by Phoenix Tso

Attention Tufts students: if you need summery and flirty dresses, skirts, tops, or accessories fit for an outdoor wedding, graduation party, or a classy “donse” party, look no further than Boston’s Charles Street. Located in the heart of Beacon Hill, Charles Street boasts a number of small fashion boutiques nestled among a few old tyme pharmacies, a grocery store, and of course, banks. I traveled to three of these boutiques this weekend: Wish, Moxie, and Holiday, located at 49, 51, and 53 Charles St., respectively.

Getting to Charles St. from Tufts is simple. Take the red line to Park St. and then walk across Boston Common. When you reach the other side, turn left and walk on the wide path parallel to Beacon Street until you reach the Beacon/Charles Street intersection. Exit the Common, and turn right on Charles; if you find yourself walking along a row of red brick brownstones, then you’re going in the right direction.

You will come across all three boutiques after walking a few blocks up on the right side of Charles Street. All three boutiques appeal to the refined and feminine side of teenagers, socialites and yuppies alike, with fitting booths, walls, shelves, and throw pillows outfitted in varying shades of flowery, candy-striped pink. Extra points to Wish for painting the metal bars over their door a very light shade of baby pink, so they seem more like a garden trellis, rather than a security device. Signs bearing curly, uneven font for the store logo, and the sale signs only reinforce the girly sophistication in the boutiques. Each store played songs from the standard rotation of hip, radio-friendly music: Nelly Furtado, KT Tunstall, and The Fray.
Wish showcased the best clothes; the patterns ranging from geometric and jungle print to beautiful solid dusk blue and papaya red, the material from silk to eyelet and tweed. Rosettes adorned a fair number of dresses, much to the chagrin of a soon-to-be college graduate from Chicago, who complained about not being able to fit a gold and cream tweed blazer over the matching flower smack in the middle of the dress.

Moxie, the middle boutique, carries a variety of shoes and other accessories. For instance, if you’re tired of carrying a plain black umbrella around during rainy days, then pick up a cute green and brown polka dot umbrella from this store. The store’s shelves also displayed a number of cute flats and high heels adorned with jewels, cutouts, and patterns from Marc Jacobs and Hollywould. Moxie also had its fair share of those slouchy shoulder bags that every Hollywood starlet loves to carry around, and garish hounds tooth flats with huge metal disks on the toes, suited more for Steve Madden than for an upscale boutique. Overall, this boutique carries a wide range of attention-grabbing and delicate jewelry, shoes, handbag, and umbrellas.
The last store, Holiday, carried a lot of clothes in a similar style as the clothes at Wish. This boutique, however, seems to cater more to college students who have a penchant for dressing like a 50s era housewife or an older socialite with a house in the Hamptons. One item that left me scratching my head was a shapeless black stretchy cotton dress with small gold buttons. However, I loved Holiday’s minutely detailed black eyelet sundresses, knitted silk sweaters, and beautiful pastel colors, making even the Easter blue caftan in the display window sartorially appealing.

There are trade-offs in shopping at each individual store. Wish only carries clothes up to a size 6, Moxie doesn’t have many shoes above a size 7 ½, and all three stores sell their wares at prices of $200 and up. Even if you don’t have that much money to plunk down on a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes, then just come in to browse and try on selections from the busy and colorful racks and shelves of clothing and accessories. Each store is also staffed by one or two immaculately groomed and fashion forward women, politely setting up dressing rooms for the patrons even before they were finished selecting clothes to try on, or gushing on cue about how a particular color compliments the skin tone of a customer. If there is an upcoming milestone or event in your schedule that warrants splurging on a new outfit, then you’re in good hands at Wish, Moxie, and Holiday on Charles Street.

source : www.tuftsobserver.org