GoShoppingNashville.com

Fashion + Compassion

One of the coolest little boutiques that I have visited in the area was started by individuals with a very big vision. They aim to combine the concepts and retail and philanthropy. From the charities that they support, to active campaigns, down to the labels that they carry, Philanthropy in downtown Franklin does just that. This boutique has high end clothing and accessories for men and women. Here are some examples of what you can find at Philanthropy.......accessories by PILGRIM, a company that gives money back to Doctors Without Borders. Are you an animal lover? If so, check out items from Genuine Fake; they give money to animal shelters. You can expect some high end stuff like Joe's Jeans, Jedidiah, Adriano Goldschmied, Mavi, Prophetik, English Laundry, Hobo, and more. The boutique is definitely worth putting on your go to list if you are interested in a little retail therapy and trying to make the world a better place at the same time. If you are interested in shopping, head over to 432 Main Street in Franklin. Want to learn more about the boutique, their mission, or the current campaigns? Hit them up online at http://www.philanthropyfashion.com/. Who said that you can't save the world by shopping? Well, if you shop at Philanthropy, you just might!

Big City Style, Small Town Locale

Located in historic downtown Franklin sits the now five year old boutique, Emmaline. Here you will find selections that can be found in many big city boutiques. Emmaline's wares blend current trends with understated sophistication. They carry labels like Tracy Reese, Joie, Velvet, Nanette Lepore, Burning Torch, Tibi, and more. For you denim lovers like me, head to what I like to call the wall of wonder. Denim is displayed  prominently on crisp white shelves. Denim labels spotted included Citizens of Humanity, J Brand, Joe's Jeans, Paige Premium Denim, and Seven For All Mankind, to name a few. Emmaline's carries items that have been featured in the March and April 2008 editions of In Style Magazine. Prior to that, the boutique itself was mentioned in the February 2008 edition of Lucky in an article that labeled Nashville one of the 'best new cities to shop.'

Shopping Sustenance

Because one cannot live on shopping alone......I give you Las Paletas. So, Mr. GoShoppingNashville and I hit a few spots downtown and in SoBro this weekend and needed a little snack. We keep hearing about Las Paletas so we grabbed the address and headed that way. Las Paletas is a gourmet Mexican popsicle shop located at 2907 12th Avenue South which is the corner or 12th Ave South and Kirkland across from Sevier Park.....jeez Mrs. GoShopping, why so many directions? Well, though truly wonderful, this place has NO sign to draw you in. They are located in the coolest little post modern building, but you can just drive right past if you do not know where you are headed. Other cons, tiny parking lot fills up fast, you need to bring cash, and popsicles are $2.50 each. Pros....refreshing....delicious.....seriously delicious......did I mention delicious? Let me put it another way; these popsicles are good enough that a crack addict would give up crack for them.  $2.50 may seem bit steep, but trust me, they are worth it. They offer about 20 different flavors of gourmet popsicles that are either fruit or cream based. For those of you that are a bit more traditional in your tastes, you may want to try berry, double chocolate chip, chocolate and peanut butter or pineapple-raspberry (which I absolutely LOVED). I also hear that the raspberry lime is pretty much to die for, so you can bet I will be trying that in the not so distant future. If you are a bit more adventurous, try the hibiscus, green tea, avocado, or chocolate jalapeno. Mr. GoShoppingNashville and I enjoyed our tempting treats while standing next to a lady with a hibiscus popsicle and she kept going on and on about it; also it was a great fuchsia color...can't wait to try that one either. Anyway, just thought that I would share. It is really worth all of the hype that it gets. If you really want to try Las Paletas and aren't going to be in the area anytime soon, I understand that limited flavors are available at Bongo Java and through Plumgood grocery delivery service. Beat the heat with this wonderful treat!!!

Inspired Accessories

OK, so Bonnaroo is more than just music; there are also a lot of artisans who set up shop for the weekend. This is my last Bonnaroo related post for awhile, but it is also something that I found to be very cool and something that I love - earrings.....big ones, in many cases. Heidi Roland specializes in handcrafted 'daring' earrings. I fell in love with so many different pairs that I just could not decide which I liked the most.  At any rate, the earrings fall into 3 basic categories: photo, feather, and leaf. All are very interesting in their own right. To the left, is an example of the photo variety. These earrings are created with images from actual photos. This particular pair is called 'Flashdance' and I adore the 80's inspiration - call it sentimentality or whatever you want. I spotted earrings constructed with photos of musical instruments, water, clouds, city skylines, and more. Earrings in the leaf category are made out of actual leaves and are a bit more fragile - still completely gorgeous. The feather category is, you guessed it, made of feathers. I liked those created from peacock feathers and a pair called flame (pictured right) - I don't know what kind of a bird they are from, but they are awesome in person. Again, this type of accessory is not for the faint of heart. But if you are the kind of girl who likes to stand out in a crowd, get thee to the Heidi Roland website to check out her wares. Her creations are seriously artistic and visually stunning - the pictures really don't do them justice.

Fashion Details

Wandering around the festival grounds at Bonnaroo, I found another great purveyor of interesting things......Souldier. This company offers custom and vintage guitar straps, camera straps, dog collars, belts, and more. All of the items offered are handmade in Chicago; many are constructed of vintage fabrics and recycled seat belts. We wandered in to look at guitar straps for Mr. GoShoppingNashville and found plenty of those, cool bracelets for me, and a great collar for our Jack Russell Terrorist, who was with Nana during the festival. Souldier products vary in price from $20-60 dollars and can be found in shops all over Illinois, Mississippi, one location in Cordova, TN, and a few other states. My favorite find here was a great belt. From a distance, it simply looked like a great black belt made of lace covering a strap. Upon closer inspection, the strap was from an ivory colored seat belt covered in black skull lace. Yes, this is definitely for me - skulls that look girlie - perfect! At any rate, if you are in need of anything mentioned or are just curious to see some of their offerings, you will want to march straight to the Souldier website.