StyleSpy with Katrina Szish

Tawny, trim tennis ace Maria Sharapova turned 21 this week.  In addition to a star-studded celebration hosted by Tag Heuer complete with a red (er, black) carpet, Ms. Sharapova was decked out in Lanvin for her candle-blowing bash. 


Neil Rasmus/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa Press

The press release from Lanvin reads: "Tennis superstar Maria Sharapova looked beautiful at her birthday party last night in a cocktail dress by Lanvin.  For this special occasion, Maria selected Lanvin’s turquoise washed silk gazar ruffle scoop back dress accented by a black elastic belt with a flower enamel buckle."

Yes, there was actually a press release.  Celebrity "special occasions" (whether birthdays or bridal showers or baby showers) have become viable alternatives to the traditional red carpet scenario.  Celebrants are now asked "Who are you wearing?" by reporters rather than "What did you get?" by friends.

But this decadence and indulgence isn't just for starlets.  Birthday parties for adults -- whether or not said reveler is a celebrity -- are getting increasingly sumptuous. 

I've recently been invited to a fete at which the guest of honor has planned "a vignette performance of Swan Lake" in honor of her birthday.  Another gentleman recently celebrated his 40th at a chic downtown bash masterminded by the exclusive Supper Club of New York.  And yet another requested that those lucky enough to be on the very short guest list at his Bungalow 8 soiree donate a specified sum to his favorite charity.

In addition to the location, the guest list and the entertainment, the wardrobe selection -- just like it is for celebs -- is of the utmost importance.  There will be photos taken, of course, most likely by a paparazzi-esque snapper hired specifically for the event.  There will be stares, perhaps even gawkers, as the birthday girl steps from her car and takes those few precious, public steps into the restaurant, club, theater or ice-skating rink. 

The adult birthday party has become an opportunity to be fabulous and to remind everyone else how fabulous you are.  Who doesn't want to be a star for a day?  And then again for another day the following year?!  I'm kind of loving this concept.  It's like being a kid all over again, when that big day was so deliciously all about you.  The only difference is that now you can have champagne with your cake instead of milk.

What do you think of these over-the-top celebrations of self?  What would your dream birthday bash be like if money were no object?  Dare to dream...

I'm thinking private island, pina coladas and horseback riding with about thirty of my nearest and dearest...Oh, and Magnolia chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting, of course.

And you...?

This 12 oz. ceramic Baleen whale teapot has a happy Jonathan Adler vibe with an even happier price tag.  I actually found the very same teapot on three different websites with prices ranging from $28-$40!  Score the $28 version at Stash Tea. 



The little brown whale is even cuter in person...Mine is permanently displayed on my living room bookshelf.

Check out more home decor ideas -- and celeb favorites -- right here on InStyle.com.

Looking for a birthday gift for a Pisces pal?  Here, seven suggestions straight from a fish's mouth (that would be me)...

1.  KATE SPADE "MOLLY" SANDALS

$175 at Kate Spade

2. HERMES BEACH TOWEL

$510 at Hermes

3.  CHRISTOFLE STERLING SILVER KEYCHAIN

$160 at Vivre

4.  PRINCESSE TAM TAM BIKINI

About $160 at Saks FIfth Avenue or Princesse Tam Tam

5.  GORHAM STAINLESS STEEL FLATWARE

Service for 12, $129.95 at Barrons

6.  LINEN SEQUINED THROW PILLOW

$70 at Beautiful Pillows and Home

7.  JONATHAN ADLER LAMP

$350 at Jonathan Adler

Cupcakes and champagne are always a nice touch, too (no "drink like a fish" jokes, please)...

STYLE SPY RECOMMENDS: 
A ROMANTIC DINNER WITH YOUR SWEETIE AT NYC'S NOBLE

What:  A cozy, gourmet eatery and wine/liquor bar

Where:  7 Spring Street (just West of Bowery), 212.777.0874

Why:  Besides gourmet comfort food (lobster bisque, roasted chicken with mashed potatoes, foie gras-stuffed burgers, and warm chocolate cake), this tiny gem boasts an enomatic wine serving system (revolutionary technology that preserves the integrity of opened bottles of wine) stocked with rare offerings you're likely never to see served by the glass again.   Worth a trip just for the vino. 

