And why you may ask, when they hardly have any sizes over an 8, that alone is wonderful, as most of the time I cannot find anything to fit/buy. The merchandise is exquisite, but bought for those wonderful Asian women, who are born size zero and stay that size their entire lives. But they have accessories beyond and I have to say they are the number one leader in fashion, worldwide. The design of the stores was done by Yabu Pushelberg – Toronto, Canada.  The newest addition is in Beijing. Recently awarded the 2009 Design Award of Best Department Store in the World.

But the real reason that I love this store is because of the charming man I am standing next to, Sir Peter Harris.  I personally give him all the credit for his vision coming true on what the Best should look and feel like.

The shoe department is where you can find the most Beverly Feldman shoes in all of Asia. We have enjoyed a long (very long) relationship. This because Peter has always realized that less expensive does not mean less quality, or less taste, just more universal appeal. If you are in Hong Kong, do not miss the Lane Crawford Experience either at Pacific Place, IFC mall (my personal favorite) Times Square, or Ocean Terminal, and of course Beijing.

When you get to the IFC, have lunch or dinner at Isola, wonderful Italian, and make sure you go to the cosmetic department at LC, and check out their cosmetic concierge.

This is the greatest concept I ever came across. The Man to ask for is Mr. Norris. He will do your makeup if you wish, but the best is that he takes you counter to counter getting you the best products. New products, tried and true products. Colors that you would never ever thought of buying but are sensational on…… he changed my face! And for the better.

Like I don’t have enough make up already. I still have my Boyds of Madison Avenue blusher, that I bought 33 years ago, that I have saved unused. I loved it so…. when I die, they can bury it with me.

Well that’s it girls. Life is good, I am 11 pounds thinner (where does it actually go?).  I always say it’s invisibly floating around you waiting to jump back on. It’s never new fat we gain, it’s the same old fat that comes back. Misses us so.

And the big news?
 
Some Spanish hottie seduced me, very young. So young that when I was 22, he wasn’t even born. So there is hope for all of us.

So let’s hear about some older women/younger men stories.

You go first.

XXX

It’s been a long time, I know, I was actually waiting for spring. I was in New York for two months. On my own self-imposed no shopping ban. Not that the world economy falling apart could stop a shopper of my high qualifications. It was more at this age, I looked around and found myself surrounded with just too much stuff. All those lipsticks I have been collecting for all those years, now when I go on a trip, which do I bring? My entire collection of jeans, which do I pack?, my jewellery is definitively getting packed away. Everyone I know has seen it, and the time I spend looking for it in hotel rooms is just not worth taking it along. I am only going to wear Carlo Zini and my dear friend Giuliana Michelotti. And all those outfits I bought for the last 10 years and wore twice or three times, are sadly sitting in the closets looking at the wall. Time to shop your closets, that’s what I said on HSN. And that’s what I am doing now. Be your own stylist!
My newest interests to replace shopping have been my eternal quest to stay 38, expanding my mind with books, instead of Facebook, Myspace (already passé) and now Twitter, which I am not going to give a twit about. And selling as much as I can on my eBay store.

My new list of recommended professionals that help keep up the illusion that I am at least 42, this is the New York City team, as you know I have a Paris team also:

Dr. Carmen Bosch: the very best general doctor I have ever had. Through, caring, and absolutely takes her time, calls you to see if you are ok after. Priceless, in today’s in and out speedy HMO medical madness. Please, please see Michael Moore’s movie Sicko. And start thinking like the Canadians and Europeans do. We need a much better medical system. (212 583 2992, 110 E 59th St)

Dr. Susanne Pastore, gynecolosist supreme. You can tell her anything, and I mean anything. I think I was her first patient when she opened her practice. Just mention you are a friend of mine, and possibly they will shorten your waiting time. (212 772 3535, 150 E 71st St)

