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Wearable Arts - 2010
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Beba Luxe
words: Amy Stockwell Mercer
Visit Beba Luxe at
1962 Maybank Highway, 843.762.5412,
www.bebaluxe.com.
Anita Lucas takes great pleasure in being able to provide for a wide variety of women in her small boutique on James Island. “I view this space as an extension of my living room and treat my customers as my guests. I don’t try to dress a particular size or age, but a type of woman,” she says. The clothes at Beba Luxe are seasonless, timeless, and trendless, but are current silhouettes that speak to a woman who has a busy life, someone who needs to be prepared for work and travel.
Clients include a family of three generations of women who vary in style and size. From the matriarch married to a small town doctor, to her worldly daughter who needs clothes that will travel, and two twenty-something granddaughters, each with different tastes. They all find items to love at Beba Luxe.
After a few years in the I’on shopping center, Anita recently returned to her original location next to the Terrace Theater on Maybank Highway. With a cluster of locally owned restaurants, salons and boutiques, this area is a great place to catch a matinee, sip an icy margarita at Zia’s, and pop in to see Anita’s latest selection of four-ply cashmere, merino wools, textured silks and knits in steel grays, rich chocolates and aegean blues.
“I don’t carry the latest trend,” Anita says, “The pieces I carry will flow seamlessly from season to season.” After ten years in business, she has clients who are wearing items that are eight and nine years old because they are well made and never out of style. Beba Luxe is a hidden gem, offering the quality and style of downtown boutiques with the personal attention of someone who treats you like you are a guest in her home.
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Wearable Artist Profile: Rachel Gordon
words: Amy Stockwell Mercer
One Love
478 King Street
843.259.8066
www.rachelgordonstyle.com
www.uniteonecharleston.com
Rachel Gordon started designing clothes for friends in college when she needed extra money. After graduation, she wanted to see if she could make a career with her designs, and opened her first store above the Robert Lange Gallery on East Bay Street. Friends with many of the artists in the gallery, she began organizing events and loved the collaboration and connections that were formed.
Wanting to give customers a new experience each time they came into her store, Rachel came up with the idea for ONE, an artist’s collaborative workspace, which opened on Earth Day in April 2010. With the tagline of “Create. Unite. Evolve,” ONE seeks to help the Charleston community grow through, art, design, giving back, and the unity of creative minds. Each month, ONE holds an event with rotating jewelry, handbag, clothing designers and artists, to spread awareness for local charities, donating 10% of the profits to a local non-profit organization. In November ONE will honor the Lowcountry AIDS Services (LAS) with LOVE Red. Rachel says, “Being connected with people doing charitable work is a big part of my life.”
As a resident of Goat Island who has to travel to work by boat, Rachel says her style is inspired by the Lowcountry. She calls the look of her dresses, “Bohemian Goddess” and “Modern Charleston.” “I want women to feel as beautiful as they can.”
Rachel’s fall collection will launch at the second annual Dock Side Fashion Show on October 9th at the Maritime Center. The event is being held to raise profits and awareness for Water Missions International, and will feature five local designers. Rachel’s fall collection includes “retro-mod short dresses inspired by the sixties and seventies, as well as an ethereal evening collection for holiday parties.” The recent addition of partner and Taashki Handbag designer, Natasha Madan, has given Rachel more time to design. Obsessed with India, she is planning a trip next winter to travel, research and shop for Indian fabrics.
Never one to slow down, Rachel continues to spread the love with her designs that make women feel as beautiful on the inside as they look on the outside.
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Wearble Artist Profile: Janelle Wilfong
Words: Samantha Davies
First-generation American Janelle Wilfong reflects upon her Trinidad father’s costume designing philosophy, saying that he wanted his pieces to “look good from all angles.” This bit of wisdom has definitely carried over into Wilfong’s own artistic pursuits, and it’s evident when one looks over her genuinely unique jewelry pieces. Most of them are encased in delicate wire, ranging from nearly three feet long ball-chain necklaces with fused glass pendants, to bold but elegant cocktail rings, to her newest pursuit: beautifully shaped hoop earrings with her trademark glass infusions.
All of her pieces are one-of-a-kind because her process makes it nearly impossible to duplicate any one creation. The glass used in her pieces is acquired from Blue Heron Glass, then designed and placed in a kiln for twelve hours. It’s a process that requires
patience, but the product is worth the wait.
