presents Archives - Elena Bowes

My Three Wise Women – Christmas Shopping Made Easy

Elena Bowes — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 02:31:55 +0000

People ask me how I met Stretch- the best way, I say, through friends. He was vetted by people I trust and like, passed all quality controls so I didn’t need to fret about any of those nagging first date questions- could this person with a big smile sitting across from me be a closet serial killer, own a chatty parrot, or have smelly feet?

Shopping for a man is a lot like shopping for a winter coat. Don’t do it alone. Get advice from those in the know. If I shop blind (for men or anything really apart from toothpaste) I get into trouble. Witness my new winter coat…

Ahhh, that will keep me warm, I thought to myself as I looked through the shop window.

I will now spend the winter looking like a giant caterpillar, a warm one, but still.

Dear readers, take my advice and don’t shop blind this Christmas season. I have asked three trusted, capable and very different friends for their tips. You can thank me later.

For all things original and unique, I defer to Sara, who herself is an original.

Sara proves that it’s possible to be a hippie and live across the street from the Met. She is a free spirit who is as likely to recommend a stocking stuffer that costs $30 as $3,000. All of them will be special and cool. All are small businesses that she found scrolling Instagram.

Amazon doesn’t need me, she says.

Below are Instagram shots of Sara’s faves. From chocolate to ceramics to coats, she’s got your back. First up – Harlem Chocolate Factory . Sara recommends the assorted box.

Looking for unusual holiday decorations to wow your Covid pod? Look no further than Glitterville Studios in Knoxville Tennessee…

I’m a sucker for a pretty bowl (what Stretch mistakenly calls clutter). These beauties below are made in Beirut, and can be shipped anywhere.

Next comes funky fashion label I Love Libertine … If you can’t go to Versailles, why not have Versailles come to you?

And finally, for that sun-filled cashmere throw you’ve been dreaming of – Saved NY has got just the one …

Next we go cerebral to my childhood friend Natalie and her puppy Bean…

While Natalie and I have moved around a lot since growing up in San Francisco, we’ve remained firm friends throughout. She is an avid reader, and we have the same taste in books. In short, she’s my go to for all things bookish. Here’s her book list for this special lockdown season.

Favorite of the year was hands down This Tender Land – William Kent Krueger – love a book when you fall in love with so many of the characters, says Natalie.

My other top fave was American Dirt (Jeanine Cummins) – it’s a fabulous listen (I gasped out loud as I tromped endlessly through the woods in early COVID), but everyone I know who has read it loved it as a read too.

I loved The Dutch House (Ann Patchett) but that may be too last year… (I only read it this year). Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys was just plain excellent (if gut wrenching). Also from last year but recently in paperback is Sarah Blake’s The Guest Book – her handling of race and anti-semitism within the context of a WASPY Maine summer house was really well done. IMHO

Aside from American Dirt for great listens, Anne Glenconner’s Lady in Waiting – was just divine – and if anyone feels like “rereading” Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, Colin Firth’s reading of it is pretty damned fabulous.

For pure blissful trash, Kevin Kwan of Crazy Rich Asian fame delivers again in Sex and Vanity.

Winking at me next is Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman. I am also kind of excited about Elena Ferrante’s new book The Lying Life of Adults.

From the head we move south to the heart – My friend Lara is angelic without being annoyingly virtuous. She’s intuitive, generous, funny and always finds the best of what’s out there. Here she is with her healing crystals and a lovely painting by her daughter Natalia

Lara’s top tips:

For those in London, check out the House of Wisdom Studio for its rich array of classes in all things peaceful and nurturing – Give a gift that restores the soul – Lara recommends the Studio’s classes with crystal singing bowls or a gong bath. Sounds good to me. Or for those at home (ie most of us), Lara suggests giving that special person a reiki session on zoom from LA-based clairvoyant and spiritual healer Karie Gonia. Lara’s last idea is my personal fave: a post-vaccine stay at Maison Ila, a yogic healing and wellness retreat in the Pyrenees – it looks heavenly – what a way to usher in 2021.

December, 2020

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Two Quirky Shops on the Upper East Side – Creel & Gow, Hayward House

Elena Bowes — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 00:53:51 +0000

If you’re wandering through Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side on the lookout for something eye-catching, unusual and very much one-of-a-kind then amble over to East 70th street between Park and Lexington avenues. There, on a quiet, tree-lined residential street sits a charming boutique in what was once the stables to prominent architect Grosvenor Atterbury’s townhouse.

Creel & Gow is a delightful shop, a cabinet of curiosities owned by two avid collectors – Paris-based Jamie Creel

and former Sotheby’s expert and transplanted Brit Christopher Gow .

The morsel-sized shop packs a big punch with exotic nature-based accessories from such far-flung corners of the globe as North Korea, Colombia and Timbuktu.

Looking for a Nigerian headdress to wow your friends? My sister thinks her bridge group will be green with envy.

Or perhaps a Mayan loin cloth? Or both? Together!

We always come back and put things with feathers or textiles in the deep freeze for a month to kill all eggs and things, reassures Gow.

This taxidermic moose below with its antlers carved in Bali would inject some punch into any fireplace …

Creel & Gow is porn for globetrotters, especially if the friendly owners are in town and not scouring the world for exotic finds to bring home. They admit they are both obsessed with travel.

Gow estimates he’s been to 180 countries, 17 this year alone including Guam, Eritrea and Easter Island. What’s still on his list? Papua New Guinea, Libya, Chad, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

My wanderlust drives me to countries that are difficult to reach or not the usual places tourists visit … As time goes by I come back more and more empty-handed as the world seems to be shrinking and the original factor or the quality factor is lacking.

While Gow laments how much harder it is to unearth original treasures, it’s hard to tell that by browsing in the shop. Boredom is not an option.

This taxidermic zebra from South Africa commands centre stage …

Some hand-loomed placemats from Bhutan required Gow to sip not one, but two cups of rancid yak butter tea to seal the deal.

Creel, just back from Sumba, Indonesia, shipped some pig sticks to 70th Street. Of course. Next stop Tangiers and Mozambique.

Who knows what finds Creel & Gow will next pack in their carry-on?

Smack next door to Creel & Gow is Hayward House, a luxurious shop on the first floor of Grosvenor Atterbury’s arts & crafts mansion. Launched by Marin Hopper in tribute to her star-studded parents – actor, photographer, general Hollywood legend and bad boy Dennis Hopper and the glamorous, chic actress, writer Brooke Hayward. The shop is divided into two parts, yin and yang,

mother …

father …

The Hayward section carries gorgeous python, alligator and crocodile hand bags made at Hayward Finesse, a Manhattan-based factory on 33rd street that ranks as the longest family-operated handbag factory in the U.S.

On the other side of the shop is the macho Hopper menswear side …

with iconic photographs, Stetson hats, menswear and jewellery. The Dodge hat below is a collaboration between Stetson and Hopper. Below is Hayward manager Jimmy Broadlick modelling the look …

This hip copper jewellery

is designed by the just as hip Brooklyn-based designer Burkindy from Burkina, Faso in West Africa.

Definitely ask to use the loo. The educational wallpaper is lined with a famous friends (Jane Fonda and Jack Nicholson to name a few) and family-tree wallpaper. All the bathroom reading material one could possible desire.

July, 2016

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