My Golden Moment

I had gotten it into my mind that I was definitively a "silver gal."  Like many a woman who has come before me, I love jewelry and think it's not only one of the best ways to jazz up an outfit but also can be one of the most personal and artistic ways to express oneself through fashion.  I always liked the look of gold but thought it was something best left up to women less fair (read: not ghostly).  A few things happened recently which have changed my mind entirely and thrust me into my golden moment.  The first situation was the brutal, bone-chilling, prove-what-your-made-of, epically long, insanely cold Winter we had.  After that I was ready to channel sun in any form I could get my hands on and to me gold feels like warmth and being tan and just generally Greek goddess-ish.  The second thing was I have received some very special jewelry from my Grandmother and my Mother which happened to be gold.  I love wearing these items because I feel like I have a little bit of my Gramms and my mom with me wherever I go and this also has kicked off adding a few more pieces to wear along with these things.  I picked up a brass ring (brass is awesome because you still get the gold tones without the price tag and it won't tarnish!) from our new collection of jewelry brought to us by an amazing couple who travel the world working with local artisans to find unique and special pieces at fair and affordable prices! I also needed a pair of gold earrings.  As much as I love all kinds of earrings I usually end up wearing hoops.  Our Viv&Ingrid hoops are lightweight and a classic size that are big enough to be seen but still classy and timeless so I've been rocking those daily as well.  Lastly I wanted a layered necklace look so I added a gold Chan Luu evil eye necklace to the necklace my mom gave me.  For those unfamiliar, Evil Eyes are popular in the Middle East and parts of Asia and are a symbol of protection from harm and ill-will.  I may go back to strictly silver when the weather cools off again but for now I am loving the laid back summer feeling I am getting from my golden moment!

What do you think?  Are you strictly a silver or gold person?  Will you mix and match?  Do you just wear certain metals during certain seasons?  I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Our BIG Announcement!

So the day is finally here!  After over 2 1/2 years of sitting on the fence, should we should we not change the name of our store we are finally doing it and the sign was installed TODAY!  Ladies and gentleman we present to you our newly renamed store: RELISH!

Relish is a name dear to our hearts and something we have wanted to do for a long time.  We held off because of fear of confusion the rebranding would cause as well as paralyzing fear of getting the new sign just perfect.  After finally giving ourselves the proverbial kick in the tush and telling ourselves "nothing will ever be perfect, just do it!" We did it!

About once or twice a day people come in and say "Wow, I love this store how long have you been here?" they are shocked when we say 7 years and have no idea how they missed it.  Because we are set back a bit from the street we can be easy to miss and truthfully the name, Williams Next Door is a bit forgetable.  When we originally opened as the higher end side to Williams and carried shoes it made sense.  Now as we have grown to have our own identity we want our name to reflect that.

So how did we decide on the name Relish you ask? It originally comes from a nickname for my sister, Ariel.  My sister is very stylish and can always put together pieces in an interesting and unexpected way.  She is confident in her style and likes to have fun with fashion and express herself through her wardrobe.  If you have followed my blog over the past 3 years you know this way of thinking about style is a huge part of why we love fashion as well and what we try and bring to the table at our boutique.  Secondly, relish is an amazing condiment and like any condiment can be just the touch needed to complete the dish.  We hope that we can provide those amazing pieces, whether it be jewelry, handbags, gifts or clothes that add just that perfect touch to your wardrobe, and bring some flavor to your fashion life.  Lastly, to relish something is to enjoy and take delight in it.  We always strive to find unique and special pieces that you will love and have fun wearing.  We hope that you relish not only the things you get at our store but also the life you are living while wearing them!

RELISH the change! 

To Be Or Not To Be (Stylish)

A friend recently sent me this article about novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  In short, she tells how she always loved to watch her mother dress with style and color and she herself loved fashion until she started to become more recognized for her writing.  She felt she would not be taken seriously if she wore too much color or looked like she cared too much about style and fashion.  At 36 years old she says she finally stopped pretending she doesn't care about her appearance and her love for beautiful prints, textures and expressing herself through her style.    

