PHOTO CREDIT: D. Harney

PHOTO CAPTION: Flair assistant manger Rachel Sciaba says her staff tries to choose styles that they would feel comfortable wearing to a fun party.

Over the past few weeks, the bridal shops of Newbury Street have been bustling with brides and their bridesmaids planning summer and fall weddings, the busiest wedding season in New England. And the considerate brides of 2008 are eager to make their bridal parties beautiful on the big day too, a goal made easier to reach given the new styles being shown in shops like Bella Bridesmaids and Flair.
“Long gone are the days of bridesmaid dresses that could only be worn as a Halloween costume!” says Bridget Brown, owner of Bella Bridesmaid Franchises. One of the company’s 23 nationwide shops is located at 163 Newbury St. “There are so many great choices these days for chic, modern and wearable bridesmaid dresses.”
Rachel Sciaba, an assistant manager at Flair Bridesmaid at 129 Newbury St., agrees. She says that when the staff is scoping out new looks for each collection, they try to pick out styles they would feel comfortable wearing to a fun party.
“We get a lot of positive feedback on our dresses,” she says. “A lot of brides, in fact, come in and say they would buy our dresses for themselves, and some do – for rehearsal dinners and showers.”
Given this trend, it makes sense that shorter, tea- and cocktail-length dresses have become more popular.
“That length is easier to wear, and it’s more flattering,” says Sciaba.
However, Brown says she’s seen a trend toward the longer gowns of past years as well.
“I've seen a return to the more formal, black tie wedding. In past years, knee length and 3/4 length dresses were our best sellers, but we have seen a lot of requests for floor length gowns this year,” she says.
As for colors, emerald greens, teals and other jewel tones are popular at Flair, says Sciaba. Brown says rich, deep hues of eggplant and burgundy are popular at Bella Bridesmaids for the autumn weddings being planned now.
One trend that has helped brides and bridesmaids in achieving a more harmonious decision on the wedding party attire is the willingness of brides to give their bridesmaids a choice of dresses in similar colors and complementary styles.
“Brides that come in with parties of five or more select a few styles and let their girls choose,” Sciaba says. “We have a lot of styles that coordinate.”
Brown says she has seen this trend take off as well.
“Brides are becoming more comfortable with the idea of all of their maids in different styles but in the same fabric and color,” she says. “This allows the maids to choose their own style for their body shape and feel that they have a say-so in the dress, but keeps the bride happy with the consistency of the color and fabric.”
Bella Bridesmaids is also the exclusive distributor of a cool new concept dress from the designer twobirds that offers one dress that can be worn at least 10 different ways. The bridesmaid chooses how she wants to wrap and tie the dress, allowing for a number of styles.
Are the days of puffy sleeves and pleated monstrosities – as seen in the recent movie 27 Dresses in which star Katherine Heigle paraded out one bridesmaid dress uglier than the last – truly gone? For the discerning bride, it seems the choices are certainly out there.
“Our collection is made up of fashionable and modern bridesmaid dresses that anyone would be thrilled to wear in a wedding...and can honestly pull out of their closet to wear again,” Brown says.

The country was abuzz last week with news that president hopeful Hillary Clinton is a distant cousin of Madonna and Camilla Parker-Bowles, while John McCain shares an ancestry with current First Lady Laura Bush. When Barack Obama visited the ladies of The View, they were abuzz with the news that he was distantly related to Brad Pitt. These surprise genealogical connections were revealed through research released by the Back Bay’s New England Historic Genealogical Society last Wednesday.
“We’re pleased it received the attention it did,” says NEHGS genealogist Christopher Child. “But we weren’t necessarily surprised.”
Child has been working on presidential genealogy for more than a decade, saying that while the candidates are now focused on their differences, it’s always interesting to see what similar pasts they might share.
For Child, the most interesting of the 2008 candidates’ genealogy is Obama’s. His ancestry can be traced through three American regions – the mid-Atlantic States, the South and New England. And, he has ties to at least six former presidents -- President George W. Bush and his father, Gerald R. Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, Harry S Truman, and James Madison.
Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton may or may not have know that in attention to sharing blood lines with Madonna and Prince Charles’ wife, she is also related to Angelina Jolie, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Child says that her family tree is similar to others of French Canadian descent.
Much of this research will be included in a planned January 2009 release of an updated edition of “Ancestors of American Presidents” by NEHGH senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts.
Child says the NEHGH received many inquires as a result of this buzz from average folks who want to know if they too are related to Brad Pitt.
“We’ve gotten a lot of calls from people who are interested in their own genealogy and in seeing who their famous connections are,” he says.
And the good news, Child says, is that with enough research, many will in fact find common ties to the pop culture or political elite.
“It’s likely you’ll be related to someone famous, based on where your ancestors are and how detailed the records are,” Child says.
Child himself has found out that his family has significant presidential links.
“In my own research, I’ve found that I’m related to 19 presidents,” he says. “It’s kind of fun to make those connections.”

Newbury Street was steaming as Trigen-Boston made repairs to part of their 22 miles of steam pipes throughout the city. The company supplies centralized heating, cooling and specialized energy services. These services include critical climate control, sterilization systems, humidity control, and steam used in food and beverage processes.

