Inspired by the wonderful
La Dolce Vita a few months ago, I created my own
Things I Can't Live Without . But let's be real, when 98% of your time is spent at the office, the things you can't WORK without deserve proper recognition. And YES the first one is totally obvious.
1. VENTI STARBUCKS
Obvious, yes. Cliche, yes. But there is a reason it is obvious and cliche: IT WORKS.
MK Olsen double fisting Ventis on the regular can't be wrong.
2. EXTRA STRENGTH TYLENOL IN FAMILY SIZE BOTTLE
You have to get Tylenol and not Ibuprofen in case you don't have time to eat. Tylenol can be taken on an empty stomach, yay. (My mother wouldn't be pleased with this one).
3. SHARPIE FINE POINT PEN
These are the best pens of all time and they won't bleed through paper!!! My former intern Kelly ordered these for me because she knew I only use Sharpies but didn't even know about the ones that won't bleed through paper. She took great care of me and I miss her, but her legacy lives on via my Staples order every month.
4. DELIVER LA
Even though there is the one
Token Weirdy Messenger I LOVE Deliver LA. They are like the best boyfriend ever, running around town doing things for you without any stress, and they even buy us donuts when we are especially busy! Joe, Evan, and Andrea are the dispatchers and we are basically best friends. They know our voices, they know where we live, they know all of our people. When we were putting together the guest list for our last party, we would call up Deliver LA and have them remind us of people's addresses. The guard at my building doesn't even buzz me for permission to let them in anymore, he just knows what's up. The best thing is, they know we are crazy and handle our drama like it's no big deal. One time I had to send a huge consignment to a
Vogue shoot, and at the last minute we decided to pull one of the seven pairs of black boots to send to a VIP fitting instead. I called Deliver LA, and Joe was on the walkie with the driver, who straight pulled over on Sunset Boulevard, went through all my stuff, picked out the correct black boots (which must have all looked the same in his man eyes), dropped them at the fitting, then proceeded to the
Vogue set--- all on time and without complaint. Love.
5. RED CARPET FASHION AWARDS
Other than
style.com, which is so obvious that it doesn't get its own paragraph,
Red Carpet Fashion Awards is by far the best online tool. The red carpet IS my job, and Catherine Kellon does an amazing job of promptly and comprehensively covering every major red carpet event. She always lists the designer and season of each look, along with the runway photo, which is enormously helpful for my reference. She is an absolutely lovely writer, offering brief critiques that are always spot-on and never mean-spirited. She is an excellent editor and publishes the most accurate "Best Dressed" lists, plus she has a great calendar of all the events relevant to our office. The site makes my job infinitely easier, as I am always compiling reports on each red carpet we work on, who our competitors are dressing, which other designers the VIPs we work with are wearing, and so on. Along with
WWD, I read Red Carpet Fashion Awards every day. (And our work is usually brilliantly featured, as it is in the above image, if I do say so myself). :)
6. OUR AMAZING NEIGHBORS
The drawback of having on office on Melrose is that everyone thinks we are also retail, and we have to keep the doors locked at all times lest we walk into the showroom to find shoppers wandering about (this happens on the daily and many times it's tourists who don't speak English, which is fun). The good thing about having an office on Melrose is our neighbors. Much like Deliver LA, they know we are crazy and don't mind our drama. Wether it's coming over to remind us that having our hazards on won't prevent a ticket in a red zone, inviting us to their parties, or receiving our packages when we are in and out of the office on weekends, our neighbors are amazing. We steal their parking spots and their clothes when UPS delivers to the wrong address, and they are okay with it. One time one of the neighbors came over and caught us at our desks draped in his couture mink coats, and he just thought it was hilarious. That beats a cup of sugar any day.
7. FASHION GPS
Best. Software. Ever. Made.
I don't know where I would be without
Fashion GPS to keep our extensive sample trafficking organized.
8. MY INTERNS!!!
See how cute they are even when they are slacking off to play dress up with samples?? I remember what it was like to be an intern-- to be the bottom of the bottom, to be bossed around and bear the brunt of everyone's stress for no pay. I remember what it was like to be so hungry to learn and so determined to make it, and how far away and overwhelming my goals felt. I could have never had my career without my wonderful internships, so I hope I can be a good teacher and give my own interns an enriching, valuable experience. Our office has been so lucky to have sharp, cool, amazing interns that we could definitely never live without.
