Jules Reid Trunk Show

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to a Jules Reid Trunk Show in Coconut Grove. When Camille and I walked in, we were in absolute awe of the beautiful home where the show was being held. After traipsing through the house, we found our way to the back and saw the courtyard with the people...

and then the clothes..

Several racks filled with brightly colored tunics and caftans. One was prettier than the next. She couldn't have picked a more stunning backdrop for her designs, a perfectly decorated guest house nestled in the backyard.


Back in the courtyard was a gorgeously decorated table with delicious snacks. Every detail was perfection.




The lovely Jules Reid and my amazing stylist friend Holli Kingsbury.

Check out her website http://www.julesreid.com/ Her designs are available online and in select boutiques.

kp on Polyvore

It's the little things...I stumbled upon a Polyvore with one of my necklaces on it! The title is "Lilly and Married Life" and it was created by High Wasp of blogging fame. I am honored to be included with Lilly Pulitzer in anything, so thank you so very much.

A couple of summers ago, I googled myself (not ashamed to admit-when you have a business and blog..you never know what is out there about you) and found two of my crystal necklaces on Ebay! I couldn't believe it-seriously if you put Kristin Pearce in the search box, the necklaces came up. They got my little bio off my website and had the wrong packaging, but still I thought it was fascinating. Of course some crazy person was selling my $35 necklaces for $99 (really?) and then I thought-hmmm, why was someone selling them and got a little sad. Oh well!!

Fashion at a Price

All last week, every other tweet I read had to do with New York Fasion Week #nyfw. Even though most normal people will never see anything going down a runway at a PTA meeting in their town, it is fun to see what designers come up with and where fashion is headed at the moment. I get almost every fashion magazine there is, not necessarily because I am going to run out and buy the clothes, but I love the accessories, the models, get inspired by the pictures and colors for my own designs, etc...

Nowadays, I love that designers like Tory Burch are around, making amazing fashion available to many, many people. Her designs are simple and chic and for the most part, very affordable. She brilliantly joined the fashion brigade at a perfect time, the economy not so great, but people still need to look and feel current. Soon her perfectly priced tunics and genious $195 Reva flats hit the stores and you know the rest...

It wasn't always the case. For years luxury retailers kept their prices high enough to attract only the affluent consumers. It took a while, but they finally got the idea that they could make a less expensive luxury item and sell the hell out of it..it happened by accident for one such retailer, Louis Vuitton. My favorite example of this trend is the infamous monogram pouchette.

The story goes that one of the larger Vuitton purses came with an detachable make up bag inside. People were taking that smaller bag and and attaching the strap to the zipper, making a little purse out of it. Well, the strap kept breaking and they were taking it to Customer Service to be repaired. The Vuitton stores finally caught on that people wanted this size bag and they developed the Pouchette. Initially sold for $195, this little beauty was chic, affordable, had the LV Logo and after a year, I don't think you could go anywhere without seeing at least 5 of them on girls of all ages.

Another case in point...the Tiffany & Co. silver heart tag bracelet. I bought that bracelet in 1990 for $95 and wore it all through college. When I actually worked at Tiffany from 1998-2002, not only was that item the best seller at $125 in the entire company, but they actually went out and bought silver mines in Mexico to keep their costs down since they were making so much money. We spent a lot of down time in the store pre-wrapping them so they were ready to go, literally selling at least three hundred a week. Can you imagine the scratching of the heads of the Tiffany executives, longtime fine purveyors of luxury jewelry and goods that their best seller was a $125 silver bracelet?? Well, they made a decision to run with it and made an absolute fortune. p.s. that bracelet is now $210 and the Tiffany catalog is 40% silver jewelry!

It didn't take long for this momentum to catch on and soon most luxury retailers-even car makers, came out with a smaller, less expensive item, which they inevitably sold tons of..making their brand available to almost everyone.


This carried through to the fashion industry as well, resulting in big names designing for Target, H & M, Kohls and Topshop, again bringing it to the masses. So with all of this effort, there is no excuse anymore for not being fashionable!!!!

William Sonoma Home Event

Last week some of my friends hosted a book signing party at William Sonoma Home for Richard Mishaan's new book, Modern Luxury. Always delighted to pop into that beautiful store, I marked my calendar and met up with some of my Beaux Arts friends.


Cristina and Ali

Kristin, Becky and Allison


Me and Jen

Me and Zaria

I want everyone of these please...

How cute is this bag for $70. If you had to buy the parts to needlepoint this bag yourself, you would spend $200! It also came in a brown and white zebra print pattern.

This pale blue couch was stunning and then mixed with orange, it was my favorite display.

Love the blue and white. This store has room after room of gorgeous things. If you have money to burn, you could decorate an entire house from there.

www.williamsonomahome.com

Birthday Weekend

Friday was my birthday and it was such a great day...I woke up late-impossible to do in my building..worked on my website-entering products right now..then went to Town in South Miami to meet some friends for lunch.

My very sweet friend Camille made extra large red velvet cake balls for everyone. It was the first time I had tried one and they were delicious!

