Debra Rapoport takes creativity and DIY to the next level with her awe inspiring and imaginative looks. Whether she’s making hats out of paper towels, or turning a pillowcase into a hat (like in the photos above) you can always count on Debra for some style inspiration. The other day I caught her in the middle of making some of her famous “Viva Paper Towel Hats,” so I whipped out my iPhone and made the short video below. Hope you enjoy Debra’s wonderful tips and I can’t way to see everyone’s creations…

This is another shot of my dear friend Orren in Santa Fe. Check out his incredible home HERE.

I created Advanced Style to start a dialogue about aging and to show a
positive and uplifting image of getting older. It’s equally important
to show how older people confront the struggles and difficulties that
accompany the aging process. Artist, Ilona Royce Smithkin lifts the
spirits of everyone around her. She was kind enough to  share some
incredible insight into how she deals with physical pain. We can all
learn from her inspiring words below:

Everyday
something unexpected happens to our bodies. I fight everyday to get up
and out of bed.When I feel a pain somewhere I tell my body, “I’m so nice
to you, what do you want from me?” And I tell myself a little story or
joke and remind myself of the times when I was in worse pain, and how
lucky I am today, and the pain begins to go away. I tell myself that
this isn’t the first time, or the last time that I will feel pain and begin to occupy my mind with other things. You must get involved in things
outside of the pain, things that give you interest. All these things
are a part of life. We all feel pain and unpleasantness. As long as I
can seduce myself to enjoy all kinds of things, like in the morning
enjoying the first cup of coffee, or piece of chocolate the pain begins
to diminish. I give myself nice things to look forward to, throughout
the day. The moment you give in and let yourself get dragged down by
misery you are closer to death.

Mia Fonssagrives-Solow

Two years ago, I photographed my dear friend Lucy Jarvis on Madison Avenue, wearing the most incredible Robot Ring. I ended up putting the photo in my book and have been dreaming about it ever since. My dreams came true last week, when I finally met up with Mia Fonssagrives-Solow, designer of the robot ring and many other incredible pieces of jewelry and sculpture. I decided to splurge and purchase a ring from Mia and haven’t taken it off since. Check out Mia’s work HERE. There are still a few robot rings around!!!

Lucy Jarvis wearing the infamous Robot Ring