Category Archives: Shops I Like

Heidi Merrick

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I found out about designer Heidi Merrick from Refinery 29.com.

She doesn’t seem to have an outlet in New York so what I learned about her and her clothes is from her website.

The two skirts pictured here are two of my favorite designs I saw on the website.

The denim high-waisted skirt goes for 231.00. It’s very different and original. It looks a little asymmetric. The asymmetric look may be created from the way the model is standing; however, if you look closely at the skirt, the lines are all not the same shape. It’s a great design.

The black lace-layered  skirt is more common.  I’ve seen skirts like it before or at least the idea.  The Heidi Merrick skirt goes for 300.00.

Check her out at her website HeidiMerrick.com

Pandoro by Pasticceria Biasetto

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The dialogue between my family enjoying Pandoro on a Tuesday afternoon:

Me: (to April and Sammy) What are you eating?

April: The cake Yunice brought from Gustiamo.

Me: Can you cut me a piece please?

Dad: There’s something about that cake, it’s not like a regular pound cake.

Sammy: I know….it’s like…spongy.

Dad: Yeah, Sammy, you got that right. It’s spongy.

Me: Thanks! Why, what a big slice!

Yunice: Aww, just eat it. The slice looks big but it’s not that big. It’s like cotton candy. You think you have enough but soon you would want some more.

Me: *Sigh* I want some more already!

Pandoro is made by award winning pastry chef Luigi Biasetto in Veneto, a region in Italy. It is made with organic ingredients (you can see a list of the ingredients at Gustiamo’s website) and comes wrapped so beautiful that you want to keep the package after you’ve eaten the cake. That white stuff is powered sugar. It comes in an individual package. If you forget to put the sugar on the cake (which you may not want to do), you can add the sugar to butter-pecan ice-cream…I tried it and it’s good!

The Bethune Brothers

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On Friday night after church the young people were in a frenzy.

Yes, God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Yes, we were happy to see one another.

However, when we gathered together to talk, it was about something new, something peculiar, something authentic.

It was about the Bethune Brothers.

Joseph Bethune, a member of our church, was mentioned in the New York Daily News on Sunday, May15 as a member of Harlem’s Fashion Row. According to the article, Harlem’s Fashion Row is one part networking group and one part fashion incubator which also offers seminars and conversation series. Harlem’s Fashion Row picked 6 of their top designers out of 15 to compete for a spot during fashion week this fall.

Joseph is among the six young African American designer’s who are competing for a show during fashion week in New York.

The founder of Bethune Brothers, grew up along with the rest of his siblings in the South Bronx. As someone apart of his church family, I noticed that Joseph was more quite and almost shy compared to his rough brothers.

On Friday, when the youth were talking about his clothing line and how excited they were for him, his mom chimed in that she taught him how to sew when he was younger.

In hope and anticipation for Joseph, many of us walked away vowing to vote for Joseph as soon as we got home. Especially my sister’s in Christ who know Joseph knows how hard it is for us to shop when looking for something modest.

I am happy for Joseph and hope he would be on the runway in Harlem this year.

Picking Joseph is like picking hope- not to sound ‘Obama’- hope for his parents who raised 15 children in the Bronx and gave them all they had and hope for his Church family who are hoping for designers who understand the concept of something modest but chic.

Vote for Joseph at http://harlemsfashionrow.com/

The Season of Long Skirts

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I am happy for many things this spring season and am looking forward to a great summer (the Lord’s will). The main reason I am happy is its LONG skirt season. From the runways to the walkways every daughter and mother are stepping out in long skirts.

For someone who always wear long skirts it means being able to have more fun shopping. Usually, the joy I would get from seeing a butterfly in the ‘hood is the joy I would get in seeing a long skirt in a store. And if I like the skirt enough to buy it on impulse is almost like seeing a rainbow!

Okay, it may not be that hard to find a stunning skirt, but it has been hard.

This season I am not limited to shopping vintage. The long skirt has made it to the ‘main stream’!

Pictured here are some of my favorite skirts.

Was Patrick Robinson the downfall of Gap?

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I stopped shopping at Gap around 2009. I didn’t like a lot of the stuff they were putting out and if I did like an item, it was always too expensive. I didn’t think I was getting the most for my money.

Gap used to make cute hats to go with their bags but that only lasted for a while. They also used to make long khaki skirts in natural colors. I still get compliments when I wear them.

Gap used to be my first choice when I went shopping. Whether on the internet or in the mall but now I barely go to the website or to the store.

Gap fired Patrick Robinson, its designer. Will Gap get any better?

Similar Taste?

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I remember working in the dresses department at Lord and Taylor. All the dresses had a similar style and all the designers seemed to have used the same palette of colors for all the dresses that season.

Color and design are not the only two things that can be compared between designers.  Designers may also have matching store window display’s, look-alike  newsletters, identical photography for their website and the same store set-up.

I guess, that’s what happens when to be different is celebrated, everyone ends up the same.

This is a collage of two newsletters.  At the right is Michael Kors and at the left  is Cole Haan. Even though the bag styles are different and even the layout of the newsletter are different, there seem to be similarities.

The bags are big and both newsletters are targeted to ‘Mom’ with the same color backdrop, white. There is also one bag in both pictures that is red.

However, if I had to pick a letter over another, I would pick the Cole Haan letter.The art in the background catches the eye. And the fact that he isn’t advertising more Cole Haan items in the letter, makes me as the buyer think:  maybe I really should shop for a bag from Cole Haan. Because the only thing pictured in Cole Haan’s newsletter is his bags, this seems to show his confidence in his bag design. He seem to be saying: I don’t need to market anything else in this letter.

Marketing something else in the letter takes away from the main item. Of course anybody can buy their mom anything for Mother’s Day, but if you are suggesting a bag as a gift to your customers then you should market the bag extremely well.

I guess it doesn’t matter if businesses do have similar taste, one would always out do another.

The Fly Away Dress

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I ADORE this print by Rachel Roy!! Isn’t it lovely?

The soft pastels, the white topping, the hues, it’s like you are walking around with a beautiful canvas wrapped around your body.

Go Rachel Roy!!

It goes for 119.00 at http://www.rachelroy.com/