The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis is listed as one of the 10 most haunted houses in America. And it does have a story. The Lemp family, a wealthy beer dynasty, had three family members who committed suicide in the house, plus a dog (shot by one of the suicide victims), as well as an in general tragic family history. These statistics alone make your skin crawl.

Lemp Mansion today.

The home, fallen to ruins, was purchased and turned into a restaurant and inn by the Pointer family in the 70’s. It now stands as one of the more popular family restaurants, wedding, and party facilities in the city. When I spoke to one of its owners, Patty Pointer, as owners they say they neither confirm nor deny the fact that the house is haunted because people come to the Lemp Mansion year round and rent out its banquet facilities for all kinds of reasons, not just for Halloween haunting purposes. The fact that the service people there can tell of hauntings makes for further entertainment on a nightly basis, plus every Monday night, haunted tours are given at the mansion.

Also, their bed and breakfast services are utilized year-round but, not surprisingly, they are booked for Halloween 9 months to a year in advance.

I’ve been there for dinner and it does have a wonderfully charming component to it. Food is decent but the atmosphere priceless.
After dinner you can go upstairs, before the inn closes for the night, and tour the bedrooms and the attic. It’s spooky to be sure and oh how I’d love to spend the evening there. The way the story goes, the son to the original Lemp Dynasty William, shot himself after becoming horribly depressed when his favorite son and heir Frederick had been mysteriously killed three years before. Also they had had a son who had been locked up in the attic who had downs syndrome…..(not Frederick). Tremendous tragedy continued to strike the Lemp family when William’s sister also shot herself (I don’t know if that was in the home or not), but eventually William Jr, son of William and heir to the Lemp Dynasty shot himself in the same building where his father had killed himself 18 years earlier. Eventually William Jr’s brother, Charles, who continued to live in the mansion died of a self inflicted gunshot wound (and his dog) and was found by another brother Edwin. Edwin died of natural causes in 1970.

In the whole history of the Pointers owning the mansion no one has been hurt. The spirits who live there do reveal themselves to others from time to time, thus the “haunted house” reputation. The Lemp Mansion has also been featured on National Geographic, Discovery, MTV, most of the local news shows, etc.. So long may it’s hauntingness reign.

Now as it turns out, another highly publicized place is becoming notorious in St. Louis for being haunted and that is St. Louis’ very own City Museum. I wrote about City Museum for 2modern’s design blog because of how Green the City Museum is since it was created entirely from recycled materials from in and around St. Louis to become one of the more fantastical playgrounds for children and adults alike in I’d say the whole world.

Now I find out it too is haunted. But, and this wasn’t even connected by the Pointer family who owns the Lemp Mansion, City Museum used to be the site for the corporate headquarters of International Shoe Company. Turns out when the Lemp Brewery, owned by the Lemp family who lived in the now famous Lemp Mansion, closed it’s buildings which covered some 10 city blocks two miles south of St. Louis city proper, it was sold to dahdadahdah, International Shoe Company.

So, City Museum…..Lemp Brewery, two different sites, same owner, International Shoe Co., two haunted places, Lemp Mansion and the City Museum. I think there’s a deeper story here connected by the hereafter and to be continued.

Happy Halloween.

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This is a blog that I follow and feel is worth mention and also praise. David Carlson the founder of the David Report is based in Sweden and is founder of the furniture brand David Design, the lifestyle shop Carlson Ahnell and the knowledge company Designboost. He recently posted his 5 key design trends report and if you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend the read. I am in agreement with David about the fact that there will be less buying in the future, in terms of consumerism and that people will instead gravitate toward purchasing things that will last longer (and so will cost more).

This is a general statement on my part. David goes into some depth in this report and covers other things he has determined are key trends, but he also quotes other trend groups which I really give him credit for. So, in turn, I will recommend David’s report as a timely read.

Does that make us frenemies? Just kidding. I’ve not met David but I’ve been reading his blog for about a year. Being based in another part of the world, David often reports on things we don’t always get the scoop on in the United States, or not in as timely of a fashion as David does. Plus he has a very keen eye. You might want to put him in your Google reader, and tell him I sent you.

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Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, and I doubt that, you’ve no doubt heard about Palin’s Big Spend for her family’s campaign wardrobe.

I first posted about Ms. Palin’s VP debate suit and who I thought the designer was and where she bought it from a few day’s after the debate based on info I’d received from a local St. Louis source since the VP debate was in St. Louis at Washington University. While I got one part right, the outfit did come from Neiman Marcus, it appears Ms. Palin’s suit, the debate suit, is actually a Tahari suit. A shout-out to Dawn who posted the correction and the link to Nieman’s catalog.*

So, my apologies, to Tahari, my readers, and Ms. Palin. You can view my original post here, and Tahari’s suit in Neiman’s catalog here. I looked closely and it looks very different on Ms. Palin than in the catalog, but four things: Ms. Palin’s suit is black (the suit is available in black, the image from the catalog is blue), and she is wearing a shell underneath the jacket. In the catalog….no shell, plus Ms. Palin’s tie is untied vs the image in the catalog is bow tied at the waist and the length of the skirt is different. In the catalog the skirt is above the knee. Ms. Palin’s skirt that night was below the knee (see Eric Wilson’s article in the New York Times with full length shot of Palin in the suit).

