LuAnn And Jill

Picture from LuAnn.

Power Lunching with Jill!

WWTCD- Fall Fashion And A Positive Body Image

Article from OK! Magazine.

What Would the Countess Do?: Positive Body Image; Fall Fashion!
 Author: LuAnn de Lesseps

When it comes to etiquette, manners and overall good behavior, even celebrities need help navigating the rough waters of stardom! It’s a good thing Countess LuAnn de Lesseps of the Real Housewives of New York is joining forces with OK! to school them on the right thing to do! In a rough situation, we just ask, “What Would the Countess Do?” This week she takes on body image issues and suggests some style for fall!

What advice do you give to your children on dealing with body image when in the spotlight?

I always tell my children that you can’t look good if you don’t feel good. Looking great and having an upbeat attitude depends on three things; getting enough sleep, eating smart and exercising daily. By making healthy choices a habit, you will have more energy to enjoy life and you will feel better about yourself. Being comfortable in your own skin is a prerequisite for moving through life with ease.

Tip: If you don’t take care of yourself, nobody else will.
What are your picks for fall fashion?
I love fashion because it allows me to be creative. This fall, I plan on updating my basics with a few trendy pieces to keep my look fresh and interesting. The few pieces that I see as being style staples this season are leather jackets, ankle or calf high boots, and skirts at or above the knee. I’m also loving the smaller handbags and that camel is a hot color. Another trend I like is the red dress.

Tip: While shopping for this fall’s hot items my motto is: when in doubt, duck.

LuAnn And Mums

It's that time of the year. I love mums!!

The Countess

Luann At Davidelfin Show

LuAnn attends the Davidelfin Spring 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Studio at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Photo:Life

Photos: Life



LuAnn And Rob Shuter

Picture from LuAnn.

With Rob Shuter of Popeater

LuAnn At Zang Toi Show

Luann attends the Zang Toi Spring 2011 fashion show at The Studio at Lincoln Center in New York City.


Photo: Getty Images

  

Photos: Getty Images



WWTCD- Fashion Week And Giving Back

Post from OK! Magazine.

What Would the Countess Do?: Fashion Week Soirees; Giving Back
 Author: LuAnn de Lesseps

When it comes to etiquette, manners and overall good behavior, even celebrities need help navigating the rough waters of stardom! It’s a good thing Countess LuAnn de Lesseps of the Real Housewives of New York is joining forces with OK! to school them on the right thing to do! In a rough situation, we just ask, “What Would the Countess Do?” This week the Countess covers Fashion Week and giving back to your community!


Fashion Week is the ultimate party for the rich and famous, and sometimes invitations are hard to come by. How do you recommend getting invited to a party without coming off as pushy?

Fashion Week is filled with great parties and sometimes my friends ask if I can get invitations for them as well. In this case, I call the host or the host’s assistant and ask if I can bring more people with me since I never assume an invitation includes more than a plus one. My friends often repay the favor by inviting me to attend parties to which they’ve been invited. It’s never pushy to want to include a friend who will add life to a party.

Tip: If you do make to the party, be the life of the party.

Angelina Jolie has been calling attention to the plight of those in Pakistan. Celebrity causes can seem out of reach when it comes to helping others — any tips for readers on becoming involved in their own communities and pitching in where they live?

Angelina Jolie’s commitment to the plight of the Pakistani people is admirable but for most people, pitching in to better their own communities has a more profound and lasting impact. I suggest that people find a charity that is close to their heart and work passionately for it’s cause. Rather than just writing a check, it’s important to give your time and talents as well. I give my time to ACE Partnership for the Homeless where I help people who are trying to put their lives back together after life on the streets.

Tip: Being generous is at the heart of elegance.

LuAnn In San Francisco

Pictures from Luann's Facebook of her weekend in San Francisco with Victoria, Noel and Jacques.

From our fun night out at Asia SF!

Lunch at the Slanted Door...amazing!

At the Ferry Building after lunch!

We are leaving our hearts in San Francisco today as we head back to NYC! We had a fabulous time in this magical city.