Liz Lerman, founding Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange chats with Mary Kelley, Principal of the Field Organization, located in Back Bay, at the reception for the premier of Out of Darkness, a collaboration between Sayat Nova and the Dance Exchange

You may not have heard about the proposal for the former Ritz Garage on the Arlington-Berkeley block of Newbury Street. It may not seem like such a big deal, really—just a demolition of a notably unattractive building, to be replaced by an office building only ten feet taller than what is there now. Compared to the 500’ towers that are being proposed in other parts of town, that’s not much.
But it is a big deal. And this is why.
In 1980, Newbury Street was rezoned to a height of 65’. (Before that, the height limit had been 90’, which is why you will see some taller buildings.) The reason the zoning height was reduced there and in the residential district was to provide sunlight and scale and openness to the sidewalks and the surrounding buildings—all the components that make up a pleasant living—and walking and sitting and shopping--environment. Sidewalk cafes sprang up like mushrooms. Pedestrian traffic on a sunny Saturday afternoon...well, you’ve seen it. Real estate prices on the street have gone through the roof.
Now comes Newbury Garage Associates, who feel that their new building should be 20’ higher than the legal 65 foot height. (20/65 = almost a third higher, if my math is correct.) There is no hardship that would justify such a huge variance—they just want it. The garage building they own, though architecturally undistinguished, is not in disrepair. In fact, it is still open and functioning.
Unfortunately, the BRA, our city’s planning agency, would like to see it approved.
This would be the first significant height variance allowed in the Back Bay Historic District in over 25 years. If it is granted, you can count on it setting off a chain reaction that will be hard to stop. Because developers always wants more space. More space equals more money. And if you don’t live here, the loss of sunlight and air and scale, the skyrocketing prices caused by speculation, and the disruption caused by constant construction don’t really bother you.
But for many of us who do live here, it does matter. It matters a lot.

No caucuses ever for Massachusetts

This presidential election season is fascinating. It’s great theater, with a cast of characters more interesting than in most elections.
The Democrats, especially, have had center stage, with smart, articulate candidates, including those who have pulled out. At this point, most Democrats would be happy with either Obama or Clinton. What they want is someone who can win. If one could predict the outcome, it would be easy to choose.
But there is a gnawing feeling that the Democratic power structure has done Democrats a disservice by allowing states to have caucuses. Picture what a caucus would be like in Massachusetts. Union officials, political operatives and obsessive types would be the ones making the decision for us of who our state would go for. There would be no secret ballot, and if you were out of town, working, or couldn’t get to the caucus or spend the time needed, you’d be disenfranchised.
No matter what happens in this election, the Democrats should return to democracy and primaries. That means a secret ballot, and a time frame that allows everyone, even a casual observer, to participate. Caucuses should be abolished.

The failed presidency and a successful one

If it weren’t so alarming, it would be amusing. Columnists can barely write the word “presidency” without putting “failed” in front of it. One columnist even used the adjective “catastrophic.”
We won’t list here all the failures of George W. Bush’s leadership, including those of all of his incompetent agency heads who can’t manage to inspect airlines or meat, apply the Supreme Court’s environmental rulings or accomplish any other task with intelligence and efficiency.
What we think might be funny—in an ironic sense only—is how far from the origins of the Republican party this administration and other recent Republican administrations have strayed.
Instead of government incompetence and the avoidance of important problems that need solutions, Abraham Lincoln and his Republican Congress deftly, it seems now, prosecuted a war successfully and passed innumerable laws that gave poor and middle class Americans and new immigrants important new opportunities.
Most important was that slavery was abolished. But these leaders also strengthened the federal judiciary, helping citizens find a more equal footing with state governments. They promoted big government, which ultimately stabilized the country by dampening the conflicting powers of the states and broke down regional barriers that allowed large national companies to employ people and prosper. They issued laws that governed banks and stabilized currency. They passed the Homestead Act of 1862, enabling hard-working but poor Americans and immigrants to own land. They passed the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, an unprecedented system of higher education that has given millions access to an unmeasurably better quality of life and income.
These opportunities Lincoln and his Congress put in place for the nation’s poor have paid off a million times over in stability and prosperity. Most of today’s Democrats would probably have been Republicans in the 1860s. It’s too bad the party of Lincoln forgot what Lincoln stood for.

Remember the Democratic Convention

It’s so nice to contemplate this year’s Democratic Convention. For one thing, it’s not in Boston. We won’t have to shut down the city. Cambridge Street, which will probably still not be complete by the time the Democrats gather elsewhere, will at least not have a convention as an excuse for Mass Highway’s unfinished work. The Democrats, who didn’t spend their money when they were here four years ago, won’t cause restaurants to be empty and shopkeepers waiting unsuccessfully waiting for the customers with money to spend. We’ve got the city to ourselves this summer. Well, not completely to ourselves, since the dollar’s sorrowful state has encouraged hoards of foreign visitors to arrive.
Good for them. They’ll eat at fancy restaurants and spend money in our shops. Let the fun begin.