International Shipping.

Sometimes, if I'm binging too hard on my blackberry, my husband says (bc evidently it's something I've claimed) "You blowing up on facebook right now?" I usually answer yes. But where we are really blowing up right now is London. So, I'd like to say if there is anyone out there who has a need for international shipping, email us at sales@heidimerrick.com and Hilary will kindly take care of you. oxoxox
And if you have any leads, as to why we are blowing up in the UK, email or call us... and we'll chat you up.

Holiday Wishlist.

If you aren't on our email list and you'd like to be, email us at info@heidimerrick.com and you too can know about our sales ahead of the public!
xoxo

Holiday Dress Sale is 40% right now.

Showroom Sample Sale

Our showroom is having a sample sale. I don't mean to brag but I did get a coat that retails for over 3 grand that I'll be sporting in Vail in a couple weeks. Hoorah! Here's the flyer but if you need more info email hilary@heidimerrick.com
xoxo

Holiday party notes, again.

If you must wear black ( I fully encourage color amidst a sea of black party dresses) please involve some tulle. Preferably some uncontrollable tulle like on our Jessica dress.

Holiday Parties!

I just heard a hilarious story about my Auntie at a holiday party having valeted, mingled and enjoyed a drink at a holiday party before she realized it was the wrong party, her party was six homes down. I find that hilarious!
I'd like to encourage woman not to all wear the same things to these parties, so, I'm going to offer some suggestions. Mistaking a house, hilarious! Mistaking a wife, just plain sad. This is our Heather dress, shown in cream moire, it has classic features, high neckline, demure length but with the sexy twist of low open sleeve. A dress for woman who -well, get it.

Trunk Show

Geography is not my strong point. So, when I told my Auntie Betti Lynne we are headed to Detroit for a trunk show, she said I must mean Bloomfield Hills! And I did! Evidently it's right by my cousin Kristen's alma mater, Michigan. So we will be there for Spring pre-order and all the crazy dresses we just shipped out of the studio. Now my mom just called and said she'd heard I was going to Detroit and would love to come along. Well Mom, you are always welcome, where ever I go, when ever I go. xoxo

Here are the hard facts for all of Kristen's Buddy's.
We'll be there Friday, December 5, 10-6
4076 West Maple Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI
She's phone # 248-594-8181

Labor of Love.

Sometimes it takes an entire studio and 3 days to make me finish a pattern. But the beautiful ones, the ones I wear for people I really love -well it's like a puzzle on a rainy day. There's nothing else I'd rather do. I'm hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year, and of course it will be formal. (The studio will be closed and I'm spending the week matching china and polishing silver!) I think this is what I'm going to wear. I wore it in green to my friends Georgia and Nathan's wedding and it was the prettiest thing I've ever worn. I'm hoping my niece Daisy will think I'm real pretty in this.
xoxo

Skirt me!

The space between the moment I design something and see someone wearing it can feel like an eternity. But sometimes pieces come in and to me it is fresh and new and charming. This skirt we've been wearing at the studio with things like Rolling Stones tees. Because that's just hot.

Seasons change.

It's just 5 and the sun's setting in the windows of the studio. LA really has the most epic sunsets. But it makes it hard to keep working when the day ends so quickly, I'm not going to lie, today I googled where it was summer now so I could go there. For vacation. From LA. Then I could sport our Resort collection that Hilary just put up on our site. C magazine just featured this scarf (from Resort that suspiciously matches the sunset), I wore it yesterday -and I don't have to be south of the Equator (or on the other side of the world -I don't know couldn't get any solid answers from google) for it to make sense!

Flat Stanley

My nephew Isaiah sent me Flat Stanley to acompany me to our fashion show. He was all the rage. Let me know if you're interested in the rest of his vacation and I'll publish some sweet shots.
xoxo

Every Buddy needs a posse.

This is mine.
Photo: Hilary Hays, Heidi Merrick, Jenny Murray Hooks, Vivian Patao

The last days.

