KidMontauk

We seem to be getting the September weather that we have all been waiting for! Warm, almost beach days. However the day starts off quite cool and also finishes off cool. How does one walk out the door with out carrying around a few different outfits? I like to start with a not too summery dress. Under the dress leggings and a jacket and big scarf on top. So when the temp rises off comes the scarf and jacket. Still warmer you can ditch the leggings. As the evening approaches start to pile it all back on. Usually around 4 when we are winding down at the playground or walking on the beach I start to feel a chill creep back into the air.

There are so many cool leggings out this season. There are denim looking ones with stitching but no bulk of pockets and fly at the waist. There are shiny pleather black ones that I adore. They take a bit of finesse to wear especially out here. I like to wear them out to dinner with a VERY conservative top to balance the trampiness going on on my legs. Ones with zippers, tie die…the list continues. I do recommend that one always KEEP YOUR BUTT COVERED! Keep the shoes FLAT.  A tunic mid thigh, or a denim mini skirt work well. A boxy shape t-shirt or sweater on top to balance out a mini skirt. Never do all tight and short and high heels all at the same time – NEVER. you want to look cool not trampy.

Almost all shops right now have leggings. My favs are Kelly B. and American Apparel.
-Peri

All the kids are back in school! If you live in a rural area then that means school buses. With school buses comes waiting for the bus. These days here in Montauk we are lucky enough to have the bus stop at our drive way! It is quite luxurious really. No trudging to some corner to wait in the sun, rain, snow, gail force winds for the bus. One must only be at the end of the drive way at 7:30AM. I am not sending my 6 year old to the side of the road alone. So with that said, she is there all dressed, brushed, fed, bag packed and waiting for me to escort her. I, however, am still in my jammies. So do I get “dressed” or do I suck it up and go out in my jammies, coffee in hand?
We get up at 6:30Am to ensure child #1 is ready for her bus. Child #2 is still a drop off at 9Am so I have some time between kids. Here in lies a huge dilemma for my fashionista self. How can I let the world see me in my jammies? I am not the shiny leopard robe and marabu slipper type more like Gap what ever is soft type. So I certainly look a bit rumpled, at best, at first light. When I first got to experience this school bus stuff a year ago it really threw me for a loop. I tried to get myself dressed first then deal with the kids. Just like “If the oxygen mask falls down put yours on first then help your kids”. I need oxygen to help me through this whirl wind of every morning. Oh and intravenous coffee drip would also be good.
After a few mornings of waiting outside while shoving breakfast in the child there at the end of the drive way so we would not miss the bus I realized this was not working. The poor child was eating outside! At least we were all dressed?! So now maybe I need to wake up earlier to get dressed then worry about the kids? NO WAY! I need all the sleep I can get. I have decided that if I can sort of brush my hair and put a sweat shirt over the t-shirt and sweat pants I am passable.
Remember: No bunny slippers. Birkenstocks are much better. Sort of a shoe/slipper. Also please throw away all ripped, worn out, bleach spotted stuff. Try to have your sleep wear not be an embarrassment. These days the Gap has so much stuff on sale you can have clean new jammies for about $10. Adult looking jammies. Not college dorm flannel plaid or cup cake prints. NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, printed across your butt!!!! Leave that to the youngsters who should be calling attention to their butts.
Winter is much easier. You throw on a long coat pull on high Uggs and go out there. No one would ever know what is under all that. You can even pull this off in IGA. I do not recommend it though. It is not good to get too lazy with your appearance. You want the town to wonder how you look so good all the time.
-Peri

Yup, it is that time of the year where all those luscious SALE signs beckon to you to open your wallet wide and spend! spend! spend!

