Maxi luau dress at Barefoot Contessa

If you are a woman and you haven’t been to Barefoot Contessa – ah, I won’t even bother finishing that. If you haven’t been, you must have at least HEARD about it. It’s one of the most girly stores in our city, and with two locations, it only takes one visit to be hooked.

Even after window shopping at Barefoot for years, I only made my first purchase just recently. But when it comes to dresses, I know where to go. Coupled with a sweet 30% CRAVE Guide discount, I headed down to the Main Street location last Saturday to reward myself with a new maxi dress – which I didn’t even know was called a maxi dress till fashion blogger Lisa Wong told me!

Since I’m going to Hawaii next month, I wanted a new long, floral printed dress to wear to a luau. So I started calling it a luau dress. And I got the first one I had my eye on, the CHELSEA ‘meadow riot’ dress for $59. The Medium was a bit too big, and there was a Small on hold, so they sold it to me so that I wouldn’t have to go to the Commercial Drive location to get it. Now THAT’S great customer service!

CHELSEA maxi dress – $46 with discount and tax

What else I love about Barefoot Contessa is that the staff is always there asking if you need help, and they have some gorgeous jewellery, gifts, and children’s wear that you can ooh and ahh over even if you don’t buy anything… which is REALLY hard to resist.

Though they don’t have a real website, they’re pretty active on Facebook and Twitter as well as on their blog site, and they’re always creative when it comes to window displays. Definitely add this place to your Main Street and Commercial walking tours – you won’t regret it!

Barefoot Contessa Main Street
3715 Main Street Vancouver BC V5V 3N8
604-879-1137
Monday – Saturday 11am-6pm, Sunday 12-6pm

Barefoot Contessa Commercial Drive
1928 Commercial Drive Vancouver BC  V5N 4A7
604-255-9035
Monday – Saturday 11am-6pm, Sunday 12-6pm

Facebook.com/thebarefootcontessa
Twitter @so_lovely
Blog: http://barefootcontessaboutique.wordpress.com

Rediscovering South Granville & more March finds!

Tuesday I took a chunk of my work day to re-explore the vibrant South Granville district (8th Avenue to 16th Avenue) and introduce myself to yet more of the CRAVE Guide entreprenesses in the city, while looking for a few new Spring pair of pants (easing my way into a vegan diet forced me down two sizes and had me saying goodbye to three pairs!).

I was blown away at how much this street has grown, retail-wise. Seriously, watch out Robson! The only thing I was missing that day was my mom! And I say that not because she would have paid for my stuff, but because S. Granville is an excellent place to shop for both young adults and older women and men. There’s a great range of boutiques, home decor shops, cafes, restaurants, and beauty bars to make it worth a day trip. Just don’t pay too much for your metre parking!

First stop: Babs Studio Boutique (babs.ca), owned by the one and only Babs Lucas. The storefront says mostly Canadian designed, but I was wowed to see the range of colours and fabrics this store had. Definitely more of an older demographic and an Eastern flair, but some great outerwear pieces for the upcoming colourful summer trends. Babs also has plus sizes available.

Neighbour to Babs is the passionate Julia Manitius of Urbanity (urbanity.ca). You may have recognized this shop when it was in Gastown, but Urbanity has a new home. What’s interesting about Urbanity is that it is the ONLY Canadian retailer (and agent) for the OLEANA line from Norway. What is OLEANA you ask? Only the most incredible, traditional yet vibrant line of sweaters and other items that I’ve ever seen. Let’s see if I can find just ONE picture to do the line justice!

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Feb shopping: Good Society denim & Klosit.

I love a good pair of jeans. Even better than a great pair of jeans is knowing you’re helping the world just by buying and wearing it.  This is what happens when you search out Goodsociety denim.

I first learned about Goodsociety through Jennifer Cummer at Main Street’s Lut Boutique, when she was on Shaw’s Urban Rush show. One of the models was wearing a skinny black jean, which Jennifer described as “100% sustainable denim.” I immediately checked out Goodsociety and was blown away at what they do. The black jean wasn’t even a skinny, as Jennifer told me when I finally made it into Lut – it was a slim fit.

Charcoal Slim leg from Goodsociety (actually lighter than it looks here)

I tried the black slim fit, but decided on a pair of charcoal grey slim legs (like skinny) for $129. With a 20% CRAVE Guide discount, got these puppies for $115 including tax. I usually don’t splurge on an amount like this with a pair of jeans, but as I was trying on the pair, I did feel that the quality was there, and any time I can help out the world, I feel good about my purchases. Goodsociety was created locally by Ryan Shantz, the denim is CERTIFIED ORGANIC and made by INDEPENDENT FARMERS IN INDIA who are taught sustainable farming practices. For every pair purchased, 25% (not 25 cents) GOES BACK TO PEOPLE IN NEED. For more info on Goodsociety, go to goodsociety.org. You can also buy a pair at Gastown’s Dutil Denim.

*BONUS!* Lut Boutique will hem jeans for you, for free! You just have to wash your pair once and bring them back to make sure there are no unsightly changes after the hemming is done.

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