All good things come to an end, and I need to break it to you -our 200 DOLLAR SALE ends Monday at 5 oclock! So, you are warned. Don't email Hilary asking for thus and so for 200 bucks, or choose a random pic on the website and call and ask if there is one that's available. It won't be. I'm just saying. xoxo
PS. This pic has my famous orchid rehab in it. Looking at it now I realize none of these orchids made it through the program. Maybe you people (you know who you are) should slow down on giving me your wanting orchids.

Kelly Rutherford

We love Gossip Girl, and we love even more the rosebud-lipped-beauty that is Kelly Rutherford. It's as if she's walked out of my imagination, but even better! My mom and I have always discussed Kelly. Conversations went like this.
me - "Mom, do I sort of look like her?" (I was blond at one point in my life.)
mom - "Yes Sweet-heart, I think you do."
me- "Why?"
mom- "It's your little rose bud lips."
me- "Really?"
oxxo

Here she is in our Aunt Judy dress...

Process

I love shots like this. The breakdown of the process is far more interesting than the polished end. I'm always trying to subtract back from the finish and redirect my design process. Such things are heady and boring but actually where the day lies.

Me and Mom

I get emails from strangers telling me how much my mom loves me. That's pretty sweet, right? She said I could bring my tee pee to her house this weekend and camp out with my niece and nephew in the backyard, pretty cool.

200 Dollar Sale.

Well, I just left my side of the studio to take stock of the other side of the studio and realized the racks are full. Here's the deal, I've recently cleaned out my closet and put a rolling rack of my "sentimental" type garments in my studio at home -now I've got tons of closet space, bam! As we are getting more dresses in tomorrow (and I don't want to have to give up my home rack and return it to the studio!) I'm creating the 200 dollar sale. So check out the sale, Hilary is putting it together now...

Bon Anniversaire!

Well, I had a fantastic birthday! Thank you, all you well wishers, and thank you to all who ordered and were forced to wish me happy birthday in the shopping cart. xoxo

Another year gone.

Luckily my birthday this year coincided with the Jewish New Year. Shana Tova to you! And Yom Huledit to me! My Hebrew's rusty but an ex-pat friend of mine, Jill in Israel, just sent me the greetings... And because my bro and I have done some extensive research and are pretty sure of our Hebraic roots this makes a perfect time for me to assess. Some personal observations:

1. This was for sure the best year of my life for the following reasons:
JJ still loves me.
I've planted a garden.
I have a job and I like it.
I've hired Hilary.
I have great hair.
We live in Silverlake.
I've made new friends and kept the old!

2. Life is easier past your twenties for the following reasons.
You know what you're good at.
Other people know now too.
Things are not as personal.
But the good things are exceedingly personal.

3. Things I've learned this year, an abbreviated list.
Don't plant habanaro peppers in your garden.
People thrive in praise.
Everything works better if you admit you are blessed and that's probably why.
Fabrics and blending take time, time, time.
The Vogue offices don't look like the movies.
Buy art as soon as you can afford it.

P.S. If you don't get our emails we are offering a birthday discount from now til Sunday, just type happybirthday at checkout and it's 20% off. (I think... confirm with Hilary if it doesn't work.)

Wee Fall.

Fall is always a strange time for me, verging on emo. There seems to be stillness even amidst busyness and change. So, I find myself purging everything from wardrobes to dishes then look around and still feel a wee bit empty. I think this is why we send kids to school in the Fall, keep them busy, occupy minds. Help them to ignore time's blatant display of passing or onslaught of nostalgia. I've not found a remedy for the rest of us, I'm just lamenting.

Our dad's hat.

My friend Jen told me her dad said, " Your creativity should go into the way you live, not just into your work." And since that conversation I've found myself trying to implement it into my life. I've found I'm either pushing a collection, landscaping, or my kitchen cupboard issue. That's not really life is it? But what is "your life"? When I showed my dad the current look book, he was quite enamoured with the use of his hat. He asked where the hat band was, I said it's on her head in other pictures, he liked it. He said he was really proud of buddy and me for doing our own photo shoots. He told me people get paid a lot of money to do that stuff. I don't think he knows I used to be a stylist. Or that Buddy's a magazine editor et photographer. I think he thinks of us as girls who laugh a little too loud and can catch a mean trout or who paddle out when it's a little too big for our skill set. And that is evidence of living.

