Last week at Cinespace, fashion blogger Diane Pernet and photographer Dino Dinco debuted the You Wear It Well fashion film festival, presenting an opportunity for L.A. fashionistas to see rarely screened films and get inside the minds behind the mode. It was a very haute affair for the City of Angels (not a skatewear video in sight), and the event brought out stylist Arianne Phillips and her pal Jeremy Scott, Booth Moore from the L.A. Times, and Cameron Silver of Decades. Viewers sat through three hours of shorts that went from silly ("Hello Kitty's Birthday," featuring a model in a big papier mache head) to sublime ("Diversity is a Form of Wealth," Nick Knight's moving look at a John Galliano runway show that used circus performers and regular folk instead of models on the catwalk). Liam Sullivan's goofy ode to "Shoes" won the audience award, and although I cracked up along with everybody else I couldn't help but notice that the fetishized footwear was more Payless than Prada. Jeremy Scott's soap opera spoof "Starring" deliberately trampled all over that line, and his A-list cast included Tori Spelling, Asia Argento, China Chow, Lisa Marie, and Amber Valletta in faux commercials for "Couture" - "when I get cramps."

I cast my vote for Ruben Toledo's "Fashionation" (still of Karl Lagerfeld and the Chanel team, pictured above), a whimsical, animated history of French fashion that began by defining couture, ran through the alphabet from Azzedine Alaia to Balenciaga to Dior to Gaultier to Sonia Rykiel (who said that "the sweater is a part of my soul") and and finished with "Zee end." It was absolutely adorable, and an excellent primer too! Diane Pernet's "Adventure of Pleasure (Gumball Rally)" was a documentary style look at designer Eley Kishimoto's participation in the Gumball Rally car race.

Although many of the films were international, Pernet's partner Dino Dinco said he wanted to kick off the event in the capital of cinema. "It would have been almost too obvious to start it in New York," he said. "Plus, the interesting fashion is starting on the West Coast." Of course, we already knew that, right?

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It was my birthday this past weekend, and though the Leo in me usually takes a whole week to celebrate, this year I've got another birth on my mind- the one I'll be enduring when my little one comes in early November. Still, I had a hubby who wanted to spoil me and I just couldn't let the double whammy of being a pregnant lady and a birthday girl at the same time go by without taking a little advantage. As I said, I am a Leo.

So it was off to Tiffany's, the famed jewelry store, which I've shockingly never been to though I've lived in LA all my life. I love hearts, but I didnt want the typical Tiffany thick chain heart stuff that every spoiled rich girl in Beverly Hills gets when she turns 13. Seriously, the crowded shop was teenybopper central- and this stuff is expensive! The Frank Gehry line was too arty farty for me and the diamond stuff... well, maybe I'll go for that after I pop out the kid. I opted for a beautiful sterling silver pendant on a delicate chain with a column of three hearts stacked on top of each other. For me, it symbolizes my new family to be. So sweet, it makes ya wanna puke huh?
Since I've never done the Rodeo Drive stroll, I decided to check out all the fabulous designer stores filled with gorgeous stuff I can't afford, and though I didn't think I'd see any celebrities (it was the weekend after all), I thought there'd be at least a few plastic surgery junkies toting their Louis Vuittons around. But Rodeo on a Saturday is more tourist than ritz: it was a sea of flip flops and bermuda shorts, Disneyland for window shoppers.

After perusing Dolce and Gabbana, Versace and Gucci, it looks like leopard print stuff is back again (yay!) and gold is the metal of choice (boo! it's so gaudy). I also checked out the new Prada skirt exhibit which displays some of the fashion house's best known prints as spinning lamps and flattened out circle-like paintings. Here's a shot of my favorite, the classic lip print skirt, which I have coveted ever since it came out. Ebay searches for it have been fruitless thus far. Not that I'd be able to find one that fits right now anyway.

Keeping with the I'm-a-starlet theme, I decided to dine at Geisha House on Hollywood Blvd. for dinner that night, and again, it being a Saturday, there were no Entourage-like posses to be seen. In fact, the weekend warrior "special occasion" crowd was in full effect (awkward-looking first dates, a few other birthday parties, and 3 bridal shower dinners complete with blow-up dolls).
Didn't matter though. The atmosphere was bumpin,' the food was suprisingly good (though a little pricier than normal Japanese food) and the company (my lovin' spouse) was the best! Soon enough romantic dinners, much less entire days of doing whatever my heart desires, will be a thing of the past... or so everyone keeps telling me. Dunno if that'll really be the case, but after 37 years of it being all about me, I think I'm ready.

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Apparently, the ladies love songs about strippers falling in love. "Perfect Gentleman!!" they screamed at Wycleff Jean during his performance at the Saturn, Hurley, X Games 12 party (whew, that was a mouthful of sponsorship). And, ok, I was one of them. I think I've cried listening to that song. I don't know if it's when Cleff offers her 20 grand to show him a little more skin, or when he called up his mama and told her he's in love with a stripper yo, but something about the ditty is romantic, a Showgirls meets Cinderella story. So when Wycleff invited anyone who was game up on stage during that number, I jumped, literally, at the chance to shake it like I got no bones in my body and I was made to be a celebrity with him and a handful of hot chicks.

I have to admit, at first it was sad seeing Wycleff walk out down the runway, alone, with a big ass Saturn poster behind him. It felt a little "Spinal Tap and Puppet Show-ish." And then he performed "Ready or Not," with Lauren Hill's voice looped in the background, something about it was depressing, like watching an only child play with imaginary friends. Jean didn't seem to mind though, he just kept berating his roadies, and plugging Saturn.

Corporate sponsorship parties can make you a little sick, this one did have great food, great cocktails, but it also had a Hurley fashion show featuring models popping out of Saturn's new hybrid car, the effect of which was like watching an Old Navy ad, crossed with a circus, crossed with a Chevy Commercial (I will say Hurley's come a long way from surf trunks and bikinis). And of course there were performances by Djs, the guys who sing the theme song for The OC and Wycleff. Despite all the pushing of product, Wycleff gave it up, played Carnival, Guantanamera, he even performed cunnilingus on his guitar, and hip hopped our socks off— it was enough to make you forget you were in a parking lot behind the El Capitan.

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