| BrandsBoutique |
| BrandsBoutique Online Shop: Despite the recent grumblings about the handbag bubble bursting, we all know that the “it-bag” still reigns supreme. BrandsBoutique.com is for the fashionista who knows that building your handbag collection isn’t just about carrying the latest designer craze but about being a true handbag connoisseur. The site not only features a different designer handbag daily but also includes articles that discuss all things handbags, from handbag fads to tips on properly cleaning your handbag.
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| DesignersLA |
| DesignersLA Online Shop: A great blog dedicated to honoring Los Angeles-based designers, DesignersLA.com features the handbag and accessories from some of the hippest designers in LA. From household names like Juicy Couture and Rachel Pally to smaller labels like Circa Studio and Bells & Whistles, whether you reside in LA land or not, you are sure to love this site detailing all the glitz and glamour that is LA fashion. Plus the site features particular items at a discount prices.
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| LuxuryVintage |
| LuxuryVintage Online Shop: Ever since Hollywood starlets have started showing up on the red carpet in vintage gowns and accessories, vintage handbags and accessories are back in a big way. For those who admire the classic lines of fashion past, then LuxuryVintage.com is for them. Each day the blog features a different vintage designer handbag and accessory, from coveted designers like Chanel and Hermes to one-of-a-king jewelry, vintage groupies will love the looks and the off-retail prices. |
| ItalysOutlet |
| ItalysOutlet Online Shop: Shopping for Italian Designer handbags and accessories has never been this easy. ItalysOutlet features all the major Italian Designer brand names you have grown to love: Gucci, Fendi, Etro, Versace, Moschino, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo, Bottega Veneta, Prada and many more. Plus, pay outlet prices. Never pay full price when shopping at ItalysOutlet for high quality Italian leather and fabrics. |
| ValueBags |
| ValueBags Online Shop: Created for the budget conscious consumer who wants to carry a high-quality designer handbag but doesn’t want to spend a fortune, ValueBags.com highlights a different designer handbag each day (Fab Bag of the Day), from designers like Coach, Dooney & Bourke and BCBG, all at below-retail prices. The blog also features coupon codes and links back to the particular featured handbag.
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| DRESSED IN CULTURAL AWARENESS |
| Tuesday, June 24, 2008 |
By Phillip Zonkel, Staff Writer
Merry Colvín and her husband, Dallas, own Merry s Fashion, a unique oasis of Middle Eastern, African and Asian wearables. (Diandra Jay/Staff Photographer )Humphrey, a life-sized camel constructed from tin, welcomes visitors into Merry's, a Long Beach fashion shop that resembles a Middle Eastern bazaar.
But this store, which opened July 2006, is more than a fashion oasis. It's also an oasis of cultural awareness.
Outside the front door sits the "Perception Receptacle," a basket with a sign that reads - "Before entering, please dispose of any prejudice, bias or preconceived notion of any type. They will be available upon your departure."
Merry's, on Broadway just west of Temple Avenue and next door to Syndicate hair salon, is owned by Merry Colvín, 64, a one-time New York runway model who, in the 1990s, owned a similar boutique in a suburb of Portland, Ore.
Colvín's husband, Dallas, 71, is the shop's business manager.
Merry's carries a vast selection of handmade clothes, accessories and trinkets from eight African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries. She says the accouterment can be a bridge between cultures.
"This store is my personal protest against prejudice," says Colvín, dressed in a Moroccan headwrap, layered shirt and harem pants along with a tribal necklace from India.
"Prejudice is the root of all evil. The way we have world peace is through cultural awareness," she says. "I sell things from around the world that people have made with their own hands. When you understand people and their culture, it's hard to demonize them."
Inside the shop, browsers will find a different culture on every rack: men's and women's kaftans from Morocco and Egypt, men's and women's harem pants from India, authentic tribal and cabaret belly-dancing attire, kurtas from India and Nepal and rainbow-colored scarves from Pakistan and Iran.
Colvín also sells an eclectic selection of necklaces, bracelets, belts, hats and vintage Afghan jewelry, as well as Moroccan rugs, Egyptian statuary and lanterns, and salt crystal candleholders from the Himalayas.
She says all her work is one of a kind. Once it's sold out, it can't be reordered.
To help build those bridges between cultures, Colvín enthusiastically tells customers the origin of an item as well as the story behind it.
The "Joy Bringers" sandals, with intricate hand-beading, are made by a group of HIV-positive women in Eldoret, Kenya, Colvín says. Each sandal has a tag with a photo and biography of the
Merry Colvín of Merry s Fashion, a unique oasis of Middle Eastern, African and Asian wearables. (Diandra Jay/Staff Photographer )shoemaker.
Colvín also points out the turquoise neck pieces, purses and belts handcrafted by Tibetan refugees living in India.
Merry's has a devoted clientele. A costumer from the Walt Disney Co. purchased numerous bags of clothing for a Brazilian version of "The Lion King," and Long Beach-based radio personality Charles "Karel" Bouley (KNX-AM, 1070) owns almost a dozen of Merry's Moroccan outfits.
Colvín's fashions are as colorful as her life.
While attending Temple University in 1966, Colvín, a Philadelphia native, says she started fashion modeling for a local department store. Eventually, she says, she was recruited to be a runway model in Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., for Oleg Cassini, the fashion designer who dressed first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and was renowned for his simple geometric dresses and pillbox hats, plus Italian designer Emilio Pucci and Diane von Furstenberg.
But in the mid-1970s, Colvín wanted a change of life.
"Modeling was the most inane thing I had ever done," she says. "It was so shallow."
After visiting her younger brother in Long Beach, Colvín moved to the area in 1979. She met Dallas a short time later and the couple married Feb. 14, 1980.
A few years later, the couple moved to southwestern Oregon and the tiny hamlet of Agness, an isolated area in the foothills of the Siskyiou Mountains, before settling, in 1987, in Lake Oswego, just outside of Portland.
Colvín was active in environmental causes, such as protecting old-growth trees and saving open space.
On several occasions, she protested forest clear-cutting by having herself tied to a tree.
"That was no big deal," she says. "I always tied myself to a tree when we were bullied at a protest or someone was threatening to cut down an ancient tree."
In 1995, Colvín met a local woman wearing a pale blue Moroccan top and skirt, and fell in love with the clothing's feminine, exotic and sensual look. A short time later, Colvín opened Merry's Barefoot Boutique.
The 900-square-foot store carried jewelry, belly-dancing attire and garb from Egypt, Morocco and India.
But in 1999, Lake Oswego demolished the block where Merry's Barefoot Boutique was located and built a new mall. The Colvíns returned to Long Beach the following year.
Colvín worked at a variety of retail clothing stores in Long Beach and Seal Beach, but held onto the idea of opening another fashion shop. When she saw a "For Lease" sign in a State Farm Insurance office - she says her Oregon shop was in a former State Farm Insurance office - her dreams of operating another multicultural boutique were realized.
"This shop," Colvín says, "is a culmination of my fashion and political life and my desire to help people."
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posted by i-GlobalMall.com, Inc. @ 4:17 PM   |
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