There are two categories in this competition: editors’ choice and readers’ choice. The pet who receives the most votes from the public will be our readers’ choice winner. As for editors’ choice, the 20 pets that receive the most votes will be considered by our voting panel, which consists of D’s most esteemed in-house pet experts.

Voting begins June 20. You can vote all day, every day, and you’ll have a custom link to share with family and friends. Voting will close on July 9.

If your su-paw-star is crowned Dallas’ cutest pet, they’ll get:

1. A professional photo shoot with a D Magazine photographer.
2. A full page in an upcoming issue of D Magazine featuring a photo selected from the photoshoot.
3. An Instagram post on D Magazine’s Instagram, broadcast to more than 204,000 followers.

Contest entries are $25 and open until Sunday, June 11. (So get a moo-ve on and submit now!) A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Furry Friendzy, an animal rescue and wildlife rehabilitation organization.

If you’d like to skip the entry fee, you can do so by mailing an application to our office. This option is a little more work, but, hey, it’s free.

No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win this contest. Be sure to carefully read these official rules; by entering, you will be bound by them.

The post It’s Time to Submit Your Pet for <i>D Magazine</i>’s 2023 Cutest Pets in Dallas Competition appeared first on D Magazine.

M.A.S.H. is not a two-player Alan Alda video game. The acronym stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House. Played by tween and teen girls everywhere, this simple game—usually scribbled into a notebook in back of a school bus—will decide your abode, who you’ll marry, how many kids you’ll have, and more. 

So, for the novice M.A.S.H. player, here’s how this all works. Grab a friend and a piece of paper. Draw a spiral on the paper until your friend says, “stop!” Count the number of lines in the spiral. Then count down through the categories. If, say, you had five points, then count through M, A, S, and H, until you land on Erykah Badu under potential spouses. Cross out her name (rough break, we know). Then keep repeating this, until you end up with one result left per category. Voila! Your life is all planned out. 

For this special round, we’ve made all the categories Dallas centric. After all, if your soulmate lives in Chicago, that’s a bit inconvenient if you’re in Winnetka Heights. Maybe you’ll end up marrying Mavericks point guard Luka Dončić, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing because, well, everyone in Dallas is a little bit in love with Luka. Maybe you’ll end up in a Preston Hollow mansion, but your first date is wading around in the Trinity River (how else will you know if they’re really serious?). Maybe you’ll find yourself in a M Streets “shack,” which is probably just a two-bed, one-bath Tudor going for exactly 3.67 bajillion dollars. 

No matter your results, though, take your life out of your own hands. In honor of Valentine’s Day, it’s time to let the fates decide. 

M.A.S.H.

Spouse

Erykah Badu 

Norah Jones

Luka Dončić 

Dak Prescott

Number of Kids

0

2

3

1 million

Where You’ll Live

Preston Hollow

M Streets 

Bishop Arts 

The intersection of Greenville and Lovers, specifically at sunset with all the grackles for roommates

Job

Finance bro

Uptown foodie influencer

Oil and gas baron

Dallas Cowboys kicker

Salary

1 million Fletcher’s Corny Dogs 

The contents of Tiffany Moon’s closet

Center-court sideline tickets to the Dallas Mavericks all season long

A nickel for every time Mayor Eric Johnson says “Big Dallas Energy”

First Date

Dinner at Lucia 

Food trucks at Klyde Warren Park 

Coffee at La La Land

Wading in the Trinity River 

Proposal Location

Dallas Blooms at the Arboretum 

On the jumbotron during an Allen High School football game 

A gondola ride through Las Colinas, á la Love is Blind

The Cotton Bowl’s parking lot after the UT-OU game

The post Play This Dallas-Themed M.A.S.H. To Find Out Who You’ll Marry and Where You’ll Live  appeared first on D Magazine.

I possessed no energy to respond to this critique of my 2022 Ford Maverick, which, thanks to prompting from the Ford Pass app, I had named Boots in honor of my late grandmother’s favorite poodle. The setting sun cast an orange, vintage-California-postcard hue across the rows of cars and trucks full of families, couples waiting for burgers on that summer Sunday evening. The temperature in Northeast Dallas still clung to its three digits of heat. 

