All my friends back home in New York were imploring me to stay away in the warm climes of Brazil for as long as possible. They said, New York was a slit wrist inducing tundra and everyone was miserable. I was dreading the return but a few days in a more temperate Barcelona would be a welcomed buffer before having to head home. But it was not to be picnic in Barcelona, I was there to moderate a lecture at Bread & Butter for Stylesight on the cultural Zeitgeist and though I feel comfortable speaking in front of large audiences, there’s always a level of unavoidable anxiety. So I spend the first couple days chatting with the panelists and my hosts to gather their thoughts on the ultimate aim of such a panel. Turned out I had nothing to worry about, the discussion went swimmingly and the panelists comprising Isham Sardouk of Stylesight, Travers Rains of Heatherette, J Errico of Nylon Magazine, Public School’s Mike B and Jenifer Mallory of Columbia Records made for a spirited discussion on all the features of our lives that connects and impacts how we communicate, how we consume, and where our concerns lie.

We also manage to get a bit of party on. Take a look at some of the photos from the Stylesight party in Barcelona.

Before I took off to Barcelona on Tuesday where i’m going to lead a panel discussion on the style Zeitgeist at Bread & Butter, I checked into Hotel Santa Teresa to spend a few quiet days to catch up on writing. Hotel Santa Teresa is the new hotel since the opening of Fasano that people are talking about. They rave about the restaurant, Terese and the views high up in the hills away from the beach in the historic Santa Teresa district. I always stay at the beach so I thought it would be the time to experience this side of Rio, plus I could decompress from all the shows and the hectic schedule of the prior week. I couldn’t get away from the spotlight though even when tucked in the lush hills away from the hubbub. When I turned up for breakfast on Sunday morning, guests kept stopping me to chat about my appearance in the supplement of Journal Do Brazil, one even had copy in hand to show me. The attendants made a big fuss of it, dispatching copies to my poolside perch. Turns out that all those interviews you give while at Fashion Rio do end us someplace. Myself and other journalists were quoted on our forecast during the economic economic crisis and the story ran a huge photo of each of us. Read it here in Portuguese.

Yesterday, I tagged along to a Gatsby magazine shoot with a 6am call time. This was a bit of a challenge since i only had a brief nap after staying out till 5am celebrating a friend’s birthday. I knew it would be worth the early rise however because the shoot was at Reserva, one of my favorite beaches in Rio where there’s a nude beach and I love to tan and swim in the nude. It was a small crew of us that including the photographer Marc Gysin, Stefan Hottinger-Behmer, Lynda Real, Godfrey Deeney, models, art director and stylist. I was able to get some work done by writing long hand in my notepad (this is not the place you want Internet connection), but mostly it was about a sunrise run on the beach, a kid like exploration of the flora and fauna, and nude suntanning for the first half of the day before attending Fashion Rio. Take a look at some of the photos.

I’ve been a photo shooting and video recording maniac. Everywhere I go I’m documenting the experience to illustrate stories on these pages and also loading them up on Facebook as a sort of photo diary. I will be publishing more photo essays these dispatches and for the first installment, take a peek a some of my shots from the first couple days at Fashion Rio.

I touched down in Rio yesterday, a little worst for wear after getting an average of three hours sleep each night in Florianópolis. After the huge success of Claro Rio, I’m curious to see how this week at Fashion Rio is going to play out—now that it’s not the only act in town. I took it easy on the shows yesterday, instead working to set up several interviews to hash out issues such as the New Media force and the US/Brazil trade agreement.

Another subject that really interests me is how the global economic crisis is affecting the region. I’ve been asking my network and the consensus is that it hasn’t hit here quite yet. For instance: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, encouraged the masses to go out and spend during the holiday season. Apparently people did, resulting in increased sales over last year. Now that’s a story we’re not hearing very often these days.

More to come on the fashion front from Brazil.

Having appeared in the gossip columns in Florianópolis, I expected to be highly visible while running around town and taking in the local scene.

And I went out with a vengeance.

It was beach and poolside by day and discos by night. I sampled only one of the 46 local beaches, but Jurere International beach was perfect for tasting the flavor of this coastal city, which pulses with attractive people who love dance music. At the beach, we perched right next to Café de la Musique, one of the current hotspots luxuriously layed out with outside lounge and decks for dancing. Though lounge music was played in the day, it’s only at night that the place truly gets rocking.

In addition to Café de la Musique, I also experienced its sister club Posh, which, by all accounts, is the hot spot du jour. Posh lives up to its billing as one of the best clubs in the world, as voted by MixMag. The level of gorgeousness was extreme—it felt like landing on the island of the beautiful people who know how to party. They stomped, screamed and danced to DJ Steve Angelo, while ordering copious magnums of champagne until 5am.

On Saturday I went to Green Valley, an club located about an hour and a half drive from Florianópolis. It was a scene that looked like Jennifer Lopez’s “Waiting For Tonight” video: all swaying, pulsing bodies and nonstop music. Tall palmetto trees and other lush vegetation framed the massive tent, replete with a mini lake, grounds with multiple lounge areas and an overall surreal gathering of thousands of hotties dancing the night away. I was told that it’s one of the favored places for international DJ such as Eric Murillo, Sascha and Justice. And it’s certainly as exotic as it comes.

