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FYIDC
The Rodeo Drive of the East Coast
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The Chevy Chase Land Company has
announced plans to open a 109,000-
square-foot complex on Wisconsin Ave.
in Chevy Chase filled with high-end
boutiques retailers such as Tiffany& Co., MaxMara, Cartier, Ralph Lauren
and Louis Vuitton. The Collection at
Chevy Chase will count Neiman Marcus
among its neighbors, and should be open
by October. The complex will include
approximately 98,000 square feet of
luxury retail space, including the existing
Clyde's Restaurant, which will have
a new outdoor dining area.
MaxMara will be opening one of its
largest stores here, similar in size to
those in New York and Chicago. The
newest addition of the chain will also
house the first U.S. MaxMara Café, a
two-story restaurant comparable to the
successful eateries in Japan and Reggio
Emilia, Italy. Tiffany & Co and Cartier
will relocate from locations just down
the road to allow for the expansion
of each store. The structure has been
designed by the architectural firm of
Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (HOK)
and aims to provide unique storefronts
for each retailer with a 9,000 square foot
sculpture garden as the centerpiece. |
Fashion Forward
Trunk shows have become the fashion
trend du jour in Washington. On
February 11 and 12, Gail Percy held a
trunk show at her home to showcase
clothing from Tarsian & Blinkley, an
edgy fusion of Western-style and ancient
Afghan handiwork. Founder Sarah
Takesh, an innovative Iranian-born
American couturier with an M.B.A. from
the University of California at Berkeley.
The sleek line is made of luxurious silks
and cottons, and is hand-beaded, embroidered,
crocheted and stitched by native
Afghan women. Takesh's bronze, copper,
silver, mixed metals and beads emulate
traditional Afghan jewelry with a modern
twist. In just three short years, she has
gained worldwide acclaim for creating
high fashion for the socially aware.
With a workshop in war-ravaged Kabul,
Tarsian and Blinkley has brought high
fashion to Afghan women and employs
200 local women who earn nearly double
the average salary. In addition, Takesh
and her fashions have been featured in
Vogue, People and InStyle magazines.
For more information on the company
or to browse the collections, visit
www.tarsian.com.
A month later “Spring into Bling” trunk
show was held on March 10 to preview
Bling's spring/summer collection of jewelry.
Designers Bernadette Butterfield
and Tracy Nesbitt offer uniquely designed
pieces made from coral; turquoise; freshwater;
Keshi and Tahitian pearls; quartz;
onyx; chalcedony; and more. Once
available only through private showings,
Bling's distinctive designs featuring
hand-selected stones can now be
found in exclusive boutiques in Delray
Beach, Florida; Nantucket; Osterville;
and in the Tra-Bern design studio in
Marblehead, Massachusetts; as well as
on its website. For more information
on Bling and to view other pieces, visit
www.blingbytrabern.com. |
 The Orientalist: Solving
the Mystery of a Strange
and Violent Life
One of the hottest new biographies
is the result of the
detective work of celebrated
author Tom Reiss. Reiss has
written about politics and culture
for The New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal, The
New Yorker, among others.
His newest book,“The
Orientalist,” recounts the
life of Lev Nussimbaum, a
Jew from Baku, Azerbaijan,
who transformed himself
into a Muslim prince and
became a best-selling author
under pseudonyms in Nazi
Germany. Touted as part history,
part cultural biography
and part literary mystery,“The Orientalist” has received
rave reviews, hailed as
mesmerizing, poignant and
thrilling. With what began
as a year-long investigation
for The New Yorker, Reiss
pursued Nussimbaum's story
across ten countries and
found himself caught up in
encounters as dramatic and
surreal, and sometimes as heartbreaking, as his subject's life. Reiss spent
five years looking through secret police records, love letters, diaries, and
deathbed notebooks. As he investigated the many cultures and disguises in
Nussimbaum's life, Reiss encountered a series of shadowy worlds, including
European pan-Islamists, nihilist assassins, anti-Nazi book smugglers, Baku
oil barons and Jewish Orientalists. Reiss's account and analysis of the life of
Nussimbaum has resulted in a captivating tale. |
Oscar visits the Freer and Sackler
Filmmaker Ross Kauffman and Lina
Srivastava, executive director of Kids
with Cameras, were at the Freer Gallery
of Art on February 16 to introduce and
discuss their Academy award-winning
documentary, “Born into Brothels.” The film features eight children, ages
10-14, born to prostitutes in Calcutta's
red light district, all of whom participated
in the Kids with Cameras
program. In the face of abject poverty,
abuse, and despair, these kids have little
possibility of escaping their mothers' fate or finding another life. Kauffman,
the film's co-director, and photographer
and co-director Zana Briski gave them
cameras and taught them photography,
and the remarkable and resilient
children documented their lives. The
documentary recently won an Oscar for
the best documentary feature, prevailing
over box office hits such as “Super
Size Me,” and “Tupac: Resurrection.”“Born into Brothels” has won 27
awards so far, including the Sundance
Film Festival Audience Award, Best
Documentary at the National Boar
of Review and the LA Film Critics
Awards. As the film travels internationally
to various film festivals, the goal is
to raise funds and awareness to benefit
the education of Calcutta's children
born to prostitutes.
Kids with Cameras helps children
growing up in difficult circumstances to
learn photographic skills and appreciate
the beauty and dignity of their own
expression. The organization sends top
photographers to various communities
around the world to lead workshops.o highlight their everyday struggles.
The film will air on PBS and should not be missed.
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