I loved this article and Chimamanda's style journey for several reasons.  She is someone who is well respected for her work, extremely intelligent and yet she has insecurities and felt the need to cater to others and societies parameters of what an intellectual and "serious" woman is.  Haven't we all been there?  Haven't we all at some point conformed or dimmed our shine in fear that people may be intimidated, judgmental or percieve us in a way we don't perviece ourselves?  The thing I think she realized is you can't control what everyone is going to say or think about you so the best possible option is to just be ourselves and follow the old adage "the ones that matter don't mind and the ones that mind don't matter."  Of course you want to dress appropriately depending on the occasion but that doesn't mean that having style and enjoying the beauty and expression that style and fashion allow is a bad thing.  

To me the latest wave of feminism is just this.  It's that as women we can decide for ourselves exactly what we want to do.  If we want to have kids and stay home to raise them we can! If we want to never have kids thats fine too.  We can be smart AND beautiful.  We can be fun AND serious.  We can be whatever we damn well please and if someone has something to say about it that is their problem not ours because we are deciding what we like not only as women but also simply as humans beings.

Talking to so many of my clients at the store I get to hear various musings from women about themselves, their daughters, their mothers and friends.  So many women are so hard on themselves and so critical of even the slightest flaws.  I think that one of the best things we can do for each other and ourselves and the younger girls coming up is to find our confidence and embrace who we are.  What could be more of a middle finger to all the mysogony we are surrounded by than to love ourselves as women and as people and express that through all that we do including how we dress! It's much more than just the clothes you wear but feeling good can make a big difference.  You know when you put on that dress you just feel so sassy in or see a beautiful colorful scarf that makes you swoon.  The earrings that frame your face perfectly or the pants that make your tush look great.  While I can't tell you exactly how to love yourself and find your confidence I can help in the style department.  We are all on a journey and that includes the store!  Every season we learn more and more about what makes women feel good, colors that flatter and a balance of sensibility and fun so come in and we will help you find an outfit that feels like you!

What do you think?  I know this was a long one but I had a lot of thoughts and would love to hear yours! 

Spring Is 4 Trying Nu Things

Spring is all about fresh starts and new growth.  As tons of new things roll in I just love coming to work.  I am surrounded by new and exciting things and tons of color.  In retail and in fashion, every new season is a chance to try and do better, be more adventurous and keep evolving.  With all the new warm weather items coming in to the store I have been slowly collecting things to bust out the second it gets warm.  A few of these items I have been collecting are our awesome new skirts, a creamy beige faux leather crossbody bag ( easy to wear with everything!), lighter, springier scented candles for my house, a new throw blanket for my couch, of course scarves, lightweight sweaters and more.  I have also been trying new things!  Here are a few of the new things I have tried.

This is me wearing my new lavender eye shadow and purple lipstick with one of our new silk scarves from Italy.  I have been wearing some version of red lipstick and black or grey eye liner forever. I just needed to try something new.  Being a big color for Spring I decided that purple was what I needed. This also led me to try lip primer for the first time ever (lip primer is a base you put on your lips to make your lipstick last longer and stay on evenly) which I can't believe I never used before!  In general the purple lipstick has been a bit polarizing.  Some people seem to think it's amazing and others feel it's a little scary to see me in purple lipstick.  I however, LOVE IT, so it's here to stay.

My second new "Try" for Spring is a double whammy.  I had seen several things about Ramen (a Japanese noodle soup dish, nothing like the instant soup you eat in college but a highly complex and delicious meal) over the past year from various sources but had never actually tried it so it was on my list.  On my day off I went to Wicker Park to walk around and take pictures and get some fresh air.  I passed a Ramen place I had heard about just by chance.  I decided it was meant to be so I went in.  Now a big part of my first ramen experience is that it was also my first time eating at a restaurant alone. This may be shocking to some, but it's true.  I knew I would be able to do it but I never thought it would be so enjoyable.  I absolutely loved having lunch by myself, writing,  looking out the window, and trying a new dish.  I will be doing this a lot more from now on. 

My last new try (so far) this Spring is the braid/bun.  My mom wanted to braid my hair in two braids like I used to wear every day between the ages of 6 and 12.  After one braid I decided I had, had enough of walking down memory lane and just put the other half up in a bun.  This was how the braid/bun hairstyle was born.  It's something totally new for me and the only thing I can say about it is: WHY NOT?!











Have you tried something new lately?  I would love to hear about it.  Come in soon to check out all the new amazing goodies and push your personal Spring fashion envelope just a bit!

