izzi blog

The official izzibag blog

If you have followed my blog over the years, you will know that I very rarely advertise someone else’s work. This blog post is totally different, I have to tell you this story, I was invited to attend a networking / Christmas Fare in early December, unfortunately the day i was supposed to go I couldn’t because I had just flown in from Los Angeles and I was drained beyond belief. Normally I would just have said sorry to the organizer and moved on, but on this occasion I could not do that, firstly because the organizer was a good friend Kimmie Smith and she had gone to great pains to put this event together.

Bhavna

So having said all the above I made izzi come into the city with me and left him browsing around his favorite store B&H on 9th and I went off to the ink48 Hotel on 11th Avenue to see what products Kimmie had put together. I was instantly drawn to the corner of the room where this stunning Indian Lady was standing amongst an array of Silk and Cashmere scarves. Everything else seem to just fold away, I had to talk with her, I wanted to touch the fine silks and soft cashmere. Please do not ask me why I had this urgent need to talk to her I have no idea. Anyway her name is Bhavna Juneja and she is one of two sisters, brought up in New Delhi, India by a single mother. She came to the USA and got married and had two children, she now is also a single mother. I know so much about her already, I feel like I have known this woman half my life, oh and before I forget her company is called Jammu Style

The Story of Two Sisters

I spent a lot of time asking her about her scarves, asking where she got her inspiration from, where the silks were made, how she printed the soft cashmere. I wanted to know everything about them, Bhavna told me that she has been inspired by the Indian Maharajas and it shows through in the prints on the scarves. The silks are hand rolled to perfection and the cashmere is not only hand woven but dyed in the spring waters of Kashmir. She has even encrusted her new collection with Swarovski crystals. Her collection of silk twill scarves have been printed with ceremonial swords, timeless timepieces, royal jewels and royal classics. There are truly amazing and the colors are so vivid.

See the Vivid colors and designs

I left the hotel feeling really inspired by Bhavna and her story and felt that our paths would cross again, little did I know that she had felt the same and the next day she contacted me and we agreed to have lunch. When I met her again we talked for more than two hours and realized we had a lot of synergy in our lives. I have to tell you that Bhavna is an amazing woman and I for one think that you my readers must check out her website as soon as you can. I ask you to pass the word to your friends about her, she needs all our help to make this business a success and I for one will talk about her often. I count her now as a friend and wish her every success for her future, the next time I see you, I hope you will be wearing one of scarves from the Jammu Style collection.

This is my Favorite Scarf

Some days are just not worth the make up and some days are certainly worth it. Fashion week has come and gone and I feel like life is certainly passing me by. I had a great day at the Vogue Lounge and here I am posing as usual for the Paps. LOL, everyone wanted to take pictures of my necklace. I was really lucky that I managed to get my hair blown out everyday by Tresomme who had a stand at Fashion Week which was awesome.

I went to the accessories market week at the Javits center and bought a new hat, I so love hats and I have a huge collection at home now, which is doing izzi’s head in as he trips over them…ooops anyway let me know what you think of my new addition.

Izzi and I had to go to a wedding of his university friend Wai Poon in Hong Kong  and we had  such a memorable time. Hong Kong is such a vibrant city, we slept a total of 10 hours. The wedding was held Repulse Bay just outside Hong Kong and it’s such a beautiful place, the only downside on the day was that it rained. We all made the most of it and they looked so happy on the day and Michelle was a stunning bride.

Michelle with her dad

here she is in the traditional dress which is in red, the lucky color of the Chinese

Izzet and I spent a lot of time browsing the markets and I just love seeing all the fruits and vegetables which we have no idea, what they were. I would love to have had access to a kitchen so I could have experimented with them. But look at such vibrant colors and what are these?

Izzi and I had a wonderful time, but and there was a but, I left my dress for the evening dinner hanging on my wardrobe door and that turned out to be the biggest disaster ever. You maybe wondering why, well I am by no means a big person and if you are in the USA I wear a size 8 and if you are in the UK I wear a size 10. Now the thing is that every shop I dragged my OH around to get a replacement dress turned into disaster after disaster and that was because everyone in Hong Kong seems to be tiny ! seriously when I looked around that wasn’t true, but could I find a dress to fit me? No I could not. When I asked in fancy shops like Prada and Gucci and Versace they told me I was too big! were they kidding me? No they sure weren’t. Just as I decided to give up and go home, I walked into French Connection (Not a shop I normally frequent Sorry and all that Jazz but I don’t)They came to the rescue and I picked up a body con dress that squeezed me so tight that I couldn’t breath but it fitted and got me out of a huge hole.

