From the editor: September 2024
August 30, 2024
For me, one of the best things about back-to-school season was the shopping. From binders and backpacks to new shoes and clothes, I loved it all. Once summer vacation was done, I couldn’t wait to stock up for the new year.
From my hometown in eastern North Carolina, we’d make the hourlong drive to Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, where the department stores were bigger and better and, as I got older, we could shop at places like Express and Benetton, which we didn’t have in my small town.
The summer before sixth grade, my best friend Deanna and I went back-to-school shopping together. At the time, our local district lumped kids in grades 4-7 together, before sending all the moody, insecure 13-year-olds from across the county to one massive school for an excruciating eighth-grade experience. (But that’s a story for another time…)
Deanna and I liked similar styles, and for some inexplicable reason, we made the ill-fated decision to wear the exact same outfit on the first day of school. It was the preppy ’80s, and I still remember it — a Kelly-green, oxford-cloth button-down shirt and dark periwinkle pants from Belk. (How and why we routinely wore long sleeves and long pants in mid-August — in North Carolina — is a mystery to me.)
Our unfortunate fashion choice might have gone unnoticed if we hadn’t ended up in the same homeroom. Back then, everyone gathered in a large auditorium on the first day of school to await their class assignments. Then, one by one, the teachers stood up and called out the names on their homeroom rosters, in alphabetical order. It didn’t help that my last name started with a ‘C’ and Deanna’s last name started with a ‘D,’ so when we lined up with our new class, we were standing right next to each other.
The laughter was hushed, but I still heard the snickering. We realized instantly what a fashion faux pas we had made! Twinning is cute for kindergarteners, but we were well past the acceptable age for matching outfits. Fortunately, once we got to our classroom, we were so excited to be together, we didn’t really care what the others thought.
September marks the beginning of back-to-school season, but it’s also known for fashion week, when designers in New York, Paris, London and Milan traditionally debut their spring and summer collections. That’s why we typically feature our annual IT List of style-setting Charlotteans in September. Each year, Style Editor Whitley Adkins searches far and wide to identify individuals with a unique and enduring sense of personal style. This year’s class is no exception.
In this issue, contributor Natalie Dick also caught up with boutique owner Laura Vinroot Poole, founder of Capitol, Poole Shop and Tabor. Laura’s been a fixture on Charlotte’s style scene since opening Capitol, her internationally acclaimed boutique, in 1998. For years, I’ve been a big fan of her podcast, “What We Wore,” which, more often than not, isn’t actually about clothing at all. In it, she interviews designers, fashion editors, friends and others and really gets to the heart of why people do what they do. This time, we flip the script and hear Laura’s story. After more than two wildly successful decades in the fashion industry, some of her answers might surprise you. SP
CATHY MARTIN
Editor
editor@southparkmagazine.com
IN THIS ISSUE:
1 – Graylyn, one of five historic homes-turned-hotels featured in Vanessa Infanzon’s travel story
2 – A brunch recipe to make at home from Lottie’s Cafe’s Chef Maria Martinez
3 – Amie Newsome, market manager at Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, gives our IT List crew a lift
4 – Frozen cocktails at Maiz Agua Sal
