Unclehood

A friend recently emailed to say, "I need a Jane hit on the blog," and I replied, "Me too." It is always fun for me to see my niece and my nephews. Jane is now almost 14; when I started this blog she was 10 so she is growing up in photos. Jane likes art and fashion too so I met her at the Daphne Guinness show at F.I.T. at West 27th Street. I really enjoyed being there again. What struck me on this visit is the styling of the show; I think almost every outfit is accessorized with a bit of velvet ribbon, an old heirloom"diamond" brooch. Daphne wears very modern clothes but the way she styles them with her ribbons and diamonds make the clothes look romantic and timeless. In the dandy tailored section of the show, I noticed Daphne's quote, "There is a lot of cross-dressing in Shakespeare. I'm inspired by that." At the press preview, she had said she is most inspired by literature, and what the characters would be wearing.

Jane and I stopped for a bagel and then proceeded on to the Flea Market Garage on West 25th Street.

We strolled around the two floors of flea market vendors. One vendor was selling an old rotary telephone. Jane picked it up and said, "How does this work?" As we were leaving the second floor, Jane spotted some suede zip-up moccasins with fringe around the ankles. They fit her perfectly

so I bought them for her birthday. She has a good eye.
Then we schlepped down to West 17th Street to some more of my vintage store haunts – Pippin Vintage Home, Angel Street Thrift Shop, and Housing Works. At Pippin Vintage Home I ran into some friends, and also ran into a friend at F.I.T. It reminded me of when I was young and my uncle Brian, my mother's brother, took me on trips and excursions. He always ran into someone he knew, which was fun, whether it was at the Albany museum or on a bus in a snow storm or at the Utica Club Brewery. Brian, who is an attorney in the Albany area, often took my brother Thom and I on adventures – there were outings to the local fire department in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and the offices of the Albany newspaper. He was the first person to take me on an airplane trip. A great uncle. He is my model in this department.