nate berkus

Derek Lam's Fall 2011 Collection which was presented at NY Fashion Week this morning was nothing short of glamorous.

"In this collection, I have used new combinations to make clothes that look fresh, fluid, weightless, yet also appropriate for the Fall/Winter season," says Lam. "Some of the new combinations are logical: sleeves and backs of heavier weight clothing are made of slippery cloths. The usual layering of clothes are lightened, the arm slips easily under coats; the bulk is eliminated where you don't want it."

There were tunics in flannel, doubleface jersey and military gabardine that were combined with liquid twills and laundered poplins on bottom. Dresses were sewn with jersey bodices attached to wool felt skirts and vice versa so they look sleek and also tailored. Evening dresses had leather bodices, with laundered satin or poplin full skirts, for a kind of raw and casual glamour.

"I think that Derek Lam is one of the great American designers who has given American Fashion Week something very unique and sophisticated," Andre Leon Talley, Contributing Editor to Vogue, told Luxist backstage after the show. "The clothes are modern and they give modernity a new definition. They are clothes for women who work, who are grown up and who are refined. The sense of luxury of fabric is extraordinary. The glace leva jean skirt is one of my favorites. A varsity stripe on a trouser with a red leather car coat is wonderful and is the way women want to dress. I think he is exceptional. I am always more and more impressed each season with his work and I think this is one of his most outstanding moments in his career."

From the LA Times:
--Chris Ursitti, chief executive of GreenHouse Holdings, a global energy and ethanol company in San Diego, has listed a house he built on spec in Pacific Palisades for $9.495 million. The listing is with Madison Hildebrand.
Actor and teen star Carlos Pena Jr. has bought a Mediterranean-style home in the San Fernando Valley for close to its $1.5-million asking price.
--Television writer Lyla Oliver has sold her Santa Monica home for $1.902 million.

From the NY Post:
--Jennifer Aniston was spotted touring an $8.75 million penthouse at 552 LaGuardia Place in the Village. The listing for the five-bedroom apartment is here.
--Jon Pollock, senior portfolio manager at Elliott Associates, bought three ninth-floor units last year and planned to merge them into an almost 8,500-square-foot mega-home at the Apthorp on the Upper West Side. He paid close to $14 million, but now he wants to sell. He's asking $17 million for all three units, or $11.5 million for two units he's already combined.
--Designers/reality TV couple Bob and Cortney Novogratz are redecorating 16 Minetta Lane, once home to late designer Robert Isabell, and holding a party there next week to publicize its return to the market with a $3.95 million asking price.
--Hedge-fund honcho Robert Jaffe has just purchased the five-story townhouse at 138 E. 71st St., which once belonged to Diandra Douglas, ex-wife of actor Michael Douglas for $7.25 million.
--Aaron Tighe, son of commercial real estate queen Mary Ann Tighe has just closed on a prewar co-op at 4 E. 72nd St. He and his wife, Kimberly, bought the four-bedroom, 4½-bathroom duplex for around $5.9 million.
--Jared Kushner has put his duplex at 21 Astor Place on the market for $4.1 million, and he and wife Ivanka Trump are getting ready to buy a four-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot penthouse at Trump Park Avenue. The unit is unofficially on the market for $16 million.

From TMZ:
--The Bel-Air home of Zsa Zsa Gabor is set to hit the market at $28 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Billionaire software entrepreneur Tom Siebel has sold his 62,000-acre Montana cattle ranch. The N Bar Ranch had been listed at $45 million.
--Metro Networks founder David I. Saperstein has cut the of Hummingbird Nest Ranch, his approximately 125-acre equestrian estate in Southern California from $75 million to $49.5 million. It was our estate of the day back in 2007.
--Talent manager Sandy Gallin is contracted to sell his Bridgehampton, New York estate. The home was first listed for $32 million in 2009 but was most recently priced at $20 million.


From the Real Estalker:
--Dennis Quaid may have purchased a six-bedroom home in Austin, Texas that was on the market for $12.5 million.
--Queen Latifah may be renting Jane Fonda's Atlanta, Georgia loft which is still on the market for $2.5 million. it was listed at $4.5 million when it was our estate of the day back in May 2010.

--Mel Brooks has listed a three-bedroom home in Santa Monica for $5.995 million. The listing is here.
--Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith paid $910,000 for a five-bedroom home in Woodland Hills, California that is believed to have been purchased for family or friends.

From Chicago Breaking Business:
--Interior designer and talk show host Nate Berkus has listed his seven-room, full-floor condo Chicago's Gold Coast for $2.65 million. The listing is here.

