear passport control at the airport or otherwise present identification, they get a quizzical response, somewhere between sympathy and shock.
“I preface showing my ID by saying, ‘It’s a strange birthday,’ ” said Ms. Foote, a gift-bag designer, who attends a memorial service every year on Sept. 11 before she feels entitled to celebrate. “I sort of apologize for that day. And I always get ‘The Look.’ ”
The phenomenon is perhaps akin to a Dec. 7 birthday for an earlier generation, but unlike Pearl Harbor, 9/11 is an event known by the date it occurred, forming an immediate visceral association.
Some people born on Sept. 11 deflect attention with the European calendar format: day before month. Obstetricians report women due to deliver on Sept. 11 who insist on scheduling an earlier C-section to avoid saddling their child with a tainted birthday. At P.S. 22 in Staten Island, children born on Sept. 11 made a poignant video declaring that their birthday had been “taken away” and “ruined.”
The day of the attack was the 50th birthday of Holly Hotchner, director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and a large party was planned, with guests from around the world. Many of them never made it, once the airports shut down. “And nobody felt like a party,” Ms. Hotchner said.
Instead, she bought a big tin of caviar and a quantity of vodka. “And that is a tradition I’ve continued,” she said, “although the tin has gotten smaller — I spent too much that year.” But she regrets that she cannot yet make a pilgrimage to a memorial garden at the site of the trade center, which remains essentially a hole in the ground. “It would be comforting to go down there on my birthday,” she said, “and see that wounds had been healed.”
New Yorkers may assume squatters’ rights to the heartbreak of that day, but a Sept. 11 birthday can feel stigmatized in any part of the country. Deborah Newmyer, a TV and film producer in Los Angeles, will continue her tradition of lunch with beloved female friends on her 52nd birthday this year. “But I’ve never claimed the date back as my birthday,” she said. “It’s always overshadowed by something grander than my coming into the world.”
Barbara Rambo, a management consultant in San Francisco, had once worked in Tower Two and spent the early hours of her 49th birthday watching that building crumble. “Being 3,000 miles away made the feeling of helplessness grow exponentially,” she said.
Her “cake” that year: brownies made by her son for a sidewalk bake sale to benefit the families of firefighters who died in the rescue effort. Several weeks later, 9-year-old Stewart Goossens presented Engine Company 3 in Manhattan with a check for $457.93. “I lost a lot friends on 9/11,” Ms. Rambo said, “so every year part of that day is spent thinking about them.”
On the day of the attack, G. Parker Johnson was having a birthday breakfast with cousins at a greasy spoon in his hometown, Atlanta. “While I was eating, there were six missed calls and four messages on my cellphone,” he said. “I thought they’d be birthday greetings, but they were all saying basically, ‘Dude, are you watching this?’ ”
“Every birthday since then has been a more sober experience than it otherwise would be,” said Mr. Johnson, now 42 and a music producer in Lyons, Colo. “It’s hard to celebrate when you know thousands of people are directly mourning a loss, and millions of others are mourning indirectly. I did not have a big blowout 40th birthday because of 9/11. It’s the 800-pound gorilla in the corner.”
Hiding under the covers on his birthday makes no sense to Kareem Collie, a graphic designer from Brooklyn who will turn 36 this Sept. 11. “I recognize what took place that day, but I don’t internalize it,” he said. “When I look back on 9/11, it’s an event that happened on one day in the monumental number of birthdays I hope to have in my life,” he said. “That day does not represent me, it represents a horrible event.”
Others refuse any restraint out of a conviction that they must not hand the terrorists even the tiniest victory. “My birthday has always been my favorite holiday because it’s all about me,” said Lara Goerlitz, a catering manager at the Houstonian Hotel in Houston. “I worked nights at the time of the attack, and I was sleeping in that morning, but my phone kept ringing. I finally answered a call from one of my best friends, who was sobbing. My birthday was really an afterthought that year.”
But in the ensuing decade, Ms. Goerlitz has reclaimed her party-girl mode with a vengeance, and for her 40th birthday this year will take a dream trip to Europe. “The most profound effect on me from the World Trade Center was realizing how short life is,” she said. “What I took from it was: carpe diem.”
Sometimes an effort to celebrate “normally” backfires. Jennifer Parenti, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, was stationed in Boston on the first anniversary of 9/11, which was her 29th birthday.
“We had a fairly solemn memorial service at the time the plane had hit the Pentagon,” she said. “One of our bosses gave a speech, and then he said, ‘Now everybody wish Jennifer a happy birthday!’ And they had cake. It felt rather weird.”
And sometimes a little child shall lead them. When Dahlia Gruen was sent home from school in Boston on the day of the attack and realized that her parents weren’t at work, she first thought they’d come home early to celebrate her 10th birthday.
“There were rumors about an airplane crash,” she said, “but it didn’t really sink in.” The following year, she commemorated the day as a true child of the digital age: She created a Web site called Birthday Spirit, encouraging fellow Sept. 11 birthday babies to take a cake to their local firehouse. “I wanted to change the way I celebrate,” said Ms. Gruen, now a freshman at Northwestern University, “to do some good.” Another site called the Philanthropic Family suggests celebrating a Sept. 11 birthday with a day of service or charitable donation.
The day of the attack was to be Catherine Karp’s 30th birthday, with classical connotations of imminent decrepitude. “It’s the first birthday that lets you buy black plates at the party store,” said Ms. Karp, a novelist in Portland, Ore.
She has briefly considered celebrating her birthday on Sept. 10 or 12. “But that doesn’t feel right,” she said. “The shadow of the day is always there and always will be there, but I’m not going to let anybody take the day away.”
Next year, her 40th birthday will coincide with the 10th anniversary at ground zero. “I don’t feel the huge dread I might have felt otherwise,” Ms. Karp said. “The events of that day made aging seem like such a minor worry.”
Indulging in black humor, Mark Pener suggested that “the tragedy of turning 40” this Sept. 11 will fit the somber mood of the day. “Sometimes I tell people that I’ve legally changed my birthday,” said Mr. Pener, a construction consultant in Brookline, Mass.
“I wish it were possible, maybe through an act of Congress,” he said. “My birthdays are always pretty low key, but this year I think there’s something secret brewing with my family. Maybe they’re changing my birthday by entering me in the witness protection program.”
Choosing one’s birthday may not be an option, but there are 365 choices for a wedding day, and Elizabeth Brown-Inz chose Sept. 11 for her marriage to John Kingman. “We wanted the wedding on a Saturday in warm weather, and everything was booked for June, July and August,” said Ms. Brown-Inz, the membership manager at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan. “I’m not superstitious, and I decided 9/11 was fine.”
It became even finer when she discovered that the date was actually her late grandparents’ anniversary, and their legacy seemed to confer a welcome sanction for Ms. Brown-Inz.
Even if she’s not superstitious.

