Yesterday I found myself in a big box store looking for an obscure piece of hardware for a repair project. Of course I was in a hurry, trying once again to fit more into a day off than one day would possibly allow, and of course I couldn’t find it. By the time I found [ read more… ]
What have we done to shopping? I remember when browsing through stores was a form of recreation — part fantasy, part necessity, but a form of social ritual nonetheless. We seem to have turned it into another job, a task to be tackled with clear objectives and maximum efficiency. One thing’s for sure — any [ read more… ]
Funny how, with all of our technological streamlining and automated service, it all comes back to people — the important element that tends to make a difference in our satisfaction. What a good reminder for those of us in retail.
Sometimes going through the motions of a daily routine can become so automatic that you hardly notice the world around you. So I was startled on my daily dog walk to suddenly hear a rustling noise under my feet. LEAVES. Click on any of these fabric photos to see the lovely details better.
Fall already? Really? School has barely started and the flowers are still blooming; but as I sat in the stands of the Friday night football game and watched the orange ball sink to the horizon well before half time, I realized that indeed it is that time again. And of course then I started seeing [ read more… ]
Leaves are a favorite design on fabrics, with their rich colors and graceful shapes. These photos are all of fabrics from Wesley Hall and I’m pretty sure you’ll find them in Chicagoland only at Toms-Price. They would really make a room glow this season, or any season, wouldn’t they? Leaves can be embossed on leathers [ read more… ]
Here in the midwest, the birthplace of the Prairie Style, we have a special affinity for leaves. An outline of a leaf is an icon that means nature. It implies open spaces and clean air where a tree can grow and spread out the way it was meant to. So here’s to the season of [ read more… ]
Ever wonder about the way fashion runs through cycles? Now that I’ve reached an age to have gone through several cycles myself, it seems to me there is a definite ying/yang thing going on. Think about it — in the thirties we had frothy, floaty dresses, fringed lampshades and some very curvaceous car bumpers. The [ read more… ]
So where are we now? It’s always easier to look back and summarize than to figure out the present, but I get the feeling we’re in a kind of stylistic holding pattern. If there is a single unifying theme out there, it’s hiding itself well. Style expresses who we want to be as well as [ read more… ]
With the Olympics over, China must be hugely relieved. For two weeks the country lived under a microscope, with every performance and venue scrutinized by an outside world whose respect and grudging approval was not easy to win. A window was opened into an ancient and exotic culture so different from our own. Or was [ read more… ]
