In this video, Mireille Guiliano shows the proper way to open a bottle of champagne.

Now why is this important, you ask?  Ah, Madame Guiliano, who was for over twenty years the spokesperson for the Champagne Veuve Cliquot and the CEO of Clicquot, Inc., is going to explain.

Enjoy:

This one is just for fun! 

A lovely madame and her tips on wearing scarves.  Enjoy:

Just a quick note going into a beautiful weekend:  on Savvy Style, we just published a fabulous YouTube video we found.

And the reason we're mentioning it here, we've done several posts recently on beauties in scarves and wraps. 

Well, the video has the uber-beautiful Grace kelly (and the not so bad himself Cary Grant!) in scenes from To Catch a Thief.

The clothes are a dream; and it's wonderful to see two gorgeous people wearing accessories with such style and aplomb.

To watch the video:  Click Here

So, we were flipping through the latest Town & Country, and saw this ad for Giorgio Armani:



Now, the sunglasses are the focal point - and fabulous, they are! - but we couldn't take our eyes off the necklace.

It's a stunner, and we immediately noticed the similarities to the necklace we carry in the boutique:



The Armani is a lovely dark, smoky bead; while ours is a beautiful, recycled glass bead from Java and Ghana.  And ours is only $165.

Beautiful, fashion forward, and reasonable - a very good thing!

(Click Here for all the details.)

No bones about it - we love Egypt.  It's one of those wonderful countries where you trip (sometimes literally) over history.

And beauty is everywhere: in the people, the land, the ancient sites, and the handicrafts.  The beautiful inlaid boxes we carry - handmade and gorgeous.  The Egyptian perfume bottles  - shimmering glass in lustrous hues with golden accents - Cleopatra would have been pleased to own them.  And the bold, organic hand beaded necklaces - loaded with pizzaz.

Here are some of our own photos of Egypt: from Cairo, going up the Nile, to Abu Simbel -

The brooch - described as a decorative clasp or pin.

There was a time when it seemed like only grandmothers and royalty (queens in particular) wore brooches.  But not anymore!

Now, everywhere you look, another stylish woman is sporting a brooch.  And there seems to be no age, or career limits/expectations among the women fond of big, eye catching pins.

We think this is wonderful, because we're brooch women, ourselves.  We like them on lapels, scarves, coat shoulders, pinned to belts or to velvet ribbons around the neck - you name it, we like it! 

Well, perhaps not on a swim suit - even we'd agree that could be a bit much.  But now that we think about it - F. Scott Fitzgerald fans that we are - Nicole Diver did wear a string of pearls with her bathing suit.  Hm...  perhaps we should rethink our position.  But that's for another day.

Here's our own Barbara SilverStein's sparkler of a brooch: 
 








This baby's not for the shy and retiring type.

No way.  This brooch makes a statement: Look at me in all my fabulousness!

For all the details, Click Here.

But one quick note: right now, it's 15% off.  A very good thing!









And now, how about some photos of well known women - all different ages, all gorgeous, all wearing brooches:

           

  

 

Top Row:  our First Lady, Michelle Obama
Middle Row:  Faye Dunaway, Claudia Schiffer
Bottom Row:  Evan Rachel Wood, Chloe Sevigny

All lovely - all stylish!

We're all watching our budgets these days.  It would be foolish not too.  So, this is the perfect time to behave like a stylish French madame or mademoiselle:  completely change the look and tone of your outfit, with the tres chic, but simple, addition of a shawl or scarf.

After our last post on scarves and shawls as headwraps, we were delighted to find these photos of the ever beautiful and youthful, Julie Christie, in a casual ensemble, highlighted by a gorgeous scarf.

 

Trousers, a white shirt, a casual jacket: simple, easy.  But then you add the scarf - stop the presses!  The entire look is now turned into a chic ensemble.  And all it took was a great looking, brilliantly hued scarf.  And hers reminds us of our own  Pashmina Kelly shawl.

(And to see more photos of the gorgeous Ms. Christie, check out The Secret to Looking Glamorous Forever.)

In our last post on shawls and scarves, we included a photo of a lady in shadows, sporting a chiffon shawl wrapped around her hair and tucked into the back of her sweater.  It's a look reminiscent of movie stars from the 50s and 60s; but also very au courant with today's styles.

Well, the shadow lady is, in fact, Patricia (a.k.a. The Boss) and she gave us her take on why she loves that look:

"I was a young girl in the sixties; and back then all the cool girls (the teenagers) wore all sorts of scarves in their hair, along with their miniskirts and go-go boots.  (Come on, don't tell me you don't remember Nancy Sinatra and her white go-go boots?)

Anyway, they were the epitome of cool: young, hip and gorgeous.  And all of us younger girls were dazzled by them.

And then there were the movies we watched on TV with our moms - you know the kind: Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief, Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  They were glorious creatures, these stunning women - so sophisticated and beautiful, with scarves wrapped around their hair as they flirted with handsome men.

And, of course, Jacqueline Kennedy was the First Lady (and the first one I have any memory of.)  She was the fashion icon: beautifully regal in ball gowns, effortlessly chic in casual attire.  She was a role model not just to adults - but to us little ones, also.

Look at the old photos, and you'll see that the look is timeless.  Today they look as fashionable and beautiful, as they did when the photos were taken.  And don't just take my word for it: why else would the venerable House of Hermes, still put out ads with beautiful models sporting scarves wrapped around their hair?"

OK, we want to see the photos for ourselves - so for our pleasure, and yours, the sophisticated ladies (including Catherine Deneuve and Sophia Loren):

      

  

       



Scarves wrapped around the head: ever chic, ever stunning, ever in style.

Check out our own selection of shawls and scarves, at Bella Figura USA.

You've read about our exclusive, handcrafted Provencal soaps: the L'epi de Provence line.

We've shown you the beautiful fields in Provence that grow lavender - lavender that scents some of the bath products.

Now see the area where the finest perfumers bewitch and bedazzle to concoct all the fragrances for L'epi de Provence.

Here's a charming video, taken by a couple traveling to Gourdon, in the south of France, and passing through Grasse - the capital of the perfume world. 

"Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?"  So asked the Bard, himself.

Well, we're going to steal from Mr. Shakespeare and ask,  "Would a wrap by any other name be as versatile?"

We ask the question because there are a variety of words used to describe that particular fashion accessory, long worn and prized by women throughout the ages: shawl, stole, scarf, Pashmina (used by some, now, as a catch-all word) and simply, wrap.

We put The Travelista's video on the main page of our Pashmina, Scarves & Shawls category - for the "how to wear" tips, and a reminder of how highly versatile wraps/shawls/scarves really are.

Then we remembered that stuck in our archives, we have a photo of our own fearless leader, standing on the gondola dock of the Grand Canal in Venice, with a wrap tucked around her hair. 

        



The upper left photo:  dock for gondolas
Upper right photo:  the beautiful Rialto bridge
Bottom photo:  ready for the Grand Canal  - all wrapped up!

And if you're saying, "But wait, who is it really? I can't see her face."  Well, she's chuckling and saying, "Good - stay in the shadows, be a little mysterious."  Hm...  is it really her?

But she did insist that we add this YouTube video to the post; and it is a delight: Charles Aznavour singing Com'e Triste Venezia, as  photos of beautiful Venice glide by.