The Trove: Ludlow Beckett July 10, 2011

The distinguished proprietor. Back in 1999 one handsome, stylish LB, Lloyd Boston, hipped me to another, Ludlow Beckett. Ludlow had just opened his Fort Greene shop, Yú Interiors and Lloyd was spreading the word about his friend’s new venture. Given Lloyd’s clean, modern tastes I knew it would be good. Since then the emporium of [...]

The Trove: Marcia Jones July 7, 2011

The artist at her recently opened exhibition, Live and in Stereo(type) Photo: Gantt Center. In 2009 visual artist Marcia Jones chose to inaugurate her brave and unabashedly personal blog, untitled 1972 –truthBE told on December 12, the anniversary of her conception.  Teens Paul Davis and Christine Jones with their infant daughter; from “Open letter to [...]

The Trove: Lois Samuels April 28, 2011

The delighted designer: “I really like myself; If I didn’t know me, I’d want to know me.” When I first met Lois Samuels, she was a carefree 21-year-old giddily dancing her way through fittings in Barbados for a Ruven Afanador photo shoot.  A cavalcade of fashion to a jungle music soundtrack, the seemingly endless try-ons [...]

The Trove: Malene Barnett April 18, 2011

Malene and her limited edition “Tap Tap” carpet. Inspired by the colorful buses of the same name in Haiti, she donated the profits from the sale of this carpet to Aid to Artisans Haitian Artist Recovery Fund. Since the 2009 launch of Malene b Custom Handmade Carpets, principal Malene Barnett has enjoyed enviable and well-deserved [...]

The Trove: Nicole Landaw April 5, 2011

Mover of Metal: Goldsmith & Jewelry Designer, Nicole Landaw. A few weeks ago, gloriously pregnant and furiously nesting, the lovely Nicole Landaw welcomed me for lunch at the Williamsburg home she shares with her handsome hubby, architect Mark Maljanian.  I’d been introduced to Nicole and her gorgeous jewelry designs a few years back by our [...]

The Trove: Renaldo Barnette January 13, 2011

The impeccable Professor Barnette, photographed by fashion peer, Michael McCollom. Renaldo Barnette loves models.  In fact, he was one — a muse to esteemed fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez as he created the brooding genie in the lushly illustrated 1985 re-telling of the Scheherazade classic Tales of the Thousand and One Nights.  Friendships with runway legends [...]

The Trove: Cheryl R. Riley & Courtney Sloane December 2, 2010

An invitation and homage: Courtney Sloane & Cheryl R. Riley. Gotta love a woman who whips up a few baubles to wear on her opening night from the discards of  “yesterday’s soup.”  And so it is that interior designer Courtney Sloane adores such a woman, her wife, Cheryl R. Riley. Cheryl, one of the artists [...]

The Trove: Aashumi Shah October 7, 2010

Aashumi, at home. On a blazing early summer Saturday I, in my infinite wisdom set up temporary shop at Silver Spring, Maryland’s answer to Brooklyn Flea, the Fenton Street Market, without benefit of a tent.  In this “babies and fools” moment I had the good fortune to be placed next to Aashumi Shah. I was selling [...]

The Trove: Nnenna Ogwo September 16, 2010

Radiant and surrounded by fragrant rosemary and blossoming chives. Though the brilliant concert pianist Nnenna Ogwo recently completed her doctoral studies in Musical Arts at SUNY Stony Brook, she is “going ‘back to school’ in such a delightful way,” losing herself in the pages of Larousse Gastronomique. “I like to fancy myself a cook of sorts.” I can vouch for [...]

The Trove: Lloyd Boston September 9, 2010

LB, unbuttoned elegance.  Become a fan on Facebook.  Photo: Robert Tardio Sure he’s poised, handsomely photogenic and genially telegenic, delivering doses of friendly, practical style advice to the masses, but it’s not just fashion knowledge Lloyd Boston is dropping, it’s the well-timed bons mots that get me every time (and I’ve worked with him on [...]