The estranged wife of Senator John Edwards isn't just an author, she's also a store owner. Home Accents today reports that Elizabeth Edwards will appear on The Nate Berkus Show on September 17 to discuss not just her life and her husband but also Red Window, her furniture store in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The store is a setting for a portion of the interview. Offering both furniture and smaller home goods, the store has been in business for about a year. A reporter from Home Accents Today last year found former Senator Edwards working at his wife's store when she popped in for a visit. It turns out that in addition to a law degree, Senator Edwards has a bachelor's degree in textile technology from N.C. State. The business appears to be a success. Red Window is currently expanding into a large warehouse space.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--via Curbed, a building at 70 Broad Street has gone on the market for $45 million. The 15,218-square-foot building can be used as an office, mixed-use property or private residence and was reportedly owned by the late spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The listing is here.
--via the NY Times, John Steinbeck's former NYC apartment is listed at $2.1 million. The listing is here.
--Vogue contributing editor Lauren Santo Domingo and her husband Andrés Santo Domingo have purchased Michael Hirtenstein's townhouse at 23 Gramercy Park South for $18.5 million. The home was used as the Showtime showcase house and rooms were decorated by interior designers to reflect the themes of various Showtime shows.
--via Curbed, Steve Schwarzman, the billionaire Blackstone Group co-founder who listed his former home in East Hampton last month for $7.2 million, has already dropped the price to $6.75 million.
--via NY Times, Gisele Bundchen already listed her Barrow Street townhouse in New York. The supermodel has also re-listed her triplex penthouse at 347 West 11th Street, which has been on and off the market for two years now. The apartment first hit the market for $10.9 million back in 2007 and is now listed for $4.5 million.
--via NY Observer, the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations has paid $4.235 million for a 2,840-square-foot apartment at Trump World Tower. The apartment will reportedly be used by Afghanistan's UN ambassador, H.E. Zahir Tanin.
--via the NY TImes, the former New Jersey home of Michael Strahan and his ex-wife Jean has gone down in price is now listed for $4.75 million.
--via NY Observer, cardboard magnate Dennis Mehiel has chopped $5.4 million off the price of his Carhart Mansion duplex. It was listed for $34.9 million but is now at $29.5 million.
--Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at Sigma Capital, a hedge fund affiliated with Steve Cohen's SAC Capital, has picked up a new penthouse at 885 Park Avenue for $8 million.
--Clara Markowicz, co-founder of Original Media LLC and a co-producer of The Rachel Zoe Project, has paid $3.55 million for an apartment at 21 Astor Place.
--Fashion photographer Alexi Lubomirski has paid $2.095 million for a two-bedroom condo at 52 East 4th Street.
--via Newsday, Richard Gere and Carey Lowell are expected to close on the sale of their Water Mill home this week. The 1.2-acre property was last listed for $7.2 million when it went into contract last month.

--via NY Observer, investor Ephraim Gildor has listed his duplex penthouse at the Park Laurel on West 53rd Street for $28 million. The listing is here.
--Terence Kawaja, a managing director at GCA Savvian Advisors, has paid $7.235 million for a 15th-floor apartment at 150 East 86th Street.
--Goldman Sachs executive Raj Sethi has put the apartment at 15 Central Park West that he bought for $4.1 million in December 2007 back on the market. It is listed at $7.1 million.
--Neil Hirsch, who founded Telerate, co-founded the Bridgehampton Polo Club in 1995, and was once married to comedy club queen Caroline Hirsch, has put his five-story townhouse at 15 Sutton Place on the market.for $12 million.
Leslie Lewis Sword, actress, writer, and daughter of the late Reginald Lewis, the former CEO of Beatrice Foods, has paid $8.136 million for an apartment at 150 East 86th Street


From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Oprah's favorite interior designer Nate Berkus has been spotted checking out a two-bedroom apartment at the Urban Glass House.
--Dutch-born financier Alex Roepers and his wife, Shafi, bought four empty acres on the ocean, right beside Dune Beach, on Meadow Lane in Southampton for around $17.5 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Former American Express Co. Chairman and CEO James Robinson III has sold his 35-acre Warren, Connecticut estate to architect Santiago Calatrava for $5.5 million, which is 25 percent below the $7.35 million asking price.
--Golfer Fred Couples has sold his Montecito, California home for $9.56 million, which is also nearly 25 percent less than the asking price.

From the Real Estalker:
--Ryan Cabrera's Hollywood home has been reduced to $1.1 million. He bought the home for $1.45 million in 2006 and has been trying to sell it since October 2008 when it was listed at $1.699 million. It's finally slid into short sale territory with a new asking price of $1.1 million.