HUSK

Charleston's newest popular resturant HUSK.

Talk about COMFORT FOOD. Husk is Charleston’s perfect combination of modern day sophistication and down-home goodness. The second you walk onto the double-front porch and feel the coziness of being home, it’s like the whole experience has you wrapped in a cashmere blanket. The board on the foyer wall lists all the local farms, fishermen, growers who supply your food. It feels like one big Southern family here with roots that extend for generations. On the drink menu they serve things like cider made from the same recipe as its creation 100 years ago  or house-made soda concoctions and old classics like Cheerwine Soda from Salisbury, NC, the old soft drink company still run by the same family. With a menu that changes twice daily, it’s so hard to decide what to order! As far as the classics on the menu go, I’m always a sucker for southern catfish, which is outstanding here, but word has it they are the best burger in town. So add it to your must-eats list and feel free to take me with you when you go….

PS- the pig ear lettuce wraps are DELICIOUS, the selection of Madeira wine is fantastic, and their pimento cheese crostini haunt my dreams…

Charleston's newest popular resturant HUSK. Charleston's newest popular resturant HUSK. Charleston's newest popular resturant HUSK. Continue reading “HUSK”

Hampden Clothing

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Being in New York City, especially now that the studio is so close to SoHo, we are very aware of all the amazing boutiques the city has to offer…almost to the point of being overwhelmed!

I’d been putting off buying a garden wedding dress for months. I didn’t want to spend a day going from store to store, but I also wanted to have more of an experience buying such a special piece than sitting all alone in my PJ’s on a Saturday morning and ordering online. I think there is a time to buy something quickly online and then there is a time to make it an experience.

When I was down in Charleston with Tibi for their pre-fall runway show, we stopped in to the boutique Hampden Clothing where creator and owner Stacy Smallwood has turned an historic King Street storefront into a little curated slice of SoHo heaven. I walked in, I said I was looking for a garden party wedding dress, and in 15mins it was done. It felt like I was finding something insanely special without having to do all the work. They carried everything from Alexander Wang to Rag & Bone, Tibi to KENZO and more. It was fabulous.

So what’s the point of covering a store? The point is, Stacy brought New York fashion -avant garde silhouettes, crazy patterns and pieces so chic they look like something a princess would wear – into Charleston South Carolina, a town of 400,000 people, and never looked back. She doesn’t sell beach flip flops or mass-produced product that’s here today, gone tomorrow; she respects her customer’s intelligence, sophistication and style. She created a space where you can love fashion but not have to know anything about it and still be taken care of. She has wound back the clock to an era of shopping where the store was specially curated for you, where shopkeepers knew your name and what you liked, pulled for you from designers when she is on buying trips to New York or Paris, and makes sure you feel as good as you look. In a time where the Internet makes us all so anonymous, it’s a modern day luxury to have someone like Stacy who KNOWS you.

I sat down with Stacy in her store to hear how she created her own fashion universe in the middle of the South.

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How did you get into fashion?

I was recruited by Neiman Marcus at Vanderbilt to go straight into their buying program, and it was the best decision I ever made. I moved to Dallas and I was with Neiman Marcus for five years as an assistant buyer and designer in sportswear, and department manager in ladies shoes at the flagship store.

Why do you say it’s the best thing that ever happened to you?

It taught me a work ethic and gave me a bigger picture of the fashion industry that I wouldn’t have gotten. My buyer taught me to – she worked equally as hard if not harder, and she taught me to never ask anybody to do anything you wouldn’t do.

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Tibi Takes Charleston

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When I got the invitation to Tibi‘s pre-fall fashion show in Charleston’s historic Library Society Hall hosted by Hampden Clothing Store (more on that little gem tomorrow), I RSVP’d right away. Two of my loves coming together – fashion and the South!

I was first introduced to the fashion brand Tibi last year and lived in her pieces all of fall. Tibi is a brand that doesn’t take fashion too seriously, but instead allows you to play in interesting ways…the kind of way that makes people notice something special about you even though you’re still the girl next door…. even if you’re twirling around in RIO (!!!)

