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LIZ HEATHER

June 29, 2023

Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty at The Met

by Liz Heather in Best of NYC


“The Costume Institute’s spring 2023 exhibition will examine the work of Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019). Focusing on the designer’s stylistic vocabulary as expressed in aesthetic themes that appear time and again in his fashions from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019, the show will spotlight the German-born designer’s unique working methodology. ”
— The Met

Every spring I make my way over to The Met to see the new fashion exhibit and it’s a tradition that I hope I never stop. It’s a very love/hate experience, which is what makes it so fun for me. They can be beautifully whimsical or absolute train wrecks. So let us begin…

Okay, so THIS is a wonderful way of displaying a clothing exhibit (above). Black dresses should be again white backgrounds and vice versa. It’s also at eye level, with just enough distance away so that you can see the intricate details. How is this not standard procedure for showing pieces at this point?

I don’t love the two-floor showing of these ones (above) but at least they’re lighted properly. It would’ve been nice to see them up close, but maybe I’m just too picky when it comes to Met curation decisions. Although if I’m going to see a designer exhibit, it isn’t insane of me to want to actually see the vintage, designer pieces. But I digress.

Fendi, Autumn/Winter 1971-1972

Early 70s Fendi mink fur? SIGN ME UP. Not only do I love old pieces, I absolutely love vintage fur when it’s maintained so well. It’s legit history you’re looking at, incredibly beautiful history. The cut of this cape is breathtaking.

Fendi, Autumn/Winter 2016-2017

At first glance, I hated this but when I read that it was a cape (why was it not shown with its opening?) I’m way more onboard. Capes need to come back. Especially ones that make you look like you’re some sort of chic fairy godmother.

Chloe, Autumn/Winter 1983-1984

An 80s Chloe dress? Perfection. I would have loved to see the front of it, but that wasn’t in the cards. It should be law that all dresses have fun back details.

Chanel, Autumn/Winter 1986-1987

I really didn’t love this clearly-Lagerfeld 80s dress mainly because I don’t love his signature style at all. It’s edgy but without any substance.

Chanel, Spring/Summer 1997

The detailing of this Chanel dress is gorgeous (especially the neck and the wrist area), it’s so fun but, like, a structured kind of fun. It does seem like a nightmare to wear, but so lovely to look at. (And I just realized that they also showed it at their 2016 exhibit!)

Chanel, Spring/Summer 1997

If it’s got tulle, mesh, feathers or any kind of netting - I’m 99% gonna be into it. Absolutely love this dress. And it’s hard to tell in a still photograph but it shimmers ever so slightly in the light.

Chanel, Autumn/Winter 2002-2003

THE BEADING, MY GOD. This dress screams patience and elegance at once and I’m enthralled with it.

Chanel, Autumn/Winter 2017-2018

As much as I love the feathers, my favourite part about this piece is the shape. I’ve never seen a dress that achieved this type of shape before, which is wild to realize and beautiful to witness.

Overall, a small portion of the collection was fun but there were too many modern pieces (from the 2000s) and the majority of them were too high up to even see. And I think I love an exhibit that covers more than one designer and instead focuses on a theme rather than a person. But if you like to just peruse designer items from the past, definitely make your way to The Met before it closes on July 16th.

IMPORTANT TIP: Before you enter the exhibition, you must join the virtual exhibition queue via QR code once you’re inside the museum (there’s a QR code sign beside the main entrance ticket line). No advance or timed tickets required and access is first come, first served.

The exhibit runs until July 16th, 2023.

Past fashion exhibits I’ve seen at The Met:

  • 2016’s Manus x Machine (Fashion in an Age of Technology)

  • 2018’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (not a full post, but a brief summary)

  • 2019’s Camp: Notes on Fashion

  • 2021’s In America (Part One): A Lexicon of Fashion (as well as the updated Part One that a few months later)

  • 2022’s In America (Part Two): An Anthology of Fashion

TAGS: Karl Lagerfeld, A Line of Beauty, A Line of Beauty The Met, The Met, fashion, fashion NYC, Karl Lagerfeld A Line of Beauty, Karl Lagerfeld The Met, Liz Heather, fashion exhibit NYC, fashion exhibit, fashion exhibit at The Met, fashion exhibit New York City, NYC fashion, NYC fashion exhibit, Karl Lagerfeld exhibit The Met, Chanel, Fendi, Chloe, The Met fashion exhibit, The Met fashion, The Met fashion exhibit 2023


June 11, 2021

May Musings 2021

by Liz Heather in Beauty, Best of NYC, Food, Ideas, Links, Movies, Music, Personal, Products, Recipes, Reviews


Citi Field, May 2021

Citi Field, May 2021

Forgive the lateness of this post! I am excuse-less. Here’s what went down last month!

