City Chic New Orleans: The Best Spots for Your Weekend Getaway

Planning a trip this summer? We turned to our Rolodex of fashion insiders to give you tips on their cities’ high points. Stay tuned for a new destination each week.

The expert: Mimi Bowen, owner and buyer of Mimi.

What is your favorite part about living in NOLA? The amazing cultural opportunities and diversity, and believe it or not, the weather! Hot and humid is great for the skin (stay out of sun, of course!) or carry the quintessential parasol!

In your opinion, who are your city’s most stylish inhabitants? The Mardi Gras Indians, Olivia Manning, Julia Reed and my daughter, CeCe… Not necessarily in that order!

What are the essential places to go if you only have a weekend to visit? Tipitina’s for music, the whole French Quarter for the heartbeat of New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the National World War II Museum for culture, Mother’s Restaurant for the best PoBoy sandwiches and Felix’s for the best raw oysters… Don’t leave N.O. without trying them!

Besides your own store, what are your favorite shopping spots? mac Maison for the most fab antiques, Hazelnut for amazing gifts and just about any little shop on Magazine Street — the most interesting shopping street in America!

What’s your favorite place to go for a quiet meal? A boisterous one? Quiet: Gautreau’s on Soniat Street, an uptown hideaway in a stylish, but unpretentious setting. One of New Orleans’ best kept secrets! Boisterous: Galatoire’s, a New Orleans institution. And if they know it’s your birthday, beware — the WHOLE restaurant will sing “Happy Birthday” to you, led by one of their great waitstaff!

What’s one thing you can only get in New Orleans? Mardi Gras

What is your favorite historical site? Lakefront Airport — an Art Deco gem that has just been redone after Katrina!

Where can you find the best…

Burger: La Petite Grocery. And don’t miss the truffle fries — to die for!

Cocktail: Cure. Imagine your own cocktail or let them entice you into something you never dreamed of!

Vintage clothes/Flea market: The French Market in the Quarter. You’ll never see the same thing twice!

Haircut/color/blowout: Jesse de Leon at the salon at Mimi. He’s a master of cut and color, an addiction that is impossible to break!

All-night dance party: F & M Patio Bar. Nothing like it on earth and the clientele runs the gamut from debs to truck drivers. Another example of the cultural diversity of N.O…

Outdoor activity Any activity at the Audubon Zoo and Park.

Spa treatment: The new Guerlain Spa at the newly refurbished Roosevelt Hotel… Not to miss!

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/bazaar-blog/weekend-getaways-new-orleans-062811?src=soc_fcbk

SLAVES TO FASHION | Daily Style Blog

Our Latest Online Shopping Obsession: Taigan.com

Have you ever traveled to a city and discovered a local boutique or shop that was so good you wished you could shop it online after you headed back home? Well, that may just be possible with shopping site Taigan.com. Get the lowdown and find out why we’re officially obsessed, after the jump!

Originally launched in 2009, Taigan is an online aggregator of the country’s best local boutiques; offering everything from men’s and women’s fashion to food and wine, home decor, antiques, and jewelry.

Shopping the site is fairly easy with the option to shop by category (i.e. apparel, food, health & beauty) or by boutique (easy for seeing if your local fave is present). Once you click on a shop, you’re given a quick rundown of its physical location(s) and contact info, and a “shop now” button that allows you to (you guessed it) start shopping the store’s goodies.

So what are our faves? My personal pick is 100% Capri, a store that I couldn’t get enough of on my honeymoon when I visited the island; now, looking through its e-store is like taking a mini-vacation! Other faves of mine include L.A. boutique Beige, and Miami store Curve Soleil—true STF haunts!

Ok ladies, take a peek around the site and tell us which boutiques are your faves. Is your favorite local store featured? Would you use Taigan to score one-of-a-kind finds?
Source: http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/slaves-to-fashion/2011/06/our-latest-online-shopping-obs.html#ixzz1PM7QWOba

The best…summer play gear

Fritz Orr Paddles

Ex-canoeing champ Fritz Orr builds his oars for the water. But given that he uses “musical-instrument-grade” hardwoods to museum-grade visual effect, it’s no surprise that many end up hanging above fireplaces.

