LTD by Lizzie Tisch held a VIP preview for its second annual holiday shopping event on Monday at the Regency Hotel. Tisch carefully sources unusual, hard to find items at her LTD shows, and this one was no exception. On offer for one's holiday needs were everything from great quality, humorous stationery, to California-style cashmere, to a high-end watch brand so secretive that it wants absolutely no publicity.
"The theme for this show is 'things that bring me joy,'" said Tisch. "I wanted things that are visually stimulating and humorous, things that people haven't seen before. It's never too early to shop for holiday gifts, and there is something for everybody here."
"I wanted to create an environment that felt friendly and fun; the fact that Barney's, which is one block away, will no longer be with us really depresses me," Tisch continued. "People still want to shop, they just want a different experience of how to do it. Transaction online is easy, but you can't touch it, you can't feel it, you can't ask your friend what they think about it."
The event was well attended. Aerin Lauder, Ali Wentworth, David Burtka, and Carla Gugino got a head start on their holiday shopping, some getting their Master & Dynamic earbuds, with superb sound quality, engraved, while others favored the cool, tie-dyed California cashmere from Elder Statesman.
That joyful, tactile feeling was also evident at Dear Annabelle, a line of luxury stationery launched by Marcie Pantzer.
"We started with note cards, and expanded to place cards and tags for the holidays, which will be ready in a few weeks,” said Pantzer.
The note cards are sold in sets of ten, and include engraved lipsticks, lips and sunglasses, and a snarky set called "naughty", with sayings like "Holy Shit", "Hungover" and "Badass." There are also contemporary-looking monograms.
Next door, Ms. Havisham's Curiosities was showing re-purposed vintage china with "insult teacups" that say "Witch", "I hope you choke," and "Fuck off," among other things.
For a different kind of lift, Lynn Ban jewelry, a favorite of many on New York's social scene, was showing fine jewelry with cutting-edge designs.
Kelly Ripa caught up with Rebecca Floyd of Frowny Faces, a collection of handcrafted, frowning dolls, designed to elicit joy, or empathy at the very least.
"I started making the classic Frowny Face dolls for children, to show them that it's okay to be sad sometimes," said Floyd. "Pretty soon, adults wanted them - more than children! I created a celebrity Frowny Face doll every day, and I posted it on Instagram. Pretty soon, celebrities were asking for their dolls."
Those celebrities have included Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos, Wentworth and husband George Stephanopoulos, Tisch and husband Jon, Iris Apfel, and Martha Stewart, who was scheduled to pick her doll up on Tuesday.
Over at M Industry London, Olivia Bone was showing incredible vintage Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton bags that had been completely dismantled and reconstructed in Italy with hand embroidery, embossing and bespoke spray paint. This is M Industry's Hero line. Bone was also showing the Vandal line, using original M Industry-designed bags as a base.
"Making these bags requires hundreds of hours of work in our studios in London," said Bone. "The bags from the Hero line sell between $10,000 and $50,000, the Vandal line from $800 to $3,500. We very much want to be that wonderful secret that people discover."
What a difference from the very secret watch brand that wants to really remain a secret, though that could be a problem, as the LTD Holiday Shopping Event continues through November 14. (It's called MAD Paris, by the way - shhhh...)
-Bettina Zilkha