Spring 09

We shipped our last box out to NY for market yesterday at 5:30. I went home and dreamt of hook and eyes I didn't double check and hems I can't remember if I'd finished. But such is life. You pour and pour into something and at some point you must let go... I have to ask myself -if the collection was perfect what would keep me going? Because I know the answer, nothing. But I did my best, my very best and am happy. Happy and relieved. Like the pic I'm showing from the collection. It's a dress we are continuing -the Judy. (I'm extremely careful not to show anyone the collection before the buyers. If I've showed you the collection and you are reading the blog, I must really love you.)

Yellow Submarine.

I've been having terrible trouble leaving the studio on time... It's led friends to sweetly ask, "Are you a workaholic?" ha ha. That's so 80's. Anyhoo, last night it left Buddy in her car waiting for our eat-Indian-and-edit-shots-date at my place. Once situated on our veranda my favorite food delivery man came up the stairs! He was actually an inspiration for my spring 08 shoot -he's always wearing subtle colored turbans and beautifully manicured mouschtashe -see background of this shot.) Buddy then confessed she had the C in her car with our Silverlake article and went ahead and ordered our favorite Indian! She's really a magical best friend. So, I said, "grab it, grab it!" (the C) and we showed him the mention and he was really happy. I think this may have redeemed our house as a delivery destination since last time he came the entire 2nd and 3rd generations of Merrick's were found in the jacuzzi singing raucous round of Yellow Submarine. Finally, Buddy and I had to own up to the fact that I tend to re-name things and Buddy, being a literalist, believes them to be the actual names. So, I confessed I consider their "Balti" a wee bit salty and no feelings were hurt. He agreed it's a signature dish and well worth mentioning even as "Salty Balti".
xoox

Six Dresses...

Saturday night we attended an uber swanky party. It was the eve of our shoot but my darling assistant Hilary convinced me to rally with tales of staircases costing more than a college tuition. The party was swish -and the most shocking thing was that we spotted six Heidi Merrick dresses! Granted two were occupied by me and Buddy. I wore the Gale in a Kelly green (my new staple) and Jenny Murray Hooks (Buddy) was in the green and white Egan. Also worn was a yellow Mrs. Hooks, a blood orange Turya, an Amalfie Cleopatra and the Heather in black moire... Honestly, it's been a long week prepping for our shoot, but if I had any emo left in me I would cry. Luckily, Hilary was there with fresh eyes and crazy enthusiasm to remind us just how cool showing up can be... xoxo

Judy at City Hall

This is the sweetest part of being a designer. Getting pictures like this. This is Kelly and Peter getting married at San Francisco City Hall. Very chic.

Skirting the issue.

Our fall is now completely in, and I am really pleased. There are some beautiful pieces that I don't think woman should live without... Classics. You know I love woman to take it up a notch and the way best way to do that is to update your classics. This is an important element to developing your look. (We all feel sorry for people who never change their cut in pants... It's just gets embarrassing.) Natural style is always evident, because it's just that -natural. I never suggest friends buy "items" when they need a pick up. That's just silly, it takes too much energy to fit it into your wardrobe or find a place to wear it. A true wardrobe craftsman replaces basics and ends up always looking relevant but understated. And isn't that the point? That's why this week I'm suggesting everyone get a Sophia skirt, in black. It's lady like, it's on point, and it will look like something you may have always had or at least should of -had. xoox

Endless Summers.

It's dead hot in the studio and we are sweating, but the heat doesn't stop the gnawing feeling that summer's over... Oh the long days of summer. I can't help feeling like another era has passed. We had an amazing crew of interns (well two -Jenn and Johnna) and tomorrow's Jenn's last day. We had a hilarious time and they really bucked up. They ran around, they biked around (not without some spills) they played around and overall did an excellent job at being bossed around. So, I just want to say thanks, with all my heart. It was an absolute joy, an absolute joy and Johnna and Jenn will be sorely missed. xoxo Heidi

Summer Sale Semantics.

