Ground Zero

I come from a long line of firemen in my family. My dad, Anthony T. Alt, was chief of the 18th Battalion on Tremont Ave in the Bronx at a time when the Bronx was burning! His brothers were all firemen too — Billy, Bruce, and Bobby. As was their dad, my father’s father, was a fireman, too! My cousin Ricky is (or actually was) a fireman and both his sons, Brent and Lenny are now firemen.

I have lived in more or less, a fireman community growing up. Across the street, was my “uncle,” who was not my real uncle, but a close friend of the family and his son, are both firemen too! WOW! When I put it down on paper, it really seems crazy to have been so lucky to grow up with so many amazing and giving creatures!

My family and my family’s friends were first responders at the World Trade Towers. And I cannot pretend to even understand what the magnitude of that was like. I am so proud of my family and my friends for their selfless devotion and the firefighters as a FDNY family. I am also proud of all those who came from miles around to pitch in during those dark days after Sept 11.

I recently had the good fortune of going to Ground Zero to see what work has been done lately to get that area back, working, and prosperous again. My friend Steven owns the building which is called Building 7 (or its actual address is 250 Greenwich St.). Floors 47-50 are used these days as sets for Law and Order and other movies and TV shows that are filming in the city. He invited me up for a special tour and to see the view from above; what most people have not seen: the filling of the hole where the Trade Towers were.

I know there is a lot of controversy about the re-building of this area. I am not very political. Being an actress, I am more emotional. So to stand on the 47th floor and gaze upon this area which, when I viewed it last, was a steaming pile of twisted metal; bigger than anything I had ever seen. Bigger than a cruise ship, or a battleship. Bigger than a building. In contrast, these ruins were not done any justice in photos I have seen before or after I saw it in person. I give the respect and awe due to the men and women who persevered and toiled there. Some have lost their lives from unimaginable diseases; my father died from cancer due to inhaling PCB’s at the NY Tel fire in 1976. My mom received no benefits. So I understand the frustration, anger and politics involved in the aftermath of 9/11. Going up into building number 7 and seeing the slow and steady progress being made was a bittersweet moment for me.

I want to share my photos with you. I know, I am not a great photog! I enjoy being in front of the camera more being the ham that I am! But I sure hope you enjoy seeing 9/11 ten years later.

This is the view few get! Normally you are seeing this building from the opposing view.

This is the view looking OUT from the 47th floor of building 7.

I told you I was a ham so I had to get into the picture! Literally! The view is behind me:

This is looking down on the construction work going on right at ground zero! I went 360 degrees to see the whole view from the 47th floor!:

These artist’s rendering were against the wall on a work bench. I took the photo because the rendering looked so beautiful and upbeat compared to the grey I saw all around me. Being on an unfinished floor, the wall, and floor were concrete grey! And the day was grey, too! Almost forgot that! It was just all grey-so you can see how the colors in this painting captured me.

The construction workers were quite upbeat. After sitting for months, they were happy to be up and working. They called to me as I was leaving building 7 and we took photos together!:

You know, being in this business you sometimes get to do things that maybe someone else could not do. I think this was one of those moments. And I want to thank Steven Cayre for this opportunity!!

See you next blog…

Hi From Fashion Week NYC!

So I had a very big week! I launched my Skin Care line called RAW ESSENTIALS at the wonderful LeLa Rose Fashion show for BEAUTY.com. It was a big launch and it was during a big week for NYC. Fashion week is not easy. It is the week where all the designers show their lines. They show the clothing that they have been working on for next year’s fashions. We in the fashion industry are two seasons ahead of what you see in the stores. This week, we were showing the Fashion for Fall 2010.

I was very surprised seeing this year’s offerings for Fall 2010. Surprised because the clothes are beautiful but they looked like they were meant for SPRING and not fall. There was a lot of silk, short sleeves, sandals, and cotton. Beautiful clothes and wonderful styles with soothing colors, but nowhere did I see heavy wool, any coats, or my personal favorite, BOOTS! I even introduced myself in one video as being at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week for SPRING 2011 and not Fall 2010. How silly, but I looked at the clothes and I got confused about which season it was that they were showing. I guess I am just not up on the fashion of the times! Fashion dictates it own seasons. See for yourself. Here is the finale of the Fabulous Lela Rose show:

There were only very NORMAL looking clothes being shown too. I mean usually, the designers make a real spectacle of showing. They make some crazy clothes to mix in with the real pieces they want to sell. But I can see where the economy has made all the designers more conservative and I can also see where they cut the entertainment part of showing their lines.

Some of the bigger lines actually only showed in their showrooms also called, their “atelier.” The tents at Bryant Park were still full of lines being shown, but big names like Donna Karan, Diane von Furstenberg and Marc Jacobs all have shown their lines in their showrooms this week.

Stephen Burrows had a great showing in his showroom yesterday. The colors were beautiful and the shoes were great! That is one place I can say no one skimped-shoes. Stephen Burrows had his shoes made by Louboutin.

Anyway, back to my launch of my skincare line. I have photos of the backstage craziness and some of the models- Gorgia Wass included!

By the way, Gorgia Wass was soooooo nice. I mean, when I sat down next to her to get my hair done, she immediately started to chat with me. We then compared fingernails and finger polish color (I had blue and she had blue-green with sparkles).

I got my nails done by Debra Lippmann and here I am getting my hair done by Ted Gibson:

My makeup was done by Ms. Louise for TART (which has my favorite mascara, however not raw!).

I was interviewed backstage by Fashionbeast.com, Suzanne at Glamour, and many other fabulous publications too numerous to mention. But here are a couple of photos taken during the interviews introducing the line:

I had Alexei Yashin backstage to cheer me on. Here he is in this photo and my publicist Melanie A. Bonvicino seen here at the show with me in the first row, as well as my partner Steven Krane and his family:

LeLa Rose sent me my dress which you see I am wearing in this photo.

Well, that is it from Fashion Week Fall 2010 (glad I got that right this time!).

Next week, I will blog about being down at the World Trade Center Towers at Ground Zero. I took photos from INSIDE building 7 and with some of the construction crew working down there. Some interesting stories there.

Please watch 60 minutes this Sunday for a story on Silverstein. I thank my friend, Steven Cayre for affording this opportunity to see his building and Ground Zero from this angle!

I will follow up with my blog the week after with my personal photos! Cheers and bye from Fashion Week 2010!