Pen pals are the best! I remember getting my first P.P. in Elementary school and promising to write to anyone I ever met at every camp I attended- but it wasn't until I began to travel that I could understand the delight of a friends handwriting to it's fullest.

I am in Egypt and the relaxation has begun!  Yesterday we went on a beautiful dive in the Red Sea and I had an 'Ariel' moment, complete with swirling bubbles, a cyclone of tiny orange fish and of course..... Disney Princess hair ;)

I am on a two week countdown until I reach full Charlie's Angel status on my trip to Egypt where I will be diving this famous ship wreck!

In 2009, Oscar de la Renta gave an interview to Vanity Fair.  In the midst of revealing his upbringing and unraveling his affair with fashion, de la Renta said that he learned about what mattered most in fashion from a Spanish tailor, who said that the 'twin peaks of couture are THE CUT AND THE CLOTH.'  
It is these 'twin peaks' that interest me.  As I travel the world and meet wonderful people who design and create, the question on my mind is 'How is it made and what is it made of?'.  I suppose this question also interests me in terms of the artists themselves.  How does one become a weaver in India?  What does it take to become a costume designer for Carnival in Venice?  Who are these individuals and what are they making?  I am learning.

http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/09/out-to-lunch-de-la-renta200909

This meme gives me great faith in my German language skills.

"No designer has ever made fashion alone.  People make fashion."  Halston

One of my best finds of the year is this HALSTON ultra suede shirt dress.  If you don't recall SJP's reference to the designer and this particular dress in SATC, here is a little background on this ground breaking designer:
Roy Halston Frowick was born in Iowa in 1932.  From an early age, he wanted to be a milliner, and his first job in fashion was designing hats for a chicago celebrity clientele.  He left there to work for Lilly Dache in New York City - by this time he was calling himself Halston.   He left Lilly Dache to become the head milliner for Bergdorf Goodman.
Halston designed the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore for her husband's inauguration as President.  He moved from designing hats to ready-to-wear clothes for Bergdorf Goodman, and set up his own studio in 1968.   Halston was an instant success, and in 1972 Newsweek called him "the premier fashion designer of all America".
Halston's signature perfume, called Halston, became the second-best selling fragrance ever.   Halston won 5 Coty Awards, and was selected for the Fashion Walk of Fame.  Halston Inc. was sold in 1973, with Halston still having creative control, but his insistence on personally supervising and approving licensed items, combined with his party lifestyle, created great difficulties for the company.
Halston was the first true celebrity of American fashion designers, and was a fixture at New York City's Studio 54 nightclub.
Halston was fired from his own company in 1984, because his personal issues made him impossible to work with.  He died in 1990.
Halston's clothes are known for elegant lines and simplicity - a chic minimalism.  His jersey dresses and shirtdresses defined an era.  Halston pioneered the use of Ultrasuede, and popularized cashmere.
The Halston design house fell on hard times after Halston's death, and changed designers frequently.   The house was even dissolved in 1996 and brought back in 1997 with Randolph Duke as creative director.  In 2007, the company was purchased by movie producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and Tamara Mellon has been brought over from Jimmy Choo to provide creative guidance.