Ladies: STOP! AND THINK!!!
How many times has that fishnet cover up looked absolutely fabulous on the hanger that you just had to have it for a mere $30. You got so excited by the vision of you all tan with your best bikini and a wisp of fishnet slinking, no, stalking down Ditch with a cold drink. How totally avant guard, how new, how edgy you would look. So you grab it before any one else could get it and run to the check out. You don’t even try it on. You know it will look amazing. Now you are back home, the adrenalin rush has subsided and you try it on. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH: you look like a cheap ho. Your husband/boyfriend catches you looking in the mirror and asks if this is for halloween. So much for edgy…
Please be realistic about your sale purchases. Yes, it may be a deal but if you NEVER wear it, it is NO deal. Still money out and no fabulosity in. A lot of times friends tell me “wait, it will go on sale.” Yes, it may. Usually the stuff I want gets sold out before it ever gets to the sale rack. Sometimes I am lucky, usually not. So when I see a something I must have,usually shoes, I buy them immediately. Maybe I wait a few days to see if I still really want them and they will still change my life after I purchase them. So DO NOT let the sale signs all over town make you start drooling. Go check things out with a level head or a level headed friend and buy discriminately. I am looking at the NEW fall merchandise. I would rather spend a bit more on something I love then less on something that hangs in the closet with the tags on it.
Spend Wisely-
-Peri

It is always fun to buy a new T-shirt from the place that you visited on your vacation. Just remember NOT to look like a walking bill board. Also I think we are more mature then to wear a shirt saying something off color. Ones that make you look like your IQ is your waist size. Such as “I’m with Stupid” and an arrow pointing to the left. Also sporting that old “vintage” T just looks sloppy, not hip. A clean fresh T-shirt with MINIMAL logos for adults is always preferable. Yes, you may wear it out to dinner as long as it is not stained and wrinkled. But NO baseball cap guys. Save the caps and silly shirts for your fishing charter.

So let’s rise above and hit a shop that has some very cute T’s especially for the little ones. Montauk T-Shirt Company On The Plaza should be your first stop. I found great designs with peace signs and flowers for girls and lots of sharks for boys. They also carry wonderful towels, chairs, and boogie boards. Something a bit different from every one else. Kids will be happy to have a souvenir from summer that they can wear to school.
You can even arrange for surf lessons there! Cathy, her husband, and her 3 kids are all very accomplished surfers and can help  you get your surf on.
-Peri

Montauk T-Shirt Company
On The Plaza (the south side of the circle)
631-668-3966

Kids’ T-shirts $12.95 – $15.95
Surf Gear hibiscus towel $19.95

I am being pushed to promote myself. I never wanted to design my own line of clothing and sell it retail. It is WAY too much trouble dealing with shops and orders and all that goes with the rag trade. However I LOVE LOVE LOVE to sew. So I have a private sale every now and then to sell all the things that inspire me and keep me sewing. Otherwise the house would be full of clothing and we would have to move out.
I always feel women should dress to make themselves happy. To express themselves and their creativity. Who cares if you are dressed differently from everyone else. It’s OK to stand out and look beautiful, happy, and confident. As long as you are comfortable with yourself and walking down the street.

So all that said, right now I get inspiration from antique “white wear” and tea dresses. This is all the layers of bloomers, petticoats, and modesty tops that women wore under their clothes from 1890 – 1910. Think “Room with a View” goes modern. Do you recall Sarah Bohnem Carter frolicking on the lawn playing bad mitten looking like a fluffy white confection? I get these old undergarments and tenderly fix them to be worn again with a modern feel. I have dressed Joni, Kelly B., Edie, Amy, Debbie, Laura, Tracy, Karin and Tracey. You know who you are. Wearing bloomers can be quite freeing. They have legs but look like a full skirt. You can bend over, sit down, move around with out showing your panties. Some have ribbons in the legs, some lace, some beautiful embroidery. All are one of a kind.
The biggest excuses I hear about women not wanting to try on my clothes are: “I won’t look good in that.” “I’m too fat” “I could never carry it off like you.” That is all B.S.!!! Ladies, you are all beautiful!
-Peri

Sunday August 23
Secret Sale
71 Edgemere
Starting 10am, come early!