Summer by CHANCE!

The month of June left me craving some sign of Summer. Cool,drizzly, damp days around here did not inspire so off I went in search of some real summer...and I found it just by CHANCE.

Chance is built around the spirit and style of the simple and classic Striped T...toss in a pair of Espadrilles, a Canvas Tote, a great Sunhat, and maybe a Button Down Shirtdress and you have essential summer style done to perfection! Not simply fashion, but collectible key pieces infused with the Chance spirit...American Sportswear meets "European nonchalance".  Founder Julia Leach, former creative Director at Kate Spade, believes-and I agree!-that the striped T is the "paperclip of personal style" and a cornerstone of the Chance concept-"Classics that travel the world...a relaxed, confident sense of style, a curious spirit, and a more minimalist than maximalist approach to dressing and living."

I am in love with Chance's website  starting with the "must own" essentials, all at home by the shore or in the city....but maybe it is the joy that owner Julia Leach brings to every aspect of her line and her website that keeps me visiting, especially  her wonderful "mood board/inspiration blog" Discoveries filled with video, photographraphy, film, food, music,books,art,travel... and of course style -with lots of of stripes! Be sure to have a look at the Striped Shirt Artwork, portraits of well loved striped shirts by artist Mary Matson with the proceeds for Japanese Earthquake Relief.

For more on what keeps me in stripes Visit The Shopping Bag Chronicles and Winding Yarn and this July 4th wave your own stripes!

There but for the Grace...Horror in Japan

 In an age of high tech connectivity in which we are unceasingly bombarded with images and information I often wonder whether we can still be brought up short, shocked, stopped in our daily track.  The horror and unimaginable devastation the people of Japan are facing in the aftermath of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in the north coast of Japan,the largest earthquake in Japan's, history, followed by a ferocious tsunami- have done just that...

 It will be a very long time before the "numbers" tell the story-the extraordinary loss of infrastructure, homes, buildings and frighteningly loss of life is still unknown. For now we have the images that tell the world the story of people.

 We are all left paralyzed with disbelief  and feeling overwhelmingly helpless ...Yet act we must in any small way we can, if only to remind us that we are all connected, we are all residents of this planet and there but for the grace...Please Visit Network for Good for donation options including Doctors without Borders and Global Giving which has set up a Text Donation line-text JAPAN to 50555 to give $10