The NY Times 記事「Asian-Americans Climb Fashion Industry Ladder」

間もなく始まる2011春夏ニューヨーク・ファッション・ウィーク。今年はブライアントパークからリンカンセンターへと会場を移しての初の開催となります。もうひとつ初の試みが、“Fashion GPS”を導入したチェックインシステムです。デザイナー側があらかじめQRコードをEメールで招待客に送信しておき、当日バーコードを発券して入場するそうです。QRコードを貰っていない場合は、チェックイン・カウンターへ言ってRSVPで登録した名前を告げて同様にバーコードを貰います。このバーコードを手にしない限り会場には入れない訳です。来場する側としては少々心配で、いつもより確認に時間を割いてしまいそう。そんなショーの開催を５日後に控えたこの土曜日、NYタイムズのトップセクションの下の方に面白い記事が載っていました。

 かつてカルバン・クライン、ダナ・キャラン、マーク・ジェイコブス、マイケル・コースといったユダヤ人デザイナーが牽引していた米国ファッション界ですが、最近ではまだ27歳という若さのジェイソン・ウーを始め、アレキサンダー・ワン、リチャード・カイ、デレク・ラムといった若いアジア人デザイナーの活躍が目立っています。今年６月に発表されたCFDAの受賞者も全てアジア人。そんな彼らにインタビューをしながら、トップに躍り出ていくアジア人デザイナーの潜在能力のありかを検証しています。

September 4, 2010

Asian-Americans Climb Fashion Industry Ladder

By ERIC WILSON

The mood was set early at the American fashion awards ceremony at Lincoln Center in June, an event often likened to the Oscars of the fashion world, with a guest list that included celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Gwyneth Paltrow and almost every top designer.
In quick succession, three men were called to the stage to accept their awards as the best new designers of the year: Richard Chai for men’s wear, Jason Wu for women’s wear and Alexander Wang for accessories.
It was the first time that all three prizes given by the Council of Fashion Designers of America were awarded to designers who are Asian-American. That same night, the fashion council announced three scholarships, each for $25,000, won by student designers of Asian heritage.
“It’s so exciting,” said Mr. Wu, who became a household name not only in this country, but also in his native Taiwan, when his dress was selected by Michelle Obama for her husband’s inauguration. “Not too long ago, Donna Karan and Michael Kors were the young designers of America. Now there are a lot of firsts for all of us as Asian-American designers.”
Their ascent to the top tier of New York fashion represents an important demographic shift on Seventh Avenue. At the Fashion Week that begins here on Thursday, many of the most promising new designers are of Asian descent, a group that includes Mr. Wang and Mr. Wu; Thakoon Panichgul, one of the stars of the documentary “The September Issue,” about Vogue magazine; Prabal Gurung; Phillip Lim; and Derek Lam — names that are increasingly likely to represent the future of fashion.
Major design schools around the world have seen an influx of Asian-American and Asian-born students since the 1990s, partly through their own recruitment efforts in countries with rapidly developing fashion industries, like South Korea and Japan, and partly because of changing attitudes in those countries about fashion careers. At Parsons the New School for Design, roughly 70 percent of its international students enrolled in the school of fashion now come from Asia, according to school officials. At the Fashion Institute of Technology, 23 percent of the nearly 1,200 students now enrolled are either Asian or Asian-American.
“F.I.T. is a pretty diverse place, but this is the most obvious change we have seen,” said Joanne Arbuckle, the dean of its school of art and design. “It is remarkable when you compare it to many years ago. I don’t think we ever had these numbers of students from Asian countries or Asian-American students. And it is a growing population.”
The rise of Asian designers in America has actually come in several smaller waves, including one that marked the emergence of Anna Sui and Vera Wang in the 1980s. In the last few years, however, as a new generation of designers has asserted itself in New York, Asian-Americans have been at the forefront. In 1995, there were only about 10 Asian-American members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Today there are at least 35.
This has happened largely for the same reason that the New York fashion industry, through the ’80s, was populated most visibly by designers of Jewish heritage, like Calvin Klein, Ms. Karan, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Mr. Kors. Throughout the 20th century, generations of Jewish immigrants had created a thriving garment district in New York, first as laborers, then as factory owners, manufacturers, retailers and, eventually, as designers. Many of today’s Asian-American designers say they experienced a similar evolution from the factory to the catwalk, since some of their parents and grandparents were once involved in the production of clothes.
Mr. Lam, whose luxury ready-to-wear collections evoke a classically uptown ideal, is a designer of Chinese descent who came to New York by way of San Francisco. His grandparents owned a factory there producing bridal gowns. His father imported clothing from Hong Kong, but Mr. Lam said he wanted to pursue a more creative course and enrolled in Parsons, graduating in 1990. Before starting his label in 2002, he worked for Mr. Kors in New York.
“I grew up around clothes,” Mr. Lam said. “It was like a default. Fashion became one of the few outlets for Asian-Americans who wanted to put their name out there.”
When he went out on his own, Mr. Lam, though well received, faced a difficult road. No one bought his first collection, and he and his business partner had invested their savings in the business.
But after several seasons, the collection took off. He has since won several awards, including the accessories prize from the fashion council in 2007; opened two stores Manhattan; and developed a clothing and accessories line for the luxury brand Tod’s. During a recent trip to Shanghai and Beijing, he said, he was stunned by the level of awareness of his work there.
“There is this understanding that there is a group of Asian-American designers who are coming up in the world, and there is a sense of pride,” Mr. Lam said.
The cultural changes that have enabled would-be designers to pursue their chosen careers have happened slowly. Ms. Sui told The International Herald Tribune in 2008 that designers of her generation were often asked by their families, “Why do you want to be a dressmaker when you could be a doctor?”
Mr. Wu said those pressures were still there as recently as a decade ago. “When I was applying to Parsons, my mother had never heard of it,” he said. “Now, everyone in the generation after me wants to go to Parsons. Fashion has become a more prominent career in the eyes of Asian parents.”
Unlike the avant-garde work of Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake — Japanese designers who took Paris by storm in the 1980s — there is no discernible aesthetic connection among the designs of Asian-Americans. Alexander Wang’s street style looks nothing like Mr. Lam’s polished dresses, nor the colorful mash-up prints of Peter Som, who also consults on sportswear for Tommy Hilfiger. None would care to identify their styles as “Asian-American.” Carmen Chen Wu, a Parsons student who received one of the fashion scholarships this year, noted that she is of Chinese descent, but was born in Spain, “so technically, I’m a Spaniard.”
But one thing their heightened visibility has done for them as a group is to create opportunities in Asia, where the realm of luxury fashion had long been exclusive to traditional European houses like Louis Vuitton and Chanel.
Since his triumph with Mrs. Obama, Mr. Wu has been invited to return to Taiwan in October to help design a residential building, and he is developing a line of eye shadows with Shiseido that will be sold throughout China. Mr. Som said his business was growing faster in Asia than anywhere else, noting that the speed of information today has made consumers in South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand as knowledgeable about new designers as they are about the historically major brands. Mr. Lam said he had been invited to return to China next month to appear as a judge on “Creative Sky,” a popular new reality television competition.
On that show, aspiring fashion designers compete in a series of runway challenges, much like those on “Project Runway” in the United States. The major difference is that the ultimate prize is not the chance to show a collection at Fashion Week, but something that is now becoming far more prestigious in Asia.
The winner gets the opportunity to go to Parsons — as a student.

