C. Orrico Hobe Sound: Quiet Beachy Chic Prep for All Ages
Tucked away on a sunny corner of Southeast Dixie Highway, C. Orrico Hobe Sound reflects the quiet beach community that is as easy as it is breath-taking. With its emphasis of the outdoors -- with state parks teaming with vegetation, the turtles laying grounds celebrated and some of South Florida's best beaches -- C. Orrico Hobe Sound focuses on clothes to wear while you're enjoying the area's wild natural beauty.
Lots of shorts, linen shirts, simple dresses, comfortable jeans that hug without binding, flip flops and cover-ups fill the pink, white and green boutique. It is Lilly Pulitzer-centric -- running the full range of each season's collections, including their most festive pieces in deep blue, bright raspberry, hot lime, molten lemon -- and fresh in a way that speaks boldly, but with whimsy, keeping with the temperment of the woman who shops here.
But it is also the beyond fashion style that is CP Shades timeless linen shirts, Gretchen Scott's peasant tops and beach cover ups, gypsy khurtas, basic caftans, simple capri pants and a smattering of the store's top designers, ranging from Tibi and Trina Turk to Milly, Nanette Lepore and Shoshana. It is also scarfs, shawls, patent leather flip-flops, jewelry, beach bags, floppy hats -- and the full range of Lilly Pulitzer for children.
"People in Hobe Sound don't have to try, they just are," says Kathie Orrico, one of the three sisters responsible for the look that is archetypically Old South Florida. "Beyond fashion, they're style is so elevated, they're chic when they go to the grocery store -- and that knowing what makes you comfortable and looks pulled-together is a big piece of it. These are young women who are defining their ages, mothers and grown women who aren't about showing off, but looking bright and fresh. They realize they are a culture unto themselves, and these are the clothes that can go wherever the day takes them. That adaptability and functionality is critical to them ..."
To not try, but to create singular looks ... To have clothes that reflect the environment that are pretty as well as simple to wear ... To have a range of colors, from bright pastels to muted shades to classic navy, white and beige ... It is trickier than it sounds, yet utterly, absolutely what C. Orrico Hobe Sound has built its identity on since opening in the little pink building five years ago.
Posted on Apr 22, 2011 by Holly Gleason
