Style at Home
By kenya.hunt, on February 1, 2012
Name: Elsa Mehary
Occupation: Designer behind the jewelry line, Mehary, and art director
The space: A large two-bedroom brownstone storefront in Brooklyn, New York City
Elsa Mehary is the kind of girl who doesn’t let overweight luggage or small air cabins stand in her way when it comes to scoring a good apartment find. “I can remember being 19-years-old and hand carrying a large glass lantern from Cairo back on the plane because it was too fragile to pack in my luggage,” she says of one of the many conversation-starting details in her impressively curated pad. “But now, the same lamp can be found in SoHo or a store like West Elm, imported for half the price and minus the story of adventure in an intricate maze of bazaars,” she adds.
Elsa has lived in her unusually large apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn for 15 years and she’s spent that time filling the place with carefully chosen figures and textiles she’s picked up traveling to places such as Bali, India and Tulum. Many people talk about wanting to create a home that transports a person somewhere else. But Elsa has actually pulled it off. “I think of my apartment as a serene oasis in the center of chaos,” she says.
She’s achieved an overall look and feeling of zen through a mix of spiritual figures and colors that she found in near and far-flung places. There’s the gold head of Buddha she found in Chinatown: “It’s really heavy but I love the serenity it brings to the space.” And an ornate cross that lies next to a box of Bach flower remedies imported from Israel. “I was born in Ethiopia and plan on returning there this year to visit all the amazing churches built into the ground in Lalibela. The cross is a traditional Orthodox relic from Addis Adabaa originally owned by my mom,” she explains.
“The look of my apartment is constantly changing,” Elsa admits. But the sense of calm never changes. “I incorporate the feng shi principles in determining location of color throughout the house.”
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on January 25, 2012
We’re counting down the days until soon-to-be guest editor Karl Lagerfeld takes over Metro. In the meantime, I’m off to Paris to celebrate the launch of his new line KARL. The collection is a little bit tough rocker, a little bit sexed up Parisian and trés, trés untouchably cool — kind of like the man himself, no? Check out KARL’s debut today at 3:30pm on Net-A-Porter.
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on January 5, 2012
In case you’re wondering why the blog has been so quiet, it’s because we’ve got many things in the works, my friend — including a whole newly designed blog. But most exciting of all, our upcoming guest editor Monsieur Lagerfeld.
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on December 13, 2011
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on December 13, 2011
Beauty
By kenya.hunt, on November 30, 2011
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on November 30, 2011
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on November 29, 2011
Based on this sneak peek, Marni’s upcoming collaboration with H&M looks like it should be one of the Swedish chain’s stronger ones. I wouldn’t mind having that stripey men’s sweater to wear right now, actually.
Beauty
By kenya.hunt, on November 28, 2011
For the first time in her five years of walking down the runway as a Victoria’s Secret Angel, Miranda Kerr got the honor of wearing the $2.5 million Fantasy Treasure Bra. And that’s just months after giving birth to her first baby with husband, Orlando Bloom. We ask her the question every woman wants to know.
Besides the $2 million bra, what’s the biggest difference between walking in a high fashion catwalk show such as, say, Balenciaga versus Victoria’s Secret?
The great thing with Victoria’s Secret is they really encourage us girls to interact with the audience and show a bit of personality so it’s a totally different thing for sure, but both of them are good in their own right. The Victoria’s Secret show is quite a theatrical performance. I love to be in the moment and feel the music.
You lost the little baby weight you gained ridiculously fast. Can you give us a breakdown of your daily diet?
Everyday is different but I like to start the day with a fresh green juice with kale, spinach, cucumber, beets, and lemon. Then half an hour later, I have a power smoothie which has sun warrior protein powder, chia seeds, maca powder, raw cacao, bee pollen, goji berries, noni juice, vitamineral green and coconut water. Then an hour after that I’ll have oatmeal or eggs. That’s my three-course power breakfast. For lunch I might have some grilled fish with goat cheese or baby spinach salad and olives. Sometimes I’ll have a sweet potato. At dinner, I’ll have a lentil soup and maybe some chicken. And I love to have my salads with avocado, feta and spinach.
It sounds like a lot of careful maintenance. What does your workout regimen look like?
I’ve been practicing yoga for over 12 years. And after I had the baby I started doing Pilates. That was really helpful. But three weeks leading up to the VS show, I start working out five times a week using a resistance band and leg weights.
Is the Fantasy bra heavy?
No it’s not so heavy but my wings are really heavy.
-Tina Chadha
Fashion
By kenya.hunt, on November 23, 2011
During the madness of the ss12 shows, I was sneaking off to meetings with Karl Lagerfeld’s team to plan a special issue in which he’ll guest edit an upcoming edition of Metro. I’ve never had a harder time keeping a secret in. That said, the issue will look at the world through Karl’s eyes and among many other things, include a series of guest columns and collectible sketches. After having a very lengthy and candid chat with him in Paris on Friday, I can definitely say that it will be unlike any other issue of Metro that you’ve ever seen before. The best part: we’ll be having a contest, in which a lucky reader will win the chance to join us on February 6 in the Paris newsroom, where Karl will come to take over all of our global editions. Watch this space for more details in the coming weeks and months.
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About Kenya
 Kenya has written for magazines including American Vogue, American Marie Claire, British Vogue, InStyle and Jane. She is also a contributor to Vogue.it. The former New Yorker now lives in London where she covers the fashion and beauty world for Metro.
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