Category: Style Sessions

This morning, I awoke at 4:30 to the sound of thunder.

I quickly checked the weather and started cussing. There was a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms all day.

Right about that time, photographer Justin Fox Burks texted me with his own concern about the rain.

I started to text him back, but then thought better of it. Five o’clock may not be my usual time for business calls, but sometimes you just have to hear the other person’s voice.

Our shoot for the summer issue (out next Thursday!) was scheduled for 6 a.m. in Audubon Park. We had a back-up weather contingency plan, but neither one of us — I’m going to speak for him now — wanted to use it.

So we tromped out to the location around 5:30 a.m to see if we needed to cancel. The rain had stopped by then, and although it was a little wet, we decided we could work with it.

It was a great choice. Everything fell into place by 6. The rain held off; the girls looked great; we even had a little breeze and a nice, cloudy sky.

This is no way does it justice, BELIEVE ME, but b/c I can’t wait, here’s a little behind the scenes action:

As I was coming back from lunch today, I found a cute, new store on South Main: The Main Event Boutique.

They just opened last Friday, and they told me that they would be getting more summer stuff in next week, but they already have lots of dresses and skirts and things.

This week in Food News, Halley Johnson wrote about how both Celtic Crossing and the Kooky Canuck were celebrating their 5th birthdays.

2005 must have been a good year.

Both Shelton Clothiers on South Main and Eye-Con Couture on Union are also celebrating their 5th anniversaries.

Eye-Con is running a different promotion each day of this month, and one lucky shopper will win a $500 gift certificate. For more, go here.

To celebrate Shelton Clothiers’ five-year anniversary, they say they’re giving women what they want: the grand opening of Christine by Shelton Clothiers, their women’s store, this Saturday.

I am well aware that the below is perhaps the worst photo ever taken.

There’s a reason I stick to words and make Justin wingman me all the time. But when I was on South Main last Friday night and ran into Bianca “Gaga” Phillips, I couldn’t not take her picture.

Or, as she said, this was the only chance she would ever have to get into Style Sessions because she is anti-fashion.

(I tried to explain to her about fashion and style being a personal thing, but she wasn’t having it. Today, however, she is wearing a very cute cat lady tee-shirt.)

Inspired in part by the recent Glee Gaga episode, Bianca went as Zombie Gaga to this year’s march, wearing a blond wig with a silver sparkly wig on top. (To complete the Glee theme, I think her boyfriend was dressed as a zombie Kiss member — he was wearing all black with a long, black wig — but that might have just been a happy coincidence.)

• The Fame Monster: Zombie Gaga

To finish out the Gaga, she wore a fairy costume, wrapping the sash around her neck, and what she was calling hand tutus around her wrists.

I had hoped she would do balloon Gaga, but she says she didn’t have enough time.

“I was sort of desperate at the last minute,” Bianca says. “I hoped the wig and the blue lightning bolt on my face would let people recognize I was Gaga.”

The same night as the zombie march, there was a fashion show at the Warble’s The Art of Warble South Main event. (There were also pancakes there.)

I’m sorry I couldn’t stay for the fashion show — I had to meet some friends from out of town — because, seeing this, I just had one of those “wow” moments …

I initially stopped Lauren Glover on the street to ask her where she got this dress, because I wanted one. It’s so light and airy. I loved the fluttery, layered skirt, and the back was open and really flattering.

The bodice is diagonal strips sewn together in an interesting pattern. And it’s just so white. Despite the obvious pitfalls of getting it dirty, I love white.

And then Lauren told me that her friend Meagan Chaudoin had made it … out of coffee filters.

COFFEE FILTERS. (I know, go back and look at it again.)

Meagan is a sculpture major at MCA and is currently working on a 30-foot long piece out of coffee filters.

If this dress is any indication, I’m very interested in seeing it.

There are two events in Laurelwood this week I need to tell you about …

The first, a table-side fashion show featuring various Laurelwood retailers, is this Thursday, June 3rd, at the Grove Grill.

For reservations, call 818.9951 or visit Laurelwood online for more information.

The other is the Style Your Sole event Saturday, June 5th, from 1 – 5 p.m. at Sachi, where you can personalize your canvas TOMS with paint, fabric, and markers. Local artists will be on hand (on foot?) to help and Panera Bread will provide refreshments.

For every pair purchased, TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a child in need.

I mentioned this before when I heard it as a whisper, but I got confirmation recently that Charlotte Memphis is moving to Main Street.

The store is currently under construction at 526 S. Main, and they hope to be open at the end of this month. (Maybe they’ll be ready to go by trolley night?)

In addition to vests, which we’ve mentioned, Matt loves the following things for spring: baggy sweaters and t-shirts, loud sneakers, anything seersucker, vintage Lilly Pulitzer, and bold patterns and colors.

See below.

With this Ralph Lauren oversized sweater, Matt paired a white polo, a red canvas/brown leather belt from the Gap, driving loafers from Cole Haan, and these bold tribal shorts that he got from a vintage store in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.

“I like bold patterns and a lot of colors; it’s important to stand out,” he says. “My tribal shorts are probably one of my favorite things.

“I always wear this blue sweater — it’s really comfortable and versatile. It’s good to balance the plain white top with patterned bottom,” Matt says.

Speaking of vests …

Matt says his inspiration for this casual outfit is Saved by the Bell’s Zack Morris.

I can see it. With the vest from a Summer Avenue thrift store, the ripped Levi’s jean shorts, and the cotton tee from Urban Outfitters, it’s like preppy surfer.

“I don’t think fashion should be taken all too seriously,” Zack, er, Matt says. “It’s supposed to be fun and make you feel good about yourself. If you don’t like what you’re wearing, choose something else. No one has the right to tell you what’s acceptable to wear.”

See? He even got the feel-good, after-school-special moral of the story in there.

This is one of Matt’s going-out outfits.

And I know that b/c I saw him out on South Main one evening in this very same outfit.

His sister gave him this vintage beaded Indian vest (I remember it having the most amazing back to it).

“I can’t really get enough vests right now,” he says. “I know it’s kind of an impractical article of clothing, but I think they’re fun and can add a lot of excitement to an outfit.”

He paired this particular vest with a linen shirt from J. Crew, dark-wash William Rast jeans, and dark brown cowboy boots.

“I love wearing cowboy boots because they are loud (literally, the noise) and make me taller,” he says.