Memorial Day Mishigas

Are we in Baltimore or London? Judging by the weather this month, it’s hard to tell. Cool, rainy, damp – but oh, so green! Everything is rich and lush. So when the dog days of summer hit, flowers and trees will have a good, healthy base on which to draw.Because of the chill in the air, I wasn’t surprised to see these two guys bundled up in for a night out. Tim and Alex (first names only, please) were all decked out in faux fur. They had just come back from getting engaged in Paris.

Malcolm and Debbie Stoll, owners of Kiss N’ Makeup in Hampden, were dolled up for a party, he in a white tux jacket by Calvin Klein that he bought in London, she in black vintage ensemble.

This anonymous gentleman’s taste tends to the whimsical, dressed as he is in a ruffled white shirt, silver brocade jacket, and black moustache bow tie, all with the added sartorial fillip of a little dachshund tchotchke in place of a pocket square.

Finally, the dame par excellence is Stacy Stube, dressed head to toe in knockout clothes and shoes that she designed and made herself. She looked so elegant, and there were so many tiny, meticulous details on her creations, I had a hard time not gasping like a rube.

Stacy sews by hand and by treadle machine – remember those beautiful old Singer sewing machines that operate without electricity? – and divides her time between Baltimore and Bali.

She’s determined to resurrect both traditional Indonesian needlecraft and local American manufacturing.

Stay tuned for more on this dynamo of a designer in a future column.