Happy Birthday To Me!

I know it sounds selfish to say "Happy Birthday" to me, but "Happy Birthday to Me! There I said it! My mom always tells the story that I was supposed to be born on Valentine's Day, February 14th, and that her and my father were going to name me Valentino. Can you just imagine: Valentino Verreos? There is already the great Italian couturier, Valentino Garavani, and there could never be two Valentinos. Although "VV" could make a good insignia for purses and sunglasses I have to say!

According to my parents, there was a snow storm in St. Louis ,Missouri, where I was born and my dad was en route from Washington DC (he worked for the US State Department as a Diplomat) as soon as she went into labor. I was born a day early, on the 13th and not named Valentino. I was named after my Godfather (and Uncle) Nick. For the last year, he has had to deal with people calling him thinking they were talking to me, since we have the same name. Sorry Uncle Nick.

On a side note: We just received some fabulous photos of my designs, taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Mark Oberlin www.markoberlin.com. One of which, shows the model in one of my gunmetal-colored taffeta gowns with the Athenian Parthenon in the background. It could almost be an ad for NIKOLAKI! The other photo shows one of my striped silk taffeta wrap dresses that is sold at EMc2 in New York City. For my Birthday, I am giving you guys a sneak peak of the shoot . There are a lot more photos where this came from and I will post them in the future. Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day and make sure to hug and kiss someone you love!

The Devil Wears a Prada Phone

Recently, I was asked to comment on mobile phone designs for CNET, a web/news source for software technology, electronic gadgets, camcorders, digital cameras and the like. It is ironic that I would be asked to say something about cell phones, because in less than six months , I have lost or had to replace mine THREE times!! The last time, I lost my RAZR in New York City while I was ending my New Year's Holiday in the Big Apple.

I was at the La Guardia Airport check-in gate, when I discovered that my cell phone was missing. After calming down, I realized that the little skinny RAZR must have slipped out of my coat pocket during my cab ride. I therefore blamed the loss on several things , including a poorly-designed welt pocket on my trench coat, as well as me being slightly careless for even putting it there and not checking the cab seat before getting out. Nevertheless, I did not blame it on a poorly-designed phone.

I like my RAZR, I just wish it was one of those gold "Dolce & Gabbana" kind--those are fabulous! I wish Barbie "My Scene" would come up with a "Nick Verreos Barbie" phone; it would be apple green with a Pucci-esque swirly print on it--it would just scream "Paris in CAPRI!" Just recently, I received a Blackberry as a gift, which will come in handy for work. I promise that you won't see me typing out emails/text messages while sitting down at lunch or dinner with someone though. Not only is that way too "Hollywood", it's also rude. I'll go outside and do it!

Click HERE to read the article on what I think of mobile phones deisgns , and especially the men who CLIP them on!!!