In my last post, I referenced seeing some fire-breathing Parisians on Saturday night in Paris.  In the dark and mind-boggling cold on our way to the Eiffel Tower, it looked like these young freaks were messing around with fire in front of some sort of defunct “age of -isms” structure.  I thought it looked like the Fascists’ had built it, and Lauren was reminded of Berlin.  Clearly drawn to the scene by fire and totalitarian vibes, I shot a video! (In case any of you missed the sound of my voice, I do a five year-old impression and say “I’m shooting a video!” in response to Lauren’s photo-taking troubles in the background.)

Upon further research, we realized we’d stumbled upon the Palais de Tokyo, a very hip modern art museum.  The exhibits look weird and unappealing, and the groundskeepers need to step up their game.  The place was covered in leaf piles and looked creepily abandoned.  Here’s what it looks like during happier times:

Still a little menacing in the sunshine

Are you surprised to learn that I have a YouTube account?  This is a fact that surprises even me sometimes, so I’d understand your shock.  I got it for all my Twilight montages!  Haha, just kidding.  I made the account so I could share this video by Hilary Gastel with the world.  It’s so darn cute that I couldn’t keep it to myself.  Plus, maybe some of you will find “Hilary Studies for Finals” inspiring/topical now that we’re entering exams season again!

I apologize in advance, for this post may be strangely gushing.  There’s just something about France that puts a song in my heart and spring in my step and smile in my blogging… a certain je ne sais quoi, perhaps? Ha! Ok, this is high-level obnoxious, even for me.

It was closed, but let's not read into that.

If I had to really describe my trip, I’d say that Lauren and I walked around Paris.  We walked around Pere Lachaise cemetery, which is actually very interesting.  Oscar Wilde’s grave is covered in kisses from admirers, and it’s reassures one’s faith in humanity to see that one is not alone in highly valuing sass, wit, and bright red lipstick.  (Don’t worry, responsible readers. Swine flu fear kept me from smooching Oscar’s tomb.) Then we made our most important purchases of the trip: berets! With our native Parisian costumes perfected, we walked around the Louvre-Tuileries Gardens and gained a fresh understanding of how things got so out of hand in 1789 because I imagine I would have felt good and fired up with impoverished rage if I’d been an eighteenth century peasant among all that luxury.  We also wanted to walk around the Centre Pompidou, but as those French are wont to do, there was a strike.  Oh well, I guess that means that I just have to go back to Paris and visit the museum another time, ostensibly when labor conditions are more suitable.

"Greve" is French for "strike" or "big letdown"

On Friday night, Lauren’s friend Etienne kindly took us around so we could see how real Parisians party.  It turns out to be much like Americans partying, but with better outfits and more wine.  Being the Americans with rusty French is sort of a social liability at a party, but everyone was very nice anyway.  We met one guy who’d been sent to study abroad in Omaha, and (to my surprise) he wasn’t bitter about such a crappy placement- he really liked getting to see “zee profound America.” There was this other guy who’d been sent to study in Canada, and I guess he really assimilated to life there because he was sort of weird and annoying.

On Day 2 we meant to go to the Grand Palais to see the cool building itself and a Renoir exhibit, but we ended up walking so much we got tired and went to a Christmas fair and lunch instead.  Teaser: someone got a gift at the Christmas fair!  In the afternoon we took shelter in the warmth of a movie theater and saw New Moon!  The movie sucked (get it? It’s a vampire movie!), but there were lots of attractive shirtless men and it was in English, so the immature tween in me was pleased.

On the last night, Lauren and I went on an old lady/best friend date that included steak-frites and a cute

Well if that doesn't melt your heart, then I just don't know what to do with you.

stroll along the Champs Elysees and to the Eiffel Tower.  But you never can tell with Paris, so there were some twists. We inadvertently ended up dining at a North African restaurant, so I had cous cous (delicious) and Lauren’s steak-frites looked like the exotic dish.  We also passed fire-breathing Parisian young toughs along the Seine!  We timed our stroll perfectly, too, because we got to the Eiffel Tower just in time too see it sparkle at midnight to herald in a new and beautiful day in Paris!

Before we left on Sunday night we walked around Paris some more (why break the tradition?).  To fill up on energy for our windy and drizzly last day, we had positively delectable pancakes at a diner by our hotel called B.I.A., which is a little less funny when you learn it stands for Breakfast in America.  Then we oggled puppies and kittens in a pet store along the Seine.  In related news, I really want to get a pair of puppies and name them Skinamarink and Dinkadink.

