The business of extraordinary living...

I just saw my husband's email tag it says "The business of extrardinary living." We don't email each other often, we try to talk face to face. And if I do have something mundane to tell him, I have my assistant do it. This is not the point. I saw his email tag and thought to myself, why isn't he in business with me? I'm for sure in the business of extradinary living. Moments later I realized -oh yes, we are in the business of extrodinary living together. Case in point, Hiver.

Tag

We are changing our original hang tags. They were charming when first penned in my West Hollywood bungalow but now they don't apply. Here's how they read:
You have a Heidi Merrick Dress. It is not perfect. Chances are it was made right in our studio. Much like a couture house. Only we are not a couture house. We are just a house.
We still make a good amount of garments in our downtown studio, but it's not just me and an assistant in my house nor am I exclusively a line of dresses. So, if you know anything about our collection and have an idea for our tags -I welcome it. If we use your wording I will reward you with a dress, or tank or whatever it is from the collection you really want.
Email us at info@heidimerrick.com

East/West

It's pretty cool to have Refinery 29 on the West coast. We are super excited to be a part of their launch, so join us this weekend at Space 15twenty on Caguena and Ivar. xoxo

The world is changing,

I can feel it in the air. I was about to say a bunch of blah blah stuff about this generation but everyone's saying it. No need to repeat. Let's think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, lets think on these things!

über sale.

In my family's surf shop, my mom always had a "friends and family" rack where you could get lovely things for an outrageously low price. In honor of my mom and Mother's Day, welcome to our Friends and Family Sale. It's under über sale on the website. We had to regroup and add pieces this morning so enjoy.
p.s. this is model Natalia Bonafacci -isn't she amazing?

Dutton

Here is the Dutton in Vogue Turkey. Sexy, right?

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Pretty dress.

Here's our Sinnett shirt. U Magazine is a Brazilian fashion and art website. It was styled by Jules Wood. Kinda cool. xoxo

Vogue

Turkish Vogue to be exact. It is a gorgeous issue and I am so excited to be in it! It is a two page spread and so sexy, I will post it as soon as we get a proper scan! oxoxo

ALLURE!

Oh my my... Our Vernazza top as a must, and next to Dries Van Noten. I love being mentioned next to Dries, amazing! Thank you so much, Tanama!

Thank you Julie Gilhart...

She's the fashion director of Barney's and so sensible, so chic, doesn't really wear makeup and she surfs. Here's part of Gilhart's Q&A about the future of fashion.

"I think it’s actually about being conscious. Green, eco, all those words—it’s just about being more conscious. [Take] somebody like Isabel Toledo, who’s doing everything in New York…and only buys fabric to order and knows exactly where everything is being done and pays fair wages and is doing everything in a very sustainable way, as much as possible. It’s not easy to be completely conscious in the way of sustainability and organic and eco, because not all of the materials are available yet, and the resources aren’t there. "

-That's what I've been talking about. Julie, you can come to our studio anytime and see how we do it -and after that I'll take you paddle boarding. xoxo

Over the weekend.

This is my main shirt right now! And I've been getting a lot of attention -from men! Alright I was at home depot, that's the type a place to get attention. I'm pretty sure it's the shirt. Having not left the house for 9 months makes you really notice... Wear this shirt!

Beautiful Covers...

I'm a sucker for beautiful covers. I love fashion to be glamourous. This one delivers! Here's our Mayfield skirt (named for the model Amanda Mayfield) in their April issue, very cool!

Southern Belle

Well, market is over in LA and heading to Dallas... All you Southern girls out there tell your boutiques to look for Heidi Merrick!

Splatter.

You'd think our studio was covered in paint but we are very neat (when we need to be). We've been splattering the skirts for the last few weeks... Here is our Dossi skirt in this month's Self Magazine

Online exclusives...

The design process really never stops. Theoretically, I designed Spring 10 last summer but in reality as we are cutting for stores and in the middle of production we are always adding pieces. If something would be beautiful in another color or fabrication and we didn't make it for our retail market, we make for our website. And it's fun bc then we get to say "online exclusive". And it is, oh so exclusive.