  • Here are the two lists of the best tweets of the month.

  • I perused Jessica Merchant’s new cookbook and some of the recipes are definite must-makes this summer. Garlic confit, stone fruit halloumi salad, tomato pie, BLT corn salad, scallops with tomato cream sauce, and the list goes on. Sometimes I like to browse the cookbooks in book stores just for inspiration when I’m in a cooking rut.

  • I bought the Dr. Teal’s foaming bath Vapor Bath scent and it’s underwhelming! I mean, it’s good, but nothing like the vapor heaven I was anticipating.

  • I made the ramp butter from Missy Robbin’s (of Lilia fame) recipe and it tasted fine but was nothing like hers. No idea where I went wrong. Maybe I was supposed to use salted butter? Maybe the butter quality wasn’t good enough? Maybe my food processor was inadequate?

Ramps

My sad ramp butter

  • In other ramp news, I ate the ramp, cheddar & poppyseed croissant from Mel The Bakery and it was delicious. Great bakery. Must return.

Ramp, cheddar & poppyseed croissant from Mel The Bakery, NYC

  • So I made the Milk Bar crumbs (without the cake) because I thought that’d be a fun treat to just keep in the fridge. But without the cake and the icing? Suck city. Such a waste of time. Tastes useless on its own.

  • I watched the movie Riding The Bullet (why, I don’t know) and of course it was terrible, what was I thinking. Proves that you don’t have to be talented to make a movie, so there’s really hope for anyone in this world.

  • I reviewed the NARS birthday gift from Sephora.

  • I tried a sample of Chanel’s Ultra-Light Skin Perfecting Sunscreen Makeup Broad Spectrum SPF 15 and it’s luxury in a bottle. I might have to buy it since they discontinued the Amore Pacific tinted moisturizer that I used to love.

  • I made focaccia for the first time! I had some leftover green garlic so I incorporated that into it and it was a raging success.

Before

After

  • I watched the third and final season of Shrill and it was perfect. I hate that it’s over since every season was better than the last, but life must go on. No spoilers, but I loved how it ended. Best character of life = Em.

  • Went to Momofuku Noodle Bar again and finally tried the buns (not pork, but mushroom) and wow. I wish I knew how to cook a mushroom like a restaurant quality chef. It’s a mystery I’ll never crack.

  • New goal: to swim in the sky pool in London.

  • Sometimes there is no greater joy than getting to experience a new potato chip flavour. And the Lays ones this summer… are wonderful.

  • I can’t stop making this chicken caprese pasta salad. There’s something about the idea of a cold pasta salad that sits in the fridge and gets better each day, I just love it. It always reminds me of a staple food that white people would take to a picnic in the 90s, but I don’t know what I’m basing that on. Wasn’t that a white person thing? I remember mentioning the idea of a cold pasta salad to one of my West Indian cousins at a get together and she gasped at the idea, “Why would a pasta ever be served COLD???”

  • I only ever want to read new stories like these.

  • I rewatched Mad Man and this is probably the best scene in the whole series. The line “the moon belongs to everyone” will always make my knees weak.

  • I listened to the Martin Short / Charles Grodin episode of Julie Klausner’s podcast and it only reaffirms how I feel about podcasts. They’re so fucking boring, I’ll never know what people get out of listening to them. Absolutely not for me.

  • That being said, I do love being a guest on them.

  • There’s a new Danny Meyer restaurant opening in the fall, sign me up, obviously.

  • I bought these high waisted shorts, this gorgeously neon orange crop, and these printed shorts: all from Zara because their summer collection is actually good this year.

  • I went to a Mets game and it was wonderful to be back in a stadium. I also got the Mrs. Met Wonder Woman bobblehead I’ve been eyeing for over a year now.

  • I ate a white chocolate apricot scone from Il Bambino in Astoria and it was insanely good. I always forget about scones. You can’t sleep on a scone. I also always forget how much I love apricot. It’s never IN anything, why is that?

  • The teaser for Last Night in Soho makes it look really good.

  • I revisited The Beekman and it continues to be just a solid ass place to take someone from out of town for a drink. It’s so beautifully designed and I’ll never get over what a great job was done in restoring it.

