The Bird and the Bee. And you but not me.

I'm in New York for the week. But you--you're most likely in LA. So go to this for me, would you? I adore the sweet sounds of The Bird and the Bee and am rueful that I'll be missing this free (yes, you heard me--FREE) performance they're doing as part of the Mondrian Sessions--the hotel's cool new monthly musical night cohosted by KCRW and other cool LA kats, like style bible Refinery 29.

Mondrian Hotel
8440 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA

FREE
RSVP to skybarla@morganshotelgroup.com

LA band Warpaint covers Bowie.

Like Warpaint cause they're LA based. Like 'em cause it's members are all super cute ladies. Like 'em cause they were just this week nominated for BBC's Sound of 2011 (and the BBC knows what's up).

[Thanks to my friend Dylan Willoughby for sharing this video.]

Corporate design that's more art than ad.

In plowing through hundreds of portfolios recently on Behance, the web's awesome crowdsourced network of designers, artists, and other creative types, I discovered the work of Spanish artist Marta Cerda Alimbau. Alimbau has created designs for international brands including Ray Ban, Nike, Coca Cola, Beautiful Decay, Kleenex, and more.

A note to the artist: Your work, dear Marta, is sick.

Diet Coke, inspiring designers, inspiring me.

When I lost my luggage this weekend...I'm sorry--when the airline lost my luggage...my first stop was Target. Spending money on new clothing would be admission that my bag was lost forever. And, well, I'm just not ready to admit that. So, off to Target for affordable, temporary replacements to traipse around Long Island in it was. Much to my great pleasure I discovered a 'Vintage' line of sweatshirts and tees that the mega-superduper-giganto retailer now carries. And lo and behold, I found a heather gray sweatshirt emblazoned with my favorite beverage, Diet Coke's, logo--this is a sweatshirt I would have purchased if my luggage had arrived. This is the sweatshirt I was meant to own, to proudly wear while coolly sipping, what else, a cold can of DC.

But in an attempt to find an image online to share with you of my new favorite dud I discovered these puppies. It turns out that sneaker brand PUMA has a thing for my beloved beverage too. Peep these Diet Coke First Round Soda kicks from PUMA's retro-inspired collection. Love.

And perfect timing for the discovery as my new Puma sneaks are amongst the items lost in my bag lost in turn in baggage purgatory.

VOGUE (and I) invite you to the Lacoste store.

Vogue invites you to brighten the season with Lacoste in San Francisco. Vogue's Market Stylist (that's me!) will be on hand to shop with you from 5:30 - 7:30 pm tonight--Thursday, December 2nd--while enjoying cocktails, passed apps, and a live DJ.

See you there San Francisco!

xx * Jessie

Glamorous: the real behind the scenes of the making of an award show.

When you think Award Show, you may think red carpet, celebrities, mediocre jokes.

Well, the truth behind award shows can be found in some behind the scenes pictures from our WMMA Awards production office below. They feature not fancy gowns nor famous mugs, but food, food, more food, and then some recycled meeting room air. Guest starring late night loopiness and frozen yogurt trips. Also, a cameo with our Coordinating Producer and one of our fave UFC fighters, Jon Jones, who came by to grab his tickets and provide a brief moment of reprieve.

Las Vegas, City of Sin and Shows.

For those of you who have wondered how I ended up going straight from a Buddhist Monastery to Las Vegas, City of Sin, this is how...

I'm happily working on talent and Presenters for the WMMA Awards again. I'll admit--I'm not well versed in the new sport, but the folks involved in this industry as well as the fighters themselves are as nice as can be. A fact that's hard to believe considering it's a sport popular for its blood, guts and violence.

If you happen to be in Vegas this Wednesday, December 1st, join us at the event!

Tickets are available online through the Palms Hotel.

The Making of a Bed, Part Un: The Bed.

Three years ago I moved into the studio which I'm still residing in in always sunny, always shady Koreatown, Los Angeles. At that time, I moved without anything more than a shoddy metal bookshelf and some sheets. I slept on the floor for 2 days and then hurriedly bought the cheapest mattress I could find with the standard, chinsy metal frame that comes practically free with purchase. In that time, my bed has withstood spills, bugs and breakage (no, there is no elicit story here. it is just. a cheap. bed!). Last month I decided it was high time for a proper adult bed. And though I don't yet have a proper adult budget, I'm slowly piecing together a bed that I'll be proud[er] to see as I walk in the door (and hopefully one that I'll sleep a bit easier on too).

First came first: the bed frame.

Ikea's all fine and good in the post-grad years. But several years later, I needed a step up. Enter Pottery Barn's baby sister company, west elm.