New Muse...

Since my last post life has completely changed for the Heidi Merrick studio. We have a new muse -my precious little girl, Hiver Psalm von Johnston.

Bundling...

We sent little scarves to some of our friends for Christmas, and this is the best use of one I've seen. ox Happy New Year everybody!

Holiday Giftcard.

My husband tries so hard to get me extraordinary gifts and more often than not he succeeds! But the idea of him shopping around looking at things I'd like to look at drives me crazy pants. I don't have time to shop around, quelle luxury. So you see, I'm offering this genius gift card for you men or moms or sisters or whatever... You buy it on our shopping cart and we will send them an email verifying the gift! Then they can shop shop shop!
xoxo

C-hic

Here we are in C magazine's holiday gift guide... On Jenny Murray Hooks page no less! Ok, so we have been best friends since we were 13 and 14, that doesn't take away from the fact that she finds me chic and I find her chic-er. Jenny's wearing one of her favorites the wool Janie w/ gold details, and wanting our Godard top with the bright orange Maxwell skirt. Guess I know what to get her for Christmas! xoxo

We play favorites...

Sometimes there's a dress that just works, on everyone, this is one of them. The Aunt Judie has become a signature piece of mine, it was one of the first dresses I ever sewed. We had the lovely smoke grey silk from AW 09 and thought it'd be beautiful for the holiday. Available soon in our shopping cart. xoxo

Real Lovely.

Here is one of our pieces in the December issue of Real Simple. Isn't it a lovely picture? Makes me so happy! xoxo

WWD.

As a designer ...actually any trade from surfboards to real estate, the real kudos is when you are recognized by your colleagues and peers. That's when you kinda grin and let your eyes look left and right and say to yourself "wowee zowee". Cause I'm not sure it's that earth shattering if I tell my dad he's the best surfboard shaper in the world -he's gotta know he is already, right? Or if I tell my buddy, you're an amazing editor -she knows I just look at the pictures... The real compliments come from within your craft. That's why I was so excited to be in WWD this week. Here it is. We circled it! Wowee Zowee!

Sweet Katrina,

I've found myself walking around the studio pulling out pieces and saying, " I guess we can sell this... KATRINA!" This is our sweet intern who's been a champ, throwing on piece after piece only to have me wheel around in my desk chair, camera in hand, chasing her and the light in our studio. So, if you see any shots of Katrina in our SALE section know that it's the hilarious process of serious studio purge. It's difficult for designers to sell ALL the pieces, so many memories, so many references. My solice is that they'll all live on -in my amateur photography!

No Dress Left Behind.....

Whoops, I forgot to blog about our sample sale.... Here's the info, straight from Hilary's mouth...

The past couple of days we've over heard Heidi say "Oh, gosh we still have one of those left." We are putting it all online for you guys. Sale prices aren't up til Thursday so if you have your eye on something act fast!

SAMPLE SALE
Online starts Thursday, 11/19 and runs through Sunday, 11/22.
Prices are 50-75% off retail, past seasons and original samples (some Heidi sewed herself).

Studio is open for shopping Friday, 11/20 from 1pm-5pm and Saturday, 11/21 10am-2pm.
We've never opened our studio to the public, so this should be fun!

Studio
850 S Broadway Suite 903
LA, CA 90014

Amy, one of a kind.

My dear friend Amy Kim dropped by the studio today, she has a book signing party or something tonight for Kelly Wearstler's new book and we couldn't help but snatch some pics of her trying on some outfit choices. She's so cute! She's also a designer, spaces, clothes -everything, so I love to run stuff by her! Sometimes, I make one of a kinds for me and my friends in fabrics I think are charming but not conventional... Here she is in just those pieces. Since I'm 8 months pregnant I can't wear these holiday dresses so I made Amy our temporary model so we can offer them to you! Enjoy!

By and buy.

