Date Archives March 2010

Lucy Jarvis

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I met Lucy last June when she came into the New Museum with a friend. She left a lasting impression on me with her amazing style and wonderful presence. Since that moment I have oftentimes looked back at her photo wondering when I would see her next. The other day as luck would have it, Lucy walked into the New Museum and I couldn’t contain my excitement. I ran up to her and asked if she was the woman I had taken a photo of last year. She said. ” Yes, but how do you remember me?” I replied that I could never forget someone as stylish and wonderful and her and we walked outside to take some new photos. She stood in the rain as I snapped away. Turns out Lucy is a celebrated television producer, read more about her amazing career below:

In a remarkable broadcast career spanning nearly fifty years, Lucy Jarvis has made her name by achieving the impossible. In 1963, she was in Moscow filming a documentary when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted. Undeterred, Jarvis fired off a cable to the White House demanding that President Kennedy end his “little argument” so that she could continue shooting. Afterward, Kennedy joked: “I told Khrushchev if he got the missiles out of Cuba, I would get Lucy Jarvis out of the Kremlin!” The Kremlin was the first of many award-winning documentaries and specials that Jarvis would make for NBC News. Savvy, connected, indomitable, there were few doors that she could not pry open, from the restricted inner sanctums of the Louvre and Scotland Yard to the impenetrable (or so it seemed) enclave of China’s Forbidden City. Along the way, Jarvis also produced a string of investigative documentaries about the crucial social issues of our time, from gun control to drug abuse to the imbalances of the medical system. When she left NBC in 1976 to become an independent producer, Jarvis was one of the first women in history to launch her own production company. Through it all, she credits her success to motherly advice: “She made me believe there was nothing I couldn’t do, and I believed it and, therefore, did it.”(Paley Center for Media)

Tziporah and Debra

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Here is a quick view of two of New York’s most stylish and innovative women, Tziporah and Debra.I have been an admirer of Tziporah Salamon’s for a long time and just recently found the perfect opportunity to meet with her. A few weeks ago Tziporah was sent a link to a post I had done on Debra and was immediately struck by her style and creativity. She emailed her right away and they have been in contact ever since. The other day I had the chance to get together with these two wonderful ladies to sit down and discuss the healing power of style and how fashion should be fun and expressive,as Mimi Weddell used to say, ” It lifts you up from this earth”.Debra and Tziporah dress up because it makes them feel good and they can express themselves and share their art and creativity with the world around them. These woman are the true fashion icons, truly original, strong in their identity and willing to share their gifts with others.

Advanced Style Artist: Malcah Zeldis

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The other day I spent a wonderful afternoon with artist, Malcah Zeldis and her daughter Yona. Who better to describe this fantastic woman than her daughter.

Yona writes,” A good friend said to me, “Your mother is not just a great person, she’s a great event!” And it’s true. Her super-sized style is apparent in her art, her clothing and her décor. Born in 1931 and raised in Detroit, she spent nine years of her life in Israel, and returned to the United States in 1958 to settle in New York City. After raising my brother and me, she finally found the courage to pursue the life of an artist, a long held dream of hers. Although she did not study formally, she achieved her own form of expression with her brightly colored, densely packed oil paintings and gouaches, as well as with her sculptures, many of which were created using found objects. Today she has a thriving career which includes many museum shows (the Smithsonian and The Museum of American Folk Art are two high points), important private collections and numerous publications. I was always enchanted by the way she dressed and I can still remember outfits she wore back in the 1960s, when I was a small child. Some highlights: a pair of floor length cherry velvet evening pants (cut so full as to resemble a skirt) worn with a glittery purple belted tunic and long strands of red crystal beads, a wool coat in a black and white checkerboard pattern with black fox trim, a white, hand embroidered caftan from Israel, a cotton summer dress in a denim blue, with contrasting red stitching (there was a matching bow for her long black hair), a sleeveless shift in sky blue and brown, with what looked like a red, black and white target dead center. I loved her look back then, and I still love it today.