As he himself will tell you, when Carlos Mota put together his first book, Flowers: Chic & Cheap, he was hoping that some of his decoration-loving friends would be willing to host a few fêtes for the tome. Well, he got what he asked for: Since the tome came out in May, Mota has done [...]

“Any china, any soup tureen, any teapot or coffee pot will make a pretty vase with two or three flowers. Any glass bottle, any sauce bottle, any beer bottle. I just found these great paint cans from Home Depot that cost like three dollars, and they’re amazing.” Just some of the floral advice Carlos Mota [...]

It was a book party for Assouline’s new Nancy Gonzalez tome, and the evening found company creative director Santiago Gonzalez (above, center) in a somewhat literary mood. When pressed for an update on the label’s fall offerings, he pooh-poohed such a seasonal mentality. “We don’t believe in seasons,” the Chanel-clad dandy told us. “We make [...]

I go to Positano every summer to visit Giambattista Valli. This year, Victor Alfaro, Melvin Chua, Carlos Mota, Justo Artigas, Carlos de Souza, Hervé Bougon, and Anne McNally came along. We had a blast taking little boat rides to have lunch and dinner along the coast. My favorites are La Conca del Sogno, a 20-minute [...]

What: Casa by Carlos Mota silk floral arrangements, all under $50
Why: With a shelf life undeniably longer than that of the Gerber daisies you sometimes remember to pick up from the bodega, these trompe l’oeil bouquets (we may have sniffed one, which was embarrassing) offer a more permanent, not to mention water-friendly, solution to dressing [...]

It wasn’t too shocking to bump into Francisco Costa [seen here between Carlos Mota and Justin Portman] on the Fasano Hotel rooftop last night—he is Brazilian, after all. Still, the launch party for a fashion week devoted to swimwear wasn’t the first place I’d think to find the Calvin Klein designer. Turns out he was [...]