After a Fashion

The bright, open interior of Lush on West Sixth Street: minimal packaging and maximum quality for all your bath and body needs (Photo by Seabrook Jones/www.juicythis.com)

MUSH My sister Margaret and I already had dogs – two tiny brother and sister Chihuahuas named Addison DeWitt and Miss Caswell whom we'd gotten in 1999. We adored them and they provided us with endless love and laughter. Years later, as they aged, my mother and sister appeared with a surprise – two Chihuahua-mix "brothers" who were tiny and adorable and desperately needed homes. Our home became theirs and our lives were completely intertwined. Named Campbell and McCoy (my mom wanted to name them after football players, and my sister wanted to give them Irish names), they soon led the pack, racing through the yard and barking at invisible objects. Campbell was the beauty – lissome and lithe like a greyhound, he had slanted eyes that made him look very exotic. McCoy, well, McCoy was everything Campbell was not, but we loved him all the same. So enamored of Campbell, my sister saw a note for yet another Chihuahua mix that looked eerily similar to Campbell. This one had been abused and abandoned by his owner, found tied to a stop sign with a rope, his collar so tight it was cutting into his neck. He was darling, but I didn't have room in my heart for one more dog. This did not deter Tavish. I could be sitting watching TV and Tavish would leap into my lap unannounced and lick my face. I was less than charmed. He started following me everywhere (and I do mean everywhere), but I brushed off all his wheedling and wiles and simply put up with him. One night, Tavish leapt onto my chest and began licking my face. I looked at this ridiculous creature wondering how anyone could be so confused, and he just stared into my eyes. I laughed at his persistence and began petting him. Though there were plenty of other people around from which he could get love, I was his target. Something in my frozen heart melted a little bit as I held him. His pale brown eyes seemed to beg, "Love me! Love me, please!" And I could not resist. I held him close, cooing words of love and petting him in a frenzy of affection. I had never been "chosen" before, but Tavish had clearly chosen me. I waved goodbye to my reservations about him and let him sleep in my lap. Then I was sunk. Since that time almost two years ago, Tavish and I are rarely apart. He whines to get into the car with me, he barks if I've forgotten to put him in my bed at night, and he is always by my side. He doesn't fool me. I know exactly what he wants out of me, and I shamelessly cater to his every need. He obeys me and adores me. And me? I worship the ground his four little paws walk on. After all, I was the chosen one, but it's impossible to tell who chose whom anymore.

LUSH Though its name might imply otherwise, Lush is not another new Sixth Street club – it's a deli of sorts (1012 W. Sixth, www.lush.com), offering a bounty of fresh, handmade bath and body products in minimal packaging. Designing its own fragrances and formulations, Lush offers fun, bright, and fresh products. The deli style of display with blackboards and tables laden with merchandise is very cute and remains true to Lush's minimalist approach. The lushly fragrant Bath Bombs make every bath an experience, the Bubble Bars foam your cares away, and the Solid Shampoos make perfect sense.

RUSH Thursday, April 21, 6:30-9:30pm, is Innovation, the UT Textiles & Apparel Senior Fashion Show at the Frank Erwin Center. UT's gift to Austin's fashion-loving public, this annual free show is big, splashy, and loaded with thrills for the thousands of attendees. With a preshow exhibition of the design work leading up to the collections, the 8pm fashion show is always the biggest in town. The work is as diverse as the students, and the UT program has turned out many notable members of the design community across the country. Search for University Fashion Group on Facebook for further info... Saturday, April 23, 7-11pm, is Graphic 5, the fifth annual Art Bra Fashion Show & Auction from the Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas (www.bcrc.org) at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Featuring bras signed by Yoko Ono, Willie Nelson, Mack Brown, and the Beach Boys, along with brassieres made by local artists and celebrities, this is certainly one of the most passionate of the charity fashion shows.