TASTEMAKER TUESDAY

What pieces and/or designers in your closet do you find yourself wearing again  and again? 

I like to joke that Crocodile Dundee is my spirit animal. I love high impact pieces, but when it comes down to what I instinctively reach for, my inner farmcore leads the charge. This means button ups with the sleeves rolled up, and worn denim of all kinds. I have maybe 10 denim shirts and I wear them all. But I do love to wear them with contrasting, statement jewelry. I’m really big on unique jewelry – I feel totally naked if I don’t have at least a few pieces on!

I love Café Gratitude in San Francisco and also the Greenwich Village Peacefood Café in NY. My favorite restaurant of all time is Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto. It was created by former Google head chef (and ex chef for the Grateful Dead). It has a killer menu and the greatest staff. If you ever go, get the crimson 

quinoa salad. 

My husband and I spent a year living in Melbourne and it was definitely our favorite place to live. The quality of life there is incredible. Anais Nin wrote about people having a city that speaks to their spirit, and I think mine would be Seville. For me, that’s the most magical city, and I can’t really explain why. The air is different. There’s a quiet thickness that feels electric. I’m not very good at sitting still, but for some reason in Seville, it’s very easy for me. 

I like to read books three at a time. Right now I’ve got Anais Nin’s second diary which I’ve read and traveled with so much that the cover is torn off and the insides are covered in notes that I’ve written to myself for the next time I read it. I’ve also got Alain de Botton’s ‘The Architecture of Happiness’ pretty well dog-eared, and I am also attempting to read The China Study. It’s a slow, fascinating read. 

I need to work out to function properly, so I do it a lot. I like to mix it up to keep it from being boring, and also to make sure I work my muscles in different ways. Right now I run twice a week and go to Soulcycle twice a week and then I throw in a Pilates or a yoga class as well. I grew up swimming and taking dance so I still like to toss those in to mix things up.

REINVENT 

In terms of emerging designers, who is reinventing the wheel? I love Reformation. Their pieces are really thought out and it shows in the final product. I also love that they are sustainable and eco-friendly, not to mention completely lust worthy. I also think jewelry is where some of the biggest steps forward in aesthetic innovation are happening at the moment. Lillot, Lionette, Mirlo, Krystle Knight, PushMataAha, Hirotaka, and Kamryn Dame are definitely noteworthy. 

I drink hot water with lemon every morning and follow with fresh fruit. I definitely consider this a beauty ritual. I also swear by activated charcoal as a beauty ingredient, and Alaffia’s Melon Seed Serum. It’s pretty amazing stuff. 

Chet Faker is currently on repeat. Everything he puts out is beyond awesome. Also in heavy rotation are James Blake, Tricky, Martina Topley Bird, and Flume. 

We live right by the DeYoung in San Francisco, so we’re there quite a bit. As for what’s on our walls, we’ve got a Rothko print that a friend gave us that I am so in love with. My mother is a painter so we also have some of her pieces on our walls, and also a Joseph Beuys early drawing that I really love. My husband also painted me two pineapples for the bathroom that he just finished renovating. 

I don’t drink alcohol, so the closest thing for me is my homemade kombucha. I’ve got a little lab set up in the back of the kitchen. I have my kombucha by the juicer, and a little wheatgrass station too. I also make lotion, so it’s pretty mad scientist back there. 

Cutie and the Boxer. I just watched it and it’s so gripping. It’s about the neo Dadaist artist Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. It’s visually gorgeous and articulately human.

RETRO

Most coveted decade for fashion? In which time period would you have lived, and how does it inspire your way of dressing?
I think I would live right now. There are elements of different decades that I really love - I love home goods from the late 50's to early 60's, and I absolutely love the Katherine Hepburn's style in the mid 40's. She was such a trail blazer. She really paved the way for a new kind of intelligent sexy that is incredibly inspiring. I'm also a big fan of elevated grunge.  So living today is the only way I'm able to incorporate all my favorite elements into my look and lifestyle.