Interesting how those little details can make such a difference. Kudos to Palin’s stylist or dresser, whoever that is. She was/is stylishly appropriate for the occasion.

*Eric Wilson also of the New York Times did a story on Palin’s wardrobe, Look Is the Same; the Labels Have Changed, and named Tahari as well as the designer. I will say that I am hoping that my comments, also posted in Cathy Horyn’s On the Runway blog, did not start this…..that would be truly regrettable.

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This is a departure from where we have been but I’ve wanted to put these ads up for awhile. It’s part of a marketing campaign I did for a company who wanted to use their core product, poly vinyl coated wire shelving, to create storage for the scrapbooker.

This ad campaign was tremendously successful. The first shot in particular (top) brought customers into our booth at the trade shows in droves….not to mention people just being so excited about the product offering period. We positioned it as an affordable at home storage system with some on-the-go products as scrapbookers always take their projects to crop events which take place at venues outside their home so they have to have a way to transport these items to those places.

I had the product in both Hobby Lobby and A.C. Moore within six months of our beginning to ship and it hit the top ten list for the holiday season of products ordered at organize.com within that same first six months. What happened was that we got some significant space from a special edition of a Memory Makers Storage publication (on shelves for more than 3 months). Because it was still early in the game and we didn’t have a whole host of retailers set up around the country, I had the factory’s 800 number listed and we routed the customer to our online partners. So you know that story, “He who hesitates is lost,” and “the early bird catches the worm.” In that particular case, the early bird was Organize.com.

The adman on the project was Scott Schafer from Schafer Associates, here in St. Louis, and of course I highly recommend Scott. He was very quick at getting the point of the matter, offered more than one solution to our solution, and kept the thread running throughout (we had 3 different ads we ran within a year at various times according to other events we had scheduled).

In the words of Hannibal from the hit television series, The A Team, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

You can find out more about Scrapbook Solutions at their website, www.scrapbooksolutions.net. And to see a video about Scrapbook Solutions you can visit A.C. Moore’s scrapbook video section (I’m in the video too!). Besides seeing how our top two items work and how the system comes together, this video also highlights the packaging, which was also a significant boon to the product line’s success. When you see the video, you’ll see that our choice of colors and how we put them together along with the shots of the product and the company logo came together in a perfect harmony of color, clarity, and attention grabbing.

P.S. The parent company of Scrapbook Solutions is Industrial Wire Products, Inc. and I was the VP Sales & Marketing for the retail side of their business and was responsible for not only this product launch but also their core product line found in most storage and mass retailers around the country and online….

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Do you believe in the laws of the universe? I do. While covering the runways for Spring 2009 in New York, London, Milan and Paris, African prints and tribal elements surfaced as a universal trend. At the same time, PBS aired the movie Casablanca while the United States declared Wall Street was crumbling. Casablanca is in northern Africa and of course you can’t discuss the movie without noting what elements of Moroccan culture are becoming mainstays in U.S. interior design and now fashion. That same week, Maryam Montague of MyMarrakesh blog embarked on a trip to Rwanda and came back with a personal story of Vestine’s plight during the horrors of Rwanda’s mass genocide. She took it upon herself to create a foundation to begin collecting money for the Rwandan victims. At exactly the same time, Macy’s sent me notice of their extended Rwanda Path to Peace Project into Shop for Now which updates the Rwanda offering for Winter 2008 as well as combining offerings from other countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia with the same mission in mind.

I blogged about Maryam’s site first for those who were interested in making a cash contribution (Maryam says they are just $700 short for Team Vestine, all of which goes to a group as a micro loan to help them set up their own business). I highly recommend visiting Maryam’s blog, My Marrakesh, to learn more about Team Vestine as Maryam continues to journal about her trip to the area.

At the same time, I couldn’t ignore the timing of Macy’s announcement, which meant to me, here’s another way we can help support the women and children of Rwanda–Macy’s Rwanda Path to Peace Project exclusively at Macys.com.

