Garance est arrivée chez Kate Spade! (updated photos)

Here are some goodies from Kate Spade's newest collection, which includes a number of adorable items in prints drawn/designed by Garance Doré! I believe the tee on the left shows the effects of Garance having worked with the Copywriter from Space on the latest J.Crew promotion.

"Toutes les filles sont folles," reads this silk blouse. Ooh, look, noun/pronoun/adjective agreement. Can be worn abroad without shame. Kate and Garance translate that as "All the girls are crazy." No argument here.

To emphasize this merry sentiment, it's also available in a whole dress!

the "shopper"

a little clutch

This print,  called "Cocktail Party," is available in things to wear and things to carry. It includes the little saying shown above, and in English, it reads "Why don't we.." There's also something about a Martini, but I learned this at a young age: step.away.from.the.martini. Repeat: step.away.from.the.Martini.

The print can go to parties, and can make phone calls.
Kate Spade is generally having a Paris moment this summer, and I'm generally in
favor of Paris moments. However, although I live in New York
City, I don't wear legible clothing to proclaim my love for my
hometown. I spend lots of time in a beach village at the far east end of Long Island (not one of the many North Shore peninsuletti that have claimed to be Big Egg or Little Egg), but the closest I've gotten to clothing with the name of our little village on it is a teeshirt that proclaims me "LOCAL." Or sometimes "TOWNIE." And trust me, I've earned it... Anyway, a sure way to look like a tourist in Paris is to wear clothing that proclaims that LOOK AT ME I AM IN PARIS. Rule: A St Tropez tee looks fabulous at a beach in New Jersey, but in St Tropez? Not so much.


There's a Paris-themed wool scarf in the KS collection, but it struck me as too souvenir-like, as did Kate's Paris/France themed charm bracelet. I like charm bracelets, but I think they're nicer if you've assembled them yourself over time. Or maybe if someone who can really read you finds special things for you.


This is because by the time I graduated, I owned a bracelet laden with charms that were gifts to me from relatives who either didn't know me very well, or who knew me but had hopes of improving me anyway. But it was gold, so I held on to it, thanking goodness for office dress codes that forbade the wearing of things that jingled and at the same time resenting this gold thing for which I had no use. Then one day, getting out of the rain by running into an antique jewelry store, I saw the cutest little charm: a hedgehog! It's cuter in French: un hérisson!

While coming to terms with the owner (is your nephew still single? is that your best price? is the deli on the corner any good? - oh, I'm a charmer!), two things occurred to me: one, I had a bunch of small gold things that I never wore but could sell, and two, with the proceeds I could buy some nice gifts and set about collecting charms that I would enjoy. The collection took some time, but I now have a real gold charm bracelet composed of antique and vintage charms, many of which open up or do things. Each reminds me of - I'll say an adventure. People are not allowed to give me charms, it's my collection so I do the collecting. This sounds outrageously self-indulgent, but the only other person I've ever met who did the same thing - made herself a real gold charm bracelet with charms that meant something to her, evoked memories of events and travels in her own adult life - is married to one of Himself's classmates. He is a Congregational minister, and she is his helpmeet in the devoted old sense of the word. For no pay, she works harder than first-year lawyers. We trade thrifting tips at the guys' college reunions. The charms she's collected remind her of their adventures as young missionaries - a cauldron, a brightly colored parrot, a tent, a Book... Not self-indulgent at all. Souvenirs you don't have to dust. Or dry-clean. OK, now I will try to photograph some more charms. Mine, not Bethany's.

For those who wondered, is that what I think it is? Yes.

each gondola of this ferris
wheel is a different color

this is a travelling bar, closes and opens

remember A Tale of Two Cities?
this is a tumbril!

And last, this is a nice white shirt from the new Kate Spade stuff. Once again, fashion writers have discovered the white shirt. It's like being surprised when leaves turn brown in the fall.


One more thing: Kate and Garance offer an umbrella, I love the red handle. I wish I could manage umbrellas! As it is, carrying pocketbook, files, shopping bag, bus card... adding in an umbrella makes me a danger to myself and others.  I make do with rainhats, and I await the invention of a rainhat that is actually becoming.