Tips:

-Try the Gevrey-Chambertin, a stunning Burgundy, if they have any left!

-Make a point to ask for Chris, Noble's wine guru -- his extensive knowledge of wine and food-pairing suggestions is part of the charm

Mr. Husband, formerly the wine director at the famed Spotted Pig gastropub, gives the wine list a rave review

Champagne is always appropriate.  But this holiday season the bubbly stuff is making an especially toast-worthy style statement.

In NYC, Moët & Chandon has opened its first-ever pop-up champagne crystallization boutique in SoHo (455 West Broadway between Prince and Houston).   So chic!  So sultry!

For a flat fee of $30, you can have any bottle of Moët (pre-purchased -- the shop doesn't sell bottles of the good stuff) personalized with Swarovski crystals -- names, dates, monograms, anything up to seven letters. The bedazzling will be done in two days or less.

But be sure to pop in soon.  Boutique Moët is open only Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout December from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm.  The doors will close for good on December 30th.  For more info visit www.moetsoho.com.
 

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Two of my favorite designers, Victor & Rolf, lent their quirky creativity to a limited edition bottle of Piper-Heidsieck Rose Sauvage, along with a flute and  champagne bucket -- all crafted to appear "upside down." 

According to the design duo: “When we were contacted by Piper-Heidsieck the first question we asked ourselves was how can we make this bottle, which we think of as iconic, look a little bit like us?  How can we make something new out of something eternal?” 

The result?  They turned a classic icon on its head...literally. 

Get your piece of fashion history for $90, and celebrate New Year's Eve in style (I welcomed the millenium with a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck decked out in full red patent leather corset regalia, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, and it was a very good year).

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Karl Lagerfeld designed this perch skin guitar case for Dom Perignon when he shot the champagne legend's recent rosé campaign with Eva Herzigova.  The case holds half a dozen bottles of the house's rarest rosé vintages, plus three flutes.

Dom Pérignon Rosé Guitar Case, Limited Edition
$150,000
Available by special order
212.251.8247

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And then I got this from my trainer Alicia at Complete Body:

A literal buzz kill, but hey, that's what kick-butt trainers are for...sigh...

Being a fan of all things kid-like, kitschy and "kawaii" (Japanese for "cute") imagine my glee when I stumbled upon this all-natural, flavor-infused, nearly-nil calorie (40 for 12 ounces) bottled water.

Meet "bot"!

Neither a guerilla marketing strategy from Nigo or Pharell, nor a blast of brilliance from Sanrio's hipster design team,  this quirky product is actually the practical brainchild of a clearly cool husband and wife team, Brian and Cricket Allen.  These parents from Princeton, New Jersey, simply wanted to create a healthy beverage that their twin daughters Emily and Lyla would enjoy drinking.

Little did they know (or maybe they did) that grown-ups like me would bound onto the bot bandwagon. 

Hydrating suddenly makes me happy.  In fact, I drink it so frequently that my Red Carpet Countdown training team is shocked when I'm not toting a berry-flavored, bunny-emblazoned bottle.

Get your fix at Whole Foods Markets nationwide.  Visit botbeverages.com for more info, or just go straight to  botland for some super-kawaii animation and groovy tunes.

"Lips" iconography is having a resurgence in fashion and home design.

Lips got loudest in mainstream fashion, design and pop-culture in the 1970s.  Gufram of Italy released the mass-produced lip couch -- described by some sources as an homage to Marilyn Monroe, but by most as a reinterpretation of Man Ray's "Mae West" couch -- at the start of the decade. 

Image from ChildrensMuseum.org

At the same time, Yves Saint Laurent created his often-reinterpreted "Hot Lips" print, which Helmut Newton instantly immortalized in 1971 when he shot a model wearing a lip-print blouse on the cover of British mag Nova.

Also in 1970, Robert Altman introduced us to "Hot Lips" O'Houlihan, the pouty-mouthed nurse played by Sally Kellerman in the film M*A*S*H.  (The character was inspired by real-life head nurse "Hot Lips" Hammerly who served in the Korean War).

20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

In 1972, we met "Hot Lips" again, this time on the small screen.  The character was renamed "Hot Lips" Houlihan (sans the "O"), and the role was reprised by Loretta Swit (above) who appeared in 232 episodes over a span of 11 years.

