Spring Cleaning

Boutique Girl Ivana is also a student at SCAD. I love it when she brings her sketches into work with her. It gives me a new appreciation for the creative process that goes behind every single item of clothing. Her professor's notes are scrawled all over her designs (well, in a piece of wax paper so that the professor can correct the design without actually making a mark on it.) And when I first see Ivana's designs I am always simply blown away, and out of sheer defense of her I proclaim I can see nothing wrong and how dare her professor tell her anything differently and doesn't she understand that creativity is subjective?! And then I see the corrections and marvel at the difference the tiniest tweak here or there makes to the whole design.

Ivana is also in a merchandising class right now, so her job at Boutique suits her well, since she's often assigned projects involving displays and marketing. She had such an assignment last week. The store is in its hardest phase to display: the dreaded in-between-seasons: bulky winter stuff still puffs out between the lighter linens and silks of spring... a wool coat and a sundress sit side-by-side on the rack. (Side note: winter clearance begins NEXT WEEK!!) So she had her work cut out for her when she got an assignment to build a display portfolio. Here are a few of her pictures:

COLOR

I'm always ready for fall and winter fashion to make its yearly debut. Of course here in Georgia patience is required as we wait through several rounds of temporary cool-downs before fall finally and permanently descends on our southern state (usually in time for Thanksgiving... although I do recall a Christmas morning in shorts some years back, but I digress.)

In the past I've only had one bone to pick with winter-wear: the unceremonious pallets of gray, black, navy, and other equally quiet neutrals. Don't get me wrong - neutral can be chic, interesting, and down-right daring. But sometimes I look back forlornly at the season before and reminisce about the jewel tones of spring and summer splendor. However, fashion trends from the past few turns of the calender seem to be with me on this colorful matter, and welcome with open, covered arms a bolder and brighter color pallet. Purples, pinks, (side note: I heard coral was the new "it" holiday color...) greens, teals, and more are just as much of a winter wardrobe staple as a khaki coat or a black pair of boots. Tis the season to decorate... yourself!