Oh the timing! I think our fantastic web-girl (sounds super hero-ish and she is right now), Nadia figured out our shipping. But I've promised free shipping through the weekend so I'll stick to it. But I just want all you people in crazy places with heavy orders to know that come Monday there's no such thing as free shipping... But there is for now! xo

Counting Stars

Time flies. Lame phrase, daunting reality. Seasons sneak up like nothin'. Truth is we work really hard here and it seems like we never make enough dresses -there are always dresses to be made! It freaks me out that we sell out before the season has even arrived! Something sad about a collection leaving... I like to deal with it by looking forward. This dress is from our Holiday 08' collection comes out October-Noveberish and there's something comforting about a collection coming. Which makes me think a good collection is timeless and yet amazingly sentimental. Here's an example things that I find so:
Plaids
Cast iron skillets
Hints of yellow
Old friends with a post modern way of thinking
Folks with a modern way of thinking
Shooting stars
Birthday songs
Crinkle chiffon
and the scent of night-blooming jasmine.
xoxo Heidi

P.S. I saw 12 stars in Silverlake tonight, and one was shooting.

Fall settings.

I've never been the type of woman who shops way ahead of season for her clothes. I'm more of a buy-a-trench-because-I'm-chilly type girl. (Seems absurd for a designer, I know, I'm full of paradox.) All that is to say we are nearly sold out of our Fall collection. We are shipping stores on Wednesday this week so technically you can shop for it in stores next week! So please don't panic if we are out of your favorite style, check our list of stores and call the one near you! xoxo

Mind control.

"Remember the first time you heard yourself on an answering machine, or saw yourself on video? That shocking realization that you might be missing some chromosomes? Yep that's you..." This is what my friend Justin said to me to help me get over the sudden dizziness and hives that comes when you see a pic of yourself that's about to be printed. I'm just putting this pic here up bc I like it and maybe it helps me deal with the missing chromosome syndrome that my psyche's been developing...
There's an article in the LA Times this Sunday in the image section... You can see it online at this address.
www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-styleprofile20-2008jul20,0,2901037.story

finelment...

Day 7, I wore the Tait. One of my favorite pieces. People who love this dress really love it -the cut is just classic. And it's easy to feel beautiful with a high collar on, it just is. I wore it in the tan Italien cotton version and yes, with linen pants. It's almost embarrassing. But I have seven pairs. It's a staple. Last summer, I pretty much wore all white from Labor Day to Memorial Day so this is an improvement for me.
oxo

Breaking my own rules.

Tuesday, Tuesday I wore a peach silk number and some white pants and these magic slippers my sister-in-law bought me almost four years ago at a garage sale or something . I'd like to argue that it's a good thing when people find something kinda charming but absolutely not for them and yet they buy it for you. Even if it's silly, and you know what, these garage sale shoes I treasure. (They probably helped bury some treasures and genies.) Anyway, Kate -I've moved to wearing them in public, and I really love them. I wore them on Tuesday
xoxo

Day 5 staying alive.

Blogging has really held me accountable. This a.m. when I was laying in bed I thought about a certain designer down the hall who's always wearing yoga clothes (and looks amazing in them - I think she works out) so I said to myself, "I'm going to wear yoga clothes to the studio today, why wouldn't I? Maybe I'd do some sort of workout.." Then I remembered the blog and no way am I blogging about some mangey yoga clothes. So, I'm wearing an old favorite -the Judy and the sample of it to boot. Which I made just to fit me, which is a nice way of saying I've been sucking in my stomach all day.

Wearing today: day 4.