After I’d spent a day opening enough moving boxes to fill half of an 18-wheeler, the Keller’s burgers served as a reward for that sweaty work and as an emotional balm for me. I’d lived for two decades outside of my home state, and unpacking that life brought two conflicting realizations: a human can acquire a ridiculous amount of stuff, and that stuff can deliver a sucker punch of sadness when you open a box and see it shattered (my huge, vintage neon Speak Easy Club sign from a dive bar in Binghamton, New York; the wingback chair from my dad’s bedroom; the first imprint of my daughter’s hand captured in a circle of clay in a kindergarten project). 

And as strange as it sounds, Boots helped lighten the weight of all I’d left, all I carried as I returned to Dallas, the city where my professional career had started, where my daughter had been born, where my marriage had begun and ended. This “weird” truck reminded me that new, different and yet old, familiar could be a good thing, a message I needed on the regular.

“I’m moving to a house I’ve never stepped foot into and to drive a truck I’ve never sat in.”

Of course, our waitress didn’t know she was stepping on a metaphor when she took aim at Boots. She wore cutoffs, a white t-shirt, and purple cornrows that fell past her shoulders, framing her porcelain face. “I drive an F-150,” she added. “It’s out back.” She pointed across the parking lot to a weathered beast of a truck that first hit the road sometime in the ’90s. “I was in a wreck last week,” she continued. “I ran into someone. Didn’t do a thang to my truck.” Then she reached inside Boots and ran her hand across the dashboard. “This is all plastic. My truck is all metal. That’s why I had no damage.” As she spoke, a pack of seven or eight motorcycles roared past on Northwest Highway, and she spun her head around, watched, and returned her attention to our order. 

On the drive back to my new house, my brother, an auto obsessive, shared that the dashboard of her 1990s F-150 would, in fact, be made of plastic. Boots and I felt a bit better about ourselves. But the carhop wasn’t the first to question the truck. When I texted my real estate agent to ask if, by chance, the sellers had received my truck paperwork and plates due to an error on the part of the dealership, she responded in a text: “What kind of truck? Like a truck truck or like an SUV? Just wondering how Texan you’re becoming.” 

I shared her concern. In the beginning, before I returned in Dallas, I enjoyed telling everyone in Syracuse, New York, who asked about the details of my life’s hard-left turn: “I’m moving to Dallas to a house I’ve never stepped foot into and to drive a truck I’ve never sat in.” The truck was easy to explain. I needed a new car, and my brother had ordered the Maverick for himself. But it took too long to arrive, and being an impatient car nerd, he did what most Texans would do: he gave up and bought himself an F-150. So when the hybrid truck with the short bed and every imaginable extra appeared in March, I figured I’d take it and enjoy having one less decision to make. I also feared my 2004 snow-eating Subaru with its “I heart Texas” sticker and its 150,000-plus miles might leave me on the side of Central Expressway. I sought to avoid that. 

But my agent understood the house part of the story. From our first phone call, she schooled me on the challenges of the Dallas market. All-cash offers helped land homes. Some desperate buyers added enticements such as all-expense-paid vacations. All homes required quick decisions. I visited Dallas in February on a house-hunting trip just weeks after Freakonomics dropped a two-part podcast titled “Why Is Everyone Moving to Dallas?” That felt about right. 

Most of my search, though, had to be conducted on a phone. My agent acted as my Spielberg for every home tour, sending me videos of the houses I thought might work and the neighborhoods. On the video of the house I ultimately bought, taken by my agent at an open house, she strolled through the hyper-styled rooms (bold-colored statement walls, light fixtures constructed from what appeared to be woven baskets, a green velvet couch) of the midcentury modern in Highland Meadows. As she navigated the groups of fellow domicile-seekers and the seller’s agent cackled in the background, she stepped outside, whispering to me on the video, “Multiple, multiple offers already.” In a panic and for the heck of it, I searched Zillow for the first house I’d bought in Dallas. In the early ’90s I paid $110,000 for an M Street-adjacent corner lot off of Skillman. It recently sold for $1.2 million.

