It’s almost springtime. You know what that means: spring cleaning — and transitioning your wardrobe from one unseasonably warm season to the next. It can be quite a chore.
Enter Aneesa Shakur, a sweet, gorgeous, totally stylish girl who comes to “revamp” your closet ($120). First she takes everything out of the closet. And I do mean everything.
“I like to start with a fresh slate,” she says. “Then we can start distinguishing what we want in certain areas.”
From her rolling rack, she begins to organize what will be put back and helps you make the tough decisions about which items to dismiss from the lineup. It makes for a far more pleasant process than the DIY approach. Aneesa recommends donating or consigning discarded items. Either path is fashionable.
So is Aneesa’s shop, The Trunk Stylists. Tucked midway in on the 600 Block of Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg, the store is packed with hot, new, fabulous treasures — at very reasonable prices. My latest crush, a big, gold bowtie necklace was the only one available at the shop. Love, love, love the exclusivity of that. It came with earrings, too, but I don’t wear them together and the set was only $20. It is an awesome feeling to walk into a place, find a glowing representation of the statement you want to make, and to walk out with that shiny new object without breaking the bank.
Aneesa does a wonderful job sourcing super-cool accessories (some of them by locals) and mixing in choice garments to create the total package.
“Everybody really wants spring dresses right now,” Aneesa says. Those she gets will likely fly out of the store as quickly as they fly in.
Style Editor’s Note: In my premier CL Style column last year I promised to provide a Leslie Joy Original view of what’s in store at local boutiques. This snapshot of The Trunk Stylists is the first of many such columns to come. Together we can share that kids-in-a-candy-store feeling, eyes darting about and consuming all the goodies that draw us inside from window-shopping to shopping for real.
So, if you had a trunk for fashionable treasures, what would you pack into it?
FRESH THREADS (a footnote on the latest local fashion news): Monstrousite by Dolly Donshey presented Seven Devils — the fall/winter 2013-2014 collection — in a private preview at Martini Republic in Downtown Tampa that explored the seven deadly sins: wrath, gluttony, envy, vanity, lust, sloth and greed. The collection, which features organic knit, crushed velvet, leather, lace and rose prints, will be available for sale online this fall. Personally, I fell for the headwear, a nod to Dolly’s roots as a milliner. Monstrousite.com.