LuAnn At Fashion's Night Out

Luann with her children Noel and Victoria and boyfriend Jacques Azoulay attend Fashion's Night Out at Macy's Union Square in San Francisco, California.

WWTCD- Single Moms And Gossip Girl

Post from OK! Magazine.

What Would the Countess Do? Single Moms; Gearing Up for ‘Gossip Girl’
Author: LuAnn de Lesseps

When it comes to etiquette, manners and overall good behavior, even celebrities need help navigating the rough waters of stardom! It’s a good thing Countess LuAnn de Lesseps of the Real Housewives of New York is joining forces with OK! to school them on the right thing to do! In a rough situation, we just ask, “What Would the Countess Do?” This week she tackles single moms and her thoughts on the CW hit — Gossip Girl.

As a single mom of accomplishment and stature, what is your advice to teenage mothers who are battling financial hardships?

The best advice I can give to teen mothers who are suffering financial hardship is to continue their education and finish high school. According to the March of Dimes, only 40% of teen mothers go on to finish high school and 75% of these girls and their children live in poverty. This is why it is so important for teenage mothers to finish high school and then pursue a career that will provide self-sufficiency for their families.

Tip: If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.

Season 4 of Gossip Girl is one of the most highly-anticipated shows on the fall line-up. With your background and familiarity living on the Upper East Side, what can you tell us about the society life among high school and college students in the area? Would you say the show is an accurate depiction or is all the jet-setting and Louboutin-wearing a little far-fetched for the Hollywood “WOW” factor?

Gossip Girl is great television but exaggerates the life led by most affluent high school and college students. The privileged teens I know live lives very similar to other children. They have to study hard to pass math, they care about what other people think about them, and they are convinced their parents are clueless. People love Gossip Girl because it is entertaining, not because it depicts reality. For reality, watch The Real Housewives of New York City!

Tip: The grass always looks greener on television.

The Real Housewives Labor Day Weekend

Pics./tweets from a few of the Real Housewives enjoying the holiday weekend.

With tennis girls can u believe I can't play? I have no contacts or glasses I can't see past my hand

In the Invicta heading to lunch with the gang!

Teresa getting ready for a matinee performance of My Big Gay Italian Wedding

Having fun with @briellezolciak and her friend Taylor....

At the party with Beth 0, Howard Stern's wife she is even more beautiful in person

Beach dayyy

This is why I LOVE montauk.note the wigs.

Top Rated Lip Synch Videos

Some videos from LuAnn's Lip Synch Contest Page, Click HERE to see the rest.

Red Carpet Fashion Wrap With LuAnn

Video of LuAnn's apperance on Lawrence Zarian's Fashion Wrap.

LuAnn Performing At Fashion's Night Out

From LuAnn'a Facebook.

I'm so excited to sing at Macy's during San Francisco's Fashion's Night Out, September 10 at 7:30 PM. Hope to see you there!

WWTCD- Dressing For Double Weddings & Fashion Week

Post from OK! Magazine.


What Would the Countess Do? Double Weddings, Fashion Week Attire

Photo: Wire Image

By:Author: LuAnn de Lesseps

When it comes to etiquette, manners and overall good behavior, even celebrities need help navigating the rough waters of stardom! It’s a good thing Countess LuAnn de Lesseps of the Real Housewives of New York is joining forces with OK! to school them on the right thing to do! In a rough situation, we just ask, “What Would the Countess Do?” This week she tackles double weddings and how to dress to impress for Fashion Week!

Britney Spears is convincing her little sister Jamie Lynn Spears that they should both tie the knot in a double wedding to their boyfriends Jason Trawick and Casey Aldridge. What advice would you give them for sharing the spotlight on their big day?
I think it’s sweet that Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears are considering a double wedding although I don’t know if I would want to share the spotlight with my sister on my wedding day. Compromise will be key so that both brides get to have the wedding of their dreams and I hope that Britney and Jamie Lynn’s vision for their special day is harmonious. I wonder how the fact that it’s Britney’s third marriage and Jamie Lynn’s first will affect their plans. I’m sure both girls will agree that their children will make a very cute wedding entourage.
Tip: If you get an invite to the Spear’s wedding, make sure you RSVP to both sisters.