The NY TImes 記事: Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World

２週間前オンライン・ショッピング・サイト「WWW.ZAPPOS.COM」でレースアップ・ブーツを購入してみた。上げると切りがない程オンラインショップのサイトはあるが、SHOPZILLA.COM、AMAZON.COM、NET-A-PORTERから、デパートや小売り店が管理するオンラインショップまで、どれもユー ザーフレンドリーなサイトのデザインにビックリする。例えば何点か続けて「アンクルブーツ／Booties」をクリックすると、選ばなくてもサイトの中 から似たアイテムも探しててきて提案してくれる。“ブーツ”というカテゴリーでもデザインは様々だし、何百というアイテムを全てチェックしなくても良いので便利だ。どんどん提案してくれるので決められなくなってしまう、という欠点はあるが、欲しいものと更に近いものを見せてくれるのであれば、購入する時には自分も満足してるに違いない。

先日オンラインを利用したおもしろい搬入システムの記事を読んだ。「消費者がオンラインで在庫から目当ての商品を見つけ、買わずに最寄りの店舗にその商品を取り寄せ、良かったら買う」というシステムだ。ウォールマートから始まったといわれる搬入システムのひとつ。より消費者の立場に立っていて有りそうでなかったアイデアだが、巧みなロジスティックの開発なくしてはあり得ない。大手デパートの「ノードストローム」もこのシステムを利用したところ売り上げが伸びているという。

これまでカリフォルニア、シカゴ、ダラス、ニューヨークと住んでみて、気候も違えば人々の生活スタイル、レジャー、食文化、ファッションの好みの違いを目の当たりにした。

――そうなのだ。少し脱線するが、好むと好まざるとは関わらず“郷に行っては郷に従う”で、ダラスでは“いつもゴルフが出来る装い”と言わんばかりに毎日ポロシャツを着ていたし、みんな南部の太陽に良く生える明るい色の装いが多かった。独特のメガチャーチが台頭し「Dress Barn」風なファッションをして教会へ行く人を多く見かけた。引っ越して来て驚いたのは、東京以上にニューヨーカーが黒っぽい装いをしている事だ。80年—90年代にコムデ・ギャルソンやYOJIが注目され、感化されていつも黒い服を来ていた事を思い出す。まさに“ブラック”がスタンダードという時代だった気がして懐かしくなったのだが。――

当然全米で展開するデパートは、各店にローカライズされた賢い品揃えが必要だが、今回の記事にあるように“消費者がワ ン アイテムから直接商品の搬入を希望出来るシステム”があれば、確実に売れる商品が店舗に増えるのだ。例えそのアイテムが売れなかったとしても、その地域の 消費者がどんなアイテムやカラーを好んでいるのかが分かり、同じ志向の消費者がいる確率は別の地域よりも高いといえる。結果、２番目に見た消費者がそれを購入して行くことも考えられる。そんな傾向を素早くロジスティックがキャッチして、見込みのある品を店舗へ送る、なんて事も出来そうだ。小売り店もオンラインショップのように完全に消費者主導になって、MD要らずのストア・オペレーションなんて時代が来るかもしれない。でもその結果、値下げ品が減ったりしたら、バーゲンセール好きな一消費者としては大変困るのだが。

August 23, 2010

Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

SEATTLE — Retailers have been flailing about a bit in their efforts to get people to shop again, deploying all sorts of gimmicks and promotions to spur customer spending.
Wal-Mart hoped that deeper cuts in its standard rollbacks would be a draw, but then said the prices went too low. At Saks, perhaps customers would go for designer labels if the lines offered less-expensive items. And for Macy’s, how about inexpensive clothes by Madonna?
The secret, at least for Nordstrom, has not involved a piercing insight into a customer’s mind. Rather, it has changed the way that it handles, of all things, inventory. And that has brought the department store more success in improving sales than at most of its competitors, whose recent reports signaled that their consumers were still cautious.
The change works this way: Say that a shopper was looking at a blue Marc Jacobs handbag at Nordstrom.com. She could see where it was available at nearby stores, and reserve it for pickup the same day.
More significant, if the Web warehouse was out of that bag, it did not matter. Inventory from Nordstrom’s 115 regular stores is also included. Maybe there was just one handbag left in the entire company, sitting forlornly in the back of the Roosevelt Field store — it would be displayed online and store employees would ship it to the Web customer.
What Nordstrom did on its Web site — displaying stock from both the Web warehouse and its stores all at once, was unusual. And that, said Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct, drove “some pretty meaningful results.”
In fact, Nordstrom, based in Seattle, has been the department store with one of the best improvements in same-store sales over the last year, when its overall sales reached $8.26 billion. While it may not seem revolutionary, a melding of Web site and store is surprisingly rare in the retailing world.
“You’re talking about traditional retailers that have traditional ways of doing things, and sometimes those barriers are hard to break down,” said Adrianne Shapira, an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Wal-Mart has added a feature where online shoppers can ship items to nearby stores, and Target.com shows which stores carry which items, but customers cannot buy them in advance.
Among Nordstrom’s competitors, such fluidity is hard to find, Ms. Shapira said. “I don’t see anyone going to the length they are,” she said of Nordstrom. In the 11 months since Nordstrom made the inventory change, its same-store sales — sales at stores open more than a year, a crucial measure in retail — have outperformed the department store average measured by Thomson Reuters.
In those 11 months, Nordstrom’s same-store sales increased by an average of 8 percent. In the 11 months before the shift, they decreased an average of 11.9 percent. (The improvement is not all because of the inventory change — the economy improved, and Nordstrom made other operating changes.)
Nordstrom began overhauling its online approach two years ago, adding the option to shop and buy online and pick up the item in a store. “It was the first thing that we did, because the No. 1 call we got at our call center was, ‘Hey, I’m looking at this item online, can I look at it at my store?’ ” Mr. Nordstrom said.
The company was also trying to increase the number of people who shopped at Nordstrom in more than one way, since those so-called multichannel shoppers spend four times, on average, what a one-source shopper does, Mr. Nordstrom said.
Inventory was a big issue, too. If Nordstrom.com did not have the item someone wanted, it was not as if the customer would wait for the company to restock it, Mr. Nordstrom said. “If we don’t have it, you’re going to go back to Google and say, ‘Who else has it?’ ” he said. “We have 115 full-line stores out there — chances are one of them has it.”
In September 2009, the company wove in individual stores’ inventory to the Web site, so that essentially all of the stores were also acting as warehouses for online.
Results were immediate. The percentage of customers who bought merchandise after searching for an item on the site doubled on the first day, and has stayed there (although, Mr. Nordstrom cautioned, that doubling was from a small base).
“Customers that were looking for an item, we had their size,” he said. That meant the company hired a few more shipping employees to wrap and send items from each store. But, he said, increased sales more than offset the cost.
It also means that inventory is moving faster, and often at higher prices. “If we’re out of something on the Web site, it’s probably late in the season and the stores are trying to clear it out,” he said. “By pulling merchandise from the store, you’ve now dramatically lessened the likelihood that you’ll take a markdown.”
Nordstrom’s inventory turnover, which measures how quickly a company goes through inventory in a given year, went to 5.41 in 2009 from 4.84 in 2005, a five-year high.
“The health of our business when we’re turning faster versus turning slower, it’s night and day,” Mr. Nordstrom said.
Keith Jelinek, director in the global retail practice at the consulting firm AlixPartners, said that Nordstrom’s changes could give it a competitive advantage, but showing accurate inventory information to customers was difficult.
“The customer ordering via the Web site is not concerned with where the product is, only that it is in stock,” Mr. Jelinek said in an e-mail message, but that could easily go wrong if a sales clerk entered an incorrect item number, which would “incorrectly display what the customer could see online. While, for the retailer, their financial inventory is still accurate.”
On Saturday, Nordstrom introduced an updated Web site, trying to make it more interesting for customers and easier to navigate.
The new site adds editorial features, like blogs about fashion and videos and photos of Nordstrom customers showing the clothes they chose for work and for weddings. Mr. Nordstrom said the company drew from sites like Net-a-Porter, which combine magazinelike stories with shopping. The site will also allow customers to post messages or photos. While customers are no doubt swamped with social-networking options already, Mr. Nordstrom pointed to the more than 120,000 product reviews added to Nordstrom.com since that feature was introduced last fall.
The company has also improved how shoppers can search for products, allowing searches with multiple criteria — check boxes allow someone to search for, say, a purple cocktail dress under $150 for a curvy figure.
Web-design experts asked to review the site were split on its success. Martin Zagorsek, a partner at Launch Collective, a fashion-business consulting firm, said that the editorial features did not promote the products mentioned within them, which was “a no-brainer.”
But Andy Rhodes, director for commerce at the marketing firm SapientNitro, said that Nordstrom had long been ahead of the game on the digital-to-physical connection, “and it’s nice to see they’ve brought that capability to the forefront with the new Nordstrom.com.”
All the changes, Mr. Nordstrom said, were about satisfying customers, but that translated into profits.
“We can sell more without having to buy more inventory,” he said. “That plays through to margins and, ultimately, earnings.”