Friends and family members who saw the video of my new house all offered a version of the same response: “It’s soooooo modern.” All those commentators had spent time in my 1915 arts-and-crafts Syracuse bungalow, which boasted a second-floor sleeping porch, cut-glass windows, a claw-foot bathtub, original, unpainted wood trim for days, and a glorious gingko tree out front that transformed into a tower of shimmering, golden yellow in the fall. I loved that house, and when a real estate reporter for the local paper called to ask if he could feature it as the “house of the week,” I considered it a life achievement that might make good material for my tombstone. 

When the story appeared in the paper, it prompted many emails asking why I would leave a great job in Syracuse for “crazy, hot Texas.” I found this somewhat amusing coming from people who live in a city that ranks in the top 10 list of the most gray cities in the country. I participated in many a conversation about the need for “happy lights,” an apparatus used to offer light therapy to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder. My former employer even offered a mind spa that featured a light therapy box. Syracuse also competes for the “golden snowball,” which goes annually to the city in Upstate New York that earns the most snowfall. I still remember the day I signed the papers on my first Syracuse home, and the agent shared with me that as a mom with a kindergartner, I should know that the city schools close when the temperature dips to -20 because children with exposed skin due to a lost glove or lack of a face-covering winter hat might get frostbite waiting at the bus stop. That gave my contract-signing pen a pause.   

But I knew more than weather fueled those comments about Texas. And as I fielded questions about why I would leave and made my case for my state in general, and Big D in particular, it reminded me of all the times I had defended my home state after I’d left. I have explained horses, guns, brisket, the television show Dallas (yes, still), and politics. (My recent favorite included an unpacking of the difference between a “yellow dog Democrat” and a “blue dog Democrat.”) Before Syracuse, I lived for four years in Birmingham. I remember thinking I would get Alabama, and it would get me because I’m a Southerner. I quickly learned Alabama and the Deep South see my state as part of the Southwest and approach outsiders much like the wee town in Scotland where I lived for six months: if you don’t have a grandparent in the local cemetery, you’re not a local. In Birmingham, my friendly waves as I passed neighbors in my minivan with my daughter went unanswered. 

The first time I returned to Dallas after moving there, I stood in an elevator as a FedEx employee entered with a package. “Howdy,” he said. I gleefully returned, “Howdy.” When I applied to the job I landed in Syracuse all those years ago and mentioned I had attended Baylor University, the associate dean interviewing me asked, “Is that journalism school even accredited?” When I interviewed for my new job in Dallas, mentioning Baylor earned smiles and a game of do-you-know. 

In the end, my time away from Texas made me pine for this place and made me more of a Texan than when I left. Of course, my family—all of whom live in Texas—would balk at this statement.

In the end, my time away from Texas made me pine for this place and made me more of a Texan than when I left. Of course, my family—all of whom live in Texas—would balk at this statement. “You’ve spent more time as a Yankee than you have as a Texan,” my aunt announced a few Thanksgivings ago. They also enjoy pointing out other Lone Star crimes: I don’t “sound like a Texan,” I don’t know how to cook a proper batch of fried chicken, and I really should be living “on the land,” a stretch of land in the piney woods of East Texas that connects to many generations of my family and that my grandfather spent his life buying and consolidating. 

But at work in Syracuse, people considered me very Texan and often commented on my use of a Southern expression to make a point. “Hold on, Trigger,” I’d say to a student. Or I’d refer to a problem or a situation as a “crazy quilt” or add a well-placed “swing low” or a “bless his heart” or a “that dog don’t hunt.” And when I really wanted to pour it on, I referenced my status as a sixth-generation Texan. I never felt the need to use those expressions or drop my generational cred before taking up residence a few hours south of Canada. I also never listened to country music of any flavor when I lived in Texas. I still remember my morning drives to work from Dallas to Fort Worth and blasting Public Enemy with a cup of La Madeleine coffee in my hand. In Syracuse, I built a mezcal collection, and for my last concert, I coerced a friend to join me to see The Chicks. And I’m embarrassed to share, but when the movers finally arrived at that midcentury house with my furniture from Syracuse, I greeted them with a Gas Monkey Garage t-shirt and a hat I bought from Boot Barn one Christmas when I experienced an emergency hat need. It features a stitched rendering of the state. 