In case a long-winded entry didn’t get the message across, let’s do a quick recap: Crepes, Christmas fairs, Robert Pattinson, cafe au lait, sparkling Eiffel tower, berets, Oscar Wilde, Abelard and Heloise, Parisian strolls, getting to speak French, baby animals, pancakes, and a weekend with my best friend.  Though the days in Study Abroad Dreamland are rapidly dwindling, they Calvin and Hobbes wisdom still applies: the days are just packed.

Turkeys are hard to come by here in Europe.  One of my roommates really misses turkey sandwiches, and the harsh truth of their scarcity has hit her pretty hard.  I’m not much for turkey and I love ham, so I’m doing okay here in Prosciutto Land. Did you know (according to an uncited claim on Wikipedia) that Europeans named the bird “turkey” because they were originally imported to the Continent through Turkey?

There are so many Americans in Florence that you have to reserve a turkey weeks in advance and then go fight for it in the central market.  Italians have little to no respect for lines, reservations, or any organizational structure intended to deal with crowds, so the reservation is more a formality that just adds an extra layer of self-righteous conflict (“BUT I HAD A RESERVATION!”) than anything else.  Plus, Italians (rightly) believe that their food is the best in the world, so they don’t really carry international offerings in grocery stores.  Italians also have special disdain for the foods Americans hold dear like cheddar cheese, chili, soft baked goods, and obviously anything Thanksgiving-related. These sorts of international goods and ingredients are only available for unbelievably high prices in specialty grocery stores, and they all sold out of cranberry sauce fixings sometime around Halloween.  So since making a Thanksgiving dinner seems like such a daunting task, I’ve decided to embrace the holiday by participating in that other Thanksgiving tradition: travel.

Instead of a tryptophan-induced coma, I will spend this Thanksgiving in Paris with mon amie! (Read it so it rhymes! Cute, right?) Lauren and I became best friends during the dark, dark years of middle school, but now that our skin and social ept-ness have cleared up, we are classy ladies who holiday in Paris.   There won’t be turkey on our trip, but somehow I think I’ll survive in the land of crepes, the release of the 2009 beaujolais nouveau, cafe au lait, and brie.

I am positively giddy about this trip!  If you don’t love Paris, then you’re stupid.  It is beautiful and historically significant and delicious and fun and full of French people – what’s not to love?  Plus I’m taking “Making of Modern Paris” next semester, so now I can have the real deal fresh in my mind!  And even though my Italian is slowly progressing, I look forward to being in France so I can put my many years of French to good use and feel smart instead of stupid for a while.

I hope you all enjoy your football, your Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, your turkey, and your family tensions boiling just beneath the surface of the holiday season.  I feel a little homesick because I’m missing these gems of American culture and my family, but there’s worse fates than Thanksgiving with your best friend in Paris!

Obviously the CFDA Fashion Awards are going to bring out some of the best dressed people in the industry. With models and muses in head to toe designer labels, it’s no surprise that last nights award show was total couture eye candy. Here are some of my favorite looks:

Harley Viera-Newton (second from right) in Ohne Titel

Lauren Davis in Proenza Schouler

Caroline Trentini

Alexa Chung in Jason Wu with Jason Wu

Diane Von Furstenberg in her own design

Vanessa Traina and Alexander Wang

Behati Prinsloo

Jessica Stam

source: fashionologie, style.com, wireimage

The World In Vogue:

People, parties, places

A new book celebrates the iconic images that have been shot for Vogue over the past four decades. With 300 photographs of some of the most celebrated actors, artists, models, First Ladies, and social figures of our time that draws on stories that have appeared in the pages of Vogue over the past four decades, this is a must.

The shots were taken by iconic photographers like Snowdown, Testino, Meisel, Weber, Ritts, Newton, Avedon, P.Horst, Beaton, Leibovitz, and more.

Their muses range from Nicole Kidman and Kate Moss to Madonna, David Bowie and Penelope Cruz, and the venues include the most exclusive parties in NYC, the Hamptons and Paris. The book will be selling at $75 and it goes on sale on the 17th of November.

Wilson has many talented young  juniors throughout the world.

Here are a few highlights of summer results from our Wilson Junior Team

Click here

28. Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost (2008)
Shadowbridge, Book 2

Read my review of:
- Book 1: Shadowbridge

Read By: Lauren Davis
Length: 9h 36 min (240 pages)

Genre: Fantasy

Started: 12 February 2009
Finished: 07 March 2009

It’s pretty good, but
it finds its story too late.
It’s still worth a look.