yogurt-like taste

ベターホームのレシピで作ってみました
「ヨーグルト・ホワイト・シチュー」＜http://www.bh-recipe.jp/recipe/301800002.html＞。

珍しく自分で写真も撮ってみた☆ヨーグルトがすご〜く爽やかな風味をだしていて、とっても夏向き。

 先にミルクだけで10分くらい煮て、具が煮込まれた所へヨーグルトを入れて５分。→のところをミルクだけでなかなか具がヒタヒタにならなかったので、焦って一緒にヨーグルトを入れてしまったのが愚か。具の分量を欲張ったのが裏目に。次回はちゃんと作ってみて、味に違いが出るか確認してみようっと。レシピにはブイヨンとか書いてないんだけど、チキンブイヨンいれたらもっとコクがでるかも。カリフラワーもあまり使わないベジタブルなので自分としては新鮮だった〜☆ パセリが少量買い出来ず、残りをどうにか出来ないか思案中。

ベターホームのレシピは、日本にいる時に日経新聞に掲載されていたのを使うようになって知りました。思えば日本橋でOLしていた時、友達が数名こちらの料理教室へ通っていました。あの時は、気づかなかったけど、こういったシンプルで美味しいお料理の紹介は助かります♡

BICYCLE TIMES MAG

こんな雑誌がありました。今まで見た事もなかったけど。何かにハマると少しずつ世界が広がってゆくものだ、と共にお金も出て行くわけで・・・。

ちなみにNYへ越してきてからの愛読雑誌は「Time Out New York」。略して“TONY”と文中では使われてます。東京版「Time Out」は、幾つかのマルチリンガルで発進されているオンラインマガジンのようです。

なんと、創刊されたのはロンドンだそう（以下タイムアウトから抜粋）：

 

タイムアウト／Time Outについて

Time Out (タイムアウト) は、1968年にロンドンで創刊されて以来、40年以上の長きに渡って、読者から信頼と支持を集めているライフスタイルマガジンです。

タイムアウトカフェ&ダイナー／Time Out Cafe & Diner 

http://www.timeoutcafe.jp/info/index.html 

Time Out（タイムアウト）としては、『世界初』となるブランドを冠したカフェを東京・恵比寿にオープン（2009年４月）。
リーズナブルな食事と心地よい空間に、無料WiFiを完備し、将来は、外国人観光客や外国人居住者をターゲットにしたインフォメーションセンターとしての役割を担います。

moulton

今度は大事にするからね♡
目下我が家のベイビーです。３週間くらい前にやってきました。かなり過保護で雨の日デビューもまだです。暫くこの親バカ振りは続くでしょう。

というのも、私たちにとってこのバイクには大変な思い入れがあります。５年前のある大雨の日、恵比寿ボール前から無くなった愛車が「モールトン」でした。盗まれてから早くも５年の月日が経とうとしているなんて。あの時は人の物を盗むとは、一体どういう神経しているんだ？！って怒り心頭。余りにガッカリしているサムを見て、叱る気にもならず。無くすのと違って、思い入れのある物を盗まれるって本当に胸が痛むんです。盗んだ方はどうなんだろう？

そして、写真のこちら「50周年記念モデル」NYCで見つけました。イギリス生まれのモールトン<www.moultonbicycles.co.uk>。扱う自転車屋さんはアメリカにはそうありません。マンハッタンでは２件程。現在市場としては、日本、韓国が大きいそうです。乗り心地は抜群ですが、実は運転は慣れないとちょっと難しいです。まずハンドブレーキは右のみで前タイヤ用に付いているだけ。後ろのブレーキは、ペダルを反対回りにゆっくり押すような感じで使います。また、ペダルを一瞬軽く止めるようにするとギアが変わります。だから基本的にペダルは後ろにただカラカラと回せません。バランスを取る時にこの動作が癖になってたりすると最初ちょっと危ないです。例えば、あわてて後ろにベダルを回すと止まっちゃうので余計にバランスを崩してしまうからです。ギアは全部で４段階あり、ペダルを一瞬止める先ほどのやり方で２段階、ペダル付け根を内側に軽く押して変える方法で２段階です。その昔教習所でマニアル車のギアチェンジを（必修だったっけ？）練習して時のように、感覚を掴むのにちょっとだけ時間を要します。

さて自転車オーナーになって、目線が自転車に乗る人たちに注がれるようになりました。今までは気がつかなかったけれど、パーツやアクセサリーなど大変凝った物 を目にします。フレームにはアルミ製やスチール製がありますが、スチールは道路の衝撃を和らげてくれるのでハンドルを持つ腕への負担がアルミより少なくて 良いらしい。一方、アルミ製は軽いため、スピードが出る競技用に多いのだそうです。普通に乗るならスチール製を選んだ方がよさそう。フレームのつなぎ目（brazing加工）にもうんちくがあって、そのつなぎ目部分に装飾が施されていたりするとまたグットなん だそう。他にもサドルは「Brooks」じゃないとダサイとか、空気を入れるつまみのゴムの色まで気にしたりするところは日本人顔まけのマニアレベル。自転車から見る 街の風景の違い以外にも、こんな発見があったとは。いや〜なんか嬉しいというか、こういう人々のエネルギーが東京さながらNYも凄いんですね。

resist or accept???

「受け入れるか、それとも抵抗するか？」

先日日本へ２週間帰ってきました。実に４年半振り。不法滞在とか自転車操業してる訳でもなく、ましてや駐在人の妻で今どきこんなに帰っていない人もいないだろうと思うのですが。これが記録になるなら、I made it!!

と理由はともあれ、今回無事に帰国してきまして、久しぶりに父と会ったり、友達と会ったり、美味しい食事など楽しんできました。後半は、東京へ越して依頼お世話になっている美容師さんのところへいってカットしてもらいました。今日のタイトルはそこでのちょっとした会話から。

とうとう今年早々から40路の道を歩み始めたのですが、時々白髪を発見するようになりました。中にごっそり、とまではいかないのですが、例えばサイドに２本。右後ろの中に一本隠れています的な。

ちなみに2005年の終わりに渡米した時は染めていましたが、途中で染める事が大変になり、いつしか”目指せバージン・カラー”（＝つまり元の髪の色のことですが） に目標が定められて、この４年間その通り実行されました。ずっと染めていたために、私は自分の髪なのにどんな色か思い出せなくなり哀しくなったのです。

今ではその自分の髪の色をすっかり取り戻しましたが、さてここ１年くらいで白髪の存在が気になり出しました。そんな私の次なる目標とは：いつか白髪染めするなら、今こそこの自分の毛色を楽しもう♪。＝結局染めない選択。

今ちなみに日本では茶髪の方がポピュラー。NYにいるから好きな色にしようっていうのはありますけど、今回美容師さんとの間で議題となったのが、こちら

“白髪に抵抗するか、受け入れるか？”

