I flew to Paris from NYC on one of the first flights out after September 11, 2001. Many of my colleagues opted not to travel and I understood. But for me, I have always lived by the credo that when a bully strikes, it’s important to stand tall. Taking off from JKF, we flew over the still smoldering destruction in lower Manhattan and turned east around The Statue of … Read More
This week’s intimate discovery: A Fresh New Boutique Offers a Great Escape
From the first day I started my retail career, the mantra “location, location, location” was drummed into my head. So when I was in 
Boston last week and decided to take a side trip to Cambridge to visit Forty Winks, a wonderful lingerie boutique located in Harvard Square, I knew exactly why this store has … Read More
Architecture that challenges perception has always been a source of creative inspiration for me. Last year, while traveling in New Mexico, I happened upon the Miraculous Staircase in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe. Built to solve the everyday problem of how to access the choir loft without interfering with the space in this tiny Gothic church, the carpenter accomplished a feat of engineering that boggles the imagination. Turning 360 … Read More
My father was a gentle man, very fastidious, very reserved. He never raised his voice. I never heard any ultimatums. There were just expectations, very high expectations. No matter what I wanted, there was always a goal before I could have it. He was always raising the bar. He taught me that I was my only true competitor. His was a perfectionist whose standard for quality and performance were … Read More
This Week’s Intimate Discovery: Simone Perele Lights up the Panty Market with Invisi’bulles
By now most of my readers know that I am
on a constant search for the world’s most comfortable panty. Last week I tried the Invisi’bulle bikini (158720) from Simone Perele and I knew I had found another contender. This light as air, ultra-fine microfiber design is engineered with a stitch free bonding technique that holds … Read More
As I am writing this week’s Brief, we are all hunkered down here in the Northeast riding out Irene. She certainly made a grand entrance. One might think it was another royal wedding. The TV spin has been relentless, ominous; and semi cynic that I tend to be, a bit overdone. I do believe, however, that the noise is mostly to assure that we all err on the side of … Read More
This Week’s Intimate Discovery: Arielle Shapiro wins the prestigious CFDA award for Lingerie
The first time I saw the ARI DEIN line at Journelle in NYC, I had a feeling that a new design star was on the horizon. Apparently, my intuition was correct, because Arielle Shapiro, the creative force behind this nascent brand was just awarded one of 10 positions in the prestigious Fashion Incubator, a CFDA… Read More