I could go on and on and say “more and more” about my Mom – she is my best friend, my best co – worker, my best champion, my best mentor – she is the nicest person in the world and she loves me a ton and I return that love. I wish I could show her the world. I try to do what I can to show her how much she means to me.

I love you Mom !! Hope you have a wonderful year and many many many many many many more.

Claudine

First let’s chat about the film THE DIRECTOR. This film is about  Frida Giannini, the Fashion Director of the House of Gucci.

I came out of this film extremely inspired.  I went to see it with my boyfriend, Scott, who is super supportive of what I do but I don’t think always understands what I do.  I think it was a great way for him to see how castings are done and fashion shows come together.  That is a big part of what I do now is fashion show production so it is nice for him to see what happens behind the scenes.

The film was created by Christina Voros with the help of James Franco.  It was beautifully filmed.  I liked that at one point Frida Giannini talks about how it wasn’t always easy for her family that they had to live frugally at one point in their life and that made me feel a lot better. It is very hard to be an entrepreneur and to have so many responsibilities and you must live lean so it was refreshing to know that sometimes you do go through tricky times to get to a better path.  Frida seemed super determined always knowing what she wants and I think was something to live by.  Sometimes especially in the fashion world it gets tricky because you are always looking at other’s accomplishments but it is important to focus on your own accomplishments and focus on your own work I believe.  I liked that someone said that Frida knows exactly what she wants and is very specific -that is something I want to strive to achieve – be specific and be confident in one’s choices – I think that gets you on the past of success faster as well.

James Franco is so interesting especially the fact he chose a role on General Hostipal as the eccentric “FRANCO”. On another GH note, I noticed that the dresses that they showed during the Gucci documentary were these  famous ruffle dresses like the one Brenda Barrett wore on her return to General Hostipal’s 50th anniversary celebration for the Nurses Ball. It was this incredible red dress.  Brenda Barrett is played by Vanessa Marcil who is very chic herself and has worn designer clothes several times during her appearances as Brenda and of course in real life.  Brenda Barrett on General Hostipal is known as this incredible super model that is loved by many men especially the sexy Sonny Corinthos.  I found this one photo thanks to Ellanista -
http://ellanista.tumblr.com/post/47304865908/brenda-barrett-from-general-hospital-wearing-a

In the film they speak of the importance of dressing celebrities and even how / why James Franco became part of the brand almost as a muse.

This all was equally inspiring.  I guess I am considered a stylist now and I love what I do. I work with amazing actors and actresses that are doing great projects at Tribeca or great films in the big theaters or great tv programming.  I continually believe that the best thing a designer can do for their brand is put it in front of creatives and influencers and have them wear it.  Even if you don’t know a new tv star – watch out one day you will know them and everyone will be talking about them. I really do believe in the power of dressing influencers.  It was nice to hear that in a way Frida does too.

An awesome lady who I adore Nancy asked me to be a part of the judging committee for MISS NEW YORK 2013 this year.

I was so excited because lately I have been involved with a lot of model and talent castings so I really thought I had the know- how for this opportunity.

What she didn’t know when she asked me to be a judge was that I was a pageant girl myself in high school.

I was a true “girly girl”  - I loved dancing, shopping and getting dressed up.

I also loved the idea of a pageant because it allowed me to put my love for dressing up and dancing together along with the idea of practicing public speaking and confidence building.

It takes a lot of guts to get up on a stage in front of a whole audience of people on top of your peers that you are competing with – yes the end goal would be to be crowned for the pageant -but what you realize when you are going through the weekend is that there is so much more to it – you meet so many amazing girls, you build your confidence, you learn how to love yourself more and be comfortable in your own skin and it is a fun way to bring family and friends together.

I am the luckiest girl because I have the most loving family who came out for the pageant and spent the whole weekend watching me on stage and my mother being the best mom ever allowed for three of my friends to come – Joy, Tracey and Anne-Marie.  It was a blast.  I look back now and I am so grateful to my family and friends.

