It may be December 25 but it's never too late to give this sort of present. Give the gift of a goat, sheep, pig, heifer or flock of geese to a community in need through the hunger aid organization Heifer International. A flock of chicks can help families from Cameroon add eggs to their inadequate diets and only costs $20. A water buffalo, which costs $250, can provide draft power for planting rice, milk for protein and manure for fertilizer for an impoverished Filipino family.  You can order it all in a snap on the Heifer International website, where you can also design an e-card that informs your friends and family of the gift you've given in their name.

Here's to love and peace in the New Year.

Here’s a last-minute stocking stuffer that’s guaranteed to give a little thrill: Chanel’s very pretty new blush compact, Les Tissages de Chanel Blush Duo Tweed Effect. It’s inspired by the iconic Chanel tweed and comes in four slightly glimmery shades, from pale coral-pink to a coppery-bronze.  $45, at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom stores and
Chanel.com.

To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE.

We don't know a soul who wouldn't fall for these totally sumptuous Agent Provocateur pajamas. In the softest pink or black silk, with a wrap-over front, they're neither excessively sexy nor overly sexless. Sweet dreams! $445 at agentprovocateur.com

To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE. And check back every day this month for more gift ideas.

Here’s a chic alternative to those towering fragrance diffuser sticks: Le Cherche Midi Fragrance Cubes. The scent wafts through the tops of the porous wood tops. (Comes in six addictive fragrances, including 01, a mix of sage, lavender, freesia and driftwood; and 20, a warm, leathery blend.) $45; at Studio at Fred Segal, Takashimaya and lecherchemidi.com

While the Joya Porcelain Room Diffusers do use those ubiquitous wood sticks, the rods are shorter and the vessels resemble chic little bud vases. The Jasmine Absolute & Sugar scent is outdoorsy and woody; the Bios de Rose & Cedar Leaf has an intense, jasmine-y fragrance. $76; Joyacandle.com

To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE. And check back every day this month for more gift ideas.

The Christmas clock is really ticking now (as if you didn't know). But these media gifts should be easy to procure in a snap.

 Your hip cineaste pals will be thrilled to receive either of these newly released DVDs from Criterion. Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's sweet, sexy and totally eye-opening pop art film Chungking Express (1994). And the brilliantly daffy, totally heartfelt movie that first put Wes Anderson on the map, Bottle Rocket (1996), starring two cute brothers from Texas named Owen and Luke Wilson. Both are $32, available on either standard or Blu-Ray, at Criterion.com.


A bit more on the low-tech side are the newest "Spoken Word" CD sets from the British Library, featuring historic recordings of eminent writers discussing their work -- perfect for the snooty literati on your list. The three-CD American Writers set features F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams and Toni Morrison, among others. The three-CD British Writers set features 30 greats, including P.G. Wodehouse, Virginia Woolf and J.R.R. Tolkien. Don't forget to download the whole thing onto your ipod before gifting it. $23 at amazon.com

To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE. And check back every day this month for more gift ideas.
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Whether in deep jewel tones or sparkly black, a sweet little evening clutch is always appreciated. After all, a girl can never have too many. From top: Botkier’s purple satin clutch, $245, at revolveclothing.com and Nordstrom stores; Kate Spade’s feather clutch, $325, 800.519.3778, katespade.com; Club Monaco’s beaded clutch, $79, Club Monaco stores.

To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE. And check back every day this month for more gift ideas.

And because it's not much fun to receive an empty box (no matter how nice) may we suggest these cheerful bijoux. Clockwise from top left: Marc by Marc Jacobs' apple bauble necklace, $350, at select Marc Jacobs boutiques; Kate Spade's tuilleries bracelet, $195, 800.519.3778, katespade.com; J. Crew's 18k gold-plated metal, glass and crystal bangle, $88, jcrew.com; J. Crew's 18k gold-plated metal, glass and crystal ring, $75, jcrew.com; Badgley Mischka Timepieces's crystal and mother of pearl watch, $195, Nordstrom.com; Loulou de la Falaise's polished hematite, pave and crystal bracelet, $60, at hsn.com; Tom Binn's Swarovski crystal and Rhodium metal cuff, $375, Tom Binns Shop, New York,; J. Crew's 12k gold-plated brass, beads and crystal bracelet, $68.00, jcrew.com.


To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE. And check back every day this month for more gift ideas.

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In a city where people are pressed for space (and these days, cash), artist-designed jewelry makes an excellent alternative to a wall-hogging canvas.  Often overlooked, these collectibles are gaining increasing attention. Aside from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently unveiled an Alexander Calder jewelry exhibition, Chelsea's Friedman Benda gallery has just opened a show of artist-designed jewelry entitled zerocarat.

Left, Louise Nevelson Pendant, 1985-86. Painted wood and metal. 20 unique works ranging from $19,000-$45,000. Right, Kenny Scharf Starrings (Earrings), 2008. 18k gold, diamonds, pearls and enamel, $6,000.

The show features 34 one-of-a-kind and limited-edition pieces (all for sale) from major artists like Louise Nevelson, Kenny Scharf, Louise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith. We'd wear one of  Nevelson's unique wood-and-metal Pendants (1985-6), which stand out for their chunky, puzzle-like parts and varying textures. We also love how Scharf infuses his cartoon-like Starrings earrings (2008) and Speedy necklace (2007) with the same playfulness found in his art.  And for an art-as-jewelry-as-art twist, private jewelry dealer Sara Benda, who organized the show, points to a gold Ettore Sottsass necklace, saying, "you could even hang it on your wall."

Louise Bourgeois Collar, designed 1947/48. Silver.

The show is on display at the Friedman Benda gallery through January 9, 2009.

