Miles of Style at Taigan

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   Leave a comment

Miles of Style at Taigan

For those of you who don’t already know about Taigan and Fetch, let me introduce you. Taigan is a beautifully designed, sophisticated, members only (membership is free) online collection of the very best specialty shops across the country (and some abroad) for almost everything – fashion, home decor, art, antiques, jewelry, gourmet food and fine gifts. Sit at home and shop from such places as Suzanne Rheinstein’s stylish Hollyhock, the luxury Relais & Chateau destination Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, or at today’s quintessence feature Susan van der Linde. Taigan’s creative director is none other than noted author Julia Reed, the former writer and editor at Vogue and longtime contributing editor at Newsweek. …

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Here Comes the Sun

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   Leave a comment

Here Comes the Sun

As you now know, I go out of my way to avoid getting sun. Despite my good sunscreens, sometimes you just don’t even want the rays. This year, I invested in a beautiful new sun hat. But not just any hat. My secret source is the fabulous Susan van der Linde store upstairs on 57th Street. This bastion of quiet elegance has the loveliest shoes, bags and spectacular hats, worthy of Ascot or the Kentucky Derby (which some of her clients buy for). Everything is totally custom. In true sartorial manner, your head is measured and fabric and accessories (if appropriate) are selected.…

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Camel Classics

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   1 Comment

Camel Classics

Of the many post ideas I had lined up, one was identical to Habitually Chic’s Chic in Camel post from last week. Not only was I going to talk about how excited I was that camel is coming back but was also going to reference the beautiful Chloe fall collection, which I’m listing here just in case you missed Heather’s post. My sartorial style tends to be tailored classic with a few surprises thrown in and this fall has tons of choices. Now if my checkbook would just cooperate… Here are some additional picks, some of which are rather reasonable.…

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Farmers’ Fare

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   1 Comment

Farmers’ Fare

My sister lives in Dutchess County, NY (Hudson River Valley) part of the time.  She has been begging me to come visit her on a day when we can go to the Vassar Farmer’s Market together. With all four kids home this summer, I haven’t made it yet, but I get vicarious pleasure from her descriptions. She swears the area is a food paradise. The vendors are all local and the produce is picked that morning, like the fruit above and zucchini below from Kessman Farms in Pawling – Stephen Kessman is the 4th generation of his family to be running the farm.…

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Who’s the fairest of them all

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   Leave a comment

Who’s the fairest of them all


Well I guess that would have to be me (no, not above). And not in terms of Snow White beauty but in terms of blue white cast. As my brother-in-law used to say to me in my SoHo days when I wore a lot more black – “you look like you crawled out from under a rock”. Now, in our dermatologically obsessed culture, that would probably be a compliment. I have been on a decades long search for effective sun screen. People say that smell is the sense most linked to memory and it must be true because summer for me will forever be associated with the scent of Sea and Ski, which really didn’t do anything preventative, evidenced by my annual bout of sun poisoning.…

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Mindbender of a weekend

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   Leave a comment

Mindbender of a weekend

So my husband and I saw both Shutter Island (on DVD) and Inception (in the theater) this past weekend. My head was spinning. Poor Leonardo DiCaprio – what a year. Can you imagine preparing for two psychological roles like that so close together? Shutter Island wasn’t bad but I thought the weak sister of the two. Clearly one needs to see Inception several times to take it all in. It is in my mind the best I’ve ever seen of this genre  – Matrix, Butterfly Effect etc. In fact maybe it’s in a category all its own. The thing that makes it so amazing is how the visuals are so essential to the plot – you have to watch on many levels at once.…

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Nantucket Bound

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   2 Comments

Nantucket Bound

I don’t think I’ll normally be writing on Sunday but I  wanted to let you know that I am leaving tomorrow for a week’s family vacation on Nantucket. Don’t worry – I have some fun posts planned for while I’m away. I’ll be scouting while I’m up there and look forward to reporting back to you with my favorite spots and hopefully some new finds. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather.

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L’Histoire d’une Chaise

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   Leave a comment

L’Histoire d’une Chaise

I have needed new chairs in my kitchen ever since we moved into this house 3-1/2 years ago. We originally had our reproduction black Hitchcock chairs with a pine table which looked great like they do here in Gil Schafer’s kitchen . But then we got a bigger cherry farm table and at the same time lost 2 of the chairs to our new overzealous lab when he was a puppy teething. So the question was what to do. First I thought wicker would be nice – a good texture and color contrast against the cherry and a slightly more contemporary feel.…

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Are We There Yet?

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   2 Comments

Are We There Yet?

This first post has been a long time coming (and not because I was writing by hand with a fountain pen). I’ve been thinking about blogging for quite a while now. As a former art director, veteran style junkie and research fanatic, you’d think I would have jumped right into the world of blogging. But as a recovering perfectionist, I didn’t want to do anything I felt wouldn’t be – well, perfect. My sister recently reminded me that with such an attitude it would probably never happen and my nagging entrepreneurial conscience kept asking, “Are we there yet?”. So with a deep breath, I am now, finally, taking the leap into the online world.

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A Little New Year’s Reminder

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Stacey Bewkes   •   Leave a comment

A Little New Year’s Reminder

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! My first resolution is to remind you all to check out the quintessence facebook page. It’s a perfect time to peruse the tantalizing tidbits not included on the blog. From Riviera real estate and fun fashion finds to tasty treats and art awareness, you’re sure to find something to easily entertain you every day!

And as an extra special new year’s treat, I’m adding eleven extra enticing entries to start 2011 off right!!

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