I just looked back on the photos today – I don’t remember it as much as I wish I did but I think I came in first or second in the talent portion.  I was really a great tap dancer.

I don’t remember the rest now to be honest but I look back at those photos and think “what was I thinking … with that hair? and that dress? but then I look at the group photo and everyone had big hair and puffy sleeves it was the late 80s!

The pageant I was a judge for this weekend was for MISS NEW YORK. There was another group of judges there to judge for MISS TEEN NEW YORK as well. These are the girls that go on to represent NEW YORK STATE for MISS USA.

It was a great weekend with such an awesome fun group of judges who are all talented.  We learned a lot about over 120+ females and their goals, talents, charities, and ambitions.  It was so wonderful to meet so many intelligent and beautiful woman in one afternoon.

I wish there was a talent portion of the pageant because that was my favorite part of the pageant I participated in along time ago.  There was a swimsuit and evening portion of the pageant beyond the interview.

The dresses were beautiful from bold colors like red, green and blue to lots of rhinestones and FEATHERS galore.  There were some very high heeled shoes along with a lot of shoes with glitter, rhinestones and crystals.

My favorite dress was definitely this mint green feather dress that the newly crowned MISS TEEN USA wore – it was a beautiful gown.

Another fun part was that Julissa Bermudez host of a the cool show EMPIRE GIRLS  ( with Adrienne Baillon) was one of the hosts :

and Susie Castillo who  I adore who I haven’t seen in forever but who came to visit Caravan a few times she has to come and visit us ! She is so nice and a former Miss USA.

We also heard about the year that Johanna Sambucini, Miss New York 2012 and Sabrina Mastangelo, Miss Teen New York 2012 had – and all about their charity work. Johanna did a ton this past year for AUTISIM speaks and Sabrina worked against bullying and organized a whole community to stop bullying from happening which is a huge problem.
But these women exude so much grace and poise and have accomplished so much in the last year.  I hope we get to see more of them soon.  Sabrina is quite the character – super funny – they should give her a television show – her wonderful attitude is great inspiration for teens around the country.  Johanna is beautiful and so smart she was gaining her masters while preparing for the pageant she won in 2012. She will succeed in anything she does – I was very lucky to have Johanna host our Fashion Night Out party this past year. She wore a Dana Maxx dress and it was so great to have MISS NEW YORK at an event supporting MADE IN NY designers. 

I loved the fact that K2 comes up with the idea of everyone naming themselves something related to New York so the winner of MISS NEW YORK was Miss Hell’s Kitchen because she works in the area and knows a lot about it. So funny because I live in the Hudson Yards/ Hells Kitchen area – so yay !! for my part of NYC ! The winner Joanne Nosuchinsky is a beautiful, talented woman and seems to truly enjoy life.  I loved it when she told us that she performs in the 80s Prom that happens at Webster Hall – it sounded like so much fun. And like me she uses PONDS Cold Cream – a beauty secret I got from my grandma! She answered the questions given to her eloquently and I think she is going to be a great MISS NEW YORK.

Miss Teen New York 2013, Nikki Orlando, was beautiful and had an amazing smile and did a great job with the on-stage interview questions and like I said before I loved her dress !! She mentioned how she wants to go to FIT one day – she seems to already have a great fashion sense.

Both are amazing representatives for New York City. I love New York and all our designers and people who represent the spirit of New York and both these girls will do just that.

I did get the chance to capture my favorite beauty salon / stylist Ray from CHRISTO NY touching up the girls before their interviews !! They were the official hair partner of this year’s pageant – all the ladies had such beautiful hair – Christo and his team are amazing !

I learned a ton this weekend – it was very emotional because it allowed me through the eyes and hearts of all these ladies to remember what it was like for me to have my family and friends cheering me on.  It reminded me of me having to find the confidence to get up there to perform in front of so many people.  It also showed “girl power” and new friendships. It was so nice to see girls holding hands, supporting one another and having fun.

