Powered by Google
Home
Listings
Editors' Picks
News
Music
Movies
Food
Life
Arts + Books
Rec Room
Moonsigns
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Personals
Adult Personals
Classifieds
Adult Classifieds
- - - - - - - - - - - -
stuff@night
FNX Radio
Band Guide
MassWeb Printing
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Work For Us
Newsletter
RSS Feeds
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Webmaster
Archives



sponsored links
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
PassionShop.com
Sex Toys - Adult  DVDs - Sexy  Lingerie


   
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend

It’s a wrap
Beat the late-summer chill in style with ponchos and shawls
BY CHRISTINE JUNGE

This time of year can be quite depressing. Even though everyone on the Eastern seaboard has been complaining about the heat and humidity for weeks, we’re not exactly ready to acknowledge that summer’s almost over. We deny that it’s noticeably darker at 8:30 than it was a few weeks ago, and that stores are having back-to-school sales. Some of us also refuse to break out anything that resembles a sweater, jacket, or cardigan, even though our tanned arms get goose bumps when exposed to the night air. Luckily for us, there are some late-summer fashion accessories to solve this problem: the poncho and the shawl. They’re light enough to avoid mental associations with winter, and warm enough to fight that — dare we say it — fall chill.

The Gap, noting the importance of the poncho, sells three different types: a mohair poncho ($58) in black for evenings out; a lamb’s-wool poncho ($68) in white or black with buttons on the neck, designed for days at the office; and a bright, stripe-patterned poncho ($48) for hanging out on the weekends.

New York & Company takes things one step further by accessorizing its shawls. One comes in purple, black, and this season’s ubiquitous pink ($34), with a jeweled flower that serves as a button to clip the two sides together once they’re comfortably resting on your shoulders. The store also sells a more traditional acrylic shawl ($26.50), with the fringed edges commonly associated with the garment.

Jasmine Sola offers everything from Native American–inspired striped ponchos with tassels ($58) to those that look like your grandmother knit them ($58), with large flowers fashioned out of the holes in the knitting. This funky shop also sells a severely cut poncho ($58), designed so the point of a "V" lands in front and back, with tassels hanging on one side of the V’s slope. It comes in green or tan with gold flecks, dark purple with red flecks, turquoise with purple flecks, and black with white flecks.

If you want to show your local pride while fighting the chill, head down to the Souvenir Store. Its thick, raincoat-quality poncho ($20), in red and blue, sports the Red Sox logo.

Of course, you can always knit your own poncho, if you have a talent for crafts and some time on your hands. The Suss Denim Poncho Knit Kit ($39.99), available at Barnes & Noble, has everything you need to get started: yarn in a denim color, knitting needles, a pattern, and instructions. Why spend all that money on a kit if you can buy a ready-made poncho for about the same price, you ask? Well, everything but the yarn is reusable, and you’ll have the pride of knowing that you, not some underpaid worker in a foreign country, put in the sweat and tears.

No matter which poncho you decide on, donning one should allow you to deny the passage of seasons for at least another few weeks.

Where to find it:

• Barnes & Noble, various locations; www.bn.com

• Gap, various locations; www.gap.com

• Jasmine Sola, 37 Brattle Street, Cambridge, (617) 354-6043; 344 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 867-4636; www.jasminesola.com

• New York & Company, CambridgeSide Galleria, 100 CambridgeSide Place, Cambridge, (617) 252-6870; www.nyandcompany.com

• Souvenir Store, 19 Yawkey Way, Boston, (800) 336-9299.


Issue Date: August 13 - 19, 2004
Back to the News & Features table of contents
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend
 









about the phoenix |  advertising info |  Webmaster |  work for us
Copyright © 2005 Phoenix Media/Communications Group