As the lead buyer for CAPITOL - a stunning 'boutique' (6,000 square feet of it!) led by the impeccable taste of owner Laura Vinroot Poole - Ruth Caldwell probably has more style in her little pinky than most could hope for on a good day. So, you know her picks for spring are going to be top-notch. As is the boutique, which I hope to visit on my trip to Charlotte next week! If I never return, you can probably find my hiding amongst the Chloe dresses ... maybe some Lanvin... Marc, Oscar, Proenza, Valentino, Stella... I'm sorry, where was I?
Ruth's Top Styles for the Season from CAPITOL
*1. London-based Erdem Moralioglu is one of my favorite young designers. He creates his own prints, which this season are beautifully colored florals. His prints and color palette always have some very subtle "off-ness" to them, which I love. This and the generous dose of lace (one of my favorite fabrics) combine to make Erdem my favorite collection of the season!
*2. Almost everyday, I wear at least one item of clothing from The Row, the line of PERFECTLY cut basics designed by MK and Ashley Olsen. I guess they have tried on enough designer clothes in their lives to be experts on fit and cut! And everything we buy from them works! Their spring tees are long and drippy and have their signature - a chic wide seam right up the center of theback.
*3. I was devastated to hear that spring 2009 would be Jane Mayle's last collection. Her sensibility is so right--a little tough, a little pretty, but always cool. The jumpsuit/all-in-one/romper trend for spring has been well-received by our clients so far. Jane's version is one of my favorites.
*4. I am a Southern girl, and so for spring birthday or hostess gifts I have loved giving Diptyque's Mousse (Moss) candle. It smells just like the South in the springtime to me, so green and dewy and humid, like dripping Spanish moss from live oak trees. I just sent the last one left in my store (reorder is on the way!) to Charlottesville, Virginia as a birthday gift for my favorite Suuuh-thuun blog-girl Liz Powers.
*5. My favorite spring trend is what I like to call "pretty alien". The prettiest android of all was Natalia Vodianova in Balenciaga's first spring runway exit. The icy, frosty colors and makeup and the wet-looking, iridescent fabrics from the collection were so eerily beautiful. I have a pair of the collection's silvered Lurex tights that I love to pair with Courreges-inspired 60s vintage minishifts for my own alien look. Spring's icy aliens will become fall's oily aliens, as the shiny colors become more like the colors of a bruise or an oil slick and less like those of a crystal prism or a silvery pearl.Ok, all together now *sigh* - such amazing designer choices Ruth! I absolutely loved Erdem's collection as well - the watercolor florals had dreaming of spring months ago! Comfy T's are always a must and Mayle... let's all just shed a tear now, shall we? One thing we won't be saying adieu to quite yet, however, is the dream team behind CAPITOL - more from them soon!