Dr. Catherine Orentreich: as delicate and chic as she is, that is how all her injections are. One of the first clinics to begin cosmetic dermatology in the early 80´s (I was there of course) this clinic is one of the most famous, established and accessible. No waiting list here. The work is perfect. I am the poster child for Silicone, Botox, Restylane, and Juvéderm. I can’t wait until they can start injecting your whole body! (212 794 0800, 909 Fifth Avenue)

Dr. Lili Rysz: feeling a bit stressed, keep thinking of that old boyfriend 5 years later, while waiting for the phone to ring at the same time. Dr. Lili will put you back into reality, get you to sleep and maybe loose some weight. And personally she is so cool, you won’t believe it. (212 721 3800, 230 Central Park West Suite B, Office D)

Dr. Zelner, when you are missing some sensibility to your life, this is the woman to call. Her experience in counselling is award winning. She also told me she hasn’t shopped in 20 years, when we were having one of my why do I shop so much conversations? She is the most chic and stunning women I know. Could be the Hermes bag… Meanwhile her philosophy is that we should save instead of shop… of course this does not apply to shoes, handbags, jeans, or lipsticks, those are basic necessities, don’t you think?

Heather Bauer: my past life nutritionist. Taught me how to travel and not gain weight. Can give you healthy programs and one on one weekly attention. Attention. You also can loose weight with Heather. Everyone I have sent her has.

Borja Color: I cannot forget the most important: Hair! Borja has been my colorist for, well never mind, even before I didn’t need color. Mentioned yearly in all the top magazines, she is the Mrs. Michangelo of Color.  And gives a great cut. I do not believe in hair cuts for hundreds of dollars, and why should a hairdresser get paid more than your doctor. Borja is reasonable, can fix anybody’s previous bad color job and serves wine. (800 979 5125 (118 East 57th St, http://borjacolorstudio.com/)

Dr. Darren Wallis: the one and only man that can touch me, gave me sight without glasses. The contact bifocal genius. I kid you not. And what’s better after you put all your eye makeup on, than to have the world see it. (212 972 5505, 305 E 40th St)

My computer had a series of nervous breakdowns.  I called the Geek Squad, which although my ¨agent¨ Greg was very nice. The call center was totally ridiculous and I could not give this company any kind of recommendation. There should be counselling on line instead of waiting a week, for a visit, that if the girls knew anything on the phone which I think they should, could fix immediately.
Of course hysteria immediately set in, when I realized no email. 80% of my time is spent emailing my shoeworld. After I adjusted to the fact it was out of my control. I had time for other things, mostly reading. When was the last time you read a good book? I read 3 just recently and I would like to highly recommend them…. I am sure one day books will be out of fashion like records are today.

Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach. Absolutely changed my whole head around about the importance of saving versus spending. Should be required reading for anyone who gets a paycheck, no matter how young.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell just so very fascinating. His research is incredible and his theories are really undisputable.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. This was a big hit when it came out in the 40s, when I was in college in the 60s it got another wave of enthusiasm, I passed. I was not exactly into reading then. I did read it when I was in my early 40s. Now it’s a reread, as everything going on in our world seems so reminiscent of what Ayn Rand wrote 65 years ago…

My third pastime is my eBay store where all those things that I could not live without are ending up. There should be an eBay outlet store also, you know the sale after the sale. Some things no one wants at any price, which is difficult to comprehend as I wanted it so bad when I bought it for that original designer price…

I am off to Asia this week, yes to do it all over again.
So I say a sweet good bye until the next time I have an afternoon to tell you inside stories of an obsessed shoe and handbag designer.

XXXX

P.S.: my favorite Italian restaurant is Mia Dona, Michael Psilakis, is the chef owner along with Donatella, restaurant queen of NYC. Michael by the way is the first chef to have been invited to the White House to cook. If that isn’t Mama Mia moment I don’t know what is!

Omar the great and Queen B.

