Category: accessories

Olive Branch Menorah by Michael Aram

Cold Cream 'n' Roses
Olive Branch Menorah by Michael Aram

I discovered this beautiful piece at Carter & Spence, a gift shop in Warrenton, Virginia. I thought that the olive branch sculpture would be a great centerpiece for our dining table. Moreover, it would extend the Mediterranean theme we created by the display of all the pottery my husband and I bought in Greece.

Then I flipped over the sculpture and saw the holes for candles. Only then did I realize that it was a menorah, proving that you don’t have to celebrate Chanukah to enjoy this piece.

Happy Chanukah to all our readers who celebrate the holiday!

Selling Radical Chic to Teens

Cold Cream 'n' Roses2 Comments
Radical Chic was a term coined by author Tom Wolfe to describe the soiree in which the late Leonard Bernstein hosted members of the Black Panther militant group. More recently, several retailers that market to teenage girls have been selling scarves resembling keffiyehs. The keffiyeh has been traditionally worn by men in the Middle East, and was particularly associated with the late Yassir Arafat, who wore the keffiyeh to cover his bald pate.

There has been an uproar over selling keffiyehs, as many people associate the keffiyeh with terrorism.

Below is an example from Urban Outfitters:

An ironic name for this scarf

This type of “radical chic” is reflected in T-shirts carrying the image of Che Guevara; even the perfumeur Le Labo has used Che’s image to portray its fragrance line as “revolutionary.” (hat tip: Beauty Addict)