Halter Hotties go Ethereal (for a good cause!)

Join us Friday, November 5th at 8:00 pm in Tacoma's Opera Alley (729 Court C) for a magical evening celebrating the launch of Athena Renee Artistry, a local, female-owned business that retails boutique make-up, provides make-up services and is the only distributor for FACE atelier cosmetics in the Northwest.

Highlights of the evening's arts showcase include a performance by MLK Ballet (to whom proceeds for the evening will go), a mini cabaret, and a fashion show featuring the work of local designers: Costumes for MLK Ballet by Lisa Fruichantie, Persimmon, Rad Wagon Unique Clothing, and Vixen's Boutique House of Apparel and Shoes. And yes ~ Halter Hotties'll make an appearance there, too!!

Featured Music DJs; DJ Flat Black, Artifact from Seattle, DJ Broam, and PhDJ (our very own Trevor Dickson!)

Cocktails Included with Admission: $55.00 at door, Advance tickets $45.00 available at Vixens 253.272.1412

Halter Hotties catching a new bug: Spring Fever!

Sure, we’ve only just started enhancing our environments with

nutmeg, cinnamon, and all the other autumnal scents, and embracing the idea of layering our Halter Hotties in this season’s nubby fall woolens…

and yet, here we are, throwing out the ideas of lilacs and linens?

That’s because it’s time for the Northwest Trend Show, held in Bellevue Washington from October 30th to November 1st.

Get set to be spring-invigorated before the winter doldrums have even set in! We’ll be on the 2^nd Floor Lobby in booth #3 waiting for you.

Halter Hotties embrace this time of year...

With nothing but treats, in the form of decadent and indulgent

Eco-chic confections that evoke nutmeg, cinnamon, and caramel

And silken glamour to spice up the darkest black night:

Serpents,

wily felines and twisting mazes

All invite you to slink into a new halter top

And celebrate Your Metamorphosis…

It’s Bewitching Time again.

Happy Hour with Halter Hotties!

So what do you think pops into Halter Hotties’ heads when we think about the perfect evening of old-school glamour? Imagine a woman, a glimpse of flesh, a tinkling laugh… A glass, raised to smiling lips… A Halter Hottie’s happy hour is less about catching the eyes of the man whose attention she has already captured, and more about pure enjoyment of sensation: breeze against a bare back, cool, sour-sweet liquid, and a heady sense of unadulterated joy.

Our new collection pays homage to that happiest of hours with five – it was six but our Frescarita was sipped up before we finished all the rest! – halter tops inspired by some of our favorite sips!

Crimson Cache is a berry nice (sorry, we couldn’t resist!) and colorful blend of blackberries, raspberries, mint, and lime with a hint of naughty from a splash of Rangpur (pronounced in an Eartha Kitt kinda way) Gin.

Island Voodoo

celebrates citrus brightness with tasty juju offered up in the form of Patron Citronge, vanilla vodka, and blue curacao. Go ahead, cast your own good-times spell with this bright beauty!

Down The Rabbit Hole

brought tea-party revelry to our minds, but the kind of tea party the Mad Hatter would most approved of, with Jeramiah Weed Sweet Tea and all kinds of citrus-y, large-flowered, ruffle-necked goodness thrown in for naught-meets-nice good measure!

Sparrow Seducer ...Savvy?

could be the drink – and garment— Jack Sparrow would introduce to his love if he were wandering around in HottieVille between adventures: pineapple and banana do a tropical tango with citrus and – of course! – rum. Danger could follow…

Pink Foo Foo

is the demure-but-dangerous Halter Hotties answer to the Cosmo: this sophisticated nice girl likes her vodka cute and on the rocks. Vodka, cute? When it’s Pink Foo Foo it is!

Holy Halter Hotties, Batman!

Same sensational style.

Same daring detailing.

...new low price?

Introducing the début collection; Summer Heat

in the new Halter Hotties Quartet Line.

Marrakesh Magic

Sea Blossoms

Psychedelic Dream

The new Halter Hotties' Quartet Line is sewn from colorful silky, satins, and unique fabric yardages so we can offer them at half the price of our classic, one-of-a-kind Halter Hotties made from vintage scarves and silk.

No worries, this doesn't mean we're mass producing!! As the name implies; the Quartet Line is constructed in sets of four, each one made by hand with all the same care, style, and attention to detail as the original Halter Hotties.

"Like" Halter Hotties on Facebook and...

save 10% off your purchase in our Shop Now Facebook Store!!

Halter Hotties go East! (of the Mountains)

Pretty much, if you have a spokes-poodle for your clothing establishment, we’re hooked.

Lulu Boutique in Chelan does

(check it: www.luluchelan.com )

But we also love that they espouse a philosophy that’s about surrounding yourself in pretty things and yummy smells and feeling good and sharing fun times…

It kind of makes us tingly inside!