I arrive to Paris with magazine tear sheets in hand of the various outfits that I see myself in for Spring 2009. My philosophy of only wearing jeans for every occasion worked for 2008. And now I travel with no less than 8 pairs of jeans… (I bought 14 since this emancipating idea hit me sometime in August).  I happened to look very good in jeans, since my gym rat days, after a million hours on the stair master, I then went and had every lump of thigh fat lippoed off. It’s the one thing on my body that has stayed off.

Well, they say it comes back someplace else? Maybe that’s why I have been top heavy since?
But it seems that both my suitcase and I are tired of the jean thing and it was only a “passing fashion”. My brain tells me that I want some real outfits.

I am plagued with two problems in Paris. First, in my wonderful little room, at the Relais St. Honoré, 308 rue St. Honoré, I am watching the news, just for some noise in the morning… I have 4 English speaking stations and the Herald Tribune. It’s a competition which station can provide more gloom and doom. I wake up and am a terrified little bunny rabbit sitting in the middle of the greatest fashion capital of the world, ready to shop… and the world as forecasted is going to end momentarily… but it doesn’t seem to be ending for all the financial executives on Wall Street, who just got  $18.4 billion dollars in bonuses for 2008… No matter how bad the news is today, it gets worse the next day. And just until this second I realize that it’s like having multiple hurricanes all over the world. It’s a news race… who can report the worst news. If anything is going to destroy us, it’s the various news stations we listen too.  So shut it off, pull the cord, hide the remote and do what I did… go shopping.

It was a life decision, if the world was going to end, it was going to take more than one day. It for sure would be a major event and I would need a complete new wardrobe…

To the shops. I was almost too late; at Collette, they had sold out of my size, as it was Fashion Week. But I later discovered the salesgirl was being kind by saying they were sold out. They just did not have my size, the second problem.

My size, girls, is I don’t know what? I know at the GAP it’s size 8 pants… Large tops. Well in Paris I discovered, every major designer shop, no matter how rich you are, does not carry sizes bigger than a French 42. I think a French 42 is a size 6. You know that famous book French women don’t diet? Well, it’s true. They just smoke. So that’s Lanvin, YSL, Chloe, Chanel, the list goes on… but the brands that actually want to make money and have some smarts like Prada, Dolce, and Armani carry 46.  Sounds like a huge number, doesn’t it? Just think of it as the age you would like to be rather than the size you already are. Don’t let the numbers get you. My philosophy is the older we become, the bigger we grow or "Rich Women Are FAT".  How’s that for a book title! Would do really well in Russia….

So I gave my various charge cards to Miuccia Prada. I don’t think she is a size 42 either.

I have had a personal vendetta against Prada for 10 years. It has been 10 years that I last saw my own crisis. Fashion went black nylon. And Prada started it all. Shoes went black. All everyone wore were heavy, ugly black mocs. My shoes were completely out of fashion. I and my dogs were in a sad, sad state… I have refused to shop Prada since. I never even went into a Prada store until 3 years ago. But the truth is I loved the Fall 2008 lace collection, loved it. But unfortunately it was blasted in every magazine, in every country, every month… now it’s in the stores on sale, like fashion veterans that no one cares about anymore. You did your job, and now you sit unwanted on the sales racks… How sad, how even sadder, if you spent full price for THE LOOK.

So what did I buy? Their very next look. The wrinkled, disheveled suits, the idea as Vogue quoted “it’s what you are supposed to look like when you just rolled out of bed", I presume with matching bedhead… I even pink highlighted the article, as my psychic fashion gene told me that this will be next season’s OUT LOOK for sure… But I have to tell you it looked wonderful on me. All black. I think I will wear it on HSN. To justify my love. I threw in an extra red skirt, because nothing is better than a blonde in red… except vanilla crème…

I could go on and tell you about the two vanilla crème outfits I bought to go with the Lanvin vanilla crème ribbon and pearl bow necklace (from Colette) the only thing they had in my size. But I just would be putting in print how really out of my mind I am, it says right upfront Diary of an Obsessed Shoe and Handbag Designer…. I left out the “C” word……………………. COMPULSIVE.