私は言いました。こちらでは黒／茶と白が混ざった髪の人をペッパーと言います。 元々そうでなくても中年でやはり白髪が生えてきたご夫人が、そんなペッパーにようになり、ロングヘアにしていたりという人も見かけます。確か「PAPER」の編集長・キムさんがそうです。そんなのを見ていると“生やしたままにするのも選択肢のうち”と自然に思えてきます。でも、日本では、殊更一般人だと殆ど見かけない気がします。白髪への抵抗を辞め“ペッパー”気取りで楽しむヘアスタイルの選択が日本でも“アリ”になると面白いんですけどね〜。是非ともその時は挑戦してみたい。

hiromi uehara @ central park in june 2010

This photo by Ellora Managaement 


ジャズ・ピアニストの上原ひろみさん。偶然一昨年のニューポート・ジャズ・フェスティバルで初めて聞いた彼女のエネルギッシュな演奏にノックアウトされてファンになりました。以前ブログにも書きましたが、ピアノを鳴らしながら華麗に舞う彼女の足元にフィットしていたその時のプーマが妙に気になって"プーマがスポンサーについている？！"と思ったほど。調べてみると、ご主人様がデザイナーの三原康裕さんであることが分かり“ナルホド”と。それから半年後くらいにハイライン・ボールルームで彼女の初ソロアルバム「Place to be」のライブを見たのですが、足下のプーマも三原さんのドレスも彼女に似合っていて素敵でした。そして、その翌日のWWDの２ページ目に大きく扱われていた彼女の記事を発見。凄いことです。だってJFWでさえこんなに大きく取り扱われないですからね。

さて、先週の水曜日も日中は90Fを超える今日みたいな暑さ。それでも夕方日が落ちるに従って次第に風も出てきました。今回は昨年５月にStanley Clarke trioとの共演で出したアルバム「Jazz In The Garden 」での出演。ブルーノートで見た時と同様に、メローとも、ちょっとcornyとも言えるトリオのサウンドが、彼女のピアノが入ると音が自由に解き放たれて聴き心地もグッと良くなります。

このセントラルパークの夏のイベントに初めて行ったのは、２年前。友達に誘われてランランを聴きに。しかし外野が煩過ぎて“全く”音が聞こえず、帰りは足取りも重くガッカリして家路に着いた事を覚えています。 今回はジャズだから、人の話声もかえって良いだろう、くらいの余裕で出かけて行ったのですが．．．行って驚きました。昨年変えていたのか、今年からなのかは定かでは有りませんが、野外コンサート用にしっかりとホールのほうな場が作られていました。音はしっかり聞けて言う事無し！なんですが、残念だったのがその人工芝。セントラルパークまで行って、青い芝生の上に寝転がれないなんて、ちょっとガッカリじゃありません？

New Even Better!?

http://www.clinique.com/cms/expert_tips_trends/how_to/video_evenbetterclinical.tmpl


本日２日目。

３週間後には違いが目に見えて分かるらしいのだが．．．。シミを無かった事にしてくれるなんて、そんなに都合のいい事があるんだろうか。全く半信半疑でのトライ。

クリニークを日本で購入するのとかなりの高額になってしまう。価格帯はロクシタンよりリーズナブルかもしれないけど。という訳で久しぶりの他ブランドに挑戦。

シミ取り効果のある美容液だけど、こういうのってシワとかリフティング効果はどうなのか？普段は後者の方にばかり気を取られているから、実際に美白作用に特化したこの製品の場合は、他が疎かになってないのか気になったりして。

Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop (Exclusive 5 min Extended Sneak Peek)

 今日はあまりにもアパートの外壁工事が煩くて昼間家を飛び出しました！

＜家出主婦の小さな冒険＞
向かったのは、１ブロック先のおなじみ「クリアビュー・シネマ」。そこで見たのが、こちら↑の映画。昨年サンダンス映画祭に出展された「Exit Through The Gift Shop」。

調度１、２ヶ月前からミートパッキングの大きなギャラリーであるアーティストの作品が大々的に展示されているのですが、こちらの映画はなんとそのアーティスト「MBW」こと「Mr. Brain Wash」のドキュメンタリー。

最初は素人が撮っているカメラワークで、酔ったらどうしよう・・・なあんて心配もしたんだけど、だんだん気にならなくなってきて。。。かなり話に引き込まれて行って・・・現実なんだけどとっても非現実の世界に引き込まれて行って．．．気がついたら、撮る側と撮られる側が・・・。う〜ん、凄いよ。あっぱれな展開！

作品で重要な位置を占めるBanskyですが、元々メディアへの露出を一切封印していたアーティスト。これからNYの街を歩きながら、登場したグラフィティー・アーティストやストリート・アーティストの作品を見つけるのが楽しくなりそうです♪

★★★★☆
お勧め♪

１ブロックじゃ、小さな冒険にもなってない？ いえいえ、フィルムのお陰で頭の中ではすっごい冒険だったんだから。笑

American Idiot にハマってみよう！

 (Copyright: Tony Vincent official fan site)

調度一週間前の今日「アメリカン・イディオット」にすっかり魂を奪われ、そのからずっと毎晩家では彼らのCDをかけている私。グリーンディのオリジナルも聞いていますが、私にはパンチがありすぎて．．．というより、歌詞カードが凝りすぎていて読みにくいため（知る人ぞ知る／笑）、どちらかといえば、最初に出会ったミュージカルバージョンの方が取っ付きやすい。いえ、正直に言いましょう！St. Jimmy役のTony Vincentにハマった。物語の真意をつく重要な役所ですが、もの凄いキャラだけに役が乗り移っていて凄いな、と。

さらに今の舞台がオリジナルキャストなので、買ったCDのレコーディングも先日見た彼らがフルキャストされています。新作のミュージカルだと、そんな贅沢が付いてくるのだと初めて気が付いた。

演目は休憩無しの90分。もの凄いパンチがあります。これを20代で見ていたら、また何か違った感じ方をするんだろうなと思う一方で、その日の客席の中に、椅子からはみ出しそうになりながら最初から最後までノリノリだった50代のおばちゃんを見つけて、精神年齢という枠を取っ払って楽しめるアメリカの文化は素晴らしいな、と再認識しました。


Tony Vincent　ファンサイトはこちら
＜http://www.tonyvincentworld.com /bio.htm＞

そしてNYは今年が最後かもしれないということで「トニー・アワード」を見に行く事にしました。もう来週末ですが、それまでにノミネートさ れている作品が出来るだけ多く見られたらいいなと思います。


そして
今90分といえば、これでしょう♪
ESPNやFOX チャンネルも結構この話題で盛り上がっていますが、週末からはいよいよ「ワールドカップ」。南アフリカ大会が始まります。アメリカ東部時間では有り難い事に、朝一でも７時半、２試合目開始が10時で、３試合目開始が2時半と 日中見る事が可能。

今年始めは、これをどこで見ているだろうか、と思っていましたが、今日現在のところNYCで見る事になりそうです。

Killers (2010)

34丁目にある映画館AMC Loewsも朝一だと６ドル♪

という訳で、本日から公開の「Killers」を豪華に一人で見て参りました。はい、私も"ひとり映画派"です。

作品のトーン全体が、父親役のトム・セレック色に染まってる感じがなんともクール！！何が言いたいかといいますと、音楽のチョイスや、殺人描写のタッチが70年代フランス映画を彷彿させるような（すみません、具体的に“これ”と分かったら後で加筆します）。“gross”な場面も一カ所ありましたが、スペンサー役で主演のアシュトン・クッチャーがそんな残忍なシーンも重苦しくさせずに演じてるところが流石。最後の種明かしもチャーミングだし、簡潔してるストーリーラインも私は好きですね。ジェン役のキャサリン・ハイグルとスペンサーが出会う最初のシーンはとってもロマンチック♡だし。まあ、ニースという場所がありがちな設定ではありますが、アシュトン好きな方には満足頂けるかと。（ラブ・アクション・コメディ）

下記のあらすじが作品よりもよく書かれてる？気がしますが（笑）、公開になったら是非見てみて下さい。一人映画にもお勧めの一本♪

Plot Summary for
Killers (2010) More at IMDbPro »

