The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 19, 2004, Page 7, Image 7
S „ AhA THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, April 19,2004 7
^ “About half my designs are
controlled fantasy, 15 percent are
total madness ai^d the rest are
bread-and-butter designs.”
ContactUs MANOLO BLAHNIK
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? shoe designer
E-mail us at gamecockfeaturesC&gwm.sc.edu • f JW
Local looks
Columbia offers a plethora of trendy
finds at local boutiques that give
shoppers a variety of styles, labels
BY NATALIE NETZEL
THE GAMECOCK
Instead of claiming your
home state as an excuse for
buying fake Louis Vuitton bags'
to fit in, be original — step out
and into the smaller shops in
Columbia this spring.
Boutiques often carry fashion
forward items without the out
rageous price tag, and
Columbia residents have no ex
cuse to lag behind.
Devine Street has plenty of
stores to keep you up-to-date on
what is happening stylewise in
places like New Yorjc and
California.
M, a fairly new store, carries
unique and trendy pieces. More
than 70 different vendors cater
to M, including Blue Cult, Gigi,
Louis Verdad, Rachelle and
White.
Emily Williams, the owner
signers and labels to carry next
season. Competition forces her
to be secretive, but she said to
be prepared for the best.
Williams added that C & C
California tees — available at
her store — are hot for sum
mer. Best worn layered, they
are not your typical baggy
shirts.
Columbia is not the trendi
est state, Williams said, so bou
tiques must find that medium
between classic and overly bla
tant —but not boring.
The boutique has clean,
contemporary architecture
and a friendly staff. Feel free
to lounge on the couch by the
dressing area and glance
through fashion magazines
while waiting for a friend or
conversing with the employ
ees.
M is not open Sundays, but
do not allow this to delay your
fashion outings; chain shops
and other stores welcome style
hounds on Sunday afternoons.
Arden B. at Columbiana Centre
on Harbison Boulevard, for ex
ample, offers the feel of a bou
tique in a mall setting.
“You’ll rarely see someone
else with your clothes on,
which is a great thing with us,”
Arden B. manager Sandra
McKnight said.
Arden B. carries Seven for
All Mankind and Sergio
Valente, along with their own
line.
In the heart of Five Points,
Luna caters to the fashion for
ward. The employees are
dressed in the latest threads
and, owner Kristy Ray said,
aim to give customers an en
joyable shopping experience so
they do not feel out of place.
Luna carries a variety of la
bels such as Juicy Couture,
Notice, BCBG, Seven for All
Mankind and Paper Denim &
Cloth. Newer labels include
Corey Lynn Calter and James,
which are on the verge of gain
ing popularity in Columbia.
Luna has been in Five Points
for nine years, and continues
to maintain a certain status, es
pecially among college stu
dents.
USC Fashion Board mem
ber and first-year retailing
student Reah Smith said bou
tiques are some of the best
places to be to find unique
clothes and an eclectic selec
tion.
Smith recommended that
shoppers “check out the shops
on Devine Street, especially M,
for trendy, fashion forward
clothes, accessories and home
furnishings.”
Second-year psychology stu
dent Lauren Reid said she en
joys classy, feminine styles but
does not shy away from cut
ting-edge clothes. She likes •
Luna and Arden B. because
they carry trendier designs.
Reid said of Luna is “a good
store carrying some of the
♦ BOUTIQUES, SEE PAGE 8
Debut CD gains
Lightman first
taste of fame
BY TOM MOON
KRT CAMPUS
In between rounds of stripes and solids at a
tony Chelsea billiard hall, the diminutive singer
and songwriter Toby Lightman is a1 most giddy
as she runs through the shocks she’s experienced
recently.
Just that morning, Lightman heard herself on
the radio for the first time. Her manager called
hi a frenzy to tell her that contemporary-hits Z100
was spinning “Devils and Angels,” the first single
from her just-released debut CD, “Little Things.”
“I’m like all excited, and I hear it and it was
sort of weird,” said Lightman, 25,.now on the
first round of performances to help promote
“Little Things.”
“I don’t know what I thought I’d feel at that
moment, but it wasn’t what I felt,” he said.
. “Maybe I was in shock.”
Then there was the time, a few weeks ago,
when she was on the phone with a friend while
MTV’s “Cribs” played in the background.