Everyone that was part of this pageant was a winner! I am very thankful for having this opportunity.

I am a fan of  TIDE ever since they sponsored on our first fashion shows – we worked with over six designers and showed all machine washable clothing on the runway – it was the start of the first Caravan collection.

It was awesome SHONTELLE performed and Delta Goodrem walked in the show along with my favorite violinist Caitlin Moe it was super cool !

We had amazing designers part of that show including one of my favorites – IVANA helsinki.

I have always been a fan of TIDE and their innovative products.  I usually use them for clothing purposes but I was able to get my hands on some of these stain erasers and one just came in super handy.

I have two sweet dogs that sometimes get themselves into major trouble.  I left a pen out because I was writing out a reply for my friend Gilda’s wedding invitation and guess what they got a hold of it when I left the room and took up writing all over the couch.

I was so worried it wouldn’t come out but TIDE Stain Eraser worked magic and it looked like this mini pen adventure never happened! I would suggest for everyone to have these in their bag – I know I am always spilling stuff but also for little mishaps at home they are a charm!

So as I am writing this post the little doggies struck again – I was just inside taking care of the situation – Noel was getting his teeth cleaned and the toothpaste is messy spilled all over my boyfriend and we had to bust out another stain eraser to save his new awesome Levi’s that he was sporting today !! Guess what it worked again – THANKS TIDE TO GO !

I found my favorite area of Paris – Montmartre – I went to this area before but to the “tourist” part never to all the side streets – this area feels like your in this vintage part of Paris mixed with so much modern day culture. When we talk about a place that you can feel and see art – this place is Montmartre. It has a spirit that is so true and if you crave to be around creatives this is the place. It makes sense that some of the most famous artists lived here and worked here.

Today there seems to be organized artist communes as well as the square where you can purchase art from so many amazing artists but if you walk up and down the streets you see something tres cool – street art ! Street artists from around the world come and place their art throughout the streets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montmartre

This is a great article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art

It is such an interesting area with the famous Moulin Rouge

Check this out : http://www.parisdailyphoto.com/2012/01/street-sign-thief.htmlSee a Space Invader and someone tried to walk away with a piece of street art that happens a lot here I hear ! 

This was done by the city  - it is the story on how we need to use our creativity more and not focus on material possessions

One of my favorite pieces – we saw a few by this artist

One of us must know 

I love this one 

Mosko http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/mosko,streetart/Interesting

There is a trend of vans getting artistic during the night 

This is so beautiful 

I dreamed of being in a rock & roll band 

Check out oakoak http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/street-art-takes-geeky-turn-with-oakoak/story-e6frfq80-1226037957506

This little ship was anchored by another artist 

I love this one these could be band names that stamp the streets of Montmartre after or before a show 

Gregos - http://www.gourmantic.com/2011/05/03/faces-of-gregos-paris/

There are adorable stores throughout Montmartre you can see several windmills  even the way they did their holiday lights was artistic with this ball and lights hanging down 

See the gregos face  Beautiful Marilyn Monroe and an interesting fact of where that famous photo of Marilyn Monroe was captured of her skirt in the air - http://travelwithkat.com/2012/06/11/images-of-montmartre/

This reminds me of this : 

http://ssavaas.tumblr.com/post/30401298760/mini-masks-by-baubo-montmartre-paris-25-08-2012

Baubo masks 

au marche de la butte 56, rue des Trois Frères. - Who could forget the mean Monsieur Collignon from ‘Amélie Poulain’? 

The man who could walk through walls - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Aym%C3%A9

I love these deer within the tree 

My favorite was this monkey so amazing  This beautiful church that kept us warm 

One of my favorite places on the trip I went to was this bakery shop boulangerie – this is amazing ! 