Here is Macy’s Official Statement:

In 1994 the Rwandan people suffered a horrific mass genocide losing almost 1 million people to murder over a course of 100 days. This genocide left many widows and orphans in its wake with little hope for a happy, stable future. Four years ago, Rwanda Path to Peace established a viable, sustainable export business that provides economic stability, and promotes an environment of peace to positively impact the future of Rwanda’s eight million citizens. The Rwanda Path to Peace project began to offer a means of income for Rwandan genocide survivors by selling exquisite, hand-woven baskets made from sisal, sweetgrass and other natural resources found in Rwanda exclusively on Macys.com. The graphic designs on the baskets are inspired by traditional Rwandan artwork and culture.

Some of what you can find exported from Rwanda:

Scarlet Sun Fruit Bowl, $40
Resembling the deep, red, warmth of the sun, Scarlet Sun captures this power found in the Rwandan skies.

Nova Fruit Bowl, $46 (black and white bowl top image)
The bold, geometric design of the Nova Fruit Bowl is inspired by the celestial and sometimes inexplicable events of our universe and is sure to make a statement anywhere in your home.

The success of this program has enabled macys.com to launch Shop for a Better World (www.macys.com/betterworld), a site that features one of a kind gifts, home décor items and life style accessories handmade by artisans in countries like Indonesia, Cambodia as well as Rwanda. The sales of the product featured on Shop for a Better World employs the women in these countries that continue to recover from some sort of disaster.

Shop for a Better World is a vertically integrated program; all steps of production take place in the origin country using only raw materials sourced from the region. The program employs a large population of women who live in the rural countryside, allowing them to maintain their current residence and avoid the often costly and disruptive process of relocating to cities in search of work and allows them to provide for their families in terms of education, healthcare and many other necessities.

Temple Serving Tray, $50. With a design aesthetic perfect for use in an Indonesian temple, the traditional hand carved and hand‐painted wood Temple Serving Tray can brighten any table.

Shop for a Better World is a partnership between Macy’s and Fair Winds Trading, which was founded by Willa Shalit, a social activist and entrepreneur who recognizes the great vitality, ambition and optimism in these areas of the world, which are emerging from the devastation of war and natural disasters. The program generates income and employment opportunities for the citizens of these countries, providing them with a platform to utilize their traditional skills and craftsmanship.

Focusing on trade not aid, Shop for a Better World seeks to make the greatest impact possible within a region. With a commitment to sustainable business as well as a belief in going deeply into a region with long-term commitment, Shop for a Better World creates a job market for artisans with an empowering opportunity to change their own lives. The initiative also offers employees with life skill training, such as rehabilitation, health and hygiene in addition to education on nutrition and financial management.

The site just went live and will be adding additional product through the holiday season.

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Maryam Montague of MyMarrakesh blog has managed to make the story of Rwanda’s genocide personal by visiting Rwanda and sharing one person’s story, Vestine, to inform us of the horror the women and children who survived the genocide of Rwanda went through and of the ones who didn’t.

Please visit Maryam’s blog to learn more.

Trendbites covers events both on U.S. ground and those from around the world. For me to ignore the strife that exists in other parts of the world, as if we are immune from it wouldn’t be responsible of me. I haven’t done what Maryam has had the courage to do herself, but I can at least help support the awareness she has brought to the atrocities committed there by encouraging you to visit the MyMarrakesh blog.

Thank you.

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Ralph Lauren’s collection for Spring 2009 brought modern and romantic interpretations of travel to Morocco, Istanbul, India and all ports exotic to the New York runways a few weeks ago.

Junya Watanabe brought Africa to you in his Spring 2009 collection this past week on the runways of Paris incorporating tribal elements and prints with white shirts, trim cut blazers, denim skirts and even broderie anglaise.

Both successfully though differently propelled the conversation of ethnic forward to be on par with our modern and what is now everyday global lifestyle.

Ahhh, such is life for the well-heeled. Fortunately for us all the wheels of fashion continue to roll along although the full extent of how the economy may hit the fashion industry has yet to be told, but I’d say excesses of the past are done (not completely, okay, we are still fashion hounds), but Supersize Me could be passe.

Paris didn’t have the home runs it usually has and some of the same themes from New York and Milan were continued. Several statements made by the innovative and imaginative like Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan had more to do with the state of the art than necessarily with what clothes we will be wearing next Spring.

That said, Stella McCartney, left (yes, Paul McCartney’s daughter), was the stand-out for me. Expect to see more and more of this fresh and feminine designer. Her color palette was as light and airy as her fabrics and cuts and just may be the definition of Spring 2009.

Images Style.com

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It’s a question being posed at Cathy Horyn’s (the New York Times esteemed fashion critic’s) blog, On the Runway: What designer did Sarah Palin’s dress for the debate or who is her designer.

Sources tell me the suit she wore for the Vice Presidential Debates broadcast from Washington University’s campus in St. Louis, MO on Thursday night, October 2nd, was Armani.

Ms. Palin stopped off at Neiman Marcus, Plaza Frontenac, St. Louis, MO the night before the debates and purchased the outfit.

Image LA Times, Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images.

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