Summary: In this sequel to Shadowbridge, Gregory Frost returns to his world of giant bridges spanning endless swaths of ocean. He returns to the story of Leodora, a young orphan following in her father’s footsteps and earning her fame as greatest living shadow puppeteer and storyteller since her father, Bardsham. He even returns to the exact moment where Shadowbridge ends, with Leodora taken to Edgeworld, the realm of the gods.

For Leodora and her companions have traveled to Colemaigne, a span that years ago hosted her father. However, it was on Colemaigne that Bardsham so angered the god Lord Tophet that he blighted the entire city and the people who dwelt there. However, as Leodora returns to the span and her fame begins to grow, she begins to attract the attention of Tophet… and while all interactions with the gods have their price, the attentions of an angry and vengeful god are no small matter.

Review: I really don’t understand the decision to make this novel a separate book from its predecessor. While I understand that publishers and booksellers are not crazy about the fat fantasy novel that is as wide as it is tall, when a single novel is broken into multiple parts, it becomes very important that each novel can stand at least somewhat on its own. Story arcs and character development can carry across a series, of course, but I still expect each of the pieces to have its own plot — complete with beginning, middle, and end. That, I think, is where Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet break down… the first book gets all of the character development and world building, while the second gets the plot.

However, Lord Tophet doesn’t get to the plot for a while. It becomes obvious relatively early on in Shadowbridge that the real mystery, the crux of the story, is the story of the past, the story of what happened to Leodora’s parents. However, it’s never as straightforward as that; most of the story focuses on Leodora and Diverus’s adventures, with a liberal helping of the myths and legends of the spans that Leodora collects and performs. All of this is interesting and well-told, as Frost definitely has an active imagination and a knack for working very disparate elements into a richly textured world. Unfortunately, its shine started to wear off after a while, and I started to wish it would hurry up and get to the main plot that had been hinted at since the beginning of the first book. Amidst all of the tangents, we don’t really get any answers until the last fifth of the book, with the result that it comes out feeling somewhat abrupt.

Lauren Davis did another fine job with the narration; she still sounds too young to me to be reading adult fiction, but by the time I got to Lord Tophet, I’d settled in and accepted her as the voice of Leodora.

Overall, while I had some problems with the pacing and structure of this book, I did enjoy listening to it, and will certainly look for more of Gregory Frost’s work in the future. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: While I felt that it didn’t quite live up to what I was expecting after listening to Shadowbridge, it was still an interesting read. One caveat, however: while Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet are sold as two separate books, they are really two halves to the same story, and neither one is a stand-alone — so make sure you have them both on hand before starting.

This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | This Book on Amazon | This Audiobook on Audible

Other Reviews: Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, Fantasy Book Critic, Neth Space
Have you reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link and I’ll add it in.

First Line: “Everything has its own vortex,” said a deep male voice.

This review is also published at SFsite.com.

16. Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost (2008)
Shadowbridge, Book 1

Read By: Lauren Davis
Length: 11h 46m (272 pages)

Genre: Fantasy

Started: 25 January 2009
Finished: 09 February 2009

A world without land,
Stories within more stories,
and gifts from the gods.

Summary: The world of Shadowbridge is a world unlike any other. It’s a world built on an ocean, where vast bridges connect far-flung spiraling towers, and tiny islands underneath the spans are the only land most people ever see. But more than that, Shadowbridge is a world of dreams, of sea dragons and fox-faced tricksters, of capricious gods visiting their gifts upon unsuspecting mortals. And most of all, Shadowbridge is a world of stories.

Leodora is a collector of those stories, a sixteen-year-old orphan who has fled from the abusive care of her uncle and the tiny village in which she grew up, onto the more cosmopolitan world of the spans. Following in her father Bardsham’s footsteps (but disguised as a boy), she makes her living as a shadow puppeteer, telling the stories of the spans. Acting as her agent and guide is Soter, a drunken old man who used to perform the same office for Bardsham. Soter is haunted by Leodora’s family’s past, a legacy that he hopes to keep secret from the girl, even as her talent begins to outstrip even her father’s. Rounding out their small traveling troupe is Diverus, another orphan who has been god-touched. Born an idiot, left as a sacrifice to the gods, he was gifted with the ability to play any music upon any instrument… although gifts from the gods are not always blessings, and seldom come without a price.