3. Les Petits Mitrons bakery

26, rue Lepic. Easy to miss among the bustling shops of rue Lepic in Montmartre, this bakery proposes good viennoiseries (pain au chocolat, croissants, pain aux raisins, chaussons aux pommes, etc), good bread, and tarts galore, all invitingly displayed in the bakery window. The fondants au chocolat (rich chocolate cake with a liquid center) are divine and of several varieties here: pure dark chocolate, chocolate with walnuts, and chocolate with pears. Not to mention the variety of savory tarts. Mmm! from http://www.walkgeneration.com/Paris/ViewWalk

http://paris-movie-walks.com/fred-le-chevaliers-street-art-in-montmartre/

Thank you to Pierre our tour guide again you can find his tour vayable.com check out his blog on : blog.paris-on-demand.com

An adorable concept store had this sign in the window

Every NYE I take time and go through all my journals / books.  I rip things out of magazines, newspapers, etc all year long and I store them in a cabinet in my apartment.  Most of them are cool shots of great styling or cool hair or a cool new book I pulled out to read – it is just nice once a year to go through images that I liked this year and go through all my old journals.  I have been organizing these journals and folders I believe for the last 20 years I think almost – these papers/ clippings are a part of my world.  I like to keep them organized and like to go back and see which papers I want to keep and what might not interest me anymore.  I store old horoscopes, fortune cookie sayings and just business cards from restaurants I enjoyed along the way.

I take the time to reflect on my year.  I was thinking about this last night and I said to my boyfriend that 2012 treated me pretty good.

I think 2011 was a bit tricky but it also allowed me to pave the way to new beginnings in the end.  In December 2010, a type of spirtual believer told me I was about to face some changes and I would be doing more of what I love in the future.  In June 2011, I went to Peru and a shaman read my tea leaves and told me something similiar.  In October 2011, I found out what they meant I opened Caravan Stylist Studio.  I opened with the encouragement of family and friends and I had a great first year. It was a bit challenging at times as everything but all in all it was a great first year.  I also joined  an extremely awesome PR agency and worked on awesome accounts and learned how to work as a team and met some amazing men & women who have taught me a lot over the last year.

Career wise things were great this year.

I moved in with my boyfriend this year into an apartment we love that has incredible views of the city and it is like a vacation every day we come home – sitting down and enjoying the view.

I started to cook more and juice more which are always part of my NYE resolutions.

I took up Cross Fit which I love and will hope to go more like 4 – 5 times a week then 3 – 4 times a week like I did in 2012.

I learned the sense of community as you work out and being part of a team in a way in a gym format.  I learned new strengths and things I need to work on.

I participated in a RUGGED MANIAC again this year and it was such a hot day but I finished the race and was very proud of myself

I spent a good deal of time with my parents – I wish I could always spend more time with them but I spent some fun times with them and created new memories from our Montauk trip, to our kite flying to just last night our game of Catan.

I have spent a nice amount of time meeting new people between Scott’s friends and family and all have been so welcoming and  I am extremely grateful for them.

I believe I spent some nice times with friends – I saw a best friend get engaged this year, another best friend expect her first child,other best friends showed me how they continue to be such wonderful moms to their children and another best friend showed me how important it is to find the things you love to do in life and how you can constantly discover new things in life. I enjoyed time with a work friend that I know for many years and adore her.  I also loved spending time with all my friends from LA that come and visit me and that I care for so much !!! I had the opportunity to spend time with another good friend who has a successful clothing company but always finds time for me – she is such an amazing person !  I had my High School Reunion that was so much fun and got to reconnect with an old friend and do something new like take her daughters to The American Girl store – so much fun. I learned sometimes we don’t get to spend that much time with people who mean a ton to us but when you do make it matter – we created memories

I met so many amazing designers and feel like I really did help a lot of emerging designers with the work I do.  I had the opportunity to be featured in my favorite fashion newspaper WWD about the studio and recently on NY1. This was so incredible

I was a part of this project CNNCTD+ by helping with PR and finding designers to be involved and saw the amazing talent duo that put it all together and is CNNCTD+

I helped curate a show for Junk Food Art House for MONOPOLY and I produced several fashion shows during STYLE 360 including the Daisy Fuentes show which was an amazing opportunity.

