StyleBlueprint » Kayce Hughes

Pears + Bears and Kayce Hughes, 1/2 off promotion today!

Liza — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:59:18 +0000

$25 for $50!

StyleBlueprint knows the value behind the Pears + Bears line as these clothes have been a part of each of our three children’s wardrobes since infancy. Kayce Hughes, mother of seven, intentionally made a line of children’s clothes that could be passed down as the quality of stitching and fabric holds up so well and the styles are timeless.

Upon requests from mothers in love with the fabrics and quality of the Pears + Bears line, the Kayce Hughes line for women was born. Again, the styles are enduring, but never dated. They are the anchor pieces in your closet that you reach for time and time again.

Don’t let this deal slip away as it’s a great one!

Click here for more details.

The StyleBlueprint Deal: “The Best of the Best.”

My addiction: hand towels & napkins

Liza — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:51:46 +0000

I love hand towels. I’m not talking cheap hand towels here, but ones rich with color, made from true, albeit absorbent, fabric and preferably oversized. It all stems from the inheritance of my grandmothers french hand towel collection. I even made this bench cushion, pictured below, from that collection over a decade ago! Still looks pretty good after three babies, huh? And it’s always been in my kitchen, where you’d think it would look worse for the wear by now:

I had to move the bench outside to get a picture in natural light.

I also have added them to a basket in my powder room:

Elizabeth has been so taken by napkins lately that she was compelled to take this photo where the napkins steal the show (anyone else instantly notice the McCarty Pottery as well?)

This near addiction has spilled over into a love for cloth napkins as well. As I’ve popped in so many local stores this summer, I started taking pictures of my favorite hand towels and napkins. I hope you are inspired as a beautiful hand towel within reach somehow can be that beam of happiness smiling back at you in the midst of the chaos of life. And at $15-$25 each, they also make a great gift as we often won’t spurge on these beauties for ourselves. But one rolled and bound with a special ribbon is always perfect.

A quick note, be sure to check out our THIS WEEK section as it was guest written by 365Nashville, a local blog highlighting 365 great things in Nashville!

Available at Digs, these beautiful hand towels are $15 each.

At Digs, linen guest towels, $24 each

See Digs online at Taigan. If you missed the press release, a Taigan shopping membership is now free! www.taigan.com/shops/digs/

At AshBlue, these fisherman weave oversized kitchen towels are $25

Also at AshBlue, these sets of 4 napkins for $48. I got these for my MIL for Mother's Day.

AshBlue

At A La Maison, these french large kitchen towels are perfect. $22

A La Maison

At Nest Interiors, these oversized napkins are extremely versatile. $18 each

Nest Interiors

Kayce Hughes has a new line of napkins made from her wonderful fabrics. $5 each

Kayce Hughes

A Helluva Sale!

Liza — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:01:14 +0000

It’s May. If you are a mom, you are in 100% crisis mode. The amount of volunteer requests, year-end assemblies, parties, and sports games that are loaded onto the last minute looks for camps still accepting applications, swim team preparations and summer vacation fine tuning is simply overwhelming. Summer. Yes, now we are all adding extra workouts trying to be less annoyed with ourselves come Memorial Day. And, we are all realizing that our kids summer clothes don’t fit. Great. Now we have to find time to shop. Well, take advantage of the Pears+Bears sale to at least let you tick off “Be Financially Responsible” to your ever growing list of Things To Do! Not a mom? Need some things for yourself? This sale has you covered as well! Directions to the sale are at the end of this posting.

Pears + Bears

I walked into showroom to be greeted by signs for $5, $10, and $20 clothing. Some items were as high as $35. Check out the Pears+Bears website to see what an enormous deal this sale is.

Girls & Boys

You’ll see lots of items for Girls. They have sizes for infants up to 14. I was able to find some pieces that will thrill my 7 year old daughter and even my 10 going on 18 daughter.

For boys, there are some cute shorts, jackets, and john-johns. My favorite were the traditional pajamas (at $10) which I picked up for my 5 year old son.

A variety of things available in the $5 bin. The P.J.'s on the far right are the ones I got my son! The Blue Tunic in the back middle also went home with me! Most items in the $5 bins are size 4's, but there are other sizes as well.

Women

I then hit the back room to check out the women’s section. I kinda wish I hadn’t gone in because I got so much….and I was just here to write a blog post! I got: the softest tunic ever ($35 made from the same fabric they make their baby booties out of!), two of their “Western Blouses” ($10 each), a brown ruffle corduroy dress ($35), a pair of denim shorts ($25) and two ruffle short sleeve blouses ($35).

This dress is only $10!!! There are some zipper issues with this style, but who cares? For this price, just have Stitch-It replace the darn zipper!

Sizing: I’m normally a 6 – 8 on the top and bottom. More 6 on top and more 8 on bottom. I went up to a 10 on the tops. I’m tall and I needed the length. Also, I wanted to be able to wash and dry the tops. The 8 fit me well, but the 10 will let me use these tops more willingly. I bought an 8 dress and I’m almost always a 6 in a dress. I bought a size 8 short which is pretty much right on (I doubted how cute these tab shorts are. I was wrong. They are adorable!).

