Quelle Fun! Le Summer Soiree ~ Part 1

Summer was officially launched into the stratosphere yesterday at our seaside fete and let’s just say, a good time was had by all!

Attendees entered our boho chic world of gauzey netting, lacey textiles, opulent passementerie and shredded white burlap-covered shell cakes and that was just in the front entry!

The dealer/designers here went all out to wow and definitely surpassed all expectations.

Kudos to Sandra Finn of Chateau et Industriel Francais for her gorgeous staging inside the black and white striped French cabana for Heather Bullard’s backdrop. Beautiful Heather shined, as always, and handed out copies of Country Living to her adoring fans and all copies of her recently launched Souvenir magazine sold out in the first 30 minutes! Her next issue, which comes out in July - will be another stunner. Don’t miss it. www.souvenirlifestyle.com

Therapie fashion boutique rolled into our back lot and set an all new sales record. Fabulous, haute, haute fashions, accessories and jewelry, at amazing prices, were snapped up and her completely transformed RV complete with dressing rooms and chandeliers was a huge draw. Kelly’s mobile concept is the hottest trend in America right now.

Two major players in the shop deserve a lot of credit: Designer Karen Lampard of Café Paperie, my BFF, launched her Mapology line of bathing suits, tote bags, accessories and long stem flowers ~ all created from gorgeous vintage maps! Two huge posters with period fashion models wearing 3-d swimsuits made entirely from vintage Paris maps almost stole the show! She just came off designing the majority of key components at the Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla and then turned right around and created this phenomenal new line from maps ~ Oh yes, mes amies ~ she’s the gal, with a heart of gold, to watch!

And then my other “Go-To” gal, a tremendous talent and the high-priestess of the creative arts community, who comes thru for me every single time ~ the amazing Robin Mckeirnan of Vintage Beach House. This red-hot gal wonder can literally do and make anything and with each new project she tackles - her creative juices flow like Niagra Falls! I went to her with my vision for the infamous netting tent and from there she took it to a whole new level of suspended disbelief. I could not believe my eyes when I saw what she had created…A gorgeous, gauzy, textile masterpiece woven from lacey cob-webs of vintage passementerie and torn, twisted and stone-washed, white burlap. Amazing and Tres Magnifique. Well done Miss Robin, Oh so well-done.

Entering this filmy, dreamlike magnum opus was the perfect way to launch our coastal collections and summer 2012.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Fabulous images from vintage French postcards of bathing beauties copied on to edible rice paper and then applied to shortbread cookies, courtesy of mon amie, Vivian, of Azucar Patisserie, my neighbor here on Newport Avenue. These were a HUGE hit!

We’ll look for you on Saturday!

The forecast for our Seaside Summer Launch Party, this
Saturday, June 9th from Noon to 5:00 pm, is sunny skies and beaucoup amusant sous le soleil!

Translation: You won’t want to miss this day of fabulous alfresco entertaining and luxurious cabana décor, topped off with the incredible Heather Bullard and Therapie Mobile Fashion Boutique.

And let’s not forget the interactive paint demos from the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint queen herself ~ Miss Susan Darnell!

Come down to the seashore and let’s get
Summer 2012 officially started!

Bonne Ete!

Come Celebrate Our Boho Chic Summer

The stage is being set for our summer launch party on Saturday, June 9th and it’s shaping up to be a tres visual feast for the eyes with a return to 1930’s Bohemian Paris.

Enter our faded world of dreamy, gauzy furnishings and décor oozing with romantique glamour that blurs the lines between indoors and out.

Think you’ve seen a fabulous tent before? We have the ultimate one for candlelight entertaining that is guaranteed to cast a magic summer spell on everything beneath its’ gossamer netting.

My new obsession and the hottest trend on the French Riviera ~ ‘Crochet Overlay’ will be on full view everywhere and on everything especially at our Textile Patisserie ~ where you’ll see, layer after layer of beautiful, vintage passementerie ~ thanks to my picker in Paris who just shipped me a container full! (Merci beaucoup mon amie Amelie) Fillet lace bon bons ~ that are just too beautiful for words.

Outside, our custom French Cabana is being staged from floor to ceiling by designer Sandra L. Finn of Chateau et French Industriel and will be the perfect setting for Miss Heather Bullard, the beloved superstar of the creative arts community and the wunderkin of the publishing world.

And alongside the cabana we’re also featuring ~ Therapie ~ a mobile fashion boutique on wheels recently launched by designer/stylist Kelly Carney. This ingenious mobile concept is a 27 foot RV that has been gutted and transformed into a glamorous fashion boutique complete with chandeliers, dressing rooms, hardwood floors and hundred of style choices. For the summer soiree Kelly will feature an entire line of 1940’s inspired resort wear. As part of her staging, vintage Vespas will also be on hand for photo opportunities.

With French champagnes and lemonades pouring all day and alfresco canapés in every dealer’s space – there is no better way to kick-off summer 2012.

Here’s to a tres chic Bohemian summer!  

Faite Accompli ~ Secret Garden Tour 2012

Let’s just say that Karen Lampard of Café Paperie, Barbara Gray of Cottage White Interiors, Krista Niskanen and I left NO STONE unturned in our well-publicized, collaborative design effort staging Barbara’s magnificent ocean-front home, courtyard and pool area for the 14th annual ‘Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla’.

Our Dream Team worked for 3 solid months getting all of this perfectionner, sharing a common goal and a beautiful camaraderie along our creative journey and the end result was one of those rare

projects where the sum total was even greater than its parts.

Four designers working side by side, doing what we love in a seamless collaboration ~ and the beauty of it all?

We even amazed ourselves at what came forth.

*

That might just be the ‘secret’ to the Secret Garden Tour.  

Enjoy.

FOOTNOTES: Once again, the paper performance art and original floral designs created by our resident artist/designer at the shop, Karen Lampard, left attendees awe-struck. Her tablescape in the dining room was sheer artistic genius created with layer after layer after layer of intricate detailing and carefully crafted scenes from "A Milliner's Garden" that literally danced across the table and looked as if it had come straight out of the Pageant of the Masters or Anthropologie's corporate office. Her au naturelle pillow created from real, over-bloomed roses held it's own on the sod 'bed' and her couture mannequin all dressed up for the garden party in fresh flowers, ivy, Spanish moss and ferns elegantly completed the boudoir vignette.

Many of her scenes have now been recreated at the shop ~ Come and see them while these fabulous works of art are on view for the next 2 weeks. Then, we re-stage for our Seaside Summer Fete being held on Saturday, June 9th from Noon to 5:00 pm.

We hope you're planning to attend ~

Summer needs a proper launch and we know just how to do it!