I was born with fashion in my blood. My mother and aunts were all fashionistas. My mother loves clothes and is such a shopaholic…she would take me shopping for long vigorous hours each week. I always had a great eye for fashion. My mother also loved vintage shopping which also heightened my love for fashion. I guess she passed it onto me and I made a career out of it. I remember being 9 years old and telling my old school Afghani parents that I was moving to New York one day to work in fashion. I used to watch the Style segment on CNN with Elsa Klench and just dream about being there one day.

Marlen’s fav dish, was excellent Grilled Duck Breast w/ Kumquat reduction-In fact, he wanted seconds-instead, we tried Crispy Duck Breast/Garlic Gravy. Skip the Peking Duck Summer Rolls, until they add more duck. The “sea” choices are first-rate- If you’re into whole fish, the Crispy Red Snapper is fantastic. Pad Thai “Omelette” is an unusual take on this classic dish.

Its fashion week again! Yay! I decided this Fall/ Winter 2010 fashion week to get to know more independent designers and showcase them. Everyone and their mom is covering New York Fashion Week via style.com. (I will still be covering shows I attend). So the first designer I bring to you is Hernan Lander.

Anything Chaka Khan is a part of, is worth listening to, and Incognito front-man Jean Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick, after 30 years in the music game, knows this too well as he ropes her in to lead off the LP on “Lowdown” which incorporates Boz Scaggs’ classic of the same title, and also features Italian singer Mario Biondi, who adds his deep, baritone vocals alongside Chaka’s. Thank God for groups like Incognito and Bluey leading the way, reviving a genre – that being Acid Jazz – that is beyond me on how it just sort of fell out of the limelight.

The brainchild and success of its two founders Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister (of Kruder & Dorfmeister, Peace Orchestra, Tosca fame), G-Stone Recordings from Vienna, Austria over the last 16 years throughout the European electronic music scene and armed with some of these memorable, ‘cuss-free’ classics here, has been quite a remarkable and consistent story. Since 1995, when the term and concept of ‘electronica’ seemed hard to grasp, through new artists such as Marsmobil on her lounge-like “Patience,” or Makossa & Megablast on their chill-out grooves on “Coming Home” featuring the extra-soulful Hubert Tubbs, fans were starting to abandon traditional mainstream radio programs and tap into what a lot of fed-up DJs, underground/alternative stations and the birth of public internet had to offer.

The scene is New York City, and the classic punk rock movie from the year 1980, stars Billy (Richard Hell), who Nada (Carole Bouquet) – a gorgeous French journalist on assignment in NYC – falls in love with. The move is tricky, since she herself, is already in a relationship with a fellow journalist, who makes this movie even more exciting based on his assignment – tracking down the elusive Andy Warhol, who plays himself here. With the Ramones and the Voidoids performing live, lost but never forgotten crucial scenes of landmarks such as CBGB define this era of punk rock’s vibrant yet sleazy, grimy past

It’s really difficult to compare the sounds of Chico Mann in its entirety to any one particular group you’ve ever been familiar with. Maybe Senor Coconut’s cover of Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express (Cumbia)” comes to mind? But that was one song, while Chico Mann’s entire vibe is blessed with such an authentic diversity. So to attempt at any comparison you’ll have no choice but to gather a couple artists such as Afrika Bambaattaa & The Soul Sonic Force, Fela Kuti & Africa 70 and Buena Vista Social Club – combine all their distinctive elements and envision all those sounds working incredibly together.

On March 4th 2010, LOUISVUITTON.COM will pre-launch limited edition Anniversary Collection Monogram Shawls in three different styles: the Monogram Rock Shawl in Bleu Nuit, Monogram Pois Shawl in Cassis, and the gorgeous Monogram Denim Bleached Shawl in Rose and Bleu