I would like to know how all of you are dealing with the “now life is 70% off”. Of course, with my shoes I want you to know that 70% is factory price. And I am proud to say that my shoes do not go out of style. The little snake ballerinas are a wonderful buy.

ARLEIGH $54.99

I almost started to buy some myself online, never one to resist a good deal… But tell me your deepest shopping secrets, shopping stories. Can you relate to what I am saying?  Or am I the only crazy one here?  Why do we live to shop or is it shop to live? I have the answer!!!!  It goes back to our cave women days. We are gathering stuff to protect and comfort our bodies and please the men in our lives. After many, many years of this habit forming ritual, we just gather to please and comfort ourselves… we forget about the men, especially after 50.
It’s genetic conditioning. Same reason why men cannot put the toilet seat down. All those centuries of peeing in the wilderness.

MY CURE FOR THE CRISIS: Everyone go out and spend all their money shopping. It will push the ON button for everything to get back together. Create need, create jobs.

And the banks should just burn everyone’s mortgages and foreclosures. I think they owe the country that little bit. And free medical for one year.  Why not? When we are talking trillions, how many people can get that sick in one year? It won’t cost a trillion, probably not even a billion.

FAVOURITE ADDRESSES IN PARIS:

Emmy Frank. Ask for Irene, the owner, she will tell you about shopping. She is wonderful, the store is fabulous, you get old-fashion serious help, they have sizes and she has exquisite taste. Carries major brands, and is my new best friend… 259 rue St. Honoré, Paris 75001, tel. 01 40 15 92 52

Need your hair done?, in a shop friendly atmosphere. Tell them you know me and they will all smile. “Je suis un ami de Madame Beverly”
Jean-Marc Maniatis, and they do blondes. If you get a shampoo, do not ask for a crème rinse, it must be a French custom but its 19 euros extra. Omar is my guy. But there is wonderful stylist from Morroco that I take when Omar is out. And she has the best streaks I ever saw…  they start midway and go down. 18, rue Marbeuf, Paris 75008,  tel. 01 47 23 30 14.

Alone and do not know where to have dinner? Do as I do, go to the Plaza Athenee. They know how to treat a woman alone. And you will not be alone, as between the maître d’hôtel and all the beautiful young waiters, it’s a wonderful experience. They gave me a great table center front booth…. Maybe because Omar had just done my hair, or they knew a Lanvin Bag was the new un “IT” bag of the season… (mine was actually a 70% off from Hong Kong) these guys, for sure know their handbags.
It’s not expensive either. 3 courses  at 83€. My hair with the French crème rinse cost more. I have had more expensive at the beach clubs in Ibiza… And less food.

And my new discovery for fashion inspiration, given to me by my dear friend Lisa, cousin to Gail, both my Facebook friends, is Reciproque.  Fabulous resale shop for all those fashion obsessed French babes, 6 shops all together, and one dedicated entirely to handbags… a must, must, must.  Beware no sizes over 42! 88-101 rue de la Pompe, Paris 75016, tel. 01 47 04 30 28.

I am on Air France now, writing this as I fly back to New York. Maybe I will decompress and arrive to New York a size 42? I do not think so.

I am presenting my New Fall 2009 Collection for the wholesale market.  As you know by now, it takes 4 months to put together, and this is the Birth Event. I strive to be the Matisse of the shoe industry, that even at 82 in a wheelchair, he still created his most magnificent pieces. That is how I feel at approaching 62, I am just starting to get great now…

XXXX

Now I will tell you about my holidays in Asia. I spent Christmas in a luxury shopping mall. What could be better for someone like me to spend my holidays living at the Shangri-La Hotel at Pacific Place in Hong Kong? Gym, heated pool, and sleeping on top of every major designer brand name that is 50% or more on sale. Be careful what you wish for… only slight setback was that the stores were full of merchandise size 0. If I didn’t eat a thing for the next 3 years and swam around the island of Hong Kong for the same amount of time, I would never reach size zero. The only things that fit were the amazing amount of designer handbags and shoes, which having my own brand, I need no one else’s, especially at the end of the season… designer handbags have totally outed themselves. I think expensive handbags will be on top of everyone’s list of what they can live without for 2009… especially if it weighs over a pound….

