Category: Fashion

Decor, Fashion

The House of Versace

Sue Erneta

Back in high school and college, there was not a designer I worshiped more than Gianni Versace. You need to understand, this was the time of the Elizabeth Hurley safety pin dress and the ads with megawatt supermodels with one name like Helena, Linda and Christy. (Man, do I love this image. )

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Versace played an interesting role in my life when I was spending an uphappy semester at UCONN (nothing wrong with the school, just not the right fit for me). That fall, it was a Versace exhibit at FIT that lured me to NYC for a weekend. I saw the exhibit, fell in love with the school (I was already seriously in love with NYC!), and convinced my parents to let me transfer schools (again!) so I could spend my final college years in NYC. Best career move I ever made. Thanks Mom and Dad!

That same year, Versace purchased Casa Casuarina, a spectacular mansion in Miami. Image via Born Rich.

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Years later, I was an assistant at ELLE when I heard that he had been murdered on the steps of his mansion. I can still picture where I was when I heard the news.

I was heartbroken and vowed to visit Miami one day to pay my respects. Well, a few years later I took that trip to South Beach and was floored with the location of Casa Casuarina. For anyone who has never been there, his manse was right on South Beach, in the middle of all the tourist traps and right across from the public beach. Needless to say I was still dying to get behind that gate.

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Then a few years ago, I had the chance to get inside. I was back in Miami when I found out that the mansion had become a hotel and restaurant so I decided to visit for lunch. And this week when I heard it had been sold again (more on that in a sec), I had to go and dig up my pictures from the visit. Check it out:

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Everywhere you looked, there was opulence.

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How beautiful is that tile?

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I didn’t get to see the whole space–the restaurant was in the courtyard–but I was able to take a look at the pool area. These steps lead from the courtyard to the pool.

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Just a little plunge pool. No biggie.

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I can’t imagine the time it would take to do this kind of work. (Note: This is so not my style but I find it fascinating. Don’t you?)

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In case you forgot who’s house you were in.

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Courtyards are such a European concept. I wish we had more of them in the US.

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But the most ridiculous, over-the-top, display of ostentatious behavior was the restaurant’s bathroom. (Image via Born Rich.)

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Yup, you’re seeing that correctly. It is in fact a carved marble toilet with a gilded lid.  Ah, Gianni Versace. You were one-of-a-kind.

And it seems that Versace has been popping up a bunch in this past week’s news.

VERSACE IN THE NEWS #1) I heard that the mansion was sold to the Jordache Jeans heirs for $41.5 million. That’s a lot of denim.

VERSACE IN THE NEWS #2) On October 5th Lifetime will air an original movie, “The House of Versace” starring Gina Gershon as Donatella and Enrico Colantoni as Gianni. Image via MyLifetime.com

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Gina’s got the lips down. Image via ABCnews.

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I love this guy and think the casting is great. (Enrico, I’ll forgive you for Just Shoot Me, which was the worst portrayal of a fashion magazine ever, because of your fine work on Veronica Mars.) Image via Styleblazer.

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VERSACE IN THE NEWS #3) Check out Donatella’s latest collection that was shown last week during Milan fashion week. I’m missing the jewel-encrusted bustiers but I still think it’s pretty great. Runway images via style.com

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XO

Sue at Home

Family, Fashion

Our Wedding: What We Wore

Sue Erneta

On Friday, Pablo and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage so in honor of the big day, I’m having Wedding Week here at Sue At Home. Yesterday, I introduced you to Newport and the Beechwood mansion.

Today, the clothes!

As a fashion editor, I had a special kind of pressure when shopping for my wedding dress. I looked EVERYWHERE and tried on every dress in existence. Finally, I fell in love with a halter gown from Carolina Herrera with a pleated organza underskirt that peaked out underneath and swung in a huge train in the back. I loved it then and I love it now. Considering it was 10 years ago, I think I should be sort of mortified by what I picked but alas, I’m not. Check out this amazing ad with my dress from way back then. (I showed it to S and L today and L said, “Why is she playing chess and not at a wedding or something?” Good question, kid.)

The closest pose I have is the one below where I sat down in someone else’s seat while my dad made a speech. I love this picture. (The dress didn’t bustle so I just dragged it around all night. It was filthy by the end of the night but I didn’t care!)

I was an editor at ELLE at the time of the wedding so I was able to order my dress directly through the Carolina Herrera showroom and have all my fittings done there by the head of her atelier. If I were you, I might want to punch me after reading that but I promise that I know I was incredibly lucky to have that treatment and I pinch myself just thinking about it. Even as my wedding diet kicked in, they did an amazing  job altering everything so that it fit like a glove. It fit so perfectly that I didn’t even have to wear a bra which is a testament to both their talent and my pre-kid boobs. (That’s right. I just linked something to that phrase. You’ll have to click it and see what it goes to!)

I wore a blusher and a full length veil for the ceremony and then removed the long one and left the shortie on for the reception. Yes, I am one of the those people who wore her veil for the whole night. I’m kind of old fashioned like that.

  

As for shoes, I spent a ton on a pair that no one saw. Advice for brides-to-be: Get something under $250, like these, and spend some money on a nice pair of sandals for your honeymoon instead.  FYI: They were Manolo Blahnik and they were similar to these but in champagne satin. I wish I could show you a picture but there isn’t one!

My bridesmaid’s wore cream lace strapless cocktail dresses that were custom made from Blue on St. Marks Place in NYC. I don’t think the place still exists but if it does, DO NOT go there. The woman is crazy and a few of the dresses barely made it to the girls on time. And they were made like crap. You can see on the wedding video how my ladies are repeatedly pulling their dresses up while dancing. My maid-of honor wore a sleeveless v-neck version. That smart girl avoided the potential nip slips the other bridesmaids were dealing with all night. All that dress trouble for this photo opp. Thanks ladies!

For my main man’s attire, I sat Pablo down for the Oscar pre-show and made him watch the red carpet to pick out his look. He loved Benjamin Bratt’s classic black tux with a black vest and a long white tie. And I agreed! By using some store credits and an editor discount, I was able to score him a Burberry tux for a few hundred dollars! (That’s me – always bargain hunting!) The tie was from Saks. I’m pretty sure it was Brioni. Doesn’t he look handsome – and so young! – in these pictures?

There we are giggling and happy. It really was a very magical day! Stay tuned for more wedding pics all week long as we lead up to our 10 year anniversary on Friday.

XO

Sue at Home

All photos by Mark Nelson except for the Carolina Herrera ad which was a picture I took of the ad from an old magazine. (How the hell else am I supposed to credit that?)