Note: The ruffle blouse used to go up on the sides. All the ones for sale now are straight across on the sides. The old style did not work with my lower rise jeans and shorts; the new style does! Thanks Kayce designer, owner, woman extraordinaire!

I went back to the front to see if there was anything else I missed. And, yes, there was. Kayce has some of her Layette collection on sale. Look at this picture! All of these things are together $40! That’s not per item; this is the entire price for all these items combined! Burp cloth, bib, pj set, and diaper bag! This is a must get for anyone needing some baby presents. This screams $150- $200 purchase….for just $40!!!

Just $40 for all these things combined! The PERFECT BABY GIFT!

Spring coats are $10 and Winter coats are $25. Spring 2009 dresses (including a smoked style which is new to the Pears+Bears line) are just $35. There are some things for purchase that are not on sale (some 2009 shorts, capris, skirts) as they are still for sale, full price, at area stores.

A perfect big girl Summer or July 4th outfit that is only $20!

Time to check out. 17 items later (I’m still a little embarrassed!) and my grand total including tax was just $268.19 Pretty good, huh? Here is a picture of everything I got! My things are on the top and my kids things on the bottom.

Directions to the warehouse: Take HWY 70 toward Bellevue. The building is before you hit Old Hickory. When you pass the Lakes of Bellevue on your right (three red flags) you will see a State Farm insurance agency office on the hill. Pears+Bears in located on the back side of that office building.

Sale Dates:

May 13th & 14th 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
May 15th 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m..

Kayce Hughes of Pears + Bears

Elizabeth — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:14:12 +0000

Please give a brief description of your background as it relates to your career.

After college I went to work for Ralph Lauren, and to illustrate how archaic the company was at that time, we only had one COLOR COPIER for the all departments. I was hired in the women’s “rough” division (aka-country & western look). My initial job was to design the boards that the new lines were presented on. Ralph Lauren was thematic so each board created a feel for the line. If the Riviera in the 20′s was the theme, then the borders, fabrics and colors would reflect that era. I was promoted to the trim division and in charge of procuring all the antique buttons, lace, embroidery. It was incredible to be in meetings with Ralph Lauren and all the department heads. I worked there for 5-6 years and resigned a week before the due date of my first child.

How was Pears + Bears Clothing and accessories born?

I have ALWAYS been creative even as a young child. Interestingly, however, I do not consider myself a great seamstress. Even as I began to have children, I would just need some time to make something … small painted boxes… night shirts for my children. I remember one night my husband Scott came home from work and I said, “Just give me an hour.” With that, I took a potato and carved it into a pear stamp (you know I LOVE pears) and made some handmade note cards. A friend had a home show of antique silver and I joined in with my painted boxes. It was a great success. I hired a seamstress and began to design children’s clothing. The rest is history so to speak.

Name an early mentor in your career.

Absolutely Ralph Lauren. I was surrounded by creative people all my life including my aunt, Lilly Pulitzer. I love the simplicity of her clothes and the wonderful fabrics. I found myself falling in love with prints from the 30′s & 40′s, the feed sack designs from the depression era. Women would recycle them into clothing for their children. They are familiar and quirky at the same time sort of classic with an edge. My clothing is produced by a family-owned factory in South America. I am able to design my fabrics all with the same wonderful nostalgic look.

What is the greatest trend you see in your business? How has your business changed?

I added a women’s line to my already existing children’s line. It is amazing how well that has been received. I design clothing I want to wear: comfortable and VERY “mom-like.” So many women spend their days in jeans and a t-shirts; it’s important to spruce up and look pretty. In addition, I am morphing into my third website. It has been a delicate balance to keep my retail clients satisfied and realize the web is imperative to our success. Retailers today are tentative with their purchases so the website lets consumers see the range of fabrics and styles. We are in an extremely competitive environment with the Gap, J Crew and many others who have added children’s clothing to their existing lines.

Tell us one of your favorite personal extravagances that just makes you happy.

That’s tough. Two things come to mind. I will add something to my wardrobe that ties everything else together. Like the boots I am wearing by Pons Quintana. Extravagant, yes, but they complete many other things like the J Crew jeans and jacket that I am wearing right now. Also, I am not a make-up person, but every couple of years I go to a Trish McEvoy event and COMPLETELY replace everything.

Can you tell us a funny story or something ludricrous about your business?

Probably the thing I get the biggest kick out of is seeing my clothes on people I don’t know or seeing them featured in a magazine or on a famous person. I knew Brooks Shield’s bought our clothing for her children; it was fun seeing the photo.

Name the three things you simply can not live without. (exclude family or friends)

My wheat grinder. Don’t laugh, but I buy my wheat in bulk from Montana to make bread, waffles and pancakes.
My Saturday night date with my husband. We go to Cafe Nona EVERY Saturday and eat at the same table!
Exercise-walking, Stairmaster, or weights.

To see the whole collection of Pears + Bears, click here

Thank you,

Elizabeth and Liza