“Are you from Texas?” one of the movers asked. 

“Yes,” I said. “How did you know?” 

“All the gear,” he offered. 

But something more than hats, trucks, sun, and sunny people called me back. In the spring of 2021, I stood on a cinderblock beside my mother and brother outside of a window on the COVID ward of a hospital in Lufkin. From that spot and with my iPhone in hand, I watched my father take his last breath while FaceTiming with a nurse. For years I’d promised him I’d move home. Then, the fall after he passed, a colleague mentioned a position she’d seen in Dallas, and I applied on a whim for a job that excited me and offered a way back. I thought of him on the first night in my new house. 

On my visits home to East Texas, after a great seafood meal at his favorite restaurant, we’d drive home with the radio blasting and sing together to every song the classic country radio station played. We moved through the night, carried by Hank Williams, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Patsy Cline, as the country road dipped and rose. Whatever sliver of moon appeared in the sky would illuminate the rows of pine trees that flanked our road. 

I thought about those nights as I prepared for my first night in Dallas. It would be days before all my material possessions and my brother arrived. I took blankets I’d borrowed from my mom’s house and piled them up in a stack by a front window. I brought a sheet to hang for privacy, but instead, I kept the window bare. Outside an army of oak trees on both sides of the street linked branches, creating a canopy. A lone streetlight cast shadows, and I watched as a possum appeared and headed for a neighbor’s house. I remembered that a colleague who had the good sense to marry a woman from Taylor, Texas, and live in Austin for a good bit had told me earlier that day that they wanted to give me a pecan tree as a housewarming gift. 

“You’re from Texas,” he said. “You need a pecan tree.” 

That forthcoming tree changed my mood from “The moon just went behind the clouds to hide its face and cry” to “That’s right you’re not from Texas.” I fell asleep thinking about the spot in my backyard where I planned to plant that pecan.     

Melissa Chessher is a professor at SMU, where she holds the Belo Foundation Endowed Distinguished Chair in Journalism. This story originally appeared in the November issue of D Magazine. Write to feedback@dmagazine.com.

The post It’s Always Sunny in Dallas appeared first on D Magazine.

It makes sense. Dallas has a huge fitness culture with hundreds of gyms. Pilates. HIIT. Yoga. Name a workout, and there’s a studio with a class for you. Every month, I get emails about a new gym opening. It’s a big deal.

But it’s a deal that’s always intimidated me, because, well, I am disabled. I was born with a condition called arthrogryposis. It means I’ve had very tight joints and very weak muscles my whole life. I’ve used a wheelchair, worn leg braces, done more than a decade of physical therapy, and had several surgeries at Scottish Rite Hospital. Accordingly, I’ve never been a star athlete. And the realm of workout studios and super buff instructors shouting platitudes about how to get fit was never a place I felt I belonged. 

So when I began write about health and wellness here at D Magazine, I thought long and hard about how I was going to cover this scene. Then I approached my boss with an ambitious, perhaps crazy, plan. What if I took all these fitness classes and reviewed them on their accessibility? I got the green light, and my series, Shape Up, launched in early August. Check out my first review of Stretch Lab to get the full breakdown on how my reviews are structured, but here’s the tl;dr version: Every week I’ll attend a workout class, like at Bar Method and Black Swan Yoga, and report back on the difficulty, the aesthetics, the cost, and accessibility. Really, I’m trying to answer one fundamental question. Can someone who’s not able-bodied take this class, feel safe, and thrive? Have a gym I should check out? Send me an email here.

Besides sweating my butt off each week, August was a busy month on the lifestyle side of D. We explored adult friendships and the Dallas Museum of Art’s fabulous “Cartier and Islamic Art” exhibit. We talked to local businesses devasted by the August 22 flooding and to TikTok star Carla Rockmore. Over on our Home and Garden section, we discovered one of the most eclectic homes in Dallas. We learned about how we can save monarch butterflies in our backyards. And we got excited about the third-annual Dallas Kips Bay Decorator Show House. 