Spencer Aimes (Kutcher) is just your average, undercover, government-hired super-assassin accustomed to a life of exotic European locales, flashy sports cars and even flashier women. But when he meets Jen Kornfeldt (Heigl), a beautiful, fun-loving computer tech recovering from a bad break-up, he finds true love...and happily trades international intrigue for domestic bliss. Three years later, Spencer and Jen are still enjoying a picture-perfect marriage - that is, until the morning after Spencer's 30th birthday. That's when Spencer and Jen learn he's the target of a multi-million dollar hit. Even worse, the hired killers have been stalking the happy couple for years, and could be anyone: friends, neighbors, the grocery store clerk, even that crabby old guy shuffling across the street. Now Spencer and Jen are on the run for their lives. As their suburban paradise turns into a paranoid game of dodge-the-bullet, they must find out who wants Spencer dead and why, all the while trying to save their marriage, manage his in-laws, keep up neighborly appearances ... and just plain survive. Written by Lionsgate

philip johnson glass house, in CT

 

月曜日にメモリアルデーがある今週末のアメリカは３連休です。

その初日に数年前からずっと見たかったフィリップ・ジョンソンの「ガラスの家」を見学してきました。約ひと月前にタイミング良く空きがあり、一年待たずともツアーに参加出来る事に。

場所はNYから電車に揺られて１時間少しの通勤圏内のコネチカット州にある「New Canaan」。小さな街なのに、やたらとベンツやハマーばかり走っていて最初は少し鼻につくのですが、慣れたらゴージャスさを楽しめばいいのです♪

この日の気温は24度くらいで、敷地内に点在する彼の作品や美術館を散策するには絶好の気候でした。そもそもこのNew Kanaan の土地は避暑地らしくNYCに比べても涼しいようですが。

 さて「ガラスの家」ですが、あり得ないくらい格好いいです。実際にジョンソン氏は住んでいましたが、ここだけで生活するのは流石に厳しいのでは？？？というのが率直な感想です。東京へ残してきた家も相当透け透けのエロエロなお家ではありますが（笑）、ここまでくるとアッパレ。お見事な建築でした！

 

Limelight Marketplace

今日は久しぶりにマルコと遊んできました。

14丁目のアップルストアに用事があったらしく、近くまで来たから“出てこない？“と。８アベニューと21丁目に居るというので歩いて向かうと、そこに一緒に居たのは弟のアレックス。少し前からNYに一緒に住み始めたとのこと。懐かし〜♪そして軽く14年振りくらいに３人で街をブラブラすることに。

昔マルコの家で初めて会った時アレックスはまだ高校生だったのに、もう30歳になるそうで、道理で自分もこんなに年を取っている訳だ、と素直に納得。

昔ながらの友は良いもので、話が尽きない。私はマルコのママが大好きだったんだけど、近々シカゴから遊びにくるらしいので是非混ぜてもらう事に。こうしてアミトラノ兄弟と改めて話していてビックリしたのですが、なんと彼らは５人兄弟だったんです。お姉さんのマリアと３人だと信じていたので“他には？”という会話になったことも無かった・・・苦笑。まあ、少し複雑な事情もあるようで、ちなみに長男はハワイにいらっしゃるとか。

話しているうちにユニオンスクエアまで歩いて来て、アレックスの買い物を済ませたので、ここからだとLの電車で一本という彼らがこの冬に引っ越ししたというアパートを見に行く事にしました。

川を渡りブルックリンへ、と言っても電車に揺られる事わずか10分程。駅からも至極の彼らのアパートは、錆びた重い鉄のドアが目印。最初からして格好いい！（しかしお隣りのビルの黄緑色の壁が頂けない／苦笑。＝彼らも承知していました）部屋は３LDK。広々していて、壁もレンガや木がむき出しになっていてかなりクール。もうひとりのルームメイトのニックはマルコの職場仲間で、ダラスに住んでいた事もあるナイスガイでした。

さて、今日３人で一緒にブラブラしたスポットのひとつがこちらの「ライムライト・マーケットプレイス」です。外見は教会ですが、一歩中へ入ると、ショッピングセンターになっています。一時クラブにもなっていた事もあります。空間を色々な高さから体験出来るので、建築／内装に興味のある人は面白いはず。

Church Turned Club Is Now a Market

Librado Romero/The New York Times

Limelight Marketplace emerged after a $15 million renovation, making its interior much brighter than during its club years.

mment

• 
  
  
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • MySpace
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Permalink

What is perhaps Manhattan’s best-known former house of worship will be reborn this spring as the Limelight Marketplace, with 35 upscale boutiques and restaurants within its lancet-windowed walls on Avenue of the Americas in Chelsea.

Enlarge This Image

Librado Romero/The New York Times

The exterior of the Limelight, a building dating from 1844.

The marketplace, in the landmark 19th-century church that once housed the Limelight nightclub, will combine elements of holiday gift bazaars and department stores. Vendors will set up side by side in the 12,000-square-foot complex, some in tiny berths of 100 square feet, and shoppers can pay for their purchases at central checkout counters. It is the first foray into permanent retail spaces for a number of tenants, but available one-year leases will minimize the risk somewhat.
A $15 million gut renovation has made the interior much brighter than in the building’s often-contentious quarter-century as a nightclub, but the space retains the mazelike feel that was a hallmark of the Limelight.
That is partly the point, said the project’s developer, Jack Menashe. “We wanted that feeling of discovery, like you’re finding something new and exciting around every corner,” said Mr. Menashe, who said he had gone to the Limelight in the late 1980s about 10 times. “But we really don’t want to be that associated with the past.”
More than a century ago, the Church of the Holy Communion, whose cornerstone was laid in 1844 at West 20th Street and Sixth Avenue (long before its official name change), hardly seemed notorious. Among the parishioners at the Episcopal church, whose distinctive notched towers were designed by Richard Upjohn, also the architect of Trinity Church near Wall Street, were John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
But a century later, a dwindling congregation led the church to consolidate and in 1976, after the last Mass was said, a commune called the Lindisfarne Association took over before decamping for Colorado a few years later.
The Episcopal Church then sold the property to the Odyssey Institute, a drug-counseling organization, for $495,000, before the club mogul Peter Gatien bought it for $1.65 million in 1983. Andy Warhol hosted the Limelight’s opening-night party, and soon crowds were lining up outside to get in.
As popular as it was with clubgoers, however, the Limelight was nearly as popular with the police, who occasionally padlocked its doors after complaints about drug use and dealing. The Limelight closed in 2001, and other clubs operated in the space until 2007.
In 1996, the Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, which owns shopping centers, took a stake in the property after Mr. Gatien fell behind on his mortgage, later gaining full control after buying the building in bankruptcy court in 2001 for $3.2 million. Mr. Menashe, who has a background in retail, is leasing the space from Ashkenazy, for undisclosed terms.
While the marketplace may intentionally recall the church’s heyday as a club, Mr. Menashe has made efforts to alter its look. On a recent tour of the space, as drills whined, he noted that in many places a limestone wall had been scraped of 15 layers of paint to reveal its natural surface.
Also gone is a D.J. booth that hovered over a Sixth Avenue entrance. But the building, particularly the nave, is unmistakably a church, which sits well with Jon Wye, whose six-year-old leather business will occupy a 250-square-foot space near a recently uncovered round stained-glass window.
Mr. Wye, who is based in Washington, hopes the original detail will help draw attention to his growing business, which rented a stall in December at the Bryant Park holiday market.
Though he would not disclose the cost of his one-year lease, brokers say that $150 a square foot is probably the average for Flatiron district stores without direct street frontage. Whatever the expense, though, the brief lease will allow Mr. Wye to penetrate the Manhattan market while keeping overhead low.
There are 60 spaces in all, and the building is about 90 percent leased, the developers said. Some tenants have taken more than one spot, like Brocade Home, a SoHo store, which will use nine berths on the second floor and one on the ground floor. More established brands include Le Sportsac, Baci Gelato and the bootmaker Hunter, in its first stand-alone New York store.
While there are precedents for what the Limelight Marketplace is doing, brokers say, it is an unusual retail model. Each berth is wired so vendors can set up their own cash register systems to handle sales independently. If investing in costly equipment is too daunting or if vendors lack room in their shops, they can have sales rung up at any of four central registers.
Still, said Robert K. Futterman, a retail broker in New York, historical buildings can be a tough fit for shops because of restrictions on exterior signage, something he said was hurting the shopping mall beneath the Plaza Hotel. Indeed, though Mr. Menashe had sought 13 signs for the Limelight Marketplace, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Committee allowed only eight.
“But if it doesn’t feel like a flea market there, I think it will work,” said Mr. Futterman, who is not connected with the project.
There is concern in the neighborhood, however, that some of the nightclub’s less desirable features could return. The Brooklyn pizzeria Grimaldi’s plans to serve food around the clock with indoor and outdoor seating, and if it receives a beer and wine license, it could attract a rowdy late-night crowd, said Susan Finley, a director of the Flatiron Alliance, an advocacy group, who has lived on West 20th Street for three decades.
Frank Ciolli, owner of Grimaldi’s, said visitors to nearby clubs “may come out hungry” and drop by, but said he would also attract Broadway theatergoers.
Though the renovations are new, some tenants are already familiar with the space. Renee Chow, the owner of Thérapie New York, is taking a 200-square-foot ground-floor space from which to sell items like imported toothpaste. Ms. Chow, who used to dance at the Limelight in her youth, said, “If somebody said then that I was someday going to have a store here, I would probably say, ‘Stop right now.’ ”

