Hello Daybook readers, due to mechanical failure,  it’s been a while.  Finally, the blog is back and just in time for the AW 2012 runway shows.

There is nothing better than having a front row seat via our computers streaming New York, London, Milano and Paris, the crowds and trends.  Although we don’t really do ‘high fashion’ per se at Queen of Cashmere (classic luxury is more our catchphrase) we watch eagerly with the rest of the world to see what waltzes down the runways.

Guess what we saw this year for the first time in eons?  Intarsia sweaters!  Intarsia is the knitting of a pattern into a garment and it’s handwork that the Scots take to a fine art.  The intarsia trend waxes and wanes according to tastes and, this year, it’s on the upswing —  which makes those of us at Queen of Cashmere especially happy since our bespoke line is 100% intarsia centric.  While we use it to personalize sweaters with monograms, we love the way it’s being used at Burberry Prorsum.  At first glance I thought they had placed a dinosaur head on the sweater but on closer inspection (needed my glasses) it was a sweet little bird with a tucked beak.  And who doesn’t love a puppy?

I loved everything about the Burberry collection, not just the sweaters.  Christopher Bailey nailed it this year turning out fashion that was fun, flirty and still tied to it’s English roots with tweed, tartans and trenches.  I think the bow belts are the perfect foil for the intarsia animals, don’t you?

Animals on knitwear is not a new trend, think Krizia in the early 80s, but it’s one that is popping up all around us  again.  Opening Ceremony is offering a cat sweater  in conjunction with Glamour Magazine.  Although for $99 you don’t get hand-intarsia, it’s got the same sort of feel.  Tommy Ton captured it perfectly on fashion stylist and blogger Hanneli Mustaparta.

And below is another Tommy Ton image of the animal knitwear trend.  I have also seen a lot of sock monkey hats on adults this season, but regarding those, I will hold my nose and take pass.

Below is an image of my son Conrad wearing white pants, with pride, after Labor Day.   He was awarded his saber this past weekend for his accomplishments at military school.

The turnout for Parents Weekend at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy was amazing.  Parents, grandparents and siblings all came together from across the globe.  There were a lot of toddlers and children on campus.  One mother, while looking at the cutest child you can imagine, longingly reminisced,  ”How fast they grow up and how I miss those years”.  She inquired if I felt the same.

While the early years were wonderful, I’m so extremely proud of the man that my son has become that I wouldn’t turn back time even if  I could.   His future lays before him so full of potential that I know the best is yet to come.

A friend of mine posted on his Facebook page that ‘fried butter’ was going to be on the menu at the Wisconsin State Fair this year. (Last year, the real big deal was a bacon cheese burger perched upon a Krispy Kreme doughnut in lieu of a bun).  It tells you about Midwestern culinary traditions.  I’m surrounded.

A friend pointed out last night, she considers me a gourmand.  Which is why I can’t reconcile myself with our local green market.   Is this admission akin to high treason? Well, I paid $3 for a single, hard tomato that was ‘hydroponically grown in dirt’.   Hang me if you must.

While I was looking (askance) at cheese curds from the Chicago market’s  cheese monger, below are the images that were haunting me.   This past April, while visiting my family at the wonderful  Chateau Longsard,  I went to the Sunday market in Villefranche-sur-Saone.  Beaujolais. The southern tip of  Burgundy.  Culinary heaven.

Not only was the produce amazing. The characters of the market were stupendously colorful, too.

The cheese cutie.

The boulanger who called me “une jeune fille”. Um, yeah right.

The market ham who just happened to be Spanish.

I’d pay $3 for one of these beauties.

Spring strawberries in wooden punnets dressed up with a Frenchified frill of paper.

Zesty lemons.

Blushing, ravishing radishes.

But the best score of all was  the  Saint-Félicien from the above fromagier that we enjoyed outside that afternoon.

Fried cheese curds, fried butter and doughnut buns be damned.  Everything is better in Beaujolais!

I have always adored Giambattista Valli’s designs.   He creates for the modern romantic woman.  The couture collection unveiled in Paris yesterday is simply gorgeous.   It’s nice to know that his appeal is not only to women of a certain age (me) but to young lovelies as well.

This red chiffon gown and cape from the couture show is stunning.  Charlotte Casiraghi donned the same gown in sky blue for her creepy uncle’s the Monagasque royal wedding dinner.  I applaud her choice of the classic jeweled belt. However, a smile, or even a hint of one, would have been the most ravishing accessory for this exquisitely beautiful woman and her lovely frock.

I have been fixated (maybe a little OBSESSED)  by the brittle and unhappy air that hung over the Monegasque event.  It was a stark contrast to Prince William and Princess Katherine’s joyous affair.  Yes, we have all heard the rumors of the ‘Monaco runaway bride’.   For all the denials and sabre rattling (The Prince will sue the press!!) many rumors could have been tidily dispelled by a family contingent sporting happy visages. I’m not sure how  much a smile would have helped Princess Stephanie’s dress and makeup but why not try it?   Below, witness the Princess Dours.

And lastly, while I am on a roll,  princes are groomed practically from birth to be  eloquent, dashing and debonair.   Princely manners genuinely put people at ease.  For example, Prince William looked at Katherine  at the alter and whispered (according to the lip readers who analyzed the videos)  ”You look beautiful. You are beautiful”.   Additionally, while standing at the alter in a packed Westminster Abbey,  PW calmed his jittery father-in-law by joking with a slight smile, “Just a small family affair”.   Ahhhh,  Prince Charming lives.

Now watch Price Albert’s wedding toast to his bride, aided with  crib notes, no less.  Start at about the 2:40 minute mark where you can see a guest wearing a most interesting rose colored turban.  The bride looks quite baffled by her new husband’s speech.   What exactly did he mean?   Oh, Charlene (now officially Charlène gussied up with an accent grave), I would  have bolted, too.  This Prince must not have learned anything at charm school.

Have a great day and don’t forget to smile!

Princess Grace of Monaco, 1956.  In this season of weddings, and after all these years, she still tops them all.