Um, okay. Because I've committed, i will admit I'm wearing the same bathing suit bottoms I wore yesterday. We're at home today, been out of town a lot, so we're into relaxing. But I do want to say, post my post yesterday I put on a gorgeous little caftan I got from Wendy Foster Home (my mom bought it for me on Mother's Day -it's so wrong, I know) - just so that you know I'm not a full-weekend-bathing-suit-bottoms-only person. I'm also wearing them with a heather grey t-shirt with some weird Giant graphic. I love Shepard Fairey. Who has a name like that? Actually, when I first looked at the view from our new studio space, it had two stand up qualities that confirmed it was for me; an "OBEY" tag, and a "Jesus Saves" sign. xoxo

Dreaming of St. Tropez

I said I would and I'm doing it! Here is what I'm wearing today. Not the top of this bikini, just the bottoms.... I like to really wear stuff before I put it into production, this is the Santa Barbara suit from our Resort Collection. Earlier in the day I was wearing them with one of my husbands tees and gardening. ( I did some serious trimming and rearranging of the vege garden in the front -so the tee was necessary. ) But now I'm just humming around the house and lingering around the jacuzzi so I roll more like I'm in St. Tropez!

Free Shipping.

I'm having high drama with our shopping cart and the shipping settings, so as for now I'm going to offer free shipping. At least until this gets figured out. So all you people far away buy some crazy things and we will ship them to you for free. Ground of coarse -don't try me!
oxxo
ps. I imagine this pic is you waiting at the door for your package!

Signature underpinnings.

Yes, I'm wearing the Nonnie today. But in our navy signature print -that is not my normal. I'm wearing it with white pants and white xxxx beater -so that's not different but they are different pants and tank than I wore yesterday. Lucky my resort collection had white pants and tank since evidently that's all I wear.

7 days of summer dressing.

I thought it'd be fun to document what I'm wearing for the next week. I know it's not that intriguing but I'm designing Spring 09 and I think it would be useful to see what I actually put on. And it will hold me accountable which I need bc I tend to wear the Nonnie more that 2x a week -that's how I roll, I play favorites whatever I'm not saying there won't be repeats... So anyhoo, today I'm wearing the Lee dress in mushroom (or champaignon as we called it) linen. I'm wearing it with white pressed linen pants and a white wife beater, or as my bro would call it for me, a Heidi beater.

Summer Styles

Yesterday I noticed that we had a full size run on some dresses. Which is rare for us and usually means we didn't put it on the website! And we hadn't. So, Ann Marie (my design assistant) finally acquiesced to modeling the styles. Here's one of my favorite shots. Give me a break with the photography bc I shot it and it was at the end of our work day. Buddy (JMH's our usual photographer) came over for dinner and made some fun of our shots but I'm claiming success. Thanks, Ann Marie!

Selling Out.

We didn't mean to, but in effort to get ahead we've been deep into cutting fall and find ourselves selling out of pieces already. Don't get me wrong it's a good thing. But if you're one of the people that keeps emailing weekly checking if we've found a Judy in size 4, I want to give you the opportunity to email me now and we'll send you the digital look book so you can submit a pre-order. Then when the collection comes out you can be wearing it instead of sending me pics from my own website scrounging for the size 4. sales@heidimerrick.com.

Resort to what?

It's the Holiday/Resort market here in L.A. Resort is my favorite collection to design it's small less serious and intend for luxuriating. Contact our showroom to see what I mean by Luxuriating...

Television.

Everyone knows I don't have TV, why would I? I've got the restraint of a 4 year old. I had TV for 5 months in the beginning of our marriage. My favorite show was "Kept" with Jerry Hall, you know it? "My kept man..." Whatever, that's why I don't have TV. But I have the world wide internet (obviously I'm blogging). Anyhoo, the www provides me with abc.com, and since my sister-in-law told me about it, I've become a bit of an abc.com binger. Which is how I started with Dancing With the Stars, I love it. I'm really into blond showbiz brother and sis on the show -they can really dance, and they're my friends on myspace. All that is to say here's a picture of tonight's winner Kristi Yamaguchi in my Cleo dress in a shoot for this weeks OK! magazine!

