Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

With the release of the highly anticipated Guy Ritchie film “RocknRolla” just a few weeks away, I have been going through a real rock phase. This is unusual for me, but it seems that everyone I meet is connected to music in some way or another, Coldplay is on my Ipod and gets absolutely NO rest time and my Bollywood music has been taking a backseat, if only momentarily.

Actually, even Hindi films have been getting in on this mood of mine, since one of the latest releases is “Rock On” and its soundtrack is pure, unadulterated ROCK! So, following is some of the cool stuff I have encountered, all related to rock music and, of course, ROCKSTARS!

Royalty, Olympic skier, rockstar, businessman and fantastic photographer are all on the resume of Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe, who has a great new book of his images out, titled “Urban Jungles”. It’s absolutely phenomenal and a Must-Have for anyone’s home. Available on Amazon for around $69.

Image courtesy of VerySpecialHotels.com

During Fashion Week here in NYC, one of my favorite shows was the comeback of Christian Francis Roth, under the brand name Francis. He is the original cool downtown kid and his clothes look fantastically right for this day and age. Think graffiti silk dresses and preppy-meets-grunge, with cool hairstyles and accessories that are oh-so-now! Check out my short piece about him on Chic Today and look for his stuff to hit the best stores come Spring 2009.

Image courtesy of Michael Rogers PR

And last but not least, check out ITunes, with its vast selection of amazing music. My favorites these days include Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”, Darunam’s “Out of Here” and “All That’s Beautiful Must Die” and Royal Disaster’s “Undiscovered Streets”. Some of my choices may be unusual in some ways, but all are simply fabulous! N-joy!

My adventure for this week is a very personal journey. It’s more like I am asking you to take a walk in my shoes than an actual activity I have laid out for my readers to follow. Covering Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week here in NYC - for my column on Chic Today - was an amazing experience, for a woman like me who has grown up around beauty and fashion all her life. In fact, if you are female, alive and come from a country where people wear clothes then it’s really, really hard NOT to be interested in fashion! But my voyage through these last two weeks - wrongfully called “Fashion Week” since it was more like “Fashion Month” - has really changed me and I have awaken to discover some amazing facts. I’ll try to reason a bit so bear with me but if I don’t make any sense, by all means, write in using the contact page!

Before the mayhem of official Fashion Week began, a full two days before Friday’s kickoff, I attended what turned out to be one of my favorite shows: Geren Ford’s Spring ‘09. With Moët & Chandon Champagne flowing freely among the guests and a goodie bag containing - along with Vosges chocolate and Smashbox make-up - the handpainted shawl from her upcoming Spring ‘09 line, designer Geren Lockhart wins my award for classiest and most press-friendly presentation. And the clothes were colorful, fun and 100% wearable. The presentation itself, almost as an art installation atop pillars on the terrace of the Bowery Hotel, was also fresh and hip!

The most harassing bit of Fashion Week was dealing with the PR people for the designers. Forever struggling with their own visions of grandeur and obviously demanding payback for what seem to have been their own VERY unhappy childhoods - surrounded by bullying elder siblings - the publicists for some of the designers were absolutely, downright impossible. The award for absolute WORST is a tie between two: the people at Think PR and the woman representing the designer I most wanted to see, who for now shall remain nameless… Why so bad, you ask? Because there is one sentence that should never be misunderstood: “You are confirmed for this event” and once that has been written on an email it should NEVER mean “OK, so we had to reduce the guest list earlier this afternoon and your name is no longer on it, but let me see what I can do” only so that they can have some cool people hang out waiting in front of the venue to make the place look more popular. Can anyone kindly tell them “Studio 54 has been closed for the past 25 years”!!!

Christian Francis Roth’s new collection, under the name Francis, ROCKED! He is truly the Comeback Kid and everyone was happy to see him back at the helm. His clothes were beautiful, his models looked streetwise and chic and the accessories were witty but wearable. Kudos to him and I look forward to the collection hitting Bergdorf and the likes around early March, so I can buy me some!

The most personal journey of discovery this September was the reaction from those around me, at the news of my “fortune” - that I was covering this massive and high status event. It has run the gamut from male friends wanting to come along as my dates for the evening events (I know guys, it was to catch a sight of those lovely models) to the strange and odd disappearances of some fringe-friends - perhaps the “foul-weather friend” garden variety of girlfriends… From the flattering interest of incredibly intelligent and educated friends who had not followed my column before and now have it on RSS feed, to the complete ignoral of my writing by others…

If I ever do cover this madness again - I am convinced it should be called Circus Fashion Week since it is held in the “Tents” - I would probably get everything I need from the first couple of days. That’s when I saw the Geren Ford show, when I attented the absolutely fantastic Opening Gala - centered around the Ruby Slippers from the “Wizard of Oz” - and even got some backstage action at the Perry Ellis Menswear show, which was most magnificent. I also saw my favorite collection of the whole week by Yigal Azrouël, a fashion genius and a true hottie! AND, last but not least, the LU Biscuits Lounge had these amazing free espressos - made by a cutie French barista - that just made my day. After that, it was all craziness and too much riff-raff, so nothing was as enjoyable ever again! Well, this was Fashion Week for me. Hardly the stuff one sees on “Sex and the City” eh?!

Photos courtesy of Thomas Iannaccone, Getty Images and MOI!!!

If you see one film this month, make it “Loins of Punjab Presents” a wonderful movie with a story that ultimately boils down to the age-old question of belonging.

Do check out the piece I wrote for Chic Today and you’ll be treated to a fantastic interview with thoughtful and charismatic director/writer Manish Acharya. N-joy and stay tuned - patiently - for next week, when I should be on the other side of Fashion Week and will be much better at posting something new here. Meanwhile, there are daily updates on my column at Chic Today… All you have to do is check there.

OK, everyone, I realize I missed out on posting today, but I have a good excuse. I’m in the midst of Fashion Week craziness, and can hardly figure out where I am, never mind writing something interesting.

So, here’s my suggestion: go to my column at Chic Today daily and get your fill of all the gossip and factoids about this absolutely fantastic NYC happening. N-joy! And hope to be all better next week…

Oh, almost forgot, join up the Facebook Fan Page for Happily Unmarried Ever After, if you haven’t done so already!