This event will be both in-person and livestreamed. If you are in the city that night would love to see you! If not it’s live-streamed too. Link to register. https://www.accidentalicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LIVE_031224_Social_1080x1350.mp4 ..read more

  “I don’t like to throw things away, but I also have the ability to end chapters of my life.” Helmut Lang It is one month away from the launch of my book. There has been a flurry of interviews, podcasts, other media and press events. There are many requests for photos, not of who I am today, but who I was as Accidental Icon at the height of her fame. There are requests to do style posts on TikTok. I have found this challenging as like the former fashion designer and now artist, Helmut Lang, I am not someone who likes to dwell upon or live in the past. When asked to comment on fashi ..read more

Very excited to announce the launch of my memoir, How To Be Old, coming March 12, 2024. If you can preorder here it is very helpful to new authors as they convert into sales on launch day and the more you have the more attention the book will receive. Just a reminder that these days I am doing my writing on Substack. They have a free newsletter email service, unlike the old one I used to use here which was extremely expensive. So here’s a link, the subscription is free.  I think you’ll enjoy my most recent essay, Stranger in the Mirror. I miss your comments and engagement so please do ma ..read more

Today I’m sharing a short essay I wrote for the magazine, This Curious Life, published by the National Innovation Centre Aging. I’m asked before fashion week what I will wear or what style I prefer. When I hesitate, the person asking will offer up words like avant-garde, minimalist, punk, vintage or classic. My answer: none of the above. My style is an intuitive and experimental approach that encompasses the reality of my lived experiences and my history. I get inspired by fashion shows where designers have unique interpretations of our times or challenge norms. Like them, my style i ..read more

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to share the cover of my memoir, “How To Be Old”. I am especially grateful to my blog readers who over the years encouraged me to write a book and complimented my writing. Here’s a link to preorder and again many, many thanks! https://bit.ly/HowToBeOld   ..read more

Today I head back to the city. I discover there are certain things I can only find there. While I love my new home on the Hudson, there are just some experiences of my former life that are irreplaceable. This includes having a haircut with my Japanese hair stylist Jun. I’ve tried a few stylists up here, but they just don’t seem to know how to handle my stubborn, thick, and straight hair. My hair resists them. Another is a bagel shop close to the salon. A trip to Jun always involves a bagel and coffee. Today is no different. I’ve stopped having manicures because I can’t find a place like the o ..read more

It’s Sunday morning. Sleeping in for me is now 7:30 AM since during the week I am up at 5. Calvin is already up and I can smell the freshly ground coffee. I enter my “new/old” kitchen with its cheery buttercup yellow cupboards. Light streaks across the golden heart pine floor. The room glows. My hand curls around the green ceramic mug that holds my coffee. It’s the same color as the walls. Warmth flows from it into my hand. My eye is caught by the color of this week’s $3.99 Trader Joe’s bouquet. A small treat that brings pleasure all week long. The budget bunches of flowers last longer than o ..read more

let oneself go act in a uninhibited way. “you need to unwind and let yourself go” become careless or untidy in one’s habits or appearance. “he’s really let himself go since my mother died”   It’s that time of year when people take the opportunity of a new year, beginning to reset, change a behavior, develop a new habit, or achieve goals that have eluded them throughout the previous year. This upcoming year will be an eventful one for me. I will turn 70. My first book as a non-academic writer will be published. Caregiving for my grandson will no longer be five 6AM-4:00PM days a week an ..read more

I wrote a post on Instagram about Knots. So many women related to it, I thought I would write about it here too. I am usually so impatient when I try to unravel one that I end up making it tighter and harder to separate out the strands. The knot I am fingering and trying to be patient about getting undone is trying to sort out the difference between Purpose, Identity, and Work. I’m having trouble distinguishing between them. I have always functioned like work contained them all. My work has always defined my identity. When asked, what I do, the answer has always been, “I’m a social worker, I ..read more

Today I am getting dressed to go pumpkin picking with my granddaughter, grandson, daughter, son-in-law, and Calvin. It’s cool and overcast, so I’m happy to wear an oversized light grey, sustainably made sweater I recently received as a gift. The first I have not declined in a long time. What I liked about it was that it could be a sweater that any woman, playing any role, could wear. I add the softest suede Loro Piana loafers with a tassel, also light grey, a reminder of one of the last shoots I did for MyTheresa. I wear my oldest pair of jeans, they still fit comfortably. I got them before I ..read more