In the afternoon, I got my hair cut-and I mean CUT..the girl who did it was French and I couldn't understand her very well-not great when they are holding sharp scissors. I said to keep it long and put some layers in it. She put many, many layers and then after she blew it out she took the scissors and cut choppy layers in the front right to my chin! I have just grown out "mistake bangs" for 2 years and now have choppy layers that don't quite make the ponytail-unbelievable. Anyway, I do like it but was completely unprepared for the change..so I have a new hairdo.

I made plans to go the the W Hotel on South Beach Friday night. Amy, Ashley and I got there and got an amazing huge couch to park ourselves and we had the best time.

So someone once told me if you don't want red eyes (something that always happens to me), don't look right at the camera. That is great..but now I have brown eyes and I look like I am not paying attention!

Joey, me and Brian..

Me and the girls..

I got a little crazy with my blackberry camera...I thought it was really fun at the time and the pics usually come out pretty good!!!

with BFF Amy

with BFF Ricky

with BFF Joey

with BFF Ashley

and with BFF Bride-to-Be Cynthia

Saturday, I headed to the beach for my little friend Jordan's 3rd Birthday party. It was the most beautiful day and everyone had so much fun.

What a fun weekend, hanging out with great friends and enjoying the unbelievable Miami weather.

Happy Birthday from Lilly Herself

Several years ago when BFF Cynthia was a reporter in West Palm Beach, she got herself invited to dinner with Lilly Pulitzer and a few friends. The dinner took place in February and Cynthia happened to have a birthday card in her purse that she was planning on sending to me. She told Lilly that she had a friend who LOVED Lilly Pulitzer and always talked about having Lilly bridesmaids dresses in her wedding...she asked Lilly to sign my card and she told Cynthia to leave it with her and she would send it off herself...

You cannot imagine the shock of opening this card, which Lilly had written to me and even added a little fabric swatch at the bottom! What a terrific surprise!! I have treasured this momento for a long time and had it tucked away somewhere safe..only I hid it too well and couldn't remember where! Luckily, I found it this week just in time to share with all my Lilly loving friends.

So today is my birthday and while I am not expecting another Lilly birthday card, I do have very fun plans in the works and can't wait to see all my friends! So, I will thank Cynthia again for thinking of me and Lilly for sending me quite possibly the best birthday card ever!!!!

Palm Beach Part II

Saturday, I headed up to Palm Beach for a little shopping and treasure hunting. I was in such a hurry the last time, I didn't make it to some of my favorite shops. First stop, Stubbs and Wooten, a small wonderland tucked back in a corner but decorated so beautifully and filled with fabulous needlepoint shoes. I have a bunch of pairs and they are super comfortable. The table that first caught my eye was the monograms. They obviously are custom made and come in silver or gold.

There are several styles to choose from. I peeked at the price tag, a little scary, but fabulous none the less.

Some pink and green ones calling out to me..

Some velvet delights.

I love this store. Visit http://www.stubbsandwooten.com/

Next, Leta Austin Foster, an incredible linen and home accessory store that has a little something for every room in your house! When you first walk in the store, it's china everywhere! Not the department store type china, gorgeous custom designed china. My favorite was this set..pink and green with palm trees. The other fav was the blue coral.

Rounding the corner, you enter the linen section, shelves and shelves of linen sets, pillow cases and napkins in every color and more designs than you can count. Also scattered throughout were beautiful lamps and wastebaskets.

How cute are these Jack Rogers??? Or Bonannos-still not sure about which is best!


The manager of the store explained that if you see one in pink but want it in purple, they will get it made for you. Rounding another curve, you enter the shoe/stationery/bath section. Again, beautiful monogrammed shoes, buttery B. Designs notecards stunningly personalized ( I bought 2 sets last year and they have become VIP stationery for me..so if you get a thank you note on one, you will know you are on my VIP list!)and monogrammed ribbon belts.

Then..the children's section. Not only do they have a wonderful array of clothing for boys and girls, but Madame Alexander dolls, Steiff teddy bears and baby gifts galore...

Visit Leta Austin Foster at their website here.

Next stop, Kassatly's across from Tiffany & Co. Our giveaway friend Robert Matheson was having a trunk show of his fabulous REDD gear there. His table was stocked with goodies and he was charming all the ladies into buying his amazing shirts.
Don't forget to check out his website here.

Across the street at Calypso, I walked in and was overwhelmed with all the colors and new items. Of course, I am immediately drawn to the hot pink corner. Love this purse..

these baubles were amazing..I never see beads like the middle necklace!

Visit the Calypso website here

Luckily enough, after all that shopping, I didn't get a parking ticket and headed over to South County Road to hit up the stores there. I couldn't resist popping in to Lori Jayne Monogramming to say hi and to look her store over again. She had some new things that I missed the last time. (I have a feeling that you could visit each week and see something new every time)

She just finished needlepointing this box for her son.

The cutest favor ever..brightly wrapped Oreos. She designed the monogram and had the stickers made. There is also a size for graham crackers.

This bowl was a little hard to resist..

She showed me one of her favorite things, these thick beautiful linen napkins with her monogram. The thread color choices took up 8 pages. What an amazing gift for someone..
Visit Lori Jayne at 305 S. County Road in Palm Beach

or her Facebook page here!

I ended my Palm Beach excursion meeting Robert for drinks at the most Palm Beachy place, Michael R. McCarty's. It was a scene for sure and somewhere I will definitely be visiting again.

Next stop...Naples!!!