I have now ordered [drum roll please] this bed....in Queen size!

Will the larger size bed look ridiculous in my teeny tiny studio? Maybe.

Am I forgoing a headboard which may or may not work for me. Darn straight I am. Headboards, I've learned, are expensive!!

Can I afford to go mattress shopping right now? No.

Am I excited as anything to buy new bedding which I also can't afford to change the look of my apartment and give it new character? Um, yeah.

Over the next couple of weeks I will [hopefully] and slowly build my new bed. I'll document as I go (an action packed design adventure, I know!). Until then it will be my new Queen size bedframe sat upon by my old full size janky mattress and cheap sheets. And zero photos will likely be shared with you.

Narrow-Leg Nailhead Upholstered Bed Frame
$349.00 – $499.00
Available on westelm.com or in stores.

Leaving Los Angeles. Me and the monks.

I told my friend a few weeks ago, 'So, I'm going to a Buddhist monastery next month for a week.'

Maybe I wasn't expecting a reaction quite of shock. Or exactly resembling excited, impressed wonderment. But something along the lines of 'Oh my goodness! How unlike you! Isn't this totally unexpected and unanticipated?!' Okay. So perhaps I was expecting shock and wonderment after all.

I certainly wasn't expecting my friend to say 'Oh......I'm not surprised.'

Well, despite my friend's opinion that it is exactly like me to get up and do something ridiculous, it was a bit of a surprise to me when I decided to register for 5 nights at the Deer Park Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in Escondido.

And today, I am departing. Without access to email or phones for nearly a week. No blogging, no Twitter, no Facebook updates. Radio silence from the 400 acre sanctuary just a couple of hours south of Los Angeles.

I'll end this last post before my journey with the same message I sent to my friends and family last night...

In olden days, a trip to the monastery would mean I was pregnant out of wedlock. Today, it just means I'm a privileged yuppy from the city who needs 'a break.'

I will have no access to email, phones or other electronic devices during this time. Smoke signals, maybe. But I haven't checked the fog levels out there yet. So, please refrain from emailing, calling or texting me as your expressions of love and/or tomfoolery will fall on deaf ears (no jokes about my poor hearing, please).

In the case of emergency, you may try to reach me via the Deer Park Monastery. I actually have no idea if anyone will answer the phone.

In case you are unclear about what constitutes an emergency, please use the following quick guide.

This is an Emergency...

* My apartment's on fire.
* You're dead.

This is NOT an Emergency...

* You stubbed your toe.
* Your boyfriend was rude to you.
* You're experiencing digestion issues.

I look forward to talking to you all when I return next week. Until then, have a great week and a very happy Thanksgiving!

Duty calls in a large waiting room in Downtown LA.

I'd like to make it clear that jury duty in Downtown LA looks absolutely nothing like the above stock photo.

Jury duty at the LA County Metropolitan Branch Court House looks like dozens of average looking people slumped in couches, eating chips and Cheetos for breakfast--some of them reading less than quality novels, another disproportionate number reading what I think from this distance may be gay bondage magazines.

And we are all sitting underneath Jury Service promotional ads featuring has-been actors and decorations like this which may have been on sale at the 99 Cent store. I know I would not have paid the full dollar for this poor attempt at a feeling of patriotism.

My red dot at Mercedes Helnwein.

Last night was the opening reception for Mercedes Helnwein's new show, Temptation to be Good, at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery (yes, I know this information would have been more helpful to you yesterday as opposed to quarter to eight on the day after--sorry).

I was a fan of this for a few reasons.

* More galleries should be as close to my home as the Merry Karnowsky Gallery is. To heck with Culver City. Let's build an art scene [around me] in Koreatown and Mid-City!

* Mercedes Helnwein is a favorite local artist of mine. Her drawings are incredible. And her new, larger format work is equally exciting, though a departure in ways of style as well as scope.

* My darling friend Elizabeth Ai was hosting (alongside a mysterious Beck who my friend and I never did spot). You may recall a while back I shared that Mercedes was doing some collaborative work with the Ai sisters for their awesome clothing line, Ai for Ai.

* I am a compulsive shopper and it's best that at least I have something worthwhile to toss my hard-earned money away for.

* Damien Hirst bought out Helnwein's last show in London. And it it's good enough for Hirst, it's better for me.

This was last night's guilty pleasure that's soon to be mine...

And this is my red dot. I just love when I can claim a red dot to be mine (says the art collector wannabe)...

I might make some snarky quip about reading it and weeping. But then again, it's my pocketbook I've hit and I feel if anyone should be weeping it might actually be me and not you.

