I'm so happy to see the "new" Wallis Simpson.

Like Anne Boleyn, another historical punching bag, Wallis Simpson has been demonized by generations of bitter historians and frumpy old bags.

Sure, it's easy to hate someone who famously said "a woman can never be too rich or too thin," but...

The Francophile, or those with haute inclinations, can make holiday shopping très tricky for Santa.

I've made a list and checked it twice of things to give your Francophile that will pass the taste test. Thinking outside of the wine bottle, Degas wall calendar and coffee table photo...

As the crisp autumn breezes whip into wintry winds, I get that same old feeling about being able to wear my vintage furs again.

Perhaps nothing else in my wardrobe has the power to make me feel as regal and glamorous, or as anxiety-ridden.

Living and working in Washington, where...

"That's what you're wearing?", President Bush asked his wife, Laura, as she was getting dolled up for their first state dinner in honor of Vicente Fox in 2001.

"It's Mexico -- I'm going to wear something bright, " she replied.

"Well, I think you should wear a black one (...

It's a subject that has far reaching consequences, especially for the X and Y generations, but the complexity and proximity of the inevitable question a couple asks "when are we going to have a baby?" provided the framework for Duncan Macmillan's new play Lungs, making its world debut this month...

Growing up in the South, I learned early in life that a lady never leaves the house without being properly "dressed," that is, with the daily requisites: a tasteful piece of jewelry, perfume, and, my personal favorite, lipstick.

In fact, my love affair with lipstick started when I was a...

"Lobbying is hard. My feet hurt", bemoaned television actress Charlotte Ross who wore skyscraper platform heels to pound the Capitol Hill pavement on behalf of chimpanzees this week.
The Glee star is joining forces with The Humane Society of the United States to promote the Great Ape Protection and...

When I think about what is lacking in the average woman's wardrobe these days, three major themes seem to recur: mystery, minimalism, and, perhaps the most important of the three M's, modesty.

Here in Washington, DC where women outnumber men by double digits, there seems to be a frantic, desperate...

The Irish are fond of saying, "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

Perhaps author C. S. Lewis had this in mind when he penned his epistolary classic, "The Screwtape Letters," a series of philosophical missives written by a darkly charismatic elder demon, Screwtape, advising his...

Adam Mansbach is the author of the New York Times bestselling Go the F*** to Sleep, a tongue-in-cheek adult children's book lamenting the late night vigils of nanny-less moms and dads.

He says that he still "struggles" with getting his toddler daughter to shut up, but did pass along a...

According to Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff, the legendary Queen of the Nile spent most of her reign bullied by cantankerous old men and has enjoyed an entombed afterlife as a misunderstood icon of female sexuality and power.

Schiff paints a decadent portrait of Cleopatra, her men, her style,...

Over the Mother's Day weekend, a friend forwarded me an article about creativity, a subject that has long fascinated me. How and why do artists embark on their artistic journeys, bring an idea to fruition whether it be a painting, a poem, or a piece of music, and what joys...

She may be an aging widow, but Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg proves she's still got it going on in the style department.

An ardent opera lover and visible supporter of Washington's arts scene, Justice Ginsburg turned out at DC's social event of the year, Saturday night's Opera Ball,...

Fans of Charlotte Bronte think they know her like a sister or a best friend.

We know what she thought, who she loved, why she wrote, and, most importantly, what she would think of the endless cinematic and musical adaptations of her most famous novel, Jane Eyre, a book...

The term "social philanthropy" did not mean much to me until its power, fomented by the feverish trend in social media, hit me between the eyes.

A perfect example of this is a philanthropic "Cinderella" story in Washington, D.C. called "Fashion for Paws."

I first became aware of it in...

In his mid-seventies, Robert Redford is still hanging on to the good looks and easy charm that have earned him a firm place in the pantheon of American film legends, but it was refreshing to see that like most mortals of a certain age, he is not immune to the...

Think you know everything about one of the most literate first ladies in recent history?

Not until you've picked up Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books by William Kuhn, about the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her life as an editor and bibliophile.

Around Valentine's Day, there is invariably randy banter online among literary geeks about poetry's sexiest verses.

Of course, the bad boys like Byron and Shelley get their fair share of shout-outs, but surprisingly the one poet, in my mind, who understood the aphrodisiac effects of the written word the best...

The Washington National Opera, a hub of high culture in the nation's capital with fans including Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Michael Chertoff, is bracing for a year of high drama.

Last fall, it was announced that the legendary Placido Domingo, who has served as the WNO's artistic director and ambassadorial...

Costume designer Liz Vandal never imagined her childhood fascination with bugs would come back to haunt her in adulthood, but when the producers of Cirque Du Soleil's new show "Ovo" contacted her she knew she had found an "extraordinary opportunity".

"Ovo" takes the audience into the mysterious underworld...