Classic tourist shot

My philosophy about buying things on sale:
-If no one else bought it, why do you want it?
-You will have only 6 weeks to wear it, till the next season begins.
-Save your money for something brand new and not rack tired….
-If it’s black you already have so much black, it’s ridiculous.
-If it’s white, it’s going to get dirty no matter what you do.
-Ask yourself: do I really need it? Is it going to make me happy?

Everything I buy makes me happy. And if I am not happy on a particular day I go out and buy something…

Do you find yourself:
1. talking yourself into buying something? (sometimes)
2. fantasizing where you are going to wear it? (me)
3. obsessing about it, if you don’t buy it? (me)
4. having no willpower whatsoever? (me)

I had to buy a coat, don’t ask me where my brain was when packing or that I had no idea that Shanghai is really cold in the winter. But I bought a black one on sale. Pure necessity is always allowed. Lucky that it was reduced, and it fit. Like an umbrella in a rainstorm. A winter coat in Shanghai is totally ok.

I did meet the cashmere queen of China, Ida, of L.S. Studio, room 802-803 Crawford House 70 Queens Road’s, Road Central, Hong Kong. And since I can’t seem to get out of Hong Kong ever, without buying something cashmere, how could I break that lifetime pattern? She private labels for every single big brand in the world and the quality is the best I have ever seen. I loved the silk and cashmere and bought one sweater in fuchsia with matching scarf, and three more scarves. I mean scarves are similar to lipsticks, we need them in every color, don’t we?

Toyboy of the Month

Sexual Bailout!

My thought for the day is that the government begins reeducation programs to unemployed stock brokers and hedge fund manipulators, in order for them to provide more and higher orgasms for the sexually abandoned. And how do you know if you are sexually abandoned? Answer these questions:
1.    You haven’t been waxed in 3 years.
2.    All your Wolford Stay Up Black Hose with Lace Cuffs are either unopened or the ones that are opened are missing mates.
3.    Your vaginal lubricant crème has passed its expiration date (even though they do not come with one)
4.    You are never waiting for the phone to ring.
5.    Your string bikinis have disintegrated into dust…

Hope I have put a smile on your face. There really is no connection between my vacation and a sexual bailout except I think I could use my own sexual bailout, but not by a stock broker but by this very sexy chef who made me lunch today, Spanish, and I can testify in any court of love, that what they say about Latin Lovers is absolutely 100% true!!!

I finally finished my fall collection. Adding just one last shoe yesterday. Now I have to convince the factory to make it (another 20 samples!) because one shoe comes in 3 colors, times all the agents in the world who distribute it. Someone call me when bling is dead… because this shoe is all bling and a bit of shoe. But what are you really interested in shoes or a sexual bailout? It always goes back to that strange partnership of shoes and sex, doesn’t it? I think I am very fortunate that I design the object of men’s dreams… high heels.

I am going to clean out my Carlo Zini jewelry treasures, only because I want to buy more. He is the greatest couture costume jewelry designer I know, and one of Europe’s great secrets. Spectacular pieces!!! I am putting a small part of what I have on eBay with the hopes that anybody out there who is really smart will snap it up in an early bid. I have listed it at give away reserves, and introducing it on my blog as a “Hello 2009!” gift to my blogettes. Anybody who loves my shoes, will love Carlo Zini jewelry. If you want to live my lifestyle, you need a piece of Carlito.

Beverly’s eBay Store
http://stores.ebay.com/Beverlys-Closet

By the way, SHOPPING is what keeps the world going around, not bailouts, except sexual ones.

XXXX