March 2025

Spring, Sailing with Bachelorettes, and Seed Pod Headdresses

Here’s my (try as hard as I can) monthly round-up for those of you who want to learn about or keep up a little more with me and the work that I do. Hope you enjoy.

Keep a firm grip on that kite string, Steph

Spring is technicolor in Charleston. Right now, the hot pink azaleas in my neighborhood have blossoms the size of hibiscus, the trees are leafing out in chartreuse green, the wisteria unfolding into grape cluster pantomime on trees and fences. We’re having a real season too (cool nights, warmer days), not like some years when the switch flips from cold to beach weather in a week.

Bees on yellow jessamine next to a busy street. Video: Stephanie Burt

Now that the book has gone to the editor and I’m in planning and process, proposal and negotiation for new, upcoming projects, my creativity feels like it’s warming up too, able to stretch and unfold and not have to be so contained. It’s a great feeling, a clear-blue-sky feeling, and I’ll admit I like to fly at 20,000 feet, living for the brainstorm and the idea.

However, last night I was reminded that it’s not just the idea but the execution that makes a thing when I visited The Gibbes Museum for the upcoming Art Charleston preview. While there, I had the opportunity to see the new exhibit Statement Pieces, and it was truly excellent, juxtaposing the works in the Gibbes collection with some of designer Alexander McQueen’s couture pieces. This was the second time I’d come inches away from McQueen’s work — there was an excellent traveling show at the Columbia Art Museum last year — and I was freshly struck by yes, the imaginative output of one of the most creative minds in my lifetime, but most certainly by the execution.

His work isn’t just fantastical and fanciful; it’s exquisitely constructed, feathers overlapping each other in symmetry, tailoring that tucks a sleeve just so or bones a corset in delicate strength, with the color and texture creating some kind of its own harmony.

A quick snapshot of one of the exhibits in The Gibbes Museum “Statement Pieces.”

True too, the curating of artwork beside fashion is its own genius execution. I was reminded that good work isn’t just about wild ideas or imagination on the end of a kite string caught by the wind; it’s about tiny stitches, keeping scissors sharp and brushes clean, and keeping at the thing when it looks like a pile of fabric on the floor.

As David Lynch says, “You have to find a way to get the thing done.” All I can say is “noted.”

Article Updates

• Sure, the latest "How to Throw a Perfect Bachelorette Party in Charleston” article for Conde Nast Traveler keeps the soon-to-be married female in mind, but this article is chocked full of great recommendations, from boutique hotels and funky Folly Beach retreats to coffee shops and cocktail bars. I’ve stayed in the hotels, sipped the cocktails, and even taken a sail on the boats in question, so these are real up-to-date recs no matter your marital status. :)

• Nightcap weekly newsletters covering Charleston restaurant news

Other published media I like right now: Kara Newman’s work in Wine Enthusiast is always a treat; when I see her byline, I read it because it is informative and engaging. She recently reviewed Tip Top Cocktails (remember that podcast episode?), which makes me like her work even more.

On my mind: always a million things, especially at 3 a.m. … this month — juggling it all. The life of a entrepreneur/contractor/freelancer is not for the weak, especially during tax season when one has to find time to organize the QuickBooks we too often ignore. But we soldier on, scribbles on sticky notes meaning something only to us, and sometimes not even then.

Cooking soundtrack album: is, My Morning Jacket

Best thing I cooked this month: Lightly Pickled Cabbage salad from BUDMO! by Anna Volosyna. I interviewed Anna a couple of years ago on an author panel and have had her cookbook on my shelf since. I grew up with “refrigerator slaw” and this is a variation on the theme — it’s been great all month when I needed some good food packed with prebiotics (around all that eating out and festival-ing!).

Until next time,

Steph