vintage glam: behind the scenes kate spade fall

: behind the scenes with bryce dallas howard for the ksny fall 2011 campiagn :

video via {katespadenewyork youtube}

bonjour mes amies!  i was so thrilled when kate spade tweeted this behind-the-scenes video from their fall photo shoot. the star is bryce dallas howard, who plays villainous hilly holbrook in the help {you've seen, yes?}.  i've heard that she is just about the opposite of her character in real life, but she is stunning in the 50's/60's inspired clothing nonetheless.  perfect for kate spade this season.  goodness do i wish mad men was returning to the air this fall.  but here, i am in love with the vintage glamour and the fun vibe {dance if you wanna}.  are beehives really back?  only time will tell!  i hope that your day is off to a perfect start.  weekend is coming coming. xx hillary 

p.s. kate spade's mantra this season is "understated is overrated." no wonder why i'm so enamored.

enchanted cannes: tender is the night

after a dear friend informed me that she was soon to jetting off to cannes for a five day holiday in the sun, i could not get the glamour of the french riviera off my mind.  my first thought was of one of my very favorite novels, tender is the night, by f. scott fitzgerald.

the famous author's final completed novel, about a an attractive, wealthy couple and their friends, it epitomizes the mindset of the 'lost' generation: american ex-pats in europe during the inter-war years.  filled with parties of opulence and exoticism, and provocative, yet mysterious, tremendously complex characters, and beautifully evoked scenes of the mediterranean coast that are most like hemingway's, infidelity and drama of the idle rich, and an important mix of psychological calm and chaos, all narrated by fitztgerland's near-poetic prose at its height.   

"so green and cool that the leaves and petals were curled with tender damp."

"there was some element of loneliness involved- so easy to be loved- so hard to love."

but cannes is more than this literature: it is old hollywood and films of bardot and grace kelly and the most gorgeous people sipping bellinis on the beach and yachts in sailor-stripped or breezy whites under the most chic umbrella-ed terrace.  

all images via pinterest

happy weekend.  hope yours is filled with romance and rest and, perhaps, a delightful dose of fitzgerald.

xx hillary