Joseph Altuzarra

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld asked me to add talented young designer Joseph Altuzarra to her list of favorites and I am delighted to oblige her kind request. He is already listed as one of Carine's favorites, but I will focus on his relationship with Julia here so hopefully the two entries will be different. Julia says of her friend Joseph, "He has real talent and deserves to be talked about. I designed his first lookbook." Altuzarra worked for Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, and Givenchy before launching his own line for Fall 2009 with Julia styling his lookbook and Vanessa Traina modelling, oooo la la ! His first collection was 15 pieces and he was concerned that his debut be neither too cold nor too distant. I'm guessing that wasn't a problem, here's what Julia had to say upon returning from Altuzarra's first show: "I just got back from his presentation and just so proud of him. We first met through friends when he asked me to art direct his lookbook and ever since I am one of his biggest fans. It's just so nice to see such a young designer with such luxurious taste and detail oriented." He expanded the collection to 29 pieces this season and dreams of a large jewelry and shoe line in the future, sounds luxe. Julia is pictured wearing a dress from Altuzarra's first collection paired with YSL Tributes; the photographs of this collection were taken by Julia as Dazed's guest blogger for New York Fashion Week.

Joseph Altuzarra photograph courtesy of style.com
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photograph courtesy of Six Six Sick
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photographs of Joseph Altuzarra collection © 2009 Waddell Limited

James Penfold

When Julia Restoin-Roitfeld served as Dazed & Confused's guest photo blogger for New York Fashion Week in February, she caught her friend James Penfold in action. Among other talents, this former supermodel speaks Italian and has been known to DJ occasionally using the moniker "The Savoir Faire." Penfold includes an impressive array of clients in his portfolio, among them are DKNY, Burberry, Giorgio Armani, and CK Jeans. Julia captioned her photo above saying, "At the Purple Magazine dinner at Soho House with my friend James Penfold (former model and upcoming DJ. He will be performing at the Last Magazine [founded by Julia's former boyfriend Magnus Berger] party this Thursday). My friends and I are debating about his new signature look, black smudge eyeliner. So should man makeup come back as a trend? I personally quite like it!" What do you think, man makeup or no? I'd like to see how Vladimir looks in smoky eyes, it so becomes the female members of his family as well as his friend James... Heh, in the last photo even his tshirt is wearing man makeup.

James Penfold photograph by Julia Restoin-Roitfeld © 2009 Waddell Limited
Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and James Penfold photograph © 2009 Patrick McMullan
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, James Penfold, Paola Kudacki photograph © 2009 Patrick McMullan

Carita

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's favorite beauty treatment is a scrub at Carita and at home she follows this with Carita Paris Fluide De Beauté. A legend in luxurious care for Parisian skin and hair, Carita is the vision of two spirited sisters from Toulouse, Maria and Rosy Carita, who dedicated themselves to the beauty of women when they opened their first salon in 1945. By challenging the conventional ways that women styled their hair, the Carita sisters became the top stylists in Paris. This is where Catherine Deneuve goes for hair care including her distinctive color. Carita is now owned by Shiseido and has many locations throughout Paris and France including Aix, Antibes, Biarritz, Lyon, Nice, and Toulouse as well as in Monaco, Luxembourg, and Russia. Here's Julia strolling the streets of Paris, fresh faced from her treatment at Carita and carrying a goody bag for indulging in great skin at home.

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld photograph courtesy of styleandthecity.com

Orchids

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's apartment is decorated in a minimalist style with gleaming hard wood floors, stark white walls, and sleek furniture. For her colorful accents, Julia has chosen pieces of art and orchids. These gorgeous perennial plants are members of the Orchidaceae family and their flamboyant flowers are usually composed of three petals with the petal in the middle being unique in color and shape, enlarged to look almost like a lip. Julia's orchid pictured above is of the Phalaenopsis species. While researching, I was interested to learn that vanilla extract derives from a genus of orchid. Visit the Orchids Wiki to learn more about these delicate and fascinating beauties.

Photographs of Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's orchid © 2009 Todd Selby and courtesy of intothegloss.com. All Rights Reserved.

Rice

When asked to name a restaurant that she can't get enough of in New York City, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's list included "home delivery from Rice!" Looking at their tasty web site, I can see why she used an exclamation mark. Rice offers only ten dishes, but each is more savory than the last and draws on the healthiest recipes of cultures worldwide: baked black beans, vegetarian meatballs, ratatouille, warm lentil stew, thai coconut curry, indian chicken curry, thai beef salad, jerk chicken wings, satay, and vietnamese lemongrass chicken salad. Yum! The first Rice opened in 1995 and now boasts four locations for dining in or takeout in Manhattan and Brooklyn; they also cater. If you are looking for healthy food to be delivered at a reasonable cost in New York, definitely try Rice.

Rice Restaurant image courtesy of riceny.com