Coming up this month, we’ve got more Shape Up reviews, a peek into several new NorthPark shops, a guide to Thrift Studio, and a whole lot more. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post <i>D</i> Living Last Month: Launching Our New Fitness Series appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post <I>D</i> Living Last Month: Dallas Loves Luxury … and Castles appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post <i>D</i> Living Last Month: How to Elevate Your Personal Style appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post Just a Few of Bespoke Embroiderer Joan Cecil’s Favorite Things appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post Meet Marty McDonald, Who’s Built a Second Career Empowering Women and Girls appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post Match Reveals a Dallas Dating Playbook with Plenty of Pandemic Findings appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post Meet Olivia Mangrum, One of Dallas’ Most Successful Models appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post Style Spotlight: Karalyne Grammer, a Blogger and Lover of All Things Vintage appeared first on D Magazine.

Turns out, it didn’t take much convincing, and I got started with this very important research. Word of my article spread, and soon my coworkers were pinging my inbox daily with palaces and castles all over North Texas. Then—in an incident now infamous in the D office—I spilled a full mug of tea on my laptop. The computer died, IT gave me “best practices” for drinking hot liquids at my desk, and my castle research was left in ruins. 

I got a replacement computer and soon became busy with other stories; however, I didn’t forget about my palace passion project. Unfortunately, the Tokalon house sold for $2.5 million, but I found another castle (with a moat!) to feature in Hot Property. And after some urging from Editor in Chief Christine Allison, I finally got around to completing the story last month. With the support (and contributions) of all my coworkers once again, I rounded up 16 palatial homes across the region and judged them on their castle qualities: Did they have fancy facades or grand ballrooms? Were there dungeons? Stables and turrets were a coup. Only July 15, we hit “publish.”

While my castle story was undoubtably irreverent and silly (although I am adding “castle correspondent” to my resume), it does speak to a greater reputation here in North Texas: Dallasites love luxury. Whether it’s oohing and ahhing over the most charming houses in the city or enviously ogling the posh mansions of Dallas’ most recent transplants, we can’t resist lavish homes. 

We also have a deep love for luxury shopping. Seriously, we can’t resist any news about Neiman Marcus or high-end jewelry, like Alyssa Teichman’s Wildlike, which celebrated its first birthday on July 9. 

Keeks owner Kristen Donnell knows this all too well. When she opened her first handbag resell shop in Collin Creek Mall back in 2010, her business “plodded along” until she began selling vintage Louis Vuitton bags. “We were shocked when it flew off the shelves,” she told Kimber Westphall last month. “That was when we figured out that higher-end luxury was the way forward.”

Donnell now keeps an inventory of 4,000 designer handbags, from fashion houses like Christian Louboutin and Givenchy, in her Plano store. 

There are plenty of reasons—some cynical, some historical, and many personal—for Dallas’ love of luxury. Some might call it snobbery, but celebrity hairdresser Kevin Charles might disagree with you.

For stylist Diamond Mahone, it’s because she wants her clients to be unique. “I prefer my clients not to be in the same things that a lot of people have,” she told D last month. Mahone prefers the “hunt and discovery” of smaller brands. She’s not the only one. When Market remodeled its Highland Park Village store in early 2020, it created room for brands and designers to launch pop-up shops and try their hand at a brick-and-mortar store. 

“We really focus on offering a space to these new emerging designers, somewhere for them to come and test the Dallas market, to really get to know their customer on a one-on-one basis,” Keenan Walker, Market’s chief creative officer, told me earlier this year. That new model has certainly been successful: Four of the seven brands to pop up in Market have since opened permanent storefronts in Dallas. Whether you agree or not, in Dallas, luxury sells. 

That’s just a peek into what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re looking forward to Best of Big D (learn more and buy tickets to the August 4 party here), meeting an Etsy creator whose jewelry promotes mental health awareness, and exploring several new shops and salons. Have a story idea? Email me at catherine.wendlandt@dmagazine.com.

The post Autumn at the Arboretum Comes Alive This Weekend appeared first on D Magazine.