I first met Albertina Rizzo one fateful night in the Hamptons. Being that I never go to the Hamptons (and neither does she, she’s banned), and that I generally don’t make new friends all that easily (I have a naturally standoffish expression, and, let’s face it, attitude), it was pretty surprising to everyone that Albertina and I were literally braiding each other’s hair by night’s end. It’s been a torrid love affair ever since. Besides being one of the funniest and occasionally, most inappropriate, people I know (you can read her here, and here, and here), she’s also sartorially gifted. You can chalk this up to her years as the head of PR for Zac Posen (sometimes she really does look like a lady, see below right), and also her uncanny ability to enter any store—literally any—and find something to buy to wear. Even if it’s just Jovan perfume. But in all seriousness, she’s the first person I call when I’m overhauling my closet, because she’ll pull up a chair, put on her meanest face, boss me around for a bit, and then tell me precisely when a certain dress makes me look ready for Nascar, or alternately, Amish.
Her brutal—nay judgmental—honesty? It runs deeps. And so it seemed totally appropriate to unleash her—and her predilection to buy stuff—on the Beso blog. Together, we decided that her new column should loosely be called “Pull Yourself Together,” because as much as she likes to bark it at people on the streets of New York, she’s really just talking to herself.
