Forty Four Presidents, An MZA/Maria Sputnik Joint

Taft in the bath! Harding versus squirrels! Cleveland and Coolidge's love lives!

Get your own paper version and other neato comics at Maria Sputnik's Creepy Box of Treasure. The cost is a mere $2.50. Did somebody say stocking stuffer?

La Mer

Angling for Aigles

Le Riding

The English have their Wellies and the Germans their Hessian boots. The French have evolved a slightly more elegant, streamlined take on the knee-high riding boot, popular since Napoleon donned them.

Note the signature burgundy-colored cuffs

They were de rigueur for any wind-swept-haired, high-necked scarved, waistcoated French Dandy.
In the 1850's the technology of using rubber in manufacturing was new and exciting: the Aigle boot was born in France and within four years the company was producing, by hand, 14,000 pairs of boots per day. They remain the crème de la crème of rubber boots. They are also the only rubber boots I've seen that can be mistaken for leather--never shiny, very rich looking. The cuffs are lined in leather and the insides are soft and cushy.

Me, I'll be wearing mine with slim trousers and trying my best to channel Tilda Swinton in the above scene from Orlando. You can join me--we will be stocking the boots for the Holidays. Put them on your wishlist now!

Wonderland Secret Sale

Follow the secret link through the rabbit hole where you will enter a magic version of Le Train Bleu where everything is discounted 30% off (discount will appear as things are added to your cart). Shh...for our VIP's only.

Coming to LTB for the Holidays: Kuehn Keramik

Christmas Tree Ball

In time for the holidays we will be stocking the Kuehn Keramik line from Berlin which features both useful and impractical ceramic objects with a tongue in cheek nod to surrealism. Special orders welcome--have a look at the current catalog here: Kuehn Keramik.

Wines and Makers

I hope all of you had a friend like my friend Andrea when you were coming of age. She is my most fabulous friend, the person who taught me about the advantages of being a grown-up, the person who showed me that it was better to smoke and drink less so you could go for Sapphire Gin and Nat Sherman's rather than Monarch and Old Gold's. I was 20 when we shared a house together and I never caught her schlepping around in sweatpants--she wore vintage silk kimonos and red lipstick for that. And she knew how to make crepes. Crepes!

Now I realize that she was a budding MFK Fisher, who also had a thing for lipstick and good food. It makes sense that Andrea would find her way to the California wine country where MFK lived and that her home would become everybody's favorite place to be. Andrea is the best host I've ever known--there's always a glass of wine in your hand within the first 2 minutes of entering her house and she'll cook you and 6 other friends an elaborate, candle-lit dinner and then come outside afterward to work on your car in a velvet dress. Yeah, she knows about cars too!

I would turn to my Dolce Vita friend for wine advice before anyone else and now you can turn to her too. She and her husband Kevin have recently launched a terrific online store based in Healdsburg California called Wines and Makers. There are lovingly chosen recipes to pair with the wines, exclusive videos and interviews with winemakers, a very fun blog, and wine clubs where you can get some great deals and leave the choosing in the hands of the experts.

This just came to my door in space-age packaging, and was quickly enjoyed. Yum!

Folk Machine 2007 Pinot Noir.

Francoise Hardy - Tous les Garcons et les Filles