The ceiling at The Beekman, NYC

Look at the stairway details at The Beekman, NYC

  • Okay, I know everyone knows about the cookies at Levain Bakery, but the dark chocolate peanut butter one might CHANGE YOU SPIRITUALLY.

  • I got some great British food gifts from Myers of Keswick in the West Village for my dad, it’s just a great little shop.

  • I finally went to the Dame pop-up! Exquisite fish and chips. I did sneak in my own gravy from Pommes Frites down the street since they don’t offer any, but no one seemed to mind (and by no one I mean that I hid it with a napkin anytime someone walked by). I understand this isn’t behavior I should exhibit, but fish and chips without gravy should be illegal. Anyway, I’m so excited they’re expanding into a full blown restaurant. Must return to see the new menu items.

Look at that fry and TELL me he isn’t screaming out for sip of gravy

Secret gravy tastes better?

  • So I was all excited to go see the new Little Island in the city, but then I realized that this goddam area was the one that I was so against a few years ago because it meant that they’d tear down the Pier 54 remnants! I can’t believe time had made me forget this fact! Those dirty fucks! So I may not visit it now. Debating all my options. Mentally I don’t know that I even need to escape to a new floating island.

  • I bought these black flats for my new part time hostess job (more on this in another post) and they’re so comfortable, it’s shocking.

  • Tried the new(ish) Key Lime Pie Kit-Kats and, what a shock, another winner.

  • I finally reviewed the KKW lip liner set that I mentioned months ago.

  • Of course I listened to Olivia Rodrigo’s new album Sour and the best songs are by far traitor and driver’s license (duh).

  • I took Baby Dog on a mini day trip to Coney Island and it was too fun. We walked along the pier, got my prediction from Grandma, spent three seconds in the sand and then sat by the water. We also went to the Coney Island Brewery and the best things about that place? The music is so perfect and late 90s, there’s a free tap that has still & sparkling water, they have beer flights on the menu to try different kinds (such a great idea), the grilled cheese was NUTS, and the alcoholic pink lemonade was summer in a can.

Smiling at the ocean

Wonder Wheel

Baby Dog at a brewery

Can I install this in my house, PLEASE

Some things I’m looking forward to doing this month: I’d really love to make this garlic jam that sounds incredible, I’m making it my mission to get to Mama’s Too on a Wednesday this month to try one of their legendary Wednesday sandwiches, and I’m so excited that casual street fairs have returned (check below for some upcoming ones).

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in April over here.

TAGS: May 2021, Liz Heather, May Musings 2021, best tweets May 2021, Jessica Merchant, cookbook, How Sweet Eats, Dr. Teals foaming bath, vapor bath, Missy Robbins, Lilia, ramp, ramps, ramp butter, ramp butter recipe, butter, Mel the Bakery, Mel the Bakery NYC, NYC, best of NYC, bakery NYC, croissants NYC, Milk Bar crumbs, Riding The Bullet, NARS birthday gift, NARS birthday gift Sephora, Sephora, Chanel, Amore Pacific, Chanel sunscreen makeup, makeup, focaccia bread, green garlic, Shrill, Em from Shrill, Fightmaster, Momofuku Noodle Bar, mushrooms, sky pool, sky pool London, swimming pool London, Lays, Lays summer flavors, chicken caprese pasta salad, cold pasta salad, white people food, picnics, picnic food, Mad Men, The Best Things In Life Are Free, Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Julie Klausner, podcast, podcasts, Nathan Macintosh, Danny Meyer, new Danny Meyer restaurant 2021, Zara summer collection, Mets, Citi Field, Mrs. Met, Mrs. Met bobblehead, Wonder Woman, Mrs. Met Wonder Woman bobblehead, while chocolate apricot scone, Il Bambino Astoria, Last Night in Soho trailer, movies, movie, The Beekman, beautiful hotel NYC, Levain Bakery, dark chocolate peanut butter cookie NYC, Myers of Keswick NYC, British food store NYC, Dame, Dame NYC, West Village, fish and chips NY, fish and chips NYC, gravy, fries, Pommes Frites, Little Island, Pier 54, Pier 55, black flats, Key Lime Pie Kit-Kats, chocolate, Olivia Rodrigo, Sour, traitor song, drivers license song, Coney Island, Grandma's Predictions, Baby Dog, Baby Dog Macintosh, Coney Island Brewery, grilled cheese NYC, Wonder Wheel NYC, Brooklyn, Queens, monthly post, monthly roundup