Fashion Week in NYC is coming up. What are your tips for dressing your best in unpredictable weather?
The weather during New York City’s Fall Fashion Week can be unpredictable. One day it’s hot and humid and the next, it’s rainy and cold. I suggest dressing in layers. You can start with a dress by your favorite designer, followed by a light sweater topped with a lightweight coat. Remember to throw a small umbrella and ballet flats in your bag for when your feet need a break between shows.

Tip: Always overdress rather than underdress!

LuAnn On The Set Of TV Guide

Pictures from LuAnn's Facebook of her on the set getting ready to tape TV Guide's Emmy fashion review.

My TV lover, Lawrence Zarian

Just getting started. I am so excited! I am here with Nick Verreos

On set with Lawrence Zarian

Having a great time with Jennifer Rade, Nick Verreos and Lawrence Zarian while taping "The Fashion Team" here in LA. Tune in tonight on the TV Guide Channel

LuAnn Talks About Relationships

Clip of LuAnn when she appeared on the Joy Behar show last week.

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps Attends The Watermill Center Concert

Pictures of LuAnn at the 3rd Annual Watermill Center Concert.

Photo: Getty

Photo: Getty

LuAnn Shows NY Social Diary Her Apartment

Article and pictures from NY Social Diary.

By:Sian Ballen & Lesley Hauge
The Countess LuAnn de Lesseps is a lot looser and more fun in real life than in “reality life” – at least the one depicted on her reality TV show “The Real Housewives of New York” but she’s nevertheless just born for this modern world of self-promotion, YouTube and celebrity. She’s a natural, effortlessly and expertly parrying our questions into good PR. Even when we asked her when someone last hurt her feelings, she deftly and instantly told a story about someone else whose feelings had been hurt, and the Countess (she does take the title seriously) had been hurt on her behalf – albeit genuinely. Her PR-perfect answers were genuine – she’s an optimist and not someone given to brooding, so in a sense, she can’t help being good at the promotion game. In a moment of hard-headedness, said flatly: “You do whatever it takes to survive when you want something.” She’s gorgeous-looking in a natural, unplasticized way, has that undeniable “star” quality. It also has to be noted here, she has a derrière so perfect it ought to be insured.

You’ve had a tough two years so does this apartment represent a new start?
This is a new start for me.

View’s across LuAnn’s Riverside Drive living room.

Do you believe in new starts? Are there such things?

I do. I believe that you can have a second life and a third life, if you’re lucky. You just have to move on. You just do it and only you can do it.

So you’re an optimist?
I am an optimist—and adventurous. I wouldn’t be on this reality show if I wasn’t adventurous.

How did you get on to the show?
I met Jill Zarin at a party … she walked up and said [does imitation of Jill Zarin] “Hi, I’m Jill Zarin!” and I was like, who the heck is that? I mean, with the red hair and the accent … I was like oh my God! But she has a big heart and she was a person I immediately liked. She wears her heart on her sleeve and I like that. She told me about this show … and at the time it was called “Manhattan Moms."

A round sunburst mirror hangs above the fireplace mantel. Standing below is ’Lips’, from Maison 24, a gift from LuAnn’s to Jacques(her boyfriend) in celebration of their first anniversary.

How did she describe it to you?
She told me it was kind of like “Sex in the City” meets “Desperate Housewives” and the reality of our lives and how we live. I’ve worked in television since 1990. I worked on Italian television, I started my own cable show in the Hamptons and I did manners and etiquette for Fox in the morning. Television is not new to me, but reality of course was.

“Housewife” is a strange word, a funny, dated word to use in the name of a show … it’s an anachronism.
It’s old-fashioned. It’s like “pocketbook” … when I first used that word in Europe they were like “what?” I didn’t know it was called that [at the time] because if I had seen “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” I don’t know if I would have done it.

But there are women who don’t like the title but there’s no way they want to work.
Right. I call them “ladies of leisure.”

View’s across LuAnn’s Riverside Drive living room.

Now that you’ve subjected yourself to this public scrutiny, are there regrets?
No. I’ve learned that you can’t take yourself too seriously.