The Splurge

Most people would like to eat a brownie and buy fabulous expensive fashion every day but neither our waistlines nor our pocket books would appreciate that.  This is why I propose splurging in moderation! Everyone has categories they favor over others.  Some people go nuts over jewelry.  Some people get going over a pair of amazing designer jeans.  Some ladies love a handbag.  Others find a new pair of shoes  simply irresistible.  Whatever your weak spot is I think that on occasion you should make a calculated splurge on something you love that makes you feel amazing.  Just like anything in life you need to know when to keep your nose to the grindstone and say no and when to throw caution to the wind and say yes!  I love great jewelry and a good pair of shoes that make an outfit.  In the past this is where I have invested in better quality items.  In general I am just as happy in reasonably priced clothes especially since I find that even great quality clothes if you wear them often enough only last so long.    Imagine my surprise when I came across a new kind of love.  It was handbag love and I fell hard.  A bag I just couldn't resist that was slightly (plus a little bit) out of my price range.  I normally will move on but I felt that this would be a game changer.  It is a black leather tote with a bumpy texture and something I think is classic yet interesting and a bag I will have for a long time.  It won't go out of style and will be something my grandkids will think is so cool when they raid my closet.  When I wear this bag I instantly feel like my whole outfit looks awesome.  It gives me a "look."  Whatever your splurge item ends up being, anticipate.  Put away a little money every month because these finds always pop up when you are not looking.  It should not be something you kind of want, it should be something you love. You may not even need it but you know you will use it and wear it.  Invest in a piece that just feels right and will become an old dear friend over time.

What do you think?  Have you ever splurged on an item and been so happy you did?

Pretty Pastels!

Things are starting to warm up a bit (knock on wood and fingers crossed), new merchandise is starting to flow into the store and thankfully much of it involves color!  After a long hard Winter even the most die hard neutral lovers are ready to inject some serious color into their fashion lives, myself included.  This Spring it's all about a softer palette.  Pastels were used by designers in everything from clothing, to handbags to accessories.  In my last blog I touched upon what I like to call big bird yellow and which the Pantone people are calling freesia.  While I have not quite started going all out with these colors simply because it still feels pretty chilly, I have started to dabble and easy myself into the Spring trends.  About a month ago I got a manicure in the periwinkle color which is going to be so big for Spring.  This color is super easy to wear because it looks really good on all skin tones and goes easily with neutrals. It popped against my often all black ensembles and I got tons of compliments which never killed anybody.  I also started to play around with the lavendar.  I haven't picked it up in clothes form yet (we have some amazing stuff coming in this color) but I did do it in an eyeshadow which was a fun change.  The mint color I just got in a super soft button up shirt that just came in.  I wore it with black jeans which kind of reminded me of my favorite childhood ice cream (baskin robbins mint chocolate chip).  As those of you who follow my blog know, I love to wear neutral colors and in the past have added a pop of color with accessories.  The Spring colors make me feel like I can take baby steps to wear more color in clothing.  While I do think it all looks great with black, I'm actually more excited to wear it with lighter wash jeans, greys, beiges (also part of the Spring 2014 Pantone color report) and of course with eachother!  After feeling like I've been in a shell all Winter I'm ready to bust out and just float along in these pretty pastels!

What do you think?  Will you embrace the Spring 2014 palette?  Come check us out soon becuase new things are arriving daily in all these colors and more!

Big Bird Yellow

For Spring, a huge color I have been seeing in everyone's collections from handbags, to clothing, to accessories is yellow. It's a true pop of color and every time I see it, I am reminded of Big Bird and his yellow feathers, thus, I have dubbed it Big Bird Yellow.  I have never been a huge yellow fan but after this never ending Winter I am feeling ready to embrace it, wear it, and am really looking forward to the yellow totes we have coming, yellow baggallinis (already here), and other yellow accessories to pop your wardrobe. I plan on personally getting a handbag or tote in this color (I'm not ready to go for it in clothing just yet) and wearing it with greys or black.  I think this gives a really fresh and exciting injection to my otherwise neutral and go-to basics.  This bright yellow just feels like sunshine and Spring which, Lord knows, we all are ready for.

To see some more looks for Spring 2014 featuring big bird yellow click here