I dressed so many amazing people this year for red carpet events, premieres, dinners, press events, tv appearances and more and was so happy to do that

Caravan Stylist Studio celebrated with over 20+ events throughout the year

This year I became a certified scuba diver which I thought I would never do, I saw with dolphins and I explored a new place – Istanbul. I took some really great weekend trips and had the opportunity to ski amazingly fresh snow during Sundance.  I tried TRAPEZE thanks to LARA BAR

I spent some time with other important people in my life from cooking them dinners to seeing plays with them and spent a lot of time with my cousin, Vinny who is so awesome.  I rode bikes with one of my favorite friends and his son ! I had brunch with some good friends from school and gossiped **

I heard from some old friends from school and this meant more then they know ! Sometimes I feel like my old life has faded away but then these friends remind me they still care so that means a ton to me.

I did have a very big loss in my life Mr. Corinthos passed this year my little dog after 16 years and I realized how many lives he touched from all the nice notes I received.  Miss Barrett continues to keep Scott and I on our toes and we just recently welcomed little Noel in our lives.  They seem to be having fun and we have fun watching them have fun !

Looking back 2012 was a pretty kick butt year ! I plan to make 2013 even bigger and better!

At the end of it all I have a great love who I am so lucky came into my life, I have my parents, family and friends and that makes any year a great year !

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year and hoping for the best in 2013!

Scott & I both love Paris but we never went together so after London – Istanbul we decided to stop in Paris en route home.  We had three full days to really absorb everything we love about the French culture!

It was pretty funny one of the first shops I saw was Cupcakes & Smoothies – I heard later that the French saw that we were having a cupcake craze in the US and they wanted to have shops dedicated to cupcakes too — this one was funny called Miss Cupcake – my childhood dog that my brother adopted for me was Miss Cupcake !

I love all the street art in Paris and thought this was very cool a little Rock & Roll Elvis 

Scott introduced me to this cool app called FIELD TRIP it is awesome because it tells you about cool places around you while you are walking or driving past them in a taxi – it geo populates info he saw there was a placed called CARAVANE similiar to Caravan – a very cool design store – it had a lot of beautiful items I wanted ! 

I love Elephants and saw these guys just hanging out in front of a restaurant so took their photo as we passed by 

The perfect photo of an artiste at work in the streets of Paris 

The beautiful scenes of Paris are everywhere it really is such a romantic city 

Then off to Pain d’ Epices the home of the incredible 

Berthillion ice cream ice cream in the very cool Marais area 

That evening we had dinner at a very yummy restaurant called Le Bistrot Du Peintre 

We were so glad we sat upstairs because our waiter was so funny – one of the most memorable waiters 

It was so cool to see snow while in Paris – it snowed overnight so we got to enjoy the aftermath of some snow !

Scott had to have his first try at Laudaree the amazing palace for macaroons and a very delightful breakfast ! 

Then off to one of my favorite shops in Paris – MERCI – one of the last times I was in Paris I met the owner of this incredible shop and she was very lovely and I have visited it now several times 

We found these letters we loved from old license plates – VINTAGE MAGNETIC LETTERS 

Their gift wrapping and packaging is incredible at MERCI 

The graphic in this jacket was incredible – I love these type of drawings 

I found these fun bracelets before in Paris but never black & white they are super cool !  We loved this chair made from all sorts of comic books – we loved TIN TIN was featured 

 love Brooklyn Tins wallpaper and was so psyched to see them featured here 

You see a lot of Space Invaders all over Paris it is so neat 

I believe the idea of a true concept store came from PARIS from Colette – where there is a mix of everything from books, art, cameras, sneakers, beauty, clothes etc while walking around we saw this adorable “concept store” SAM – it had a lot of cute items 

I always love this changing exhibit it is done by the owner of 

Images and Portraits and across the street Café Charlot

It was so cold this day we were walking around and we wanted to visit the market - 

Marches des Enfants Rouge – off theRue de Bretagne – Paris’ oldest covered market  but it was way cold but we found the sweetest restaurant where we went in and had delicious soups in mason jars !