1975 brought The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It may be 30-plus years later, but you don't have to scour Ebay and vintage stores (or watch re-runs) to get your kitsch-fix.  There are a slew of new treasures you can get right now. 

Find an updated version of the lips couch -- called the Bocca -- at Retromodern.com.

$900 at Retromodern.com

Or, get off the couch and go glam with this snakeskin clutch from Lulu Guinness (also in metallic silver).

About $400 at LuluGuinness.com

You can even go crazy and carry your clutch with this dress from Tuleh (now hear this: matchy-matchy is so wrong it's right, particularly when done with irreverent self-awareness)

Carlo Buscemi/WireImage

Ensure sweet (and sexy) dreams with these pillowcases from Kitson.

$25 at Kitson.com

Get him in on the action with Fornasetti sterling silver "Kiss" cuff links.

$485 at Barneys.com

Kisses can by comfy, like this sweatshirt by artist Tara McPherson for Kid Robot.

$150 at KidRobot.com

Goldfinger is sooo 40 years ago.

Jules Smith Kiss Kiss Necklace, $247 at Shopbop.com

Kiss it and make it better.

Adhesive bandages, $8 at FredFlare.com

New Year's Resolution:  Have your feet kissed every day.

KVD sneakers, $40, available January 1st at Vans.com

Now this is lip service.

Hot Lips phone, $26.60 at CircuitCity.com

And now, the bad news:  Christian Louboutin's limited edition lip wedges at Net-A-Porter are already sold out. 

I'm keeping a stiff upper lip.

On Friday, November 16th at high noon (seriously), Japanese housewares/lifewares company MUJI will open the doors of its New York City flagship, their first freestanding store in the United States.

The New York City flagship, ready to be unveiled

The minimal, no-frills brand was born in Japan in 1980, but I met and fell in love with Muji in Paris in 2001.  Sleek, well-made, intelligent design that is also inexpensive?  Sign me up! With every trip I made to Europe, I would seek out a shop and stock up on porcelain serving pieces, socks and make-up bags.  I was most smitten by the industrial-sized lint rollers, the precious refills for which I would hoard until my next trip abroad.

Porcelain Salt & Pepper shakers, $11 for the set

My desire was slightly sated several years ago when the MoMA Design Store began carrying a capsule collection (mostly office and travel supplies) of Muji goods.  But where was the perfect porcelain?  The sheets and towels?  My coveted lint rollers???

The Soho store, 455 Broadway between Grand and Howard, will carry over 2,000 items in its 3,200 square foot space: furniture, stationery, housewares, fabric, outdoor supplies, health and beauty products, electric appliances and clothing.  I have a good feeling about the lint rollers. 

Inside the Tokyo flagship store

Ash bed frame, $556.75 for full/queen

Besides offering great design and great prices, Muji is also dedicated to reducing waste and conserving resources.  Upon opening, the shop will launch the "My Bag" program: Shoppers who re-use their canvas Muji bags will receive discounts and rewards.  At the store opening, the first 500 customers will score a free "My Bag" along with a Muji gift.  If you miss the opening giveaway, you can still shop smart and earn rewards -- the "My Bag" sells for $1.

So shop your heart out without wiping out your wallet or the environment.

Just don't hog the lint rollers...

I am baffled by the speed at which the holiday season is approaching.  So baffled, in fact, that my brain is a week behind schedule.  Case in point:  I had been looking forward to attending The 10th Annual Moth Ball -- a gala event benefiting The Moth, a creative non-profit organization that celebrates and perpetuates the art of storytelling (learn more here) -- for weeks.

Plus, my design/decor idol Jonathan Adler was going to be there, and I would be meeting him for the first time.  Besides being a collector of all things Adler and a frequent visitor to The Parker Palm Springs, I even borrowed some hues from his signature palette as inspiration for the design of this blog.  So this was an exciting moment for me.

I knew the event was slated for November 12th, of course, but I had convinced myself that that was next week.  Imagine my surprise when I turned on my computer Monday morning and realized that it was, in fact, November 12th, the day of the fete. 