The restaurant scene is also happening. Many of the kitches we checked out were only open a few months: Italian-fusion restaurant Riso and Co recently opened its doors, as did nearby Bianco, another Italian fusion place, on Rua Bocaiuva. Bianco doubles as a club where the Buddha bar crew from Paris played over the weekend. Tatsuya, opened by two San Francisco expats was only two weeks old, and Deck, located closer to the Lagoa area, opened the very night we popped in with friends of the owners. Florianópolis is an extraordinarily exciting place perfect for partying among glamouristas, so don’t waste a second to book your ticket to this Ibiza of South America.

My arrival in Florianópolis with my friend and travel companion Stefan Hottinger-Behmer, the editor-in-chief of Zurich-based Gatsby Magazine, was met by an announcement in the local newspaper. We’re both the guests of Pedro and Janice Hering, a couple with deep roots in the region, and Pedro is the PR extraordinaire for several of the hot clubs and restaurant. Pedro innocently told gossip queen Juliana Wosgraus of Diario Catarinense who we were and how we’d be spending the next few days, and she promptly dished the details in her popular Page Six-type column. Frankly, she was more clued in to my itinerary that I was, even mentioning some of the private clients on my personal styling roster. It was quite funny to have the hotel’s front desk dispatch a photocopy of the mention to our rooms. Now I feel like we’ll be making personal appearances, staging photo ops and getting pursued by paparazzi. Well, maybe not a paparazzi pursuit, but let’s say this probably won’t be a below-the-radar trip.

Since living back in New York, I’ve spent the last two Christmas and New Years in the City. It was never an option to stay home during this period when I lived in Paris. And I like it better that way. Getaways seemed to just happen and it was a given that at the end of the year, you’d find yourself somewhere, usually warm for me, far away from home. I’ve written about my holiday trips in recent years to Sydney, Havana, Buenos Aires, and Bangkok. But like everyone else, this year I couldn’t ignore the economic crisis and thought it best to stay put especially since my usual January trip to Brazil loomed. I wouldn’t be totally deprived of sun and tropical setting.

Today I’m leaving for Florianopolis in the Southern region of Brazil. People keep telling me that the area produces an unusually high concentration of beautiful people, more so than in other parts of Brazil. I don’t know how’s that possible considering the saturation of beauty I’ve seen in other regions of country, but I will find out soon enough. Friends have been inviting me to Florianopolis for years but I couldn’t schedule it before. This year though, I carved out a few days before attending Fashion Rio next week, to check out the province with a growing reputation as chic party central for the international jetset. I’ll be reporting on this social side of Florianopolis: the parties, the DJ, the models and, of course the word on the local fashion scene. I’m also going to be filming loads with my Flip recorder so check in for the word (and visuals) from the land of the beautiful people.

What’s Wrong With Vogue” is the title question of Cathy Horyn’s Sunday’s New York Times’ piece on Vogue Magazine and Anna Wintour. The rumors have been swirling for a few weeks now on the dethroning of AW and the crowning of Carine Roitfeld of French Vogue to replace her. It reached such a fever pitch that many were anticipating an announcement by year’s end stating just that. It seems that everyone was out to test AW’s nuclear constitution and declared open on her and the magazine. Many welcomed the regime change at the iconic pub decrying its iron-fisted ways and out-of-touch content.

Horyn (along with Michael Roberts of Vanity Fair) categorically debunked the rumors of AW’s departure (Schadenfreudists be damned) for Roitfeld entrance by speaking to AW’s crucial role a businesswoman as well as editor–shoes apparently Roitfeld isn’t qualified to fill. Roberts states, “it’s hard to imagine that Ms. Roitfeld would be in line to replace her unless someone…has spiked the Kool-Aid.” He continues cattily, “There’s a whole financial machine that would come crashing down, I would say. I’d like to see Carine talking to the people from North Beach Leather or St. John knits. It’s all very professional and businesslike at American Vogue.” Horyn didn’t cut the magazine any slack however dinting everything from the coverage of a recycled roster of socialites to poor attempts at recession coverage. What I like about the profile is that Vogue and Wintour weren’t treated with kid gloves and warts and were there in print for all to view. All two often both subjects are mentioned in hushed tones with a sacrosanct air. What do you think? Is there open season on Vogue and Wintour?

2008 ended on a blistering note. As the year came to a close, pangs of uncertainty underscored every conversation. Retail was reeling from deep discounts (Saks, Bergdorf and everywhere else), runway shows were being shuttered (Vera Wang, Marc Bouwer), and companies began closing their doors (Tracey Ross, Kira Plastinina). There’s no denying that we’re living in an unprecedented period. The economy is not as flushed as it has been in recent times and the carefree living we’ve come to accept is no longer so carefree. But I must say among my network, the general forecast is optimistic. They are optimistic not because they have the magic formula to weather the storm, but because they accept the challenge to get creative in these times. They anticipate working differently (harder, smarter mostly), spending free time productively (staying at home working on creative projects is one effort I’m hearing about a lot) and switching up the shopping (let’s say accessories will be replenished but no big shopping sprees planned). And let’s face it; sometimes things can be a lot more fun when times are not so easy. For my part, I’m attacking the year with a vengeance. I will continue to travel like a maniac to bring you the first hand word of pulsing global style. I will shop, though more prudently than in recent seasons. And I will remain excited about the newness of in fashion. Are you with me?