We’re even more tingly-happy as we announce our new relationship with Lulu Boutique in Chelan, where you can pick up not just one of these fab Halter Hotties, but also a huge variety of other pretty goodness to make you feel all kinds of tingly-happy-good inside!!

P.S. Tiffany Case (aka; the Hottie Hound) says Bonjour!!

Designing Woman ~ She’s in Halter Top Heaven

Kim Alexander could be the kind of woman you’d love to hate. She’s drop-dead gorgeous and seems to have it all. A home in University Place that seamlessly blends modern, retro and antique with comfortable and chic; a loving family that includes her artist husband, daughter, poodle, and two cute cats and the creative wherewithal that has seen her through one successful glamorous career and into another.

But it’s hard not to like Alexander. Because she’s earned all that she has through work and more than her share of hard knocks. She’s stumbled through tough times and persevered with healthy doses of love and laughter.

And she really is talented.

She sits in her workroom, sketching effortlessly. The deft placement of lines leaps to life as a woman’s body, draped in a silky garment. She’s sketching her next “Halter Hotties” top. A 1960s floral silk scarf lies in front of her. She sees new life in the garment. To her, its pattern and style recall a mood, an era, a certain muse. Is it a Bond girl? Is it Barbara Eden from “I Dream of Jeannie?” Is it a silver-screen legend like Marlene Dietrich or Marilyn Monroe?

Alexander breathes life into the scarf, playing a past era against a present one, adding silk charmeuse backing, a wide sash and a vintage button or two. Another halter top is born. And her year-old business is growing fast.

Rebecca Baldwin, proprietor of the Dame Lola boutique that has morphed from a Tacoma brick-and-mortar mainstay into a popular trunk-show shopping experience, explains the appeal of Alexander’s tops, and why they made the cut into Dame Lola’s next sales event.

“Kim Alexander’s gorgeous halter tops are a dream come true! They are a yummy slice of color to add spice to your denim collection or a perfect pick-me-up for that suit you have worn a thousand times,” Baldwin said.

The garment Alexander completes will hang along with the others on the two horizontal rods that cover a wall in her home studio, awaiting sale either at a

trunk show, through her website or at one of the boutiques that carry her line. Her halters can be found in boutiques in Maui, Seattle and in Park City, Utah, home of the popular Sundance film festival. Her

tops will be featured in more boutiques soon, she said.

How the Business was Born
Before she began spending her days hunched over her tables sketching halters and creating them, Alexander drafted drawings of luxury yachts and ran her fingers through opulent fabrics that would finish their interiors. As an interior designer for these yachts, she worked on projects of exclusivity and luxury. She speaks of her first project with a gleam in her eye and a giggle in her voice.

“I designed tassels made from silk, freshwater pearls and gold beads and specified real silver and gold tiles for a pool,” she said. Her projects were featured in publications like “The Megayachts USA,” “Showboats International” and “Yachts International.”

But Alexander’s luxury yacht heyday waned with the economy right about the same time her mother’s health failed. As ALS disease slowly took away her mother’s life, Alexander stepped in to care for her and recognized the ending of her yacht design business. After her mother’s death, she began thinking about her own life. She realized she desired a new career — something creative that would allow her to produce something.

“At about that point, Jaymz (Kim’s husband) suggested a road trip, a way to get away and also to see where he came from,” Alexander said.

On a whim, Alexander whipped up a garment for her 11-year-old daughter. The two searched through Alexander’s scarf collection and in the lavender-scented sewing room and the Halter Hottie prototype was born.

“My daughter was getting all these compliments on Venice Beach and in Santa Monica, and I just thought … Hey, maybe this is what I should do!” More mother-daughter bonding time came through retail therapy, as the two collected more scarves for the project, with an unexpected boon to come after one of their scarf-hunting expeditions.

“One day we came home from an estate sale, our arms loaded with scarves, and Jaymz called out, ‘Hey, there are my halter hotties!’ — and the name was born,” Alexander said.
The process of creating the garments was — and still is — therapeutic for Alexander, soothing her with memories built up over years of sewing side-by-side with her mother. “My mom loved lavender. When we moved mom’s sewing room to my sewing room, it smelled just like Mom.”

Alexander is not one to dwell on past sorrows. She moves resolutely ahead, working up new collections and creating fun and flirty pieces just like the one coming to life at her hands as she talks.

She dreams aloud about the ideal wearer of this new piece of art, and muses, “I’m just hoping that this piece finds a woman who is one-of-a kind, sure of herself, ready for a little timeless glamour; ready for a little fun.”

She could be describing herself. But Alexander laughs that suggestion off.

“No, it’s not about me,” she said. “It’s about every one of us.”

by Jessica Corey-Butler; writing from her 1960s-era Tacoma home, yearning to be a “Bewitched” alter-ego Halter Hotties wearer. She recognizes, however, that her lifestyle as a freelance writer and DIY repairwoman lends itself more to sweats and hoodies.

Photos by Jeff Hobson