A former editor at Mirabella magazine, Lisa has all the charm of a great lady of the American south and the sophistication of a chic woman in Paris, where, in fact, in addition to living in New York and Dallas, she has kept an apartment over the years. With another woman of noted international style, Carolina Irving, a former House & Garden and Vogue Living editor, Lisa is co-owner of Irving & Fine, gorgeously practical Indian and Eastern inspired fabrics, tunics, and blouses that have become essentials for the best-dressed set.
KOTUR: What’s in your makeup bag?
LISA: Bobbi Brown concealer, Bobbi Brown eye shadows, all different types of eye creams, one for puffiness, another for dryness, Bare Essentials powder, Peter Kopelson anti-aging cream…and a lot more.
KOTUR: What are your desert island essentials?
LISA: I’d need a couple of steamer trunks filled with face cream, jeans, good books, biographies mostly and, of course, Irving & Fine tunics.
KOTUR: Do you have a beauty secret?
LISA: Live healthy, and then play hard. If I am not enjoying my calories, then I am having the wheat grass.
KOTUR: What do you wear on a fat day?
LISA: Did I already mention Irving & Fine tunics?
KOTUR: How would your female friends describe your style?
LISA: Depends whom you ask, my Dallas friends, my New York friends or my Paris friends.
KOTUR: What are the most treasured pieces in your wardrobe.
LISA: A few old Saint Laurents, including a black lace gypsy skirt and a black tuxedo.
KOTUR: Is there anything in your wardrobe you should get rid of but can’t?
LISA: Certain old pieces of Geoffrey Beene that no longer can be worn.
KOTUR: You are the fashion police for the day, what do you ban?
LISA: Jogging suits and shorts in airports.
KOTUR: How high is too high a heel?
LISA: As long as you can walk well, any height.
KOTUR: Denim jeans?
LISA: Depends on how you wear them. Everything in life is all about how you do it.
KOTUR: What quality do you most admire in a person?
LISA: A free spirit, someone who is real, not pretentious. Nan Kempner comes to mind.
KOTUR: Can you judge a book by its cover?
LISA: Sadly, I’m afraid, yes.
KOTUR: What is your greatest extravagance?
LISA: Good hotels.
KOTUR: Bad habits?
LISA: I stick my foot in my mouth all the time.
KOTUR: Cheap thrills?
LISA: Fried pork rinds.
KOTUR: Best advice you’ve ever been given?
LISA: Marry him now, trade him in later.
KOTUR: What is your favorite scent?
LISA: Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle.
KOTUR: What is your pure bliss?
LISA: Linen sheets, a roaring fire, being with people I adore, good food…and hot and cold running help.
KOTUR: What would be your last meal?
LISA: Martini corn fried oysters and the garlic salad with blue cheese at Galatoire’s in New Orleans, then the crab at Trishna in Bombay, then a big juicy steak with delicious red wine and a hot fudge sundae.
KOTUR: Yes or no to a nip and a tuck?
LISA: No, but yes.
KOTUR: Do you have a favorite Kotur bag?
LISA: Yes, any clutch in Ikat.
KOTUR: As who or what would you like to be reincarnated?
LISA: My part mutt, part Sharpei named Kashgar, rescued in China on a garbage dump. We should all have his astrology chart or Karma!
