In Love With Lovers Lane

For those of us that can't stand NorthPark mall on a Saturday, or one more store that sells Theory, boutiques are a savior. I all but lost faith in independent shops since Kacky & Karl closed its Uptown store a few years ago. But do not despair, I have found salvation on Lovers Lane. Funny enough, it's not far from SMU, though I never visited these well-respected shops the entire time I was in school. The exact locale is between Preston Road and the Tollway on Lovers. The traffic is terrible, that's how you know you're in the right spot. Elements is a Dallas staple. The high end store carries designer brands and unique pieces that you won't find in department stores. Their belts are to die for. Next door (actually connected to Elements) is Elle, a great place for slightly less expensive but still unusual choices. Great jeans. Across the street, you'll find Mine and Hemline. Mine is a modern store while Hemline is a little more traditional. Now, none of these options are particularly "bargain," but new to the street is Strut. This boutique mainly focuses on shoes but also carries tons of jewelry and clothing, and has great prices. I believe it's out of Austin. While recently shopping there, I bought a pair of flats for twenty-seven dollars. Nothing I touched was more than sixty.

Lovers Lane is not only for the clothing obsessed, it's also the home to Stella Dallas, a fabulous and unique furniture store that is small, but can order anything you need. The pieces are kind of girly, and many are from New York designers. Love! The store has a few jewelry items and luxurious paper goods. I'm definitely into over-priced paper goods. That's not sarcasm. I have the yellow stripe throw pillow in the photo at left.

Frankly, I do love Theory and it's available on Lovers Lane too. If you go a little too far down Lovers, almost to Inwood, you find Neiman Marcus Last Call. This is not like a regular outlet shop. It is small, well-organized and supremely well stocked with all of my favorite brands from the department store. I should never have to pay full price for denim ever again.

Elements/Elle
Mine
Hemline
Strut
Stella Dallas
Neiman Marcus Last Call