The Nero Chronicles: September 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

Of Friday and Fear-Facing

It's Friday, fair Nerophytes.

So go ahead, tackle something terrifying.

Labels: Image blogger's own |

5 comments |

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Of Glam Bam Thankya Ma'am

Because sometimes, being a haute shot just works best.

Here, designer and sartorial siren Veronica Swanson Beard

shows us just how it's done NYC-side, in her multi-hued, more-is-more home base.

Check out the goods, y'all.

Labels: Images via Harper's Bazaar |

9 comments |

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Oh-So Calypso

All things haute-hippie-chic be praised, fair Nerophytes.

Calypso St. Barth is coming to Houston.

As if danger didn't lurk around every corner already, y'all.

Labels: Image via Calypso St. Barth |

2 comments |

Nero's confessed it before, when this blog was but a baby, toddling about in its infancy -- more than a penchant, an undying affection for Asiana. And no brand captures this fantasy quite like Chinese luxury house Shanghai Tang. Nero's got an ongoing yen to time travel back to the legendary Shanghai of the 1920's, where everything was bowed crimson lips and lacquer and liquor and French Concession hijinx. So naturally, when I start to feel the urge coming on, I pop over to Shanghai Tang to scratch the itch. The luxury purveyor's latest Autumn/Winter collection, "From China with LOVE," which was shot in Beijing by famed photographer Chen Man and stars celebrities Hu Bing and Lin Chiling, is just the thing to put a touch of Shanghai swing in your step. An upbeat marriage of modern Chinese style staged in some of the capital's most ancient landmarks, the highbrow campaign oozes elegance without taking itself too seriously. Nero's deliberately left the credits on the images because, well, besides the fact that Chinese calligraphy is just beautiful, a jacket dubbed "urban warrior" or a dress called "mystic lace" make the whole package all the more appealing. Now, who's up for a little tai chi and double happiness?

Labels: All images via Shanghai Tang |

3 comments |

Monday, September 26, 2011

On Fall and Feeling Bookish

Monday seems as good a day as any for feeling bound to all things bookish

and daydreaming of froth-topped coffee in rooms like these.

5 comments

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Of Rara Avis and Foul Fowl

It is interesting, fair readers, the speed with which ordinary objects -- newly-minted characters -- ascend and join the ranks of everyday iconography. Case in point, Angry Birds -- the loud, the squawking, the foulest of fowl, all beady eyes and pointy beaks and fluster. Will they be this generation's smiley face? As recognizable and loaded as the peace sign was to our parents? As touching as an arrow-crossed heart carved into a trunk? Probably not. And yet it's only fair, methinks, to be inclusive. Eliminate the pecking order, invite them over and let them sit awhile. Perhaps in so doing they'll take the time to chew some seed, prune their feathers, calm their nerves and maybe, just maybe, they'll go home a little less angry.

Labels: Images blogger's own |

4 comments |

Friday, September 23, 2011

A Memo from M&O

The Maison & Objet trade fair, equivalent to the design oracle, has come to a close in Paris, ushering in a flurry of new ne plus ultra movements to the world of decor. To find out more about what trends are going nowhere fast and what latest-greatest novelties should join your must-have list, slip into your flashiest sneakers, feign a moody mine and swizzle this way.

Labels: Images via the Wall Street Journal |

3 comments |

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Brandishing Beauty with Brandolini

The latest Town & Country magazine -- the one with the Lauren and Lauren lovebirds cozied up on its cover -- houses a smooth piece about the ever-chameleonic Muriel Brandolini, quietly ensconced between hoot 'n holler high society shots and sedately lavish jewelry ads. Nero's long admired Brandolini, who for many years had the chutzpah to hang a flying dutchman chandelier -- a crystal bateau ivre -- aloft over her living room, along with countless other follies evidenced in her rich and decadent body of work. In Nero's eyes, Brandolini's excesses signal a love for adventure and an open invitation to reinvent and reinterpret. Which is just, it would appear, what she's done. On the cusp of her next life's chapter, the designer has published a book, debuted a furniture line and is bringing down the gavel on an epic auction of her own possessions staged to sell by Brandolini herself. "I'm a bit weird," says the artiste -- Amen, echoes the choir.

Labels: Images via Town and Country |

0 comments |

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

With Madrid on the Mind

Today this clean-lined yet eclectic Spanish apartment makes a charming case for freshly layered living. It's the sort of space that in not so many words says, "Oye, feel free to pop by any time."