So how ‘real’ is it?
It is the reality of our lives but it’s produced and edited. For example I start the show by saying “I don’t feel guilty for being privileged—I feel lucky.” And they cut the “lucky” part off. So they are building characters and following certain storylines. [Sometimes] I sit on the edge of my bed and go, “Oh my God, did I say that?!”

Has it created tensions for you, ones that weren’t there before?
You know people ask me that … [they ask] is that what happened to your marriage? But I would say that there were problems in the marriage already but it probably didn’t help. But it’s not what caused [the divorce].

Cocoa colored wicker furniture and a glass-top table create a casual atmosphere in the dining area.

What are your protective mechanisms for avoiding things you don’t want to hear?
I don’t read a lot of the blogs.

Did you hover over them at first?
Oh at first I really paid them a lot of attention.

What are the mechanics of building a storyline?
Each of us has kind of a producer who works with us and to organizes each of as to what events we’re doing, where we’re going to, what events we can join each other at. So the show is produced from the real storyline of our lives.

And how many days a week does it take up?
Usually about two days, which is great.

A photo of Jacques at work leans atop a stack of leather bound books on the living room secretary.

There must be a pressure to be perform though …
Yeah! There is a pressure to be “on”.

So let’s talk about, manners and etiquette and the title of your song “Money Can’t Buy You Class”
I grew up in a small town in Connecticut in a family of seven kids but my parents always had a tremendous amount of dignity and integrity. My mother, even with seven kids, always dressed well, had her hair done, was always a gracious, warm and inviting person and that is what class is all about. Well, I went from washing dishes to being a nurse and I was 23 and hadn’t even been to New York City! But I was scouted as a model and all the other models were saying they were going to Paris and Milan, and I thought, well I want to go to Paris and Milan too … I was like a sponge, soaking it all up … then I got as far as the world of the aristocracy, I mean I married into the French aristocracy.

Do they have manners?
They do! … they know how to make people feel comfortable—some do, not all, because they do have a title, like the King of Greece for example, who is a friend of mine, he knows how to make you feel comfortable. It’s really about the simple gestures in life—and respect.

Tell me how seriously you take the “Countess” thing – I know that you know people sometimes laugh at you for it.
Yeah, I know—let them laugh. If they had the title believe me they’d use it! Do you think Ramona [a fellow “Housewife”] wouldn’t paint herself the Countess?! Come on now!

Views of the kitchen.

But it fell out of use in the 18th century, didn’t it?
Of course, the French aristocracy is dead, we all know that but it’s a title that I’m very proud of. The De Lesseps built the Suez Canal and were instrumental in building the Panama Canal and gave the Statue of Liberty to this country from the French. I think it’s important to recognize history and it’s not who I am but it’s a part of who I am.

What do you like to do when you have free time … are you a reader?
I’m very athletic. We just got back from Paris—with my boyfriend, Jacques—and we rode bikes around Paris. When I’m in the Hamptons I play tennis, I jog on the beach, I swim.

When was the last time someone hurt your feelings?
You know what, that’s funny you should ask. Yesterday I was with a girlfriend and she told me this story about her being on a boat owned by very rich people from Monaco, friends of hers, her dearest friends. And she was at a table having lunch and she got up to pass some food to a gentleman sitting at the table and the host said to her: “That’s for the good-looking young servers to do,” and she said, “Well, I do have a nice décolleté.” And he said something to the effect of, ”well that’s not so young either.” And I felt so sorry for her. I’m a woman’s kind of woman. I really don’t have a problem with women. I cherish my friendships with women. I’m thinking of writing a book about women and relationships.

Are you good at being alone?
Am I good at being alone? I’m not very good at being alone.

You don’t strike me as an introspective person.
No, thank God. You can imagine with the show and everything, if I went over and over it in my head, I’d go crazy. I wouldn’t say I’m not someone who doesn’t worry—all women worry, especially if you’re a mother. But no, the past is the past and then you move forward.

What’s your favorite compliment that you’ve had lately?
Somebody told me I looked like Raquel Welch

Oh ... I was thinking Carly Simon
But she has a big mouth [claps hand over her mouth] … so do I!