Fashion forward

It started with the designer Vera Bradley.

Several years ago, my daughter Kate fell in love with everything Vera Bradley: bags, wallets, lunch totes. Fortunately, she didn't need to look far. My mother had a pink Vera Bradley bag that was headed for a garage sale, so Kate grabbed it.

To me, the bag looked like something a grandmother would carry, precisely because a grandmother had carried it. And of course I love that particular grandmother. It just surprised me that this bag - and this designer - could look fresh and modern and appealing to not-yet-teenage eyes.

And it's not just Vera Bradley. If Kate were to make a list of shoes she's currently coveting, the list would be very, very long. One of the pairs on that list would be the "Authentic Original" leather boat shoe from Sperry, with the emphasis on "authentic original," meaning not the new, fun, sometimes sparkly Sperrys, but the ones that were popular when I was Kate's age. They're brown and sturdy-looking. To her, and many others, they're wonderful. I just can't get past their past, if that makes sense.

Then, the other night, I was reading the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, and there was an article about making summer handbags that look exactly like Bermuda bags. Remember Bermuda bags? With the wooden handles? I had forgotten all about them, and there they were. When I look at the picture of these bags above, I think they're really very cute and Spring-like. I just don't know if I could carry one - again.

Definitely part of this is just me. I'm showing my age. But a little part also might be Vera and Sperry and Martha. Because yesterday I was looking through the new Anthropologie catalog and saw a shift dress and a peasant dress, both of which looked like something my mother might once have worn, as well as something I had as a little girl. And guess what? I flipped over these dresses. I thought they were fresh and modern and so appealing. Go figure.

(Image from Martha Stewart Living.)

Dorcas

I read an article the other day in The New York Times Style Section about the Mexican town of Merida, where artists, architects, and other creative types have been busy buying up haciendas and renovating them. Some have moved there full-time; others visit for several weeks each year. It used to be towns like San Miguel de Allende that drew these artists, but over time, those towns became too popular.

My great-aunt Dorcas was a painter who lived for years in San Miguel, before it filled with what the Times piece calls "American snowbirds." I visited her there once, with my mother and sister, when she was quite elderly. Toward the end of our trip, we went to a party given in her honor that included a sale of some of her paintings. My sister and I each picked out a painting, and mine is now in my dining room. It was my first piece of "real" art.

Several years later, my sister and I were going through boxes in my mother's basement, and we came across a sketchbook that belonged to my aunt. The sketches - all flowers - look like they were done in thin black marker, and the paper has faded to yellow. I'm not sure anyone would ever buy them, but to me they're beautiful.

I hung six of these sketches in our family room, next to a crayon drawing of a fish (care of my daughter) and a painting of a small orange house (done by either my sister or me - we're not sure who - when were were little) to add color. I think Dorcas, who loved color above all else, might approve.

But one last story: Dorcas once offered to do a painting for my father. She asked him what he'd like, and he said he'd like something that reminded him of the sea, with lots of blues and grays and greens. The photo below is that painting. Not what my dad was expecting, perhaps, but done in her own way and possibly my favorite of all.

Flowers for Valentine's Day

It isn't that I don't like Valentine's Day. In fact, it's one of my favorites. I think if there's going to be a holiday celebrating a sentiment, that sentiment should be love. It's just that, as predicted, I'm not quite ready. I've bought cards for my family. I've helped my eight-year-old cut wings and feet for her owl Valentines. But that's all so far. That may be all, period.

This is one of the reasons I admire my sister, Elizabeth. She is ready. The cards she sent have arrived in the mail. She even had a dinner party last weekend with a Valentine's theme. I love the combination of fresh flowers in greens and whites mixed with pink hearts standing in cups of M&Ms. Her table was colorful and whimsical, and I'm sure her party was very fun. Who wouldn't like that?

(All photos by Elizabeth Bear)

Warm up

Maybe it's because I've been cold all winter, but I enjoyed reading about a new restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District (where the 18- to 20-course tasting menu costs $248 per person!) called Saison. It was featured in one of my all-time favorite design blogs, Remodelista, and there was one small detail that caught my eye. The owners have draped a throw (in their case, cashmere) over each dining room chair "in case diners catch a chill." And if you're so lucky to be seated at a booth, you get a whole stack of them. The chairs in my dining room are modern and, truth be told, a little hard and a little cold. I just may have found a solution to a warmer winter.

Photos by Remodelista