Pride and Prejudice

More than I care to admit, pride and prejudice, is actually an astute description of one fully focused on design and aesthetic. But that aside, the association has proven life changing to me. I had the sheer joy of entertaining a family of six, and in a very limited amount of time we shared a few pleasures that sparked the eldest daughter's imagination enough to say, "Mom, I feel like I'm in Pride and Prejudice." This may have been the biggest compliment of my life. I'm not sure whether it was the tea, served in silver and raffia hand-me-down from my mom, or my old canopy bed she slept in. But either way, the compliment, like all good compliments, revealed something to me. The formalities that define that period and made it so hard to love and become a family past all the pretense and status -I'm kinda rich in. The ability to love and appreciate beyond oneself -this young lady was dead wealthy in. And although I lay in bed retelling my husband (who made it back from Nicaragua thank the Holy God of the universe) the story of how she felt like she was in Pride and Prejudice, what I've really taken from the encounter was a deep longing to live with a little less pride and much less prejudice.
Thank you, thank you for your visit.

Batchelders

My husband's stuck in Nicaragua. He went there on a surf trip and was supposed to be back tonight -his plane was cancelled. I think I'm going to take this opportunity to get our fire place re-done. You can see it in the back of this picture, it's "Batchelder tile" which belongs deep in a castle with gnomes and people with "powers", not necessarily in a house in Silver lake. My husband disagrees with me on this point -he thinks it's valuable. Which brings me to my point; value -what is value? Whatever something goes for on eBay? Have we really become such a callous society? A home without love is worth nothing, the hole-y green scarf my teething nephew chewed the day my brother was ordained -everything. (Now I'm a cc commercial.) All that is to say, I don't care how much the tiles are worth -they're ugly to me. Come home soon JJ!

Gone Fishin' (well somebody's got to)

I'm getting the sweetest emails in response to the Domino piece.   So I pulled out the cd of Buddy and mine's trip to a secret lake in the Santa Barbara wine country....  I really won't name it here.  Just look at that bass -you think he got that way by people blogging about where he lives!  No way, that boy's fat and I'm holding him like a trout -but I mainly fish trout so you can't really hold it againgst me.

A new Gale.

We've just moved studios. I have 6 windows in my new space. I'm so happy. I'm so happy I could cry but that's not going to happen bc I'm too tired from moving and Feist is playing and she makes me feel feisty. This is our Gale dress from the Fall 08 collection. Note the phantom intern on the right hand side, he really dresses like that -no one believes me. The man taking all the fantasy out of the pic with his plaid man looks' my husband. Anyhoo, this dress is what my new studio makes me feel like; light and beautiful with maybe some wind picking up my hair. oxox

George & JJ

Okay, I didn't want to deprive you all. It's Johnny and George in the pic and I think they kinda hold there own in place of our lovely model. George is our neighbor, we used to take walks in the evening. I kinda miss him. xoox

People, don't be alarmed -but we're moving studios! We were in the infamous Cooper building just one floor up from our showroom but we are moving to an unnamed building 2 blocks away. So, no more drop byes by crazy fit models or catering companies. We now have a secret location! Mostly I'm going to miss lingering around the showroom trying to distract Vivian. (Now that I realize it, why would I ever do that to my sales?)
Well we are all ecstatic. (Mostly the interns I think will be glad to have a little more space from my mood swings and new dietary regimes.) P.S. this pic doesn't have anything to do with anything, it's just an improvement of the one with my husband in the same spot, not super fashion so I'm sparing you.

Oooh American Idol

Last night "Brooke" on American Idol wore the Heidi Merrick Ms. Egan dress, hooray! She's pretty!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1djX4pH9VmI

National Geographic.

Did anyone see this month's cover of National Geographic? It might not surprise you, I'm a subscriber. Anyhoo, I found myself gazing and gazing at the cover entitled, "Africa's Ragged Edge", so much so that I had to have a moment with myself, talk myself down a bit if you will. Realizing that it probably will never be me swathed in white fabric pulling back on an Arabian horse with the dust flying through the frame (note: the fantasy is not that crazy, I could have been a missionary or something you know...) But this sometime charming tendency to digression is where my design process starts or ends, I'm not sure. There are so many lives and so many roles to play in this world and a lot of them are just captivating to me. So, I just wanted you all to know it may be another Moroccan Spring.
xoxo Heidi