Nearly everything is recycled or reused; for example, the leather wrist cuffs she creates are made from old leather jackets or purses, which feel worn in, but look brand new – and of course, they are adorned with her intricate fused glass. Some of her necklaces don glass rings taken from the necks of beer bottles, and a select few of her handmade glass pendants even glow in the dark.
Wilfong transplanted herself from her Washington, D.C. suburbanite life nearly five years ago to the distinctly laid-back mecca of Folly Beach, and the inspiration from her surroundings resonates in all of her creations.
She says that her pieces are “great for moms on the go, who want to just throw something on, like a necklace, to feel fabulous.” Her jewelry makes a definite statement, but it is in no way unattainable – all of her pieces are affordable, averaging under $40.
As far as expanding, Wilfong says “I’m hoping to get consignments in my hometown in the Maryland/ DC area as well as in major cities. Spreading good juju all over the place!”
During summer weekends, she sells her wares in person at the Folly Beach Arts and Crafts Market. The rest of the year, you can still find her Janetics Ink good juju at the following locations: Downtown—Seeking Indigo, Aster Hall, Butterfly Consignments; West Ashley—Blue Heron Glass, Poe, Museum of Living Arts; Mt. Pleasant—Market Marina on IOP, Powderpuffs to Brushes; Out of town—Green Springs (Seneca, SC), 864 Salon (Greenville). Janelle also has an Etsy page where you can check out and purchase things: www.blamejanetics.etsy.com.
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Christina Goodman
Words: Amy Stockwell Mercer
Martin Gallery
18 Broad Street
843.723.7378
www.martingallerycharleston.com
Christina Goodman is drawn to details. From the time she was young, she was exposed to the world of art. Born in Pisa, Italy, Christina moved around a great deal as a child, but art was a constant fixture in her life. The hand painted miniatures and jewelry are inspired by the landscape of her youth. “You take a lot of that with you,” she says of her travels.
Working in small scale, Christina’s miniatures, pins, earrings, necklaces and pendants resemble classic heirlooms-treasures passed down through generations. Her subjects are pieces of a landscape that are often overlooked: a tree, a bird, or a mountain in the distance. Her art is playful too; renaissance inspired panel paintings often feature delicate curtains or doors that can be opened to reveal a hidden tree or animal. The viewer is pulled closer to the jewelry, tempted to take a second look and pull the tiny curtain back to peek inside the painting.
Influenced also by decorative arts, Christina works with dollhouse moldings. Each landscape, or animal is hand painted in acrylics with fine brushes, good lighting and a magnifier, and surrounded by an ornate frame, which is then gilded.
“The frame designs for the one of a kind polyptychs and tabernacles are also based on Renaissance styles. I design and build the frames with wood using miniature moldings and a centuries-old water gilding technique. The result is well worth the labor-intensive process. In the end, I hope to capture the luminosity of Renaissance painting in miniature.”
“The materials are inspiring to me,” she says of the traditional gilding technique and organic materials used to create each piece of jewelry. A corner of the world is contained within each small pendant. Come and take a look.
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Eden Boheme
Words: Amy Stockwell Mercer
Photos: Diana Deaver
Anna Lassiter and Lucinda Race joined fashion forces last spring to open the “Bohemian glam” boutique, Eden Boheme on Lower King Street. The boutique carries both of their clothing designs, as well as a range of designer clothing, accessories, shoes and jewelry.
Born and raised on Folly Beach, Anna was recently featured as an Emerging Designer at Charleston’s Fashion Week. Inspired by her laid-back, beachy background, Anna’s collection is romantic and girlie with ruffles and bustles, yet edgy, with detachable trains and cuffs. This sexy wedding dress with a laced-up back was a runway favorite.
Lucinda’s pieces often have a retro 50’s feel. Many of her designs flow with ample fabric, making the wearer feel ultra feminine, yet comfortable. These can be worn by women of all shapes and sizes.
“I was always wearing dresses as a child,” Anna smiles, describing how her mother bought some of her dresses at thrift stores. Since they were inexpensive, she didn’t mind that Anna would wear them when she played in the backyard.
With Fashion Week behind her, Anna is not slowing down. This designer will ride the wave of success and continue to bring romantic, feminine, edgy fashion to Charleston.
Get your own Eden Boheme original at 194 King Street, 843.805.6025.
www.edenboheme.com/
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