Say nothing about the hair because that was another story, having spent 3 hours with rollers in my hair, as soon as I stepped out of the hotel the humidity hit and it went like poodle fur…I was not amused at all. At the end of the day it was not my wedding day and so I just got on with it and saw the funny side.

Since I was last here I had a birthday and there are no words to describe how happy I was with my pressie from the OH…. what is a girl to say when this is what I got…

I am now looking forward to the ACE Awards in New York which will be held at Cipriani next week, where I will be wearing the shoes and get this…. the man himself, yes Mr Christian Louboutin, will be there and I am going to ask him to sign the shoes. I cannot wait, so on that note I am going to go and polish my shoes.

You know how time flies when you are having fun right… well we have been to the UK and then to Istanbul and back to the US and I have been so caught up in everyday life that I forgot to write my blog post. So here it is, Izzet and I had a great time in Istanbul, it brought back so many great memories for us. We visited the Hamam, which if you have never been you really should try it, you go into a very warm room, full of women (not my favorite bit!) in your bikini and lay on a a warm slab of marble, then a masseuse will wash you down with lots of soapy water and then she scrubs you until your top layer of skin is gone! Now call me mental I know but actually it is a great feeling and i was totally tingling, then you just relax on the marble slab. After which you go into another room where they smoother you in orange oil and then another masseuse gives you a massage. Bliss !

Izzi and I fresh off the boat!

We went to the Asian side too and had to take a ferry across the Bosphorus which is a really fun day out and you can see the whole of Istanbul from the ferry. We went to have fresh fish and believe me it does not come any fresher…

St Sophia

We went to the spice market and if you have never visited one anywhere in the world, you cannot appreciate the smell and atmosphere, it is electric. You can find the most exotic spices, probably even ones you have never heard of, do not know what to do with and some that I would be wary about using! I have to say that I am not a big fan of flavored teas, but in Istanbul I got addicted to the apple tea , so much so I carried a ton of it home!

The Spice Market

Now you know me, when it comes to a bargain, I am your woman! we went to the Grand Bazaar , where there are more than 5000 shops it is claimed. Believe me when i say I think we visited them all…to be honest I didn’t buy too much this trip, or at least not that I am admitting too but the art on some of the bowls and lamps is awesome.

Just look at the colors

If we were able to change the light fittings in our home I would have bought one of these wonderful lamps, but as we are in transit this month of looking for a new New York home, I decided to wait until the next trip, but take a look at the wonderful colors. They made me want to stare at them for ever, I felt really inspired by them and I wanted to get my drawing book out, they gave me great ideas for the new collection.

Colorful lamps

As the week drew to a close I was quite sad to be leaving Istanbul, but happy to be getting back to New York.

The sun setting from our hotel

I love the adventures we have and  I  love always coming back to New York, where nothing surprises me, having said that on Sunday izzi and I went off to the East village to get some provisions. I was longing for a good old English Banger! (Sausage for those Americans reading this) and we went in search of Meyers of Berwick, where they sell everything British. Normally I never feel the need to eat good old English food, but when it come to sausages I am a sucker. But of course you could not leave the shop without buying a pork pie and and a sausage roll now could we! Bang goes the diet again then!

Meyers of Berwick

As we left the shop izzi and I decided to walk home in the lovely sunshine and we passed a shop that had a rather strange sign in the window. I have no idea at all what to say about this, what it was about or what they were in fact selling. Answers on a postcard please!

Answers on a postcard!

I tried to find a pair of shoes to fit, but the assistant told me that these feet were not meant to be in shoes! can you tell me what is actually wrong I ask you! LOL

And then we went into the subway at 14th street and there was a Croc eating a child…WTH ? I have no idea what the artist was thinking or why the City allowed this to be in a subway, but there you have it.

Gottcha!

So you can see why I love living in this crazy town…