I loved the details in this collection. She put those seemingly purposeless silk rosettes you find everywhere to great use on this collar:

Forget grommets: I think tiny flowers are the new studs.

We were also pretty excited about these rose earmuffs – the concept, at least, if not the finished project. But I think after a few more incarnations they could be something. I am still refining my fabric flower skills.

Outfits should be priced and in the store later this week, but feel free to email us if you have any questions. Thanks so much to everyone who came out, and everyone who helped make this what we all agree was her best show yet.

In other news, we’ll be having a big sale all next week to help get the cold weather stuff out while there’s still time to wear it. All jackets, hoodies, sweaters, hats, gloves, and boots will be 20% off while supplies last. Nothing like an early spring cleaning to make winter go by a little faster.

As you may have surmised from the title or the corresponding facebook event, Cerise’s Winter 2010 Show is this Saturday at 2:00 pm in Calder Hall at The Putney School. Drawing inspiration from tea parties, Alice in Wonderland, and winter gardens, this season’s collection has a rosy pastel palate and Cerise’s signature “child-playing-dress-up” feel. The show is free for all, so stop by if you’re interested – it promises to be a most educational afternoon.

RSVP on facebook

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
~Lewis Carroll

Happy Holidays!

Shop Ours Poetica online

…and I am loving it.

But I have a bad feeling about Urban Outfitters stealing this one. Although usually they wage sneak attacks, so maybe this is too obvious. For those unfamiliar with my ongoing battle with UO, here are the ideas they have stolen from me thus far. And by stolen I mean shown up in the store a month or two after I made/did/had some interaction with them (and by interaction I do not mean seeing them at Urban Outfitters (or anywhere else) and going “Oh, that’s a good idea” and making them):

Braided rope bracelet with rhinestones.

Chain with a quartz crystal.

Hoop earrings with little round hammered gold beads.

T-shirt that said New Order/Substance 1987 after I made a picture of the album cover my facebook profile picture.

That lacy skirt with the black elastic waistband that’s still in stores,

and most recently the last two decades-old books I took out from the library.

Oh, and a make-your-own-stamp kit for $10 after I’ve been looking for cheap-make-your-own-stamp equipment for months to no avail. Unfortunately I think I might have to purchase it.

Call me crazy or conceited, but I think there’s some funny business going on here. Especially that album cover and the books, because when something becomes/follows a trend I can at least say that maybe I somehow picked it up from the fashion ether even if I didn’t read about it in a magazine. But come on, little hammered gold beads? I am not talking about similar items. I am talking about exact replicas. There have been a bajillion studded blazers at UO and everywhere else this fall/winter, but if they start selling off-white ones with little black squares on the collar in this pattern I am going to take action. And this time I’ll have a more legally compelling complaint then, “They’re taking ideas out of my head! They’re following me! Someone in my group of friends is a UO spy! Yes, they pay people to do that.* Yes, I am worth it.”

*This, at least, is true.

1) My a capella group’s CD is finally here! The Smith College Noteables have released Animal, Vegetable, Noteable, with recordings done my first and sophomore year. It came out really nice, and if you want to covertly give a listen you can stop by the store anytime this week, because it’ll be playing on a loop all day every day. There’s Mario theme song tracks and one Harry Potter Puppet Pals-esque (although we did it first) homage to the Whately Diner. And if you like what you hear I’ve got a few copies for sale for twelve bucks a pop.

Animal, Vegetable, Noteable, cover art by me.

2) The lovely Chris (Kringle?) who owns the antique store in the Square stopped by when we first opened and said he sometimes gets vintage, vintage (pre-1900) clothes in that he doesn’t sell, and would we be interested in taking them? Um, yes. Yes we would. So he recently got a trunk of what he thinks is Victorian-era clothing found in a barn somewhere and passed it along to us. Risi thinks it’s haunted, but I think it’s amazing. How could anything evil be associated with striped bloomers and an ostrich feather hat? Once we get it cleaned up a little you’ll probably be seeing a few new things in the window.

Ooooo, I'm so scared of this flooowery boooonnneetttt.

3) Risi is hard at work on her next collection and I’ve been instructed to keep details on the dl, but I can say that it’s looking fabulous. This line’s going to be a little more RTW than in the past so you can look forward to it hitting the store after the show. I have to say that I’m barely able to refrain from wearing the half-finished things out of the house – just trust me, it’s going to be good. I would say more but I can’t.

4) We’re having a Black Friday & Saturday sale on (duh) November 27 & 28 – 10% off everything in the store and 20% off selected items. We won’t open at 5 am since we’re coming back from NYC that morning, so you can sleep in and come by during our regular hours to get yourself a little post-pie treat. Or during-pie. We won’t judge. Just don’t get it on the clothes. Happy Thanksgiving!

So thanks to everyone who’s stopped by, and keep telling your friends! We’ve had so much fun this past month, and we’re incredibly excited for the months to come.

Jenna and Cerise

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: some terrible computer pictures of things we made this week!

Be-sequined blazer.

Flintstones tee.

Be-fringed lamp. Didn't make the lamp, just fringed it.

Tree lamp. Again, didn't make the lamp, just treed it.

And, finally:

Happy Halloween, everybody! Or should I say…Crappy Hallowiener?

1) A wild thing, with my Max doll from when I was a wee wild thing on my shoulder. This was the front-runner until Martha Stewart hinted it’s what she’s going as. I could deal with having the same costume as a bunch of hipsters but ooooohhhh nooooooooooo Martha and I can have noooothing in coooommmoooooonnnnnnnnn. Especially after today’s show, which was as disturbing as this rap is awesome.

2) The Lorax, which is basically the same costume as the wild thing (aka my fur coat) but I’d attach truffles to the lamp I turned into a tree and it would be a truffle-a tree! On second thought I don’t know how feasible that is.

3) Cinderella, with the sparkly shoe somebody left at the store and Jess’s blue tulle-y skirt and a broken tiara from my nineteenth birthday party. The purpose of this costume is basically to do something with the shoe, which is actually very pretty and has been festering under the counter for a month.

And that’s all I got! I wanted to be some obscure yet immediately recognizable literary character but I suck at thinking up things like that when I actually want to. My brain just keeps going, “Ha ha, Boo Radley.” And my eternal back-up is outlining all my facial features in black marker and going as a picture of myself. But I feel like that’s more of a costume-party-with-people-who-get-or-at-least-put-up-with-my-sense-of-humor costume than a having-to-deal-with-strangers-on-a-professional-level costume :-/

Here’s hoping yours are coming along better than mine. And if you need a flapper dress or a bomber jacket or $1 hippie sunglasses, you know where to find us.

Edit: NEW IDEA: F-ed up blonde wig, gorilla mask, five-sizes-too-small sequin dress, BOOM: Kim from Real Housewives. Genius.