These days, cozy dinner parties at home seem more appropriate than $400-a-head tasting menus, making cookbooks an especially welcome gift. These four new titles, all by top restaurant chefs, are sure to delight foodie friends.

David Waltuck's Chanterelle: The Story and Recipes of a Restaurant Classic (Taunton) is as quietly elegant as the much-loved TriBeCa establishment. Although it's filled with tempting recipes, this one will likely spend equal time on the coffee table as the countertop, thanks to its oversize format and artful photography. Following the recipes in Urban Italian (Bloomsbury), meanwhile, is the closest you can get to tasting chef Andrew Carmellini's celebrated cuisine these days. The James Beard Award winner left his three-star New York restaurant, A Voce, almost immediately after the book was published and is currently shopping around for a new space. ("The Best Gnocchi" on page 95 lives up to its name.)

Cathy and Tony Mantuano's Italian restaurant Spiaggia, in Chicago, is a favorite of Barack and Michelle Obama. Whip up something from Wine Bar Food (Clarkson Potter), Tony's easy-to-follow new offering, and taste what keeps the couple coming back. Finally, On the Line, by Eric Ripert (Artisan) is really two books in one. The first half provides a detailed, beautifully illustrated account of how the legendary New York seafood restaurant operates, revealing everything from the 129 "Cardinal Sins" that new servers are warned against (#83 is watching while the guest completes the credit card slip) to how new dishes are developed. The second half offers up a selection of the elaborately-crafted recipes that have made Ripert the culinary equivalent of Bono. Warning to amateurs: These are not 30 minute meals.

To see all the previous gift suggestions to date, click HERE. And check back every day this month for more gift ideas.

W magazine's executive editor, Bridget Foley, braved the Marc Jacobs sale on December 13 and lived to tell the tale.


When I was a kid, I believed there were a few inalienable marks of adulthood: getting up early because you actually wanted to; liking coffee and arcane vegetables. I now maintain certain indicators suggest -- more than mere adulthood -- that you are, quite simply, old. An abbreviated list: getting a flu shot (to date, I've steadfastly refused); voting one's wallet, uttering to a child, "When I was your age..." followed by a statement either hyberbolic (a la the proverbial "I walked six miles to school in the snow") or merely ridiculous (i.e., "there was no Crest for Kids. We brushed with regular toothpaste and we were glad to have it.")

This weekend, I landed plop in the middle of a situation that had me truly feeling every second of my age. When I first heard of Saturday's scheduled one-day mega sale at Marc Jacobs on Mercer Street, featuring bags from $50 to $300 and shoes 90 percent off, I didn't give it a second thought. Once upon a time, the promise of a deal, whether at retail or a sample sale, would find me first in line. I could push, shove and grab, albeit politely enough, with the best of them. Now, thank you, I'll pass.

Then a few things happened. I mentioned the sale to my sister-in-law in Scarsdale, whom I adore, and who was in the market for size 10 shoes. Then someone called me mid-sale and said the goods were amazing.

Square root: I went. But not before phoning my salesperson Gaby Klapper to ask if it were worth the trip. Love her, but she's in sales. (And effective, too; In September, Page Six Magazine cited her as one of the most powerful sales associates in New York.) "It's terrific, but come to the front," she suggested. The front? Turns out, the line was a block-long. Cutting it proved the first of two I'm-going-to-hell experiences of the weekend. (The second: I loved SNL's widely excoriated Governor Patterson schtick.)

The block-long line outside the sale

I walked into a full-house frenzy of fashion girls (and some boys), all very much my junior, who ferreted furiously through the piles of bags, which were heavy on bubble gum pink Sofias and frog-closure nylon pouches that bore the safe-fashion aura of duty-free. The determined shoppers squeezed-in and elbowed, grabbing goods in multiples as if they, or at least Mom and Dad, were blissfully untouched by all this silly economy talk. One young lady, apparently a tough sell, insisted to a pal in a bossy, Reese Witherspoon-in-Election manner, that if she couldn't find a bag to suit her, "I'm going to have to buy this" -- a full-price resort bag. I bumped into Robert Rich, Jacobs's vp of retail public relations, who said the sale was his idea, and that Robert Duffy had only reluctantly agreed. "We haven't done one of these in years," Rich offered. "I thought, it's the perfect time to do it in this recession. I wanted to make people happy."

Clearly, happiness is in the eye of the beholder.

The special sale merch not for me, I perused the good stuff. But send Gaby in search of sizes on fall's 70 percent-off in this mayhem -- and wait for her to resurface for it? No way. And while resort's full-price gold heart tote beckoned, I'm waging my own little personal protest against absurd deliveries.

Desperately seeking shoes  

That left the shoes. Boxes in piles covered the section of the floor not given over to bags. Surely they had originally been stacked according to size or style. Now, however, the arrangement was more organic, requiring fortitude, athleticism and lots of squinting to divine style and size. Still, I persevered on behalf of my kind-hearted, big-footed sister-in-law. Many deep knee bends later (Jorge Posada, I feel your pain), I had scored two pairs of pretty suede sandals.

By then I'd had it.  The whole ordeal proved too hot (no place to dump the coat), too cumbersome (nor the bags from the day's earlier shopping), and too exasperating (young lady, please, that was my foot) to even think of searching for footwear for myself, much less pulling off my boots to try a pair on.

While I knew I should have switched into reporter mode and started interviewing the multitudes about such recession-era buying madness, I opted instead to cut the checkout line as discreetly as possible to pay for the size 10s. Shaking my head solemnly, I told Gaby, "I'm just too old for this."

But I'm still too young for that flu shot.

Photographs by Jimi Celeste