Review: Shadowbridge is a world of stories, and Shadowbridge is also a novel of stories. There’s a central story running throughout — of Leodora and her companions traveling the spans — but there are major digressions to tell the back stories of Leodora and of Diverus, and sprinkled throughout are the stories of Shadowbridge that Leodora collects and performs. It’s a format similar to Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief, but even more so, and it works exceptionally well to weave together a feeling of the world, its inhabitants, and their mythos. Shadowbridge is a unique, imaginative, and highly textured world, and I found Gregory Frost’s writing to be thoroughly transporting. However, for readers who prefer a more linear approach to storytelling, it might come off feeling fragmented.

The only real issue I had with this book is that it doesn’t tell a complete story. I don’t know what went into the decision to publish Shadowbridge and its sequel, Lord Tophet, as two separate (albeit relatively short) books instead of one complete manuscript. Whatever the reason, however, it leaves Shadowbridge feeling somewhat incomplete; it spends all of its time doing character introduction and worldbuilding, and seems content to leave almost all of the main plot for the sequel. That’s not to say that it isn’t well-written, or compelling, or interesting — indeed, I was thoroughly hooked by the story from the beginning, and frequently found myself willingly doing household chores I’d been neglecting, just so I could have the opportunity to listen to more of Shadowbridge. However, neither piece of the duology can stand on its own as a complete work, so the decision to split it in two feels artificial and leaves a trace of a bad taste in my mouth.

I was also somewhat distracted by the narrator’s voice, at least initially. Lauren Davis is a good narrator overall, and good with keeping voices consistent and recognizable, but she just sounds so young. I don’t know how old she actually is, and her voice is a good fit for sixteen-year-old Leodora, but it was rather disconcerting to hear a voice that normally narrates children’s and mid-grade books so casually discussing violence, cruelty, and sex.

All in all, though, I really enjoyed Shadowbridge, and will certainly be listening to Lord Tophet, as well as keeping an eye out for more of Frost’s novels in the future. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I’d recommend Shadowbridge to all fantasy fans, but particularly those who like the story-within-a-story format, those who enjoy legends and fairy tales, those who are interested in mythology and enjoy stories of gods interacting with mortals, and most of all, to those who have the second book on hand (or enough Audible credits to download it) immediately upon finishing the first.

This review was originally published at www.sfsite.com.

This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | Amazon | Audible

Links: Gregory Frost’s Home Page, Interview with Gregory Frost at Omnivoracious

Other Reviews: Fantasy Book Critic, OF Blog of the Fallen
Have you reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link and I’ll add it in.

First Line: The first time Leodora spoke to a god, she had climbed to the top of the bridge tower and she was masked.

Since it carved out a hole for itself out of what was formerly the Snowboard Connection, the Canvas Gallery has really set itself apart from other galleries in the Pioneer Square area. Its prime location right below the 619 Building and its selection of diverse artists spanning numerous mediums makes any trip to Canvas an interesting one.

Of particular interest was this month’s show, which had one side of the room largely dedicated to textile art. This side of the gallery housed a complete visual feast.

Take for instance Maura Donegan’s Memento Vitae I and Memento Vitae IV, shown below.

Memento Vitae I

Memento Vitae IV

As their names might suggest, these pieces are a reflection upon her life, playing carefully on her childhood (and current) love for words. In both pieces, words with special meaning in Donegan’s life were selected to create pieces that are as much experimental textile art as they are an extension of Donegan’s literary mind. The six-sided dice in Memento Vitae IV are in fact six-letter words that viewers must piece together for themselves. Memento Vitae I is a crossword puzzle with carefully stitched boxes filled with yet more words that are vital to Donegan’s memory.

Further down the wall was a piece by Lauren Davis, entitled Me/ You. The piece shows two photographs of hands, each from a different individual. The hands are then permanently linked together with bright red string. A simply idea, sure, but well executed.

Lauren Davis’ Me/ You

Remarkably, though, the most entertaining things for me in the whole gallery were canisters of miniature beads glued onto porous rocks and then submerged in water. Jenny Joyce brought forth four ridiculously creative, experimental pieces that simply utilized water, air, and vibrations in the room to bring forth displays that have the hypnotic entertainment level akin to watching jellyfish swim around a tank.