Immediate reaction:  WARDROBE PANIC.  I had planned to plan ahead!  I was going to wear, well I hadn't decided yet, but I had time!  A whole week!  And I was going to be meeting Jonathan Adler!!! 

Suddenly, that week became a few hours.  Yet apparently the style stars were smiling upon me, because the PR team at Reem Acra worked a miracle:  they loaned me a dress that was even more perfect than if I had actually, well you know, planned it.

Ta-da!

I made it.  Here I am, all smiles with Jonathan Adler and his hubby, Barney's Creative Director, author and arbiter of chic, Simon Doonan.  I was so starstruck that I completely forget what we talked about.

Just kidding.  I was starstruck, but I do remember our chat.  We laughed about Jonathan's penchant for kitschy-cool treasures like gnomes; I told Jonathan and Simon that I recently installed swings in my living room (find out why in (my bible) his book, My Prescription for the Art of Anti-Depressive Living); and Jonathan waxed poetic about the perils of the color beige and his preference for the outre.

Garrison Keillor, author and radio personality, was presented with The Moth Award: "Honoring the Art of the Raconteur."   You can't see the statuette, or my dress for that matter, but both were outstanding.

Apparently my table-mates from Gawker were (almost) as impressed with my Reem Acra frock as I was: they posted this snap of me and Mr. Husband on Gawker.com (Thanks, Josh!)...

Even cooler, award-winning Gawker photographer Nikola Tamindzic (tall, dark, handsome and Serbian) showed me his technique for creating swirly effects just like he does (above).

Turns out I can create those effects using my bare-bones digital camera (Nikola has a high-tech camera with a funky extra flash).

Check out the picture Nikola took of me and Mr. Husband with my camera...

Now, check out the picture I took of Nikola and Mr. Husband while showing off my new skillz (yes, skillz with a "z").

Guess what?

Style Spy is about to get a whole lot swankier.

***See more of Nikola's work at Ambrel.net***

It's not even Halloween yet, but New York City is already in the holiday spirit.  Lampposts in the Seaport are decked with twinkling stars.  The windows at Henri Bendel's on Fifth Avenue have been transformed into a winter wonderland.  Skaters are spinning at the ice rink in Rockefeller Center.

And, although I am really excited about tomorrow (CANDY!  COSTUMES!  MORE CANDY! Plus my husband and I carved the cutest -- I don't do scary -- jack-o-lantern last night; check back tomorrow for pictures), I am already having visions of sugarplums (figuratively, as I really don't know what sugarplums are...anyone??).  Translation:  Holiday shopping! Wrapping!  Entertaining!...right around the corner.  And, call me crazy, but I love every minute of it.

My mom is the best gift-wrapper in the universe (yep, even better than you-know-who), so I have learned the importance of a beautifully wrapped gift.  It shows the receiver that you care.  It is a preview of the treasure that lies within.

Your gift wrapping style is also a reflection of your personal style.  Do your gifts give off a Valentino vibe?  The look of a Louboutin?  A rugged L.L. Bean sensibility?  Or do you just let the store do the wrapping?  Or perhaps do the gift bag-topped-with-tissue paper thing?   My mom's motto: "Hide the uglies"  -- suddenly makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?!  It's truly amazing what you can do with double-stick tape.

My wrap-style hovers somewhere between Ralph-Lauren-Hits-Vegas and Jonathan-Adler-Does-Tokyo, i.e. kitschy-classic chic.  Red and green?  Nope.  Try graphic black and white.  Gold paper with velvet ribbon??  Nah.  Flamingo pink with yellow polka-dot ribbon is way more fun.  The season is steeped in tradition, so why not do the unexpected?  You don't have to wrap holiday presents with holiday paper.

Presentation is key to style, so after wrapping mounds of gifts and tying boatfuls of bows, why pack all that prettiness in a bland cardboard box for shipping?  Hand-decorating boxes can be time-consuming (I've tried), and I've since discovered an easier solution: Custom-printed mailing labels (take a look at iomoi.com) topped off with groovy packing tape, just like this (from Fred Flare.com, $8, buy it now!):

Essentially you'll have a gift within a gift within a gift.  The triple threat.

So, choose your gift-wrapping style mindfully, perfect your bow-making abilities (or get crafty with paper cut-outs and a glue stick), and take yet another step towards living life with style.

That's a wrap.