“It’s not my favorite show, it was just on,” she
seemed compelled to say as she connected on a
tricky bank shot. Lightman is something of a
pool fiend: She has her own cue, emblazoned
with the logo of her alma mater, the University of
Wisconsin.
“All of the sudden I hear the sitar in the be
ginning of ‘Devils and Angels’ and I’m like,
whoa, screaming into the phone. It was only 10
seconds, but that made it 'almost more trippy,
because it was so random.”
Lightman said that everything about this pro
ject has been that way — a little surreal.
In the last few months, the performer’s defin
ing musical idea — strummed acoustic guitars
and easygoing pop hooks supported by crisply
programmed, urban-leaning beats — has begun
to enchant music-industry tastemakers. The stri
dent, slyly philosophical relationship song “Devils
and Angels” is gaining steam on radio and has
been featured on MTV’s “You Hear It First” and
the all-video M2 channel. In an indication that
early interest is spreading to the general public, a
few weeks ago the song was one of the top five
downloads on Apple’s iTunes site. Last week,
Billboard magazine declared her a “rising star.”
Lightman, who grew up in the New Jersey
suburbs of Philadelphia, is trying to keep a level
head. “From living in New York for the last four
years, I’ve learned that everything can change
very quickly.”
Her label is similarly cautious. “It’s easy to
crank the hype machine up and get results for a
minute,” said Andy Karp, senior vice president at
Lava, which has planned Lightman’s launch cam
paign to run all year. “We’re not going to do that.
“But I’m cautiously optimistic.... Beyond all
the positioning and marketing stuff we can do, it
♦ LIGHTMAN, SEE PAGE 8
PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK
M is just one of several local boutiques that has fashionable summer items for sale.
'Out of school and unemployed
Lack of funds means no work-study this summer
BY ANNA HUNTLEY
the gamecock
The summer job search just
got a bit harder for USC stu
dents. Because of an unprece
dented shortage of funds, there
will be no work-study programs
available this summer.
“This is the first time in the
10 years that I’ve been here that
this has happened,”
^Undergraduate Admissions
business Director Myra Dees
said. Undergraduate admis
sions is one of many institu
tions and departments that uti
lizes the summer work-study
program.
Some students on work
study said they were unaware
of the sudden absence of sum
mer work-study programs, al
though none had planned to
participate in summer work
study.
“I didn’t know,” said Shana
Till, a second-year electronic
journalism student who has
done work-study at the School
of Journalism and Mass
Communication dean’s office.
“Financial aid never really lets
the students know what’s going
on.”
According to Joe Crumpton,
a second-year biology student
who works for Russell House
building and interior, “The gov
ernment should give out more
need-based grants. There’s sup
posed to be a (state) education
lottery and I don’t know where
that money is.”
The problem underlying the
sudden dearth of summer
work-study programs, howev
er, is not as simple as the gov
ernment’s stinginess in its al
location of need-based grants or
the South Carolina state lot
tery’s handling of its funds.
Student Financial Aid and
Scholarships Director Ed
Miller said that the financial
aid program has only a certain
amount of work-study money
to award.
“It’s very important that we
spend all of our money each
year,” he said. “We award more
money than we have in the an
ticipation that not all students
will take advantage of work
study. We base the kind of mon
ey we spend on the acceptance
and utilization rates in prior
years.”
Miller noted the effect of this
past year’s economic downturn.
“All of a sudden this year,
students accepted their awards
and earned their awards at a
much higher level than they
had in prior years,” he said.
“It’s a question of the economy:
students are taking advantage
of the money offered more so
than in previous years.”
Miller remains optimistic,
however, about the future of the
summer work-study programs.
“We have adjusted the ways we
make awards to make sure
there is not as much overage as
♦ SUMMER WORK, SEE PAGE 8
Need a job?
Without work-study, more USC
students will be searching for | p
area employment this .itnmer.
Check with local restaurants and stores
to see who’s hiring for the summer - the
sooner the better.
There might be stiff competition with the
lack of on-campus positions. Call the
Career Center, located on the sixth floor of
the BA building, at 777-7280 to set up an
appointment, orvisitwww.sc.edu/career/
for links to job listings. The site lists
various Web sites with job openings around
the state.
Along with directories of area employers,
the site has links to pages highlighting
regional opportunities and government
related positions. Your ideal summer job
might be no more than a click away.
PHOTO BY KATIE KlRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK
USC student Miranda Reilly rings up a customer at
the California Chicken Grill on Gervals Street.
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