Hooray for Espe! GoGo for the Groovi!

Oh boy! Oh joy! The fall line of Espe has arrived at ChiChi! Although we couldn't possibly carry all of this fall's styles, we chose a killer selection to share with you. Be careful though, once you see these you'll surely want at least one and they sell out quickly. Since Espe's offerings are all limited editions, if you see something you want and can't make it in give us a call, we'll figure it out together.

I don't know about you ladies, but I've always wanted a convertible. In my other life I had a convertible Toyota RAV4 - but that was in my pre-Mommy days. Espe's line of convertibles makes it possible to own a safer, more practical alternative and we can to take them into the house too!




The Espe GROOVI convertible is one of the most (if not THE most) practical bags on the market. Depending on your needs it can be used in a multitude of ways! For starters, the bag comes as you see it here, with an extra long, thin strap that you clip on to each side and a separate smaller bag inside. The top of the tote can be folded down to show off the interior's contrasting tone, the smaller bag can be removed and used with the long, thin strap or hung outside the tote for easy access to your keys, shades, etc. This is one "Groovi" bag!











The second convertible we think you should test drive is the LUX. It's a shoulder bag, but unzip the handle and presto! It's a backpack. This one reminds me of the old Certs commercial - "Two, two, two mints in one!"

Oh and psssssst, wanna monkey around with us? Check out this GoGo tote with its MODO accessories.

With a high cool factor added to touches of whimsy, the rest need no introduction.

When Everybody Wore a Hat

The illustration above is the cover of a children's book which my moppet and I have enjoyed reading many a time. The author regales us with a nostalgic trip in this memoir about his childhood. William Steig was 96 when this book was published. He passed away about six months after publication. Though he published many books in his lifetime he may be best known as the author of Shrek! Yes, *that* Shrek, which came as a total surprise to me when I discovered this not ten minutes ago. But I digress... The first time I read "When Everybody Wore a Hat" I found myself grinning the entire way through. I have read and reread it countless times now, and I still find myself smiling from cover to cover. If you haven't read it, even if your kids are all grow'd up and have kids of their own now, I'd recommend picking up a copy the next time you're passing through a book store. It begins; "This is the story of when I was a boy, almost 100 years ago, when fire engines were pulled by horses, boys did not play with girls, kids went to libraries ..." And, of course, everybody wore a hat.


Whatever happened to hats? Why doesn't anybody wear them these days?

I love vintage hats. Hats with feathers. Hats with veils. Bonnet hats. Halo hats. Pillbox, cloche, wide brimmed, banded and bedecked with flowers. I must have inherited my admiration for hats from my Baba, a very ChiChi woman with closets full of hats and shoes with matching handbags and drawers full of gloves (I won't even mention the rhinestone baubles). I've just never been able to wear them. They look stupid on me. Or I look stupid on them. Whichever it is, I've always thought of myself as not being a 'hat girl'.


Earlier this month I read an article in the Los Angeles Times lamenting that the hat hasn't made a sensational comeback since Jackie O banished hers to the back of the closet (check out the link below!). Heads haven't made much of an ado by way of a fashion statement since then. The author of the article, Patt Morrison, makes mention of the hat department at Nordstrom and I couldn't help but wonder, if no one, except Miss P and Patt in the hat, is wearing them, then why would a huge department store chain like Nordstrom have an actual hat department?

On a recent trip to Pheonix I vowed to keep my eyes open for hats and found I didn't need to be particularly observant - I couldn't walk into a department store or a boutique without practically tripping over hats. Pretty hats. Funky hats. Vintage inspired hats. I tried a few on. I purchased none. I vowed to try to find that article again - only this time I was going to actually watch the accompanying video in which the author demonstrates the do's and do not's of hat wearing. The sagest piece of advice she had? You wear the hat. Never, ever, let the hat wear you. Easy enough for her to say. She has a hat head. Miss P has a hat head. I simply do not. Then again, after some reflection, maybe I have been relinquishing too much control to the hat. I'd better go watch that video again. We have some pretty delicious hats coming out of the closet for spring.

Take me there!