Happy New Year Everyone! We wanted to start off this year by sharing a great ‘Bethan Story shared by the lovely Hilary. Enjoy!
I bought my first Elisabethan wardrobe staple 11 years ago!!! It was 2005. I had just moved to Paonia, the surprise town with everything. After a long winter Friday, some fellow co-workers at High Country News gathered each other up and headed in the bitter cold to the dark end of Grand Avenue for a sale event at a local clothing shop. I had no idea what to expect.
It was unlike anything I’d ever seen! Wide-eyed, I walked around the old building lined with endless colorful stacks of fabric, gazing with glee until I found a rack of jean skirts. That might sound kinda humdrum, but these were the coolest, most fun, creative, and fashionable jean skirts I had ever seen. They were A-line and hit just below the knee. They had been skillfully patched together from different pairs of jeans and adorned with the most whimsical fabric flowers and geometric shapes and buttons.
I sifted through the rack and found my FAVORITE SKIRT OF ALL TIME. A one-of-a-kind creation, it was just my size. That skirt has since lived in Seattle, Santa Barbara, and Portland, where I could always count on it to garner compliments from fellow artful clothing aficionados. Now it’s back home in Paonia, in good shape after all these years.
With that skirt I was hooked, and I developed a habit of saving to buy Elisabethan duds as often as I could. It’s been a fun ride to watch Beth’s creations evolve, and to amass my own small collection of her head-turning, über comfortable, and long-lasting skirts, shirts, scarves, and fingerless gloves. Keep ‘em coming, Beth!
