About

 

Author and Singer/songwriter Erica Stone says launching Winnie + Fran was a passion project that sat for years on a shelf. Read more below, from her social media announcement.

"I’ve been learning recently the importance of showing up for ourselves. We spend years of our lives devoted to children, families, careers, and we leave little time for what I like to call “passion projects”. Spaces we create to develop and build what sits on shelves inside the brain… and maybe even deep inside the heart.

I know what I am about to say may sound silly given what my life has been centered around all these years… but hang with me.

For me, I have always been a girl with a closet full of trends. I’m a sucker for denim and dresses. Fashion has always been a space I dive into when I need a brain break from the rest of my life. Founding an orphanage across the world and adopting a houseful of kids didn’t exactly make life easy. Not to mention the stress of the music business and representing a major skincare brand. I would escape by shopping online.

I love to shop online. I love getting those packages in the mail. I love trying the next big thing. I’ve always wanted to participate in Fashion Week… but guess what… I never have. Over the last few years… as my mental health began to deteriorate from the stress of the world I created...I started giving up everything I enjoyed. I don’t know the last time I went on a shopping spree. It’s been YEARS.

Over the last 6 months I have been feeling the desire to start checking the boxes… doing the things I have always wanted to do but never taken the time to do. I  think we have a hard time giving ourselves permission to try something new…because of the plates already spinning I suppose. Then as we get older we begin saying to ourselves “You’re too late.” “Just appreciate where you are.” “If you were gonna do that thing… you should have done it years ago.”

Recently, while on my journey to self healing, I started paying attention to all the parts of me I have lost over the years. The parts of me that stayed stagnant. The parts I packed away because “that girl doesn’t belong here in this life”. Ya know what…. the list of things I have kept hidden on shelves… is not a short one. And that just wasn’t okay with me.

I was cleaning out a closet recently, sorting through old clothes, and the crazy thing is… it felt like every item carried a memory. I found myself in tears… I loved every moment I was wearing what hung in my closet. I wore the denim sundress for Nash and Lem’s surprise elopement. I wore that sweater in Charleston last year for Aubrey’s birthday. I wore that white lace mini in Italy when Jason and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. The list goes on and on. It was that day I realized just how special what hangs in our closet can be. I decided to turn my love for the curating the perfect outfit into something more.

I wanna take my favorite memories, and my passion for fashion and marry the two together. I wanna check the box and finally do “the thing”.

HERE WE GO…. after months of planning and development…

ANNOUNCING….

WINNIE + FRAN

My new online boutique… that will soon become a brick & mortar store on 30A.

WINNIE + FRAN pays homage to two people I love dearly who have given me a foundation of memories… my grandmothers, Edith Winifred and Berta Franziska.

They each have a photograph I distinctly remember seeing as a young girl. My grandma, Edith Winifred, wearing a stunning wedding gown that made her look like a movie star… and a photo of my grandma, Berta Franziska, pushing a stroller while wearing a poof skirt and blouse that made her also look like a movie star. I remember seeing these photos for the first time hoping one day I would look just as lovely as they did.

 

 

WINNIE + FRAN is an online popup boutique showcasing curated collections of clothing and accessories for they everyday lifestyle. Soon we will also be launching curated collections for tweens. A portions of all sales will support female entrepreneurs in developing countries around the world.

P.S. If you have “a thing” sitting on a shelf… and you haven’t done it yet. DO IT. Consider this is your permission slip :)