A version of this article appeared in print on March 17, 2010, on page B7 of the New York edition.

チャrれsヂcけんs

チャールズ・ディケンズと入力したら日本語入力のままだったのでこんなタイトルに。今まで日本語ですら読んだ事ないのですが、ってもっと恥ずかしそうに言うべきなんだけど．．．。お初のディケンズですが、こちらちょっと読んでみたら、好きになりました。

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities English novelist (1812 - 1870)

あと、ペーパー書いたら今学期も終わりです☆
今朝の８時からという早朝プレゼンも午後のテストもなんとか無事に済みました。
プレゼンはリード先生が殊の外喜んで下さり、というのも、今回のグループメンバーちょっと落ち着き無いわ、プロジェクトが全然前に進まないわ、関係ないお喋りで盛り上がってばかりいるわ、と相当先生は心配していたらしい。。。男女間でもよく有るように、最初が印象悪いと、後で少し良い事すると抜群に評価が高くなる？！っていう心理かもしれないわ／苦笑。
まあ、何はともあれ、こちらのプロジェクトは本当に心配で、粘ってリサーチした甲斐がありました。最後で結果が出せて良かった〜。振り返ってみれば、グループの集まりも良かったし、今日は最後に写真なんか撮っちゃったりして♪BSのFMMではなかなかない仲良し体験か？！ Thanks for having me!!

さあて
も〜ひと頑張りです。

FIT: Recognition Dinner

Don't Ask, Don't Tell？？？

先日学校のクラブ活動でちょっと貢献した生徒たちへのご褒美？！というのでしょうか、FIT主催のディナーへ行ってきました。

２週間前にクラブのアドバイザーの先生にたまたま招待を受け、もちろん聞かされるまでそのような食事会があるなんて一度も聞いた事が無いし、全くもって半信半疑で出かけてゆきました。

場所はユニオンスクエアーからほど近い「Manhattan Penthouse」。ペントハウスはとても見晴らしがよくって、結婚式場などで使われる会場らしく重々しさと華やかさが混ざった感じ。入場すると、テーブルへ着く前に、まずカクテルやフィンガーフードが振る舞われ、暫し立食で知り合いや教授陣と雑談等を交わします。

テーブルが用意出来ると、もうひとつ奥のドアが開きみんなで会場へ入って行きました。私は「I Love New York」クラブに入っていて、同じクラブのメンバーとアドバイザーの先生と同じテーブルにつきました。隣りは、現在WFITでアンカーを務めるという素敵な女 の子でした。

一応３時間というイベントだったので、何をするのかな、、、と思っていると．．．（アメリカンアイドルが出てくる訳も無く）少し前にやっていた学校の選挙で生徒会役員（と同じような組織）に決まった人たちを紹介。同時に、これまで努めて来た生徒たちによるスピーチ。長くて辛いスピーチあり、まるでお芝居見てるような素敵なスピーチあり、で“あっ”というまに時間が経ってゆきました。


さて、お食事は？というと、サラダ、パン、チキン／サーモン、ケーキ＆コーヒーが出ました。シンプルでしたが、どれもとても美味しかったです〜♪

さて私が最初に書いたDon't ask, don't tell　の理由ですが、
この会は大々的に一般学生へ“お食事会にご招待！”と参加を募ったものではなく、勿論秘密ではありませんが、宣伝があった訳でもありません。どうなっているのかというと、参加権は部員全員にもなくて、数名がクラブのアドバイザーの先生の推薦で決まります。

この会の費用は学校負担＝NY州税や学生の授業料だったりするわけですよね。みんなが生徒会費用なるものを毎学期払っていて、安いチケットが手に入ったりするのですが、このお食事会に関しては、まずクラブに所属していないとチャンスは無いらしい。仲良くなった学生がたまたまそのクラブの部長さんだった、という理由で入った私ですが、最終学期にこんな素敵なディナーに参加出来て、とても良い思い出になりました。

グロス先生＋Ashleyありがとう!!

Vidal Sassoon The Movie

今日はトライベッカ映画祭の最終日。ヘアサロン界の一時代を築いた「ビダル・サスーン」本人のバイオグラフィー映画をClear View Cinema @ Chelseaで見てきました。

クールさを全面に出す内容か、と思いきや、とてもスピリチュアルな内容に嬉しい感動を覚えました。80歳を超えてもとてもハンサムなビダルさん。作品を見た人の多くが“人生まだまだやる気にさせてもらえたんじゃないか”と思います。

勿論、建築（バウハウス）、フォトグラフィ、ファッション（マリー・クレール）、ミュージック（ブリティッシュロック）といったオシャレ感もぎっしり詰まっています。相当の完璧主義者だった事が分かるのは、当時彼の下で一緒に働いていたスタッフのインタビュー箇所。また"若気の至り"といったエピソードは、スタイルが上手に表現出来ない時、癇癪を起こして投げたハサミが天井に突き刺さって暫く落ちてこなかった話をインタビューで語っています。自分がお客だったらゾッとしちゃうけど、ユーモラス。他には、働き始めた当初コックニー訛りを指摘され、標準語ブリティッシュ英語に直させらるという屈辱感を味わった、という話も感慨深かったですね。DVD出たら“是非お買い上げしたい”。

そして会場を出る時に気がついたのが、ドレスの展示。「Sex and The City」が５月後半に公開になるらしい。作品で実際にサラ・ジェシカパーカーが着用したと思われるアイテムが展示されていた。こちらも楽しみですね！

イザベラ・トレド様

今年もトライベッカ映画祭がやってきました！
映画はいつも寝ちゃって苦手なサムも、映画祭となると一人でもそそくさと出かけて行きます。金曜日には「Arias with a Twist / Docufantasy」なるドキュメンタリー映画を一緒に見てきました。

