What I Am Loving Right Now

Though it's easy to pile on chunky costume jewelry at night, sometimes I want an accent piece that doesn't dominate. Barcelona-based jewelry line Bandada makes angular, eye-catching sterling silver and gold-plated jewelry that won't overpower the rest of your ensemble. The duo behind the brand started out as graphic designers, and their geometric creations have an arty, sculptural feel. My current favorite is the Cubeoctahedron ring, a modern, multifaceted piece that works for day or night. The baubles come in small and large sizes, so you can wear one alone for an understated look or layer on silver and gold.

Bandada's Cubeoctahedron silver and gold-plated rings, $65 to $110 each at SupermarketHQ.com.

DesigNYC Pairs Pro Bono Designers With Nonprofits

DesigNYC opened its first public showcase last week at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, after months of working to connect socially conscious design firms with nonprofits and city agencies. The goal? To put design resources where they're needed most: in the public sector.

The team from Tribeca multimedia design firm TODA stood clustered near its presentation, clutching bottles of Brooklyn Brewery Summer Ale and explaining the significance of their pro bono undertaking for Added Value, a Governors Island community garden. With the "adjustments" in the economy, as creative director of visual communication Marcos Chavez put it, TODA had been reevaluating what graphic design meant to the firm, and arrived at the idea that their work should revolve less around slick graphics and more around doing good.

Other community groups and city agencies that stand to benefit from the pilot project's design partnerships include the Bronx River Alliance, Bed-Stuy Farm Share, the LES Ecology Center, and Crown Heights' Nostrand Park.

Paola Antonelli, desigNYC founding committee member and senior curator of MoMA's architecture and design department, elaborated: “Your brain needs to keep working even though you don’t have work," she said. "So we’re thinking, all of these designers and all these architects were out of work, and there were people in need of design ... We believe that design is not only an embellishment, [but] that it’s really something empowering.”

Toward the end of the evening, Ed Schlossberg, another founding committee member and the chairman of ESI Design, gave the desigNYC mission statement a final summary: “So much about design is the will to make something happen, and so much about nonprofit organizations is the will to make things better. We thought that by putting those two together, we would really create an opportunity for everyone to have a better experience. So that’s what we did.”

Why I Love Anna!

Anna Wintour knows that thing Christina Aguilera used to know — what a girl wants — which would be another handbag for no particular reason. She reportedly gave her entire staff the LeSportsac 4115 Tote ($98) as a summer gift, just because.

Villa Pacri

Every once in awhile, something comes along that just makes sense.

For instance: start with a five-story chateau. Add a yachtload of champagne. Insert supermodels. Light the roof on fire. And set it all up in nowhere else but... the Meatpacking District.

Introducing Villa Pacri, the MPD's latest self-contained metropolis of excess, from the Euro hedonists behind Bagatelle.

You'll get in on the ground floor (not your usual point of entry, we know) when the open-air rustic Italian café, dubbed La Gazzetta, opens next Thursday. Here, amongst formica two-tops, wooden chairs and a colorfully tiled floor, you'll take a panini and carafe of red onto the sidewalk patio as you consider the future: La Gazzetta is only the beginning.

In the coming weeks, Villa Pacri will take it to the next level. And by next level, we actually mean the basement, where a DJ lounge will unleash the sort of afternoon debauchery that made Bagatelle famous—think volcanoes of champagne and downpours of burning sparklers on the heads of brunching Dolce & Gabbana minions packing a week's worth of intoxication into a single afternoon.

Then, later this summer, you can expect a white-tableclothed restaurant on the second floor, a private banquet hall on the third and, crowning the whole creation, a rooftop bar where brunch will evolve into an open-air nightclub.

Which will only occasionally be on fire.

Loose Threads

• Blow by Blow, a play about the life of Isabella Blow (not related to the upcoming movie on the fashion icon), will premiere in New York next month.

• Adriana Lima landed the cover of V’s first foreign edition, V Spain.

• Sir Paul Smith on his spring collection: “I was inspired by my time working with Led Zeppelin when I first started my career. There’s a hint of rock, but it’s not a retrospective.” Also, he declines most design collaboration offers because he believes in “doing things that are right, not easy.”

• Lady Gaga made an appearance at midtown strip club HeadQuarters wearing what an onlooker described as "a transparent jumpsuit with a few carefully placed sequins over her nipples and private parts."

• Before his spring Yves Saint Laurent show, Stefano Pilati will screen a short documentary-style film on Los Angeles tattoo artist Mark Mahoney.

• Artist Jenny Holzer, best known for her LED displays, is designing a pair of Keds sneakers in a project to benefit the Whitney.

• Lindsay Lohan is posing nude to promote her handbag line.

• Joe Zee went on a Starbucks run wearing a furry Chanel suit.

• Some footwear retailers are adding insole kiosks to their stores, where customers receive product recommendations after having their feet scanned.

Beauty Marks

FRAGRANCE
• Mariah Carey and Elizabeth Arden are partnering with Bazooka Candy Brands to launch three new perfumes: Honey, Mine Again, and Ribbon. The scents hit department-store shelves in July.

• Thierry Mugler’s latest fragrance, Womanity, contains notes of fig and, um, caviar.

HAIR
• Amika has introduced animal-print and tattooed styling tools to its line of blow-dryers, curlers, and flatirons.

MAKEUP
• Never one to shy away from color, M.I.A. rocked a bright-orange pout and smoky eyes at a Nylon party last night.

• Beauty brands like Revlon and Talika are introducing lash-growing formulas that can be applied with mascara wands.

SKIN
• Bad news for the Jersey Shore cast: Tanning addiction may warrant medical diagnosis.

Revealed in Remarkable Detail: American Apparel’s Beauty Guidelines

Last week, details of American Apparel's strict employee dress code and casting process leaked. Photos of prospective employees were to be taken and carefully scrutinized; forsaken was he or she who wore Uggs or dirty white Keds to work! Today, Gawker posted two memos from management to store managers detailing very specific grooming requirements for employees. In sum: The cast of Jersey Shore need not apply. A bit of the lady guidelines:

a) Makeup is to be kept to a minimal- please take this very seriously. Liquid eyeliner, pencil eyeliner and eyeshadow are advised against; mascara must look very natural (ie. should not be clumpy or a color that does not compliment your skin and haircolor). Blush must not be overdone- should not have glitter or sparkles. Liquid foundation is prohibited (undereye concealer is understandable if it looks natural- ie. not clumpy or caked on, must match your skin tone). Please do not use a shiny gloss on your lips; any lipcolor must be subtle.
b) Eyebrows must not be overplucked. Full eyebrows are very much encouraged. Please do not dye your eyebrows a different color.
c) We encourage long, healthy, natural hair, so please be advised of the following:
-Hair must be kept your natural color.
-Blow-drying hair excessively could cause heat damage, so this is advised against.
-"Bangs" or "fringe" are advised against. It is not part of the direction we're moving in.

And guidelines for dudes:

a) Hair should look natural. Excessive product to the extent of creating stiffness and an unnatural or greasy appearance to your hair is advised against.
b) Eyebrows should be natural. Please do not dye your eyebrows a different color or overpluck them.
c) Males should not wear makeup.
d) Facial hair needs to be kept clean and well groomed. Any mustache or goatee of a contemporary style are advised against.
e) No gauges allowed whatsoever.

Well, if an AA employee does get fired for a beauty "violation," Opening Ceremony is right down the street.