Catch the show while it's still up.

MERCEDES HELNWEIN: TEMPTATION TO BE GOOD
November 13 - December 11, 2010

Merry Karnowsky Gallery
170 S. La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

And while you're at it, read my March 2010 interview with Mercedes Helnwein here.

Between the sheets with model Daisy Lowe.

In the name of my many friends who continuously surprise me with their unbounded talents, I present the work of one more of these splendid, creative folks in my life.

(As an added bonus, British model Daisy Lowe rolls around for most of this video only half clothed.)

Enjoy.

Lazy Daisy from Patrick Fraser on Vimeo.

Director+DP: Patrick Fraser
Model: Daisy Lowe
Shot on location in Paris along side a fashion shoot for Blast magazine.

OK Go's tribute to toast.

This video, featuring toast and only toast, is as beautiful as the song its made for, Last Leaf.

Last Leaf

OK Go | Myspace Music Videos

Prada's virtual video lookbook. Awesome.

Oh, hey there Awesome. So, that's what you look like in Prada!

Give peace a chance.

As someone brighter and wittier than me once said, if you don't like something, do something about it.

Well, some folks in town didn't like the recent news about hate crimes and the awful consequences to those who are victim to discrimination.

So, they're doing this:

Starting Location
6356 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA

November 21, 2010
3:00 p

We are walking for everyone who has ever been an innocent victim of a hate crime(s), for everyone who has ever been discriminated against, we are walking for everyone who has ever lived in fear because they were "different," and we are walking against intolerance so that perhaps we can impact those fearful and angry. So that we may send a message to those who strike against beautiful, innocent human beings. Beings who deserve nothing more than to be swimming gracefully and confidently in the same pool we swim in. No one here in this world is different lest they choose to be and even then, "the sun rises in the morning on ALL of us." Let's come together, create a buzz, and show Los Angeles and anyone who hears about or reads about our rally what we stand for and what we all deserve!

Calvin Klein's raciest ad yet ires Aussies.

The other night at Marianne Williamson's weekly lecture (yes, this cynical atheist went to hear a woman who talks about miracles and God speak--what of it??), Williamson took time to bring attention to the above billboard--the raciest ad yet from a brand that has built its name on racy ads. Calvin Klein has long sold everything from jeans to perfume to tighty whities with the attitude that sex sells. And sell, despite many controversies over the year, it has. The controversy has even become a marketing tool in itself--recently played up by the brand with a billboard on Sunset Blvd. that showed nothing but a scannable code, through which the user could see the ad's naughty bits from home--implying that the image was too risque even for the Sunset Strip.

Which brings us to the recent hype about this now-censored billboard in Australia--the nation (slash continent)'s Advertising Standards Bureau has decided that model Lara Stone looks like she may be getting raped by three handsome, if expressionless young men and has demanded the billboard come down.

Do I buy it? No, not so much. To me, it looks like her blank stare matches the gentelmen's perfectly and they're all tangled up in a consensual orgy of equal disinterest.

Perhaps, however, I'm being callous and insensitive and should be more of a stodgy feminist about all this.

What are your thoughts?

[via AOL News via Marianne Williamson]

There's a special on mindfulness at Fred Segal in Aisle 4.

I generally don't step into Fred Segal unless I am experiencing urges to torture my inner shopper and punish my wallet.

But as it turns out, Fred Segal's just reopened one space in its Santa Monica location which I can enter with peace of mind and only the lightest of grips on my billfold--the Fred Segal Yoga studio.

And while classes won't be free, the studio is hosting a complimentary workshop this weekend--An Insight with Matthew of One World Academy.

Enjoy your breakthrough experience sans the breaking of the bank, courtesy of Fred Segal Yoga tomorrow. Nama-freaking-ste.

[via Vital Juice]

Cassette Playa presented the 1st ever augemented runway.

As if the size zero, 6' tall men and women who walk down the globe's runways aren't a departure from reality already, UK streetwear designers, Cassette Playa, presented the first ever augmented reality runway show earlier this year with their S/S 2011 collection.

Crazy town.

Emily Factor designs eco-fashion that's actually fashionable.

Eco-fashion has gotten a bad wrap. When most of us think of green clothing lines, we think of neutral color palettes--hues that evoke muddy swamp water and hippies with hairy underarms--shapes that are less shape and more sack.

Emily Factor, the youngest of a long lineage of Factors (yes, that Max Factor-Factor), has changed all that as illustrated in her S/S 12 collection, shown this past Saturday in Hollywood.