Down in Charleston I was able to meet the creator of Tibi, designer Amy Smilovic (who was born on St. Simons Island!) and ask her where it all came from, how it went from selling pieces out of suitcase to the runways of New York and now back home for the women who have seen you through it all…

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So first, what’s the connection between Tibi and Charleston?
“The first connection is that Stacy just has an amazing boutique. I don’t think her boutique defines Charleston, I think it would be a great boutique anywhere. But we do have a big southern following and I’m sure that’s because it’s where I’m from, St. Simons Island, Georgia.”

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What does Charleston mean to you? 
“All weekend we’ve been talking about things that are real and authentic, and this town is the real deal, you know? There’s so much authenticity here between the homes and the streets and the communal feel and the shopping. It’s really a thriving real town, which is so great to see especially when so many towns are struggling.”

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Southern Charm

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While in Charleston shooting Helen Rice as part of our “Inspiring Women” series, we stayed at the most beautiful historic boutique hotel you could ever imagine down south, Zero George. Just a short walk from the thriving shops and restaurants of Meeting & King streets and perfectly renovated to balance the original wood floor planks to our much needed modern amenities, it’s just the kind of place you would call a home away from home

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Helen’s Guide to Charleston

The best recommendation is by word of mouth…

So yesterday we chatted with Helen about her life, business, and home as part of a very special series on inspiring women across the United States in partnership with Pandora…but today she’s taking us on the town! She gave us a list of her Charleston favorites – “I’m listing a lot of food because it’s so good!” – and we headed out to see what Charleston, South Carolina was all about…

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First I made her take me to her pop-up shop, Pretend Store, where we chatted with the current designer in house, Proud Mary’s Harper Poe.

“We used to have our office in the little building that is now Pretend Store. We bought the building and renovated it a few years ago and when it was time to move out we didn’t know what we wanted to do with it so Pretend Store happened. It started as a way to bide our time while we figured out then longer plan for the building and turned into a way for us to connect with people that we’ve kind of had design crushes on. We rent the building to each participant for the month and then they do with it whatever they want. It’s been really fun seeing the space transformed time and time again. “

  

 

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Meet Helen Rice

Just a few weeks ago, we were able to talk with our friend Courtney Klein out in San Francisco as part of our partnership and celebration of inspiring women with Pandora Jewelry.

This series has been both eye-opening and heartening: to hear about the personal and professional success of such wonderful women, to talk to them about how they’ve shaped their lives, and especially to learn about the beliefs they hold true, the foundations of their accomplishments. The new Pandora Essence Collection commemorates those beliefs – love, prosperity, positivity – with beautiful, stylish charms. It has been amazing to photograph these women and their lives, and we are honored to be a part of it.

We traveled back to the East Coast to find our next muse – Helen Rice of Charleston, South Carolina. Helen grew up in Charleston but moved away to go to college in Minnesota. After school, she and her husband Josh lived in Madison, Wisconsin, but eventually Helen convinced him to move back with her in 2004. After some time working odd jobs – Helen says she worked at a restaurant, as an artist’s assistant, and as a tutor, while Josh briefly ran a cab company and tutored math – they realized their similar passions in artful branding and design. They decided to work together, and thus their company was born.

“As a way to promote my art I’d design and code my own website and design postcards, etc. I was always updating my site and really enjoyed it. Josh was building websites too and at one point we decided that it’d be fun to work together. We had his old PC and we’d take turns working on it. We loved it and we were doing good work and we named it Fuzzco. There weren’t any plans beyond just trying to make some money by doing something we enjoyed doing together. 

 Charleston was a great place to start Fuzzco because there was an appetite for our services and our friends were really supportive of us. The business grew along with the creative scene here.”

I love old southern homes; I also love when people save them, continuing the life between the walls generations before started. And you know what they say about southern hospitality… so it should have come as no surprise to me when Helen started out the day offering to make me eggs. We talked about the chicken coop she dreams of building in the yard… “unless we get chickens at the office that is.

above: They keep their client Sweeteeth‘s caramel sauce on the counter next to a pair of acorn salt and pepper shakers that were a wedding gift from Santa Fe as well as the redwood root cutting board from Michael Moran

Michael Moran did the renovation – we really wanted something that was going to open up the space because people always want to hang out in the kitchen, and we also wanted something that spilled out on to the porch.”

Light bulbs from Schoolhouse Electric / Espresso machine Francis, Francis / Le Creuset glasses and pots and tea pot / brown bowls from Two Boroughs Larder in Charleston 

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