We love to juice and we love veggies – it is so exciting to see all the beautiful veggie stands in Paris

I saw a lot of Scooters being used by adults – I love that – something I am considering doing in 2013 

We heard about Bob’s  juice bar and it was DELICIOUS !! Definitely get your Kale on here  Then off to something very special – Vedettes du Pont – Neuf – the bridge of LOVE – it is a place you go to place a lock and through the keys in the Seine – I found this little video that shows how many people go and declare their love here - 

Here is Scott getting our little lock ready 

We have been added ! Yay ! 

I love our lock ! 

Now we are pretty cold so we need to go to get some refuge and we go to the famous CAFE DE FLORE where I enjoy a very yummy eclair ! I highly recommend this place – it was visited by many famous writers – you may get some inspiration here http://www.cafedeflore.fr/

Then we were walking by and I was so happy to get my hands on some of the SHU UMEMURA pieces that Karl Lagerfeld collaborated on – I got the lipgloss and the nailpolish – so awesome ! http://www.shuuemura-usa.com/_us/_en/collections/seasonal/holiday2012/index.aspx

That night we had dinner at my favorite restaurant in Paris called THE CRISTAL ROOM which is part of the Baccarat Estate and has a gallery inside the restaurant http://www.cristalroom.com/

The next morning we had an incredible breakfast at CLAUS – which a visit to Paris won’t be complete without going here – so yummy and lovely service and well designed – I loved it ! 

Right after it was so sweet we ran into a Christmas festival and we saw tap dancers, and drum players it was so much fun ! 

I love going to this area of Paris - http://www.spottedbylocals.com/paris/around-palais-royal/

Then off to the original concept store – COLETTE they were celebrating Monsieur Madame 

It was lovely to see Christmas lights in Paris and snow but it is true we passed this place that had this sign in it ! 

Beautiful Paris : 

I love the show 2 BROKE GIRLS and they bought a purple oven and I saw one -so rad ! 

I had to go to Karl Lagerfeld’s book store – I didn’t even know he had one – it was a lovely store 

In the area there are a lot of great galleries ! 

I recently read this book I bought in one of my favorite stores Anthropologie – bu Janelle McCulloch – Paris – I took notes and these are some of the places we visited – there are many great suggestions in the book – you should check it out if you are visiting my favorite city  

As temperatures drop, winter fashion heats up.  Industry insiders—celebrity stylists, fashion editors and more—provide can’t-miss tips for looking good while staying warm.

 2.  Layer – but do it right

The practical fashionista is layering this season—an art paramount to winter fashion, and to transitioning a look from the chilly sidewalk to the often stuffy office.  Jacobson suggests “a leather skirt with wool tights and a cashmere turtleneck topped with a belt and beautiful coat to the knee.”

Chic boots to the knee and a sweater with a tank top underneath can also help you look good and stay warm.  “Layering is another way to look really chic—a leather piece, a cap, lots of bangles, a collar—all these layers can be worn in a way that looks really pulled together.  It’s easy to do and great for traveling,” agrees Claudine DeSola, a fashion consultant, stylist and owner of Caravan Stylist Studio.

 5.  Mix brands and try “high/low” pairing

Fashion is a vehicle for self-expression, and creatively matching pieces from different designers and retailers allows people to reveal their true personality.  Experts predict we’ll see frequent pairing of expensive pieces with more affordable items.  “Start with an expensive item and then put together an ensemble that is a mixture of different designs, an H&M top with a skirt and leggings, for example.  You can’t tell what’s expensive and what’s not now.  There is such good production and design,” says Gore Reeves.

DeSola even uses this technique when dressing clients.  “It’s all about how you pair things.  Look at blogs and see how they’re doing it.  They’re a great source of information.  You don’t want to overdo an outfit, but you don’t want it to be too simple either,” she explains.