Jenny Joyce’s Doily

This week for the New York premiere of “Sex and the City,” Sarah Jessica Parker wore a strapless Nina Ricci gown designed by Olivier Theyskens. It was one of 40 outfits that Parker planned for the movie’s premieres in London and Berlin, and the press junkets. New Yorkers have no trouble seeing SJP as Carrie, and given the TV show’s name-dropping familiarity with the fashion world, what she wore to the opening was bound to get attention. It had to be a stand-out.

Left, Sarah Jessica Parker at the New York premiere of “Sex and the City” in a Nina Ricci gown designed by Olivier Theyskens. Right, Lauren (Davis) Santo Domingo at the Met ball with Olivier Theyskens. (Photos: Joshua Lott/Rueters, left; Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.com)

Parker was surprised, then, to learn the morning after the premiere that the silver pleated Ricci dress had already been worn on a red-carpet—by Lauren (Davis) Santo Domingo at the Met ball, on May 5. Santo Domingo went to the Met with Theyskens.
What bothered Parker was that she felt she had been deceived by both Grauso and Theyskens, who met her in the studio and assured her that the dress had never been worn except for magazine shoots.
Now she feels she was used by the house. Look, my affection for the dress hasn’t changed,” she said, “but what they did was so short-sighted. It’s just unethical and disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again.”

On Grauso – “He didn’t say, ‘Well, actually I just escorted Lauren down the red carpet at the Met.’ ” said Parker, adding, “I just wish it had been handled differently and they had been straight about it.” (NYT)
Grauso claims they did not inform the actress because Lauren Davis is NOT a celebrity and that he and the designer only think of her as a friend. What a cop-out but what a seriously juicy story.
Grauso who heads the house then asks incredulously, “Does everyone look at Style.com?’.
We ask, did somebody just put their foot in their mouth?

As always with SJP, she took the high road.

Left, Sarah Jessica Parker at the New York premiere of “Sex and the City” in a Nina Ricci gown designed by Olivier Theyskens. Right, Lauren (Davis) Santo Domingo at the Met ball with Olivier Theyskens. (Photos: Joshua Lott/Rueters, left; Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.com)

From Nytimes.com’s “On the Runway:”

This week for the New York premiere of “Sex and the City,” Sarah Jessica Parker wore a strapless Nina Ricci gown designed by Olivier Theyskens.

It was one of 40 outfits that Parker planned for the movie’s premieres in London and Berlin, and the press junkets. She looked glamorous and happy in the dress and was asked several times by reporters on the red carpet if it was the sort of dress that Carrie Bradshaw would have worn.

New Yorkers have no trouble seeing SJP as Carrie, and given the TV show’s name-dropping familiarity with the fashion world, what she wore to the opening was bound to get attention. It had to be stand-out.

Parker was surprised, then, to learn the morning after the premiere that the silver pleated Ricci dress had already been worn on a red-carpet—by Lauren (Davis) Santo Domingo at the Met ball, on May 5. Santo Domingo went to the Met with Theyskens.

Read more of this Cathy Horyn article here.

Left, Sarah Jessica Parker at the New York premiere of “Sex and the City” in a Nina Ricci gown designed by Olivier Theyskens. Right, Lauren (Davis) Santo Domingo at the Met ball with Olivier Theyskens. (Photos: Joshua Lott/Rueters, left; Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.com)

From Nytimes.com’s “On the Runway:”

This week for the New York premiere of “Sex and the City,” Sarah Jessica Parker wore a strapless Nina Ricci gown designed by Olivier Theyskens.

It was one of 40 outfits that Parker planned for the movie’s premieres in London and Berlin, and the press junkets. She looked glamorous and happy in the dress and was asked several times by reporters on the red carpet if it was the sort of dress that Carrie Bradshaw would have worn.

New Yorkers have no trouble seeing SJP as Carrie, and given the TV show’s name-dropping familiarity with the fashion world, what she wore to the opening was bound to get attention. It had to be stand-out.

Parker was surprised, then, to learn the morning after the premiere that the silver pleated Ricci dress had already been worn on a red-carpet—by Lauren (Davis) Santo Domingo at the Met ball, on May 5. Santo Domingo went to the Met with Theyskens.

Read more of this Cathy Horyn article here.

My Vogue with a very airbrushed Gwyneth Paltrow arrived yesterday, with an article on Jenna Bush’s imminent nuptials, and they showed the Lela Rose sketches of the dresses of the “house attendants” (apparently a ‘Texan’ custom I was unaware of, but then again, I was unaware that Texans vacation in Kennebunkport).