開始前には主演のジョーイーさんを発見。他の人に便乗して握手してもらうと、「kombanwa」と挨拶される！ オーラが凄すぎ。

中へ入って席を取り、周りを見ていると．．．そそそ、そこに来ていたのは、なんとイザベラ・トレド様。感動〜♪作品中に出演していたのでいらしてたようです。彼女は昨年のオバマ大統領の就任演説の時にミシェルさんが来ていた黄色いドレス＆コートを作ったファッションデザイナー。一躍時の人の仲間入りをしました。＊昨年FIT美術館でトレドさんの展示会があり見てきました。

映画の終了後、勇気を振り絞ってお話をしてみました。驚いたのは、イラストレータのご主人ルーベンさんの人の良さ！！彼もかなり有名なアーティストです。一般庶民の我々にまったく壁を感じさせないフレンドリーさと気の利く会話に脱帽しました。肝心のイザベラさんと話す段になって私はあまりの緊張に”あわわわわ”になってしまいましたが（苦笑）最後は写真まで一緒に撮って貰って記念になりました。

Yummy! This weekend: Blaue Gans

Blaue Gans

今日は近所に住むドイツ人ご夫婦のチョイスで、 トライベッカにある「青いガチョウ」という意味の名前のオーストリア・レストランでランチをしてきました。オーストリア人に取ってはオーストリアン食堂という方がピッタリくるような居心地の良い店。＜http://kg-ny.com/＞

壁には一面のポスター。ドナルド・バチェラーの作品ポスターも発見！

お食事はサムはカツレツ。私はグラタンのようなパスタをオーダー。ドイツ人ご夫妻も同じくカツレツを。どれも美味しい！！

このレストランは、ノイエギャラリーに入っているレストランカフェ「Cafe Sabarsky」とチェルシーにある上品な「Wallse」と同じオーナー。この両方のレストランへもNYへ来て間もない頃に偶然行った事がありますが、どちらも味はお墨付きです。

今日行ったBlaue Gans はカジュアルでウェイターもとても親切。天井も高いし、あまりの居心地の良さに長居してしまうようなお店。こうやって気の合う仲間とワイワイ来るのが楽しいかも♪

ちなみに隣りのテーブルのカップルはビールを飲んでいましたが、一緒に行ったメラニーによると、ドイツでも（南部以外）は昼間っからビールを飲むという習慣は普通は無いそうです。フランス人がワインを昼から楽しむように、ドイツ人も．．．と思っていた私には“目から鱗”の情報でした。その点では、アメリカ人はランチにもお酒を結構楽しんでいますね。

Malcolm McLaren, Who Maneged Provocateurs of Punk, Dies at 64

まゆまゆ、一緒にお仕事したよね。今フェイスブックでコメントしたところ。記事に出ている女性はあのとき同行されてた方だよね。まだ64歳だったとは。ご冥福をお祈り致します。

April 9, 2010

Malcolm McLaren, Seminal Punk Figure, Dies at 64

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Malcolm McLaren, an impresario, recording artist and fashion designer who as manager of the Sex Pistols played a decisive role in creating the British punk movement, died on Thursday in Switzerland. He was 64.
The cause was mesothelioma, a cancer of the linings around organs, said Young Kim, his companion of many years. She said he had been under treatment at a Swiss hospital. He lived in Paris and New York.
Mr. McLaren, a former art student, found an outlet for his ideas about fashion, music and social provocation in the inchoate rock ’n’ roll scene of London in the early 1970s. Operating from the clothing boutique Sex, which he and the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood ran, he brought together four obscure musicians, called them the Sex Pistols and provided them with an attitude suited to Britain in decline: nihilistic rage, expressed at high volume in songs like “Anarchy in the U.K.” and the vitriolic anti-anthem “God Save the Queen.”
Mr. McLaren was a keen student of the French Situationists, who believed in staging absurdist or provocative incidents as a spur to social change. He arranged for the Sex Pistols to sign their contract with A&M Records outside Buckingham Palace and organized a performance of “God Save the Queen” on the Thames, outside the Houses of Parliament, on a boat named the Queen Elizabeth. The police quickly intervened, ratifying the group’s incendiary reputation.
Until their breakup in January 1978, the Sex Pistols epitomized the look, the sound and the attitude of British punk. All three came, in large measure, from Mr. McLaren’s restless brain.
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was born on Jan. 22, 1946, in London and was raised mostly by a wealthy grandmother. He attended more than half a dozen art schools. At none of them did things go smoothly. He was expelled from Chiswick Polytechnic, and the Croydon College of Art tried to have him transferred to a mental institution.
He terminated his education, such as it was, in 1971 at Goldsmiths’ College in London, but not before completing a series of paintings titled “I Will Be So Bad.”
In 1972 Mr. McLaren and Ms. Westwood took over a store on King’s Road in Chelsea called Let It Rock and began selling hipster Teddy boy fashions. The business was run along unconventional lines.
In a 1997 article for The New Yorker, Mr. McLaren recalled, “We set out to make an environment where we could truthfully run wild.” On most days the shop did not open until the evening and closed within a few hours. The goal, Mr. McLaren wrote, “was to sell nothing at all.”
After the New York Dolls visited the store, renamed Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die, Mr. McLaren followed the group to the United States and became its manager. He dressed the band members in red clothing based on the Soviet flag, placed politically provocative slogans onstage and presided over their swift demise.
Back in London, Mr. McLaren, now at Sex, took an interest in a group called the Strand (later the Swankers), three of whose members formed the nucleus of the original Sex Pistols. The group gave its first performance at St. Martin’s College on Nov. 6, 1975 — hostile audience reaction caused the players to leave the stage after two songs — and soon emerged as the leader of the punk scene. Reliably or not, Mr. McLaren explained his strategy for packaging and selling the band in the 1980 film “The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle.”
“Anarchy in the U.K.” and “God Save the Queen” (whose release was timed to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee) rose to the upper rungs of the pop charts in Britain, and the group’s only album, “Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols,” reached No. 1 in 1977. On the band’s first American tour, in January 1978, John Lydon, the lead singer known as Johnny Rotten, walked offstage at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, and the Sex Pistols dissolved.
Mr. McLaren briefly managed Adam and the Ants and then, with several ex-Ants, created Bow Wow Wow around a teenage Burmese singer, Annabella Lwin. The group recorded the hits “Go Wild in the Country” and “I Want Candy.” Through his clothing store, now called World’s End, he sold Ant and Bow Wow Wow fashions.
He went on to record his own music. His album “Duck Rock” (1983), a blend of world music and hip-hop, generated the hit singles “Buffalo Gals” and “Double Dutch.”
“I’m much more of a magician than a musician,” he told The Globe and Mail of Toronto in 1985. “I steal other people’s songs and try to make them better.”
In 1984 Mr. McLaren released the album “Fans,” a mixture of opera and urban music, which included the hit single “Madame Butterfly.” “Waltz Darling” (1989), “Paris” (1994) and other albums followed.
In recent years his name was linked with film, television and radio projects, most of them never realized, although he did help produce the film “Fast Food Nation” and presented two series for BBC2 radio, “Malcolm McLaren’s Musical Map of London” and “Malcolm McLaren’s Life and Times in L.A.”
He is survived by his son with Ms. Westwood, Joseph Corré, a founder of the lingerie company Agent Provocateur; a brother, Stuart Edwards; and a grandchild.
Mr. McLaren spent much of the last 30 years trying to explain punk. “I never thought the Sex Pistols would be any good,” he told The Times of London last year. “But it didn’t matter if they were bad.”