The triumph of the sole
In the 1950s, sophisticated fashionistas traded in their chunky 1940s shoes for sexy Italian stilettos. But for the bobby-socks set, penny loafers were still the rage.
Category: Lifestyles
Put your feet in good hands
There’s a scene in “Bull Durham” that encapsulates why women enjoy getting pedicures so much. Kevin Costner is cradling Susan Sarandon’s foot in his hand while he carefully paints her toenails red. The scene is sensual, but also surprisingly relaxing and comforting.
Having a ball with pool
It’s 8 o’clock on a Friday night. Chris’s Billiards on Chicago’s Northwest Side is full of some serious pool players. They glance at our table. If they’re thinking we’re uncoordinated players, they’re too polite to point that out. Instead, a kindly gentleman walks over and suggests we take a bit more time to focus before we hit the ball. “It just takes a little getting used to,” he says. “You’ll get used to it.” Though my friend and I have only played pool a combined total of five times–ever–we’re having a ball.
SOFA 2002
Mark Lyman had a simple concept in mind when he founded the International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art nine years ago: Make fine, functional art available to the public. While highbrow types might have wondered whether there was enough of an audience for such an ambitious project, Lyman was confident.
Let the night games begin
The club is thumping, and everybody’s having a good time: You spy a woman across a sea of beautiful people and want to meet her. Do you: a) look in her direction until she smiles at you; b) send over a friend to see if she likes you, or c) saunter over to her and scream, “Wazzup?” You’re probably going home alone if you answered (b) or (c), but both are better than what a lot of people do: stare. “Many people walk into clubs with a defensive mind-set,” says Rodney Battles, author of Night Games! A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Nightclub and Bar Scene (Brown, $19.95), which hits stores later this month.
Rich get richer with goodies by trunkload
Forget about a fruit basket. Today’s stars expect to be treated to a lot more when they appear on awards shows. And MTV delivers.
Beach Blast scores big for Jordan club
The Friends of the James Jordan Boys and Girls Club made quite the splash with their first Beach Blast. Held at Phil Stefani’s kicky Castaways Restaurant at the North Avenue Beach–a favorite hangout for the Chicago cast of this season’s “The Real World”–the benefit attracted almost 200 revelers wearing their best casual beach attire. Surveying the crowd, Deloris Jordan appeared particularly chic and cool in a crisp summer suit.
Beauty tips take wrinkles out of the aging process
Aging gracefully can be pretty … if you’re Tina Turner. But for the rest of us who never foresaw a future of thinning hair, wrinkles and expanding feet, growing older might be easier to deal with if we knew what we were in for. With that in mind, we asked some experts to warn us about what we may expect as we approach middle age.
Pamela Anderson to get potent drugs for hepatitis C
Pamela Anderson plans to be injected with powerful antiviral drugs to treat hepatitis C–a sometimes fatal liver disease she blames on a tattoo needle she shared with ex-husband Tommy Lee.
Clothing line collects Juicy reward
All the trendy fashionistas have a taste for Juicy Couture. The eight-year-old line of casual wear recently got the kind of publicity money can’t buy when Hollywood hotties such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Gwen Stefani were photographed wearing their favorite Juicy pieces. Lara Flynn Boyle has proclaimed Juicy her preferred comfort-wear. And Sarah Michelle Gellar went so far as to say Juicy is the only thing she’ll wear to her early morning calls on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
Crossroads of the heart
At the best spots where singles mingle, people are focused on something besides meeting a date. With something (ostensibly) in the air besides romance, sparks can fly as if by serendipity. Here are some fresh ideas for getting out and about, along with some hints about who’s there and what to wear. The rest is up to you.
Tacklin’ Taste
Loosen your belts. It’s that time of year again. Starting today at 11 a.m. and continuing for the next 10 days, we’ll all be in a feeding frenzy at the 22nd annual Taste of Chicago. “We’re very excited about this year’s Taste,” says Cindy Gatziolis, director of public relations for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. “We’ve got some great restaurants serving all different kinds of food, from Italian to Jamaican to Korean to Thai.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s: Bird’s-eye view
In 1976, Yann Arthus-Bertrand was a journalist dabbling in photography. Then 30, the Frenchman, his wife and their two small children moved to Kenya to study the behavioral patterns of the lions living on the Masai Mara reserve. “At this time, I was mainly a journalist,” says Arthus-Bertrand, phoning from New York. “But I began to understand there was a lot I could do with photography that I can’t do with text. My wife and I began collaborating–me doing the photography and she writing the text.”
9/11 tragedy trinkets move into mainstream
Exactly how do you sell a tragedy? A handful of entrepreneurs already has figured it out. The Australian fashion chain Quick Brown Fox carries a line of beaded handbags depicting planes crashing into the World Trade Center. One can be yours for about $87.
Workplace safety has reached a new low: lunch
A downtown office worker was so offended by the smell of a colleague’s spicy lunch, she called security. Now that’s passive aggressive.
Coke hopes for taste of success with vanilla
Vanilla gets a bad rap. Vanilla ice cream is dismissed as bland. Boring celebrities are put down as vanilla. And let’s not even get into Vanilla Ice. But Coca-Cola hopes to boost the hip factor of the much maligned flavor with its latest soft drink, Vanilla Coke, which debuts today at stores nationwide.
Courtney Crump goes to the prom
For some of her classmates going to the prom, a gown and flip flops are the way to go. But for Warren Township High School senior Courtney Crump, flat shoes are not an option.
Give your wedding a perfect photo finish
Jeanne Farnan knew she wouldn’t cut corners on photography for her wedding day. “My [husband] and I splurged on the photos because we knew we might not remember everything from our wedding, but the pictures would be forever,” says Farnan, 25, who was married earlier this month. “I remember being a bridesmaid and all the pictures from that wedding looked so posed.” Like many modern brides, Farnan didn’t want her wedding album filled with dated photos that could’ve been taken at her parents’ wedding.
Looking for a quick score
I am a single woman in a room filled with 56 available men. I could not be happier. Well, yes, I could–but there’s not much I legally can do about the 55 other women scoping out my potential dates. Welcome to FastDater, where the rules are simple and the dates are, well, fast. Three minutes, to be exact. “Date” is a misleading word, actually. What we embark on is more a series of get-to-know-ya interviews. Name. Age. Occupation. Buzz! Time to move on to the next interrogator, er, date.
Hey, make me over
Closets aren’t the only thing to sort through during spring cleaning. How about a little style shake-up to kick off the new season?