(Image from Bridalwave)

I thought, I’ve seen that idea before, and indeed, I saw it in Vogue a few months ago when they had a huge spread on Lauren Davis’s wedding in Cartagena, Colombia:

Page Six of the NY Post, that is. And Elefant made the lead story. The gloomy melodic alternative rock band is led by the Peter Murphy-ish vocalist Diego Garcia and really has not live up to its expectations since their great alt-rock debut, Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid. [Great name for an album, BTW]. But popularity isn’t everything; their music can still be very powerful. He is very popular in NY City, however. Here’s the excerpt from Page Six:

ARGENTINE rocker Diego Garcia has found a new place to entertain the well-heeled women of New York. A spy saw the Elefant singer and futbol aficionado “making out” with a “tall, hot young model” at East Village eatery La Zarza Saturday night. We’re told he also brought his friend Lauren Davis from Vogue – who recently wed Colombian billion-heir Andres Santo Domingo – to the eatery a few days prior.

Diego sounds more like the man about town than the brooding persona you feel in the songs. Nervertheless — watch below —he does get the perfect models for his videos, so… there must be fringe benefits!

Which newly married social swan wants to start a family ASAP? Only she doesn’t want to adopt, nor ruin her fabulous figure. Sources say she’s heavy on the hunt for a ‘gestational carrier’.

Mrs. Lauren Santo Domingo! Half the joy of becoming a mother is bonding with your baby during your pregnancy. You’re a young 31! If this choice isn’t based solely upon health reasons, don’t cheapen your impending motherhood experience by literally renting a womb.

Bisou Bisou,

Belle

SOURCE

Here’s they happy couple leaving the wedding, walking to the reception at the Santo Domingo manor, which apparently is only a few minutes away by foot.

I’m on it. More photos to come hopefully.

Bisou Bisou,

Belle

IMAGE SOURCE

Well, this misprint, mistake, f*ck-up, whatever you want to call it, is definitely the reason why we haven’t seen any pictures from the recent nuptials of Vogue editor/socialite Lauren Davis and her handsome intended Andres Santo Domingo… they were wed yesterday, Saturday the 18th, not Tuesday the 8th. (I thought a Tuesday wedding was beyond weird anyway!)

Many thanks to the few Fabulous.Elite.Life readers who tipped me off to the Post’s unusual mistake. You know who you are. Here’s a brief synopsis of what really happened at yesterday’s soirée:

*They were married in downtown colonial Cartagena at The Church of Santo Domingo, not on the island of Baru. A city wedding instead of an island fête? Interesting. Looks like someone intentionally led the NY Post way off base…
*The bride arrived with her father in a black carriage, and was wearing a fabulous Olivier Theyskens gown with a très long train… I’m hoping to get my hands on photos – still sleuthing!
*Along with her socialite heavy bridal party, other boldface names like Lauren Bush and Chelsea Clinton were also there in support of their friend.

Congratulations Mrs. Santo Domingo! I can only hope to be as lucky in love as you. Below, enjoy a couple pics of the newlyweds:

Bisou Bisou,

Belle

IMAGE SOURCE

Just last week, Vogue editor/socialite Lauren Davis was set to marry her very own Prince Charming, billionaire Colombian Andres Santo Domingo on the private South American island of Baru, conveniently owned by the bridegroom’s family. Must be nice! Fabiola Beracasa and Tinsley Mortimer are said to be two of nine bridesmaids…

The bride-to-be has been noticeably absent around the Condé Nast building… When will pictures surface? I’m sleuthing, gals. Sleuthing.

Bisou Bisou,

Belle

IMAGE SOURCE

Last night, the two year anniversary of Marchesa was celebrated at Bergdorf Goodman’s BG restaurant in New York, NY. The event was hosted by Sienna Miller, Rachel Zoe, and Lauren Davis. 

“I’m not one to ever celebrate my birthday, but this is the birthday of Marchesa,” Georgina Chapman noted demurely as she cozied up to Miller, who paired her short cocktail dress with $400,000 Cartier platinum, diamond, and emerald cabochon drop earrings. “It’s a bit like playing dress up, like Cinderella,” the actress observed. “The jewels have to go back, but maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to keep the dress.”(Source)

As well as Chapman, a numerous amount of other icons are recognizing the second birthday of this elegant eveningwear collection. Many of them attended the celebration wearing their best Marchesa as well as many other designers.

Here are more pictures from Marchesa’s second birthday party:

You can view the rest of the beautiful Marchesa collection here.