We are always surprised at the vast difference between our Heidi Merrick customer and retail buyers. It's almost laughable. When we sit down to cut, as we are now for Spring 10, we have customer pre-orders and favorites and then what the buyers bought. They are rarely the same. Why? I believe it's the horrible truth that I've always thought true of design and function, if it works for everybody -it is spectacular to no one... And I understand trepidation and the buyer, people want easy buys. Fine. But for me, nothing is an easy buy, I weight things out, I fall in love, I wait to buy something that if someone only sees me onetime and that's what I'm wearing I'm okay with that definition. Not to say I'm always wearing something spectacular, hello, I'm 8 months pregnant. But I am still wearing our Portside pants from Spring 10 -that coincidentally were only ordered on personals...
xoxo

Billion Dollar Babes...

We will be at Billion Dollar Babes sample sale this weekend! So, if there is something you missed from an older collection or something you don't see on our website, it may be there! Lots of the pieces were never sold online or in stores so if you are fast you might grab something very exclusive! Email us sales@heidimerrick.com for further details, dates, times, rsvp's, ect...

Isola and Amber

Now that we're into November I'm deep into my Thanksgiving planning... I always start with wardrobe. I'm going to try to hem it in a bit and see if I can fit into the Isola (pictured left). However, if I didn't have a 7 month old baby in my stomach to hem in I might wear the Amber (pictured right). I'm letting the blogging world know so you can live out my fantasy of being a homemaking goddess for me...
xo

Dapper dreams...

Here's the deal. It may be day 3, well it actually is the third day in a row, I've worn black stretchy pants.... No, not the darling Lazaar pants from our Fall collection. ((I wish)) They are the kind of pants I'm not quite sure aren't pajama bottoms. That's a lie. I'm actually sure they are pj bottoms I stole from my mom's house. But if I weren't 7 months pregnant I'd be wearing this to work. The Kate. Looking lovely and dapper in voile and pique, 2 of my favorite fabrics. A girl can dream -can't she?

Details...

Design is always in the details, little things that keep you interested. My taste is always for things that are simple but elegant and a wee bit swanky. Oh I love a little swish. Anyhoo, this is one of our favorite pieces right now, it has a kangaroo pocket and that's cute!

Free Shipping.

Happy Birthday to me! It's actually been quite the past few weeks for me and my family but I didn't want to forget our customers. We try to do something special every year and this is it! FREE SHIPPING! XOOX

I know what it feels like...

To really really want something. I get it. For example, I'd love to have the waistline I had last May. My suggestion for items in our collection is to buy early in the season. We run out of coveted sizes fairly quickly. When we put a staple item on sale it's usually because we only have extra smalls... But I love to hear Hilary on the phone with customers anxious for an item because I can tell when they get a little snappy on the other end! "I need it for my birthday on Friday!" and so it goes. This season, if I were my customer, I'd be sure to get the Heidi shirt (the feather detail is hilarious and cool) and I'd wear it with the Lazaar pant which I'd buy a size big bc I'm into slouchy.

Something changes.

I love Fall.

Targeting Friends.

My dear friend Gretchen

First day of school!

Studio fly-by.

My dear friend Gretchen
Seems like whenever I talk to someone on the phone right now they just got their Heidi Merrick Target skirt in the mail! So I say, send me pictures... Here's my friend Turya showing it off in our studio, and my sister-in-law Kate. xo

Delights by design

This is from Blair Friedeman's blog, Delights by design, it's gorgeous and inspiring. I'm so honored to be featured. Isn't it a charming way to look at the collection?

Fall 09 Shoot

Pre Spring

It's hard to believe how quickly our season's pass in the fashion world. We are way into Fall with our current collection and already selling our Pre-Spring 10. For inquiries, contact press@heidimerrick.com
xoox

Target's Red Hot Shop

I think Monday we go online with Target's Red Hot Shop, they will be selling this charming little skirt. I can't remember how much it is selling for but I'll tell you what, it's a price you'd never get from our online shop! So be quick and shop Target's Red Hot Shop. Let me know if you get one, because we'll be very excited for you.
oxxo Heidi