Profile: Bjarke Ingels - Architect

Previously featured him from a NYMag article. The New Yorker also did a piece. Check it out HERE.

Profile: Karl Lagerfeld

From troubled childhood to "boy prince of fashion." NYMag profiles Karl Lagerfeld - an article I found online that they first published in 2006.

Check it out HERE.

The New Barney's

NYMag takes us into the world of famed NYC retailer Barney's and profiles the new management team in place to reinvent the store and improve the business.

Check it out HERE.

The New York Times Isn't Dead

So says NYMag in their account of what went into the decision to raise a paywall on the NYTimes website. The article discusses publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., current and future managing editors Bill Keller and Jill Abramson as well as the general health of the newspaper industry.

Check it out HERE.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blanfein - Wisecracker

Check out NYMag's profile of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Brooklyn boy rises to the top of one of the biggest and most controversial investment bank of our time.

Article can be found HERE.

Who is China Machado?

As featured in NYMag's recent fall fashion issue, China Machado (born Noelie Dasouza Machado) was a model in the 50's and 60's discovered by famed photographer Richard Avedon and among the first non-Caucasians to be featured in high profile fashion magazines at the time. I found the article interesting because of her background (her parents are from Portugal and Hong Kong) and because she's a polyglot:

"Growing up in Shanghai’s wealthy French Concession, Machado spoke French in the streets, Portuguese at home, and Chinese to the servants." Cool.

Check out the profile HERE.
More on Avedon HERE.

The Story of J.Crew - Profiles of Mickey Drexler and Jenna Lyons

WSJ. Magazine's June 2010 cover story featured Mickey Drexler, CEO of J.Crew. The article profiled the rise of one of the most successful clothing companies in America and detailed his own personal ascension to the top of the company. With previous stints at Gap and Apple, Drexler is credited with turning around J.Crew's fortunes and together with creative director Jenna Lyons making the company into one of the most desired brands.

Coincidentally, NYMag for their September Fashion issue just recently published a profile of Lyons featuring her quirky and no-nonsense style.

Check out the Drexler profile at WSJ. Magazine HERE.

The NYMag profile of Jenna Lyons can be found HERE.

More on Drexler HERE with a link to a 2002 article about him from NYMag HERE.

Bjarke Ingels Reimagines NYC Living

Check out the NYMag article HERE.

NYMag - Establishment Issue

Last year (2010) in September, New York Magazine published their "Establishment" issue asking who really runs New York. Some of the answers were expected (Bloomberg, etc.) but some profiles featured personalities I wasn't aware of (or some who I learned more about.) Most memorable were David Tepper, Gary Barnett and Nick Denton.

Check out the articles here: Tepper, Barnett, Denton as well as the whole issue HERE. Side point, the New Yorker did a piece on Nick Denton of Gawker around the same time - check it out HERE.

New Hotel Life in NYC

New York Magazine recently did a piece on the new wave of "boutique" or "lifestyle" hotels cropping up around the city. The headline for the article is "Checkout Time is 4AM" and profiles some of the great hoteliers developing unique spots around town geared to the young professional looking to hang out and party in style...all night long.

A few of these spots include The Standard, Gansevoort, Gramery Park, Ace, Bowery, etc. - the list goes on. They are spaces that take design and aesthetics into serious consideration and truly reflect (and in some cases create) the downtown vibe. They embody the "hotel-as-nightlife" experience and have been very successful in attracting true New Yorkers, not simply tourists visiting for a weekend.

Three men in particular are at the forefront of these developments: Andre Balazs of the Standard Hotel, Ian Schrager of the Gramercy Park Hotel and Michael Achenbaum of Hotel Gansevoort. Each property is truly distinct and takes advantage of its locale. They've created environments that foster "personal interaction," which in this day and age of digital friendship is really interesting and under-appreciated. These players are fastidious with their designs and leave no minute detail untouched. Andre Balazs in particular is so stylish he was recently featured in a Brioni ad campaign.

Check out the NYMag article HERE.

Inspired by Lady Gaga?

No, not because of her insane get-ups or crazy antics but more because of her approach to life and celebrity.

Lady Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta here in NYC, is arguably the world's biggest pop star. Her songs are all over the radio, her elaborate music videos are all over YouTube (in fact, her video for Bad Romance became the most viewed clip on the site) and she's (in)famous for her insane outfits.

NYMag did a profile of Lady Gaga a few weeks ago which talked about her rise to fame and growing up as an outcast in New York. It's pretty interesting how she came to embody this absurd caricature and has been embraced the world over. Most significantly, she seems really down-to-earth, self-aware and completely in control (in line with interviews with Barbara Walters and the Fuse music network). Very impressive.

I was most struck by her quote about becoming a celebrity and making an impact: "I’m talking about creating a genuine, memorable space for yourself in the world." Something to aspire to, I guess.

Read the article HERE.

Keith McNally: Restaurant Empresario

A few weeks ago, NYMag did a great profile (as usual) on Keith McNally, the mastermind behind some of the city's top food spots: Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, Pastis, Pravda, etc.

He just opened Pulino's, a more casual place with Nate Appleman in the kitchen serving pizza and butchering his own meat. Read the article HERE.

Premium Meat Provider: Pat LaFrieda

Read this interesting article in NYMag about Pat LaFrieda Wholesale Meat Purveyors. They do custom blends and special orders providing the meat for some of the most high-profile restaurants in the city. Given the hamburger craze that's been taking over lately, he's kind of a big deal. A couple of his most famous clients include: Minetta Tavern (Black Label Burger), Shake Shack, Union Square Cafe and Kefi.

Read the article HERE.

The New Russians

Just read an article in New York Magazine about the "new Russians" exemplified by Mikahil Prokhorov. The piece identifies what used to be four "distinct varieties" making up the Russian community in New York arranged by when they arrived in the country, with what mentality and for what reasons.

1) Heirs of exiled Czarist-era blue bloods, paper-skinned, cradling their titles; you’ve probably met one if you ever took a ballet class.
2) Soviet immigrants of the seventies, the generation of Joseph Brodsky that would never let you forget their plight.
3) The “sausage immigration” of the nineties, mostly Jewish, mostly provincial, seduced less by freedom than by comfort yet squeaking in on political-refugee papers: More than 60,000 came to the U.S. in 1992 alone.
4) There were the latest arrivals, treating New York as a prize for having made it in Moscow: the cocky, scowling post-Soviet oligarchs and Fifth Avenue shoppers.

Pretty interesting. Read the article HERE.

Also check out the "Russian Invasion" listing famous Russians in New York starting with Emma Goldman in 1885 through Prokhorov in 2009. View it HERE.

The Golden Age of Sandwiches

Sandwiches are great. Casual, self-contained little packages of deliciousness with infinite opportunity for creativity are not new but they have been evolving. From recent posts on Serious Eats and New York Magazine, it seems that we're living in a golden age of sandwiches. I couldn't agree more.

Serious Eats has a "sandwich-a-day" feature which lists a great sandwich in the city usually with a hunger-inducing accompanying picture. See it HERE.

NY Mag recently posted a guide to New York's 101 finest sandwiches. Check it out HERE. They also have a few accompanying articles on the sandwich evolution (I've been putting potato chips on my sandwiches for years already, btw) and some helpful tips on sandwich construction.

Good eats. Thank you John Montagu.