From $337, taigan.com

Source: Town & Country

Blackberry Breakfast Collection from Blackberry Farm
For George Gustines, managing editor, Father’s Day celebrations involve food and the entire family. “A tradition our family has had in celebrating Mother’s or Father’s Day is for the five offspring — and assorted nieces and nephews — to take the appropriate parent out for breakfast,” Gustines says. “This year, my sister suggested a pot luck in Central Park. It was a hit with everyone: great scenery, wonderful weather and everyone pitched in with a dish. The Blackberry Breakfast collection would help us continue this new way of honoring our parents. Plus, I admit, I’m a sucker for apple butter.” Who doesn’t love a good breakfast?

Blackberry Farm Breakfast Collection, $95. Go to Taigan.com. Beall and Thomas Photography

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/fathers-day-gift-guide-part-2/?scp=4&sq=blackberry%20farm&st=Search

July 2011

We hear…we hear…

That Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley talks about the latest YSL exhibit in Paris on Julia Reed‘s Fetch blog on taigan.com.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/we_hear_we_hear_vBIHwcHw3MRmiIBIk6tAcM#.Te90lWz9TRA;email

As featured in vogue.com’s pondering of the perfect hostess gift. Only the most memorable presents honoring the host’s favorite summer pastimes made the list.

Fritz Orr Canoe hand-crafted artisan paddles in Black Walnut and Bird’s Eye Maple, $367 and $600, respectively
For information: taigan.com

Merrimack Canoe Company’s handmade carbon-fiber-and-cherry-wood Osprey canoe, $3,125
taigan.com

Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, November 2006 (archival image); Courtesy of Merrimack Canoe Company (canoe); Marko MacPherson (oars)

http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/best-summer-hostess-gifts/

June 2011- In Fritz Orr’s handcrafted wooden paddles, American nostalgia meets American craftsmanship.

Let’s start with the obvious. Yes, his name is Orr. And, yes, he designs canoe paddles.

Fritz Orr, a former member of the U.S. Canoe and Kayak team, grew up around the lakes of rural North Carolina. His family owned and operated several summer camps, including Camp Merrie-Woode in the Cashiers Highlands. “I always loved boats and would fiddle with them at camp,” Orr says. But it wasn’t until he started racing in the late 1970s and ’80s that he began to make his own wood paddles. The reason was simple: Popular paddle designs at the time used carbon fiber, an incredibly light but extremely stiff material that strained Orr’s shoulders.

For design inspiration, he looked to the past. “People have been using wooden paddles for 5,000 years,” Orr says. “When Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean, the 100-foot canoe and paddle was the primary mode of transportation for North and South America. It’s hard to let go of that history. Plus, I love the idea of using something I sculpted myself.”

After experimenting with different techniques, Orr began to design for his friends, fellow racers, and amateur hobbyists. Today the 54-year-old handcrafts 15 to 20 paddles a month and manages every step of their design and creation, from choosing the wood (he prefers musical instrument-grade black walnut, aspen, bird’s-eye maple, mahogany, purpleheart, and ebony, which have better tone, texture, and pattern than other woods) to approving the designs that are inlaid in or laminated onto the hand-turned blades.

“I don’t just buy three kinds of wood and produce 2,000 paddles,” he says. “Each one is different.” It’s not surprising, then, that although all Fritz Orr paddles are built to balance on two fingers and be used in water, the fastest-growing market for them is customers nostalgic for their summer camp days. They buy Orr’s paddles not to use but to display over their fireplaces.

Not that Orr minds. “I’m an artist,” he says. “I am humbled by the canoe. I am inspired by it daily.” As are his many collectors. From $337; 4-to-6-week lead time, custom orders available; taigan.com WHITNEY ROBINSON