The colors are bold. The necklines are low. The silhouettes are interesting. The pants and maxi dresses are to die for. This is eco-fashion I'd proudly traipse across town to the recycling center in. Um, on my fuel-free bike of course.

Two Months Off, A Photo Exhibition by Shane Redsar.

If you're not coming to my good friend, Shane Redsar's, show on Friday night, you're missing out. His work is incredible. And there's an open Asahi bar.

Thank you and goodnight and see you there.

Jeremy Piven & Audrina Patridge & Me at the PUMA Social Club.

The other night, my pals at PUMA invited me to join them in celebration at their awesome new PUMA Social Club Los Angeles--a pop-up occupying the old One space in Weho. Let me explain why the space is awesome in ways that are easy to understand.

* Open bar provided by Patron. And you know what they say. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila...let's start the freaking party.

* Hot dogs courtesy of Pinks. Though I don't eat meat, I don't mind the smell. No, I don't mind it at all.

* Foosball. Ping pong. Chalk boards. In other words, the space contains all the elements of my childhood dreams come true.

* A photobooth that makes everyone--and I mean everyone--look 10x better than real life would have it. Case in point below. My skin is not really this good. (Though, please NB--Ed and Paul really are this handsome.)

* Neon signs with sassy sayings that get us thinking...

swapping partners is encouraged
sometimes victory is a phone number

...about how we really wish someone (anyone) had asked for our number.

* Go go dancers. Dressed in PUMA gear. Obvs.

* Jeremy Piven and Audrina Patridge. Enjoying said Patron.

Peep the schedule of events that will be happening during the rest of the pop-up's lifespan. Starting with tonight's Vice Mag party, a Dance Right night coming up, and more. Click here for the calendar.

Geoffrey Mac kicked off LA Fashion Week...

And did so without the wild and often latex outfits he's known for dressing celebrities, most notably Lady Gaga, in. The NY designer presented his slightly more muted, but still fun and avant garde collection to an LA crowd on Tuesday night at Skybar at the Mondrian. And with the flowing fabric, gowns made to be worn down red carpets, and fun cocktail frocks, there wasn't a more fitting city to show in.

I especially loved these seemingly conservative pieces that featured surprise hints of the unusual.

[Photos by Josh Reiss]

A new LA Fashion Week I almost wanna go to.

[Supposedly] LA Fashion week begins...I don't know...it's vague. Maybe today? Maybe this Thursday? Ever since the end of Smashbox's domination over the runways of Los Angeles, it's been a little hard to keep track of if/when/where LA Fashion Week is taking place.

But here's a new collective that looks to be showing indie designs I almost want to go see! Fun While It Lasted will be hosting events from the 14th - 16th. And I think I'll actually go.

Viva la independent designers! Viva LA Fashion Week/Weekend/Day!

Courtney Love, a Birkin bag & her magical journey through stop-motion.

Because Courtney Love doesn't share quite enough with us and the media. And she loves a good, controlled message to her adoring public. We now have 6 plus minutes of an animated film portraying Love's transition from 'kook' to Birkin carrying, upstanding member of style, song-singing society.

Except Michael Mouris' short is more disjointed Scanner Darkly meets Heatherette ad than enjoyable film. It weaves in and out of sense (more out than in) and, though colorful and fun to watch, doesn't tell much of a story.

Which is to say the film sort of mirrors its star herself...

[via WWD]

Kids. In Nazi uniforms. With guns.

If the young psychotic tyke from The Bad Seed and the leaders of the Children of the Corn gang had love children, they might be the subjects of Gottfried Helnwein's current show, I Was a Child, up now at the Friedman Benda gallery in New York.

The below images are not fun. They are not pretty. But they are magnificent and chilling.

Also, they may make you rethink procreation

Gottfried Helnwein: I was a Child

@ Friedman Benda

515 West 26th St

New York, NY

Through October 23

[via Flavorwire]

My mother vs. my astrologist.

Last night I sent my mother my astrology report with some urgency. I either must purchase the furniture I've been needing for my home office set up this weekend or wait until November 18th. Any time in between just wouldn't be right according to astrologer Susan Miller. If this specificity on the part of my trusted foreseer does not indicate wisdom and insight I don't know what does. And at such a timely interval when I had just been discussing a furniture purchase.

My mother's reply to my email went something--no exactly--like this:

"What the heck is Venus retrograde, & where did you get all this bull-shit from?!? I hope you didn't pay "your astrologist" for all this info. re: office furniture!"

Which leaves me in a pickle I'm sure you'll agree. Trust the stars? Or trust my mother?

What would Jesus do!? He'd run to IKEA asap. That's what I think he'd do.