Notes on (One Helluv) a Weekend: Capitol Celebrates 20 + The Mint Museum Gala

Editor’s note: Author G. Hamlin O’Kelley , III (a.k.a. “GHO”) interviewed his dear friend,  Laura Vinroot Poole (“LTVP”) on stage at the 2015 Summit in Charleston. LTVP is the founder of House Account, and owner of the Charlotte fashion boutiques Tabor, Poole Shop and Capitol.

Last weekend, Capitol celebrated its 20th anniversary, the same weekend as The Mint Museum Gala. LTVP invited GHO and his wife, “MP”, to attend both. What follows is a hilarious play-by-play of a weekend spent with a dear old friend (and making new friends) immersed in fashion (and the fashionable). Congratulations to LTVP on 20 amazing years in business. Your entrepreneurial journey is as inspirational as it is fabulous.

For more of the fun (and a solid dose of FOMO) search #xxcapitol on Instagram.

Background

The weekend of April 27, 2018.  Such as this can only happen once with the perfect mix of people, place, weather, cuisine, beauty. 

For me and my bride, it all began months and months before when our dear pal Laura Vinroot Poole sent out her edict to us via text message; “BTW, yall are SO coming to the Capitol 20anniversary weekend. Xoxo” 

Back in 1998, our dear pal and her husband, our other dear pal, Perry Poole founded Capitol in a store front in Phillips Place in the Southpark area of Charlotte, North Carolina.  

I was in Law School in Columbia, South Carolina, at the time. I had one of those old answering machines with a tape.  

I got home from classes one day and heard a familiar voice on the machine saying, “Dude, call me.”  

Now, having known Laura for eleven years at the time due to our attending both Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I considered her a damned good friend, who’s an even better friend today. 

 I immediately called her in Wilmington, NC, where she and Perry were living. 

Verbatim transcript follows

LTVP: Hello?

GHO: Heeey…what’s up, tender? (No identification needed) 

LTVP: Um….nothing… but guess what?

GHO: Um….what?  [So and so who went to Chapel Hill with us but wasn’t very smart] just got the Nobel prize in Physics?” 

LTVP: Hah!

Pause

Then quietly, with a sense of trepidation as though someone were seeking parental approval

Ham, Perry and I are moving to Charlotte…he’s going to architecture school….and I’m going to open a store. 

GHO: You are? A store in Charlotte? Dude, you said you were NEVER moving home.  

LTVP: No, seriously.  You should come see it. It’s gonna be great.

GHO What kind of store?

LTVP A women’s dress store.  

GHO That’s waaaaaay tender, dude.  I know your parents will be happy you’re home

LTVP Ugh…that’s not it.  It’s going to be amazing. 

GHO You’re serious.  That’s awesome, dude. I can’t wait to see it.  

LTVP Dude

GHO Dude

LTVP Bye

GHO Bye

We hung up and I thought, “Jesus, help her; she’s lost her damn mind.”

About that same time, Mary Perrin Johnson of Charleston agreed to be my bride.  We were in Charlotte for a wedding and we popped into Capitol at Phillips Place.  Then quietly, with a sense of trepidation as though someone were seeking parental approval, I introduced Mary Perrin and Laura.  

At Phillips Place, Laura seemed to be in her natural element amid the beautiful clothes she chose to sell.  At that time, we had our first edict from our friend, “Oh, by the way, I’m coming to your wedding.  Whether or not I’m invited.  I just am.”  Of course she was invited.  The only friend of mine from high school who was invited who actually showed up. 

At that visit, Mary Perrin acquired the Lilly Pulitzer dress she wore to our rehearsal party.  I still have the tie that Laura threw in my bag that day, which she refused to let me buy. 

Several years later, we watched with sheer delight from afar as Laura and her team moved  her store into a stand-alone building designed beautifully by Perry and built expertly by another friend, Reese Rencher.  The lush verdant garden wall designed by Patric Blanc mutates seasonally, but, like our friendship with Laura, it remains awe inspiring. We saw her and her store in print and in the emerging world of digital media.

We watched with mouths agape as Laura and Perry and their whole team transformed the commerce and banking hub of Charlotte into the fashion capital of the South.  No kidding. The effing capital….emphasis on capital…emphasis on Capitol. 

Over the last twenty years, we have been infrequent clients of Capitol, of Poole Shop, the more casual store, and of Tabor, the men’s store opened in 2015.  Laura says to us, “Oh, stop…y’all are old old clients and my faves.”  Mary Perrin still wears the amazing blue shawl from India that I bought her, the fabulous Ethiopian inspired scarf, and the compliment creating cocktail dress that I took out that second mortgage to buy.  

Over the last twenty years, the O’Kelleys and the Pooles have had babies, taken trips, loved our visits, joked and pictured and sparred through the advent of social media – we will get to that in a minute – watched Laura’s smiling, kind face on magazine covers, read biographies about her in the New York Times, listened to interviews with her, seen the inside of the house we know in all kinds of design magazines, and marveled at how they could pivot during the worst economy in recent decades and make it through.

We have all put our legs under each others’ tables. Gumbo anyone? 

Laura and Perry have included me and Mary Perrin in openings, events, parties, barbecues, oyster roasts.  We have shown up and marveled with only our friendship and cheese straws to offer. 

Back in 2015, Laura asked me, of all people, to interview her for a key note presentation in Charleston for The Southern C, a collection of Southern women entrepreneurs, disrupters, and creative thinkers.  People still discuss that interview. All the time.  

It is only through the magic of social media that Mary Perrin and I have come to understand the impact of Capitol since 1998.  Naturally, Laura, Mary Perrin, and I became friends on Facebook; we followed each other on Instagram. 

Time and time again, women in Charleston and Beaufort would say to me, “Um, how do you and Mary Perrin know Laura Vinroot Poole?”  “Do you really know them?” “She’s my idol” “I worship her” “I have a cousin in Charlotte who says she’s great” “You have her number? Like in your phone” “You really gave their daughter a baby present” “Is that a picture of Margaret (our eldest) with Laura Poole?” 

I would receive text messages that would say, “Hamlin…is that the REAL Laura Vinroot Poole?”  Mary Perrin would be in her hand made Indian shawl and jealous Charlestonians would ask, “Where did you get that?”  MP would reply, “At Capitol in Charlotte..it’s our friend’s store?” The reply, “No way! Y’all know Laura Vinroot Poole”.  How does one convince others of what is now a thirty year friendship when the others think we must be lying.  Well, one posts a lot of pictures and writes summaries of crazy weekends like this. And one doesn’t give a shit, because one knows what one knows. 

It is through Laura and Perry that MP and I have met a wonderful crew of folks in Charlotte.  

It is through Laura and Perry that I have an appreciation of that town just above the border. Esse Quam Vederi.  I love North Carolina. I went to Camp High Rocks in Cedar Mountain. I went to Chapel Hill.  My cousins live there.  My aunt and uncle live there, too.  They have a house in Oriental. My daughters go to Camp Greystone in Tuxedo.  Mary Perrin went to Davidson College.  But, I still think of it as the Vale of Humility between the Mountains of Conceit.  

The typical Charleston attitude toward the Queen’s City can be summed up by this statement by a disdainful Charleston native, “I used to live in Charlotte.  Let’s face it. People in Charlotte have pictures of Charleston houses in their houses.  No one in Charleston has pictures of Charlotte houses in their houses.”  I know better now.  It’s an amazing place.  Even if I do require pluff mud and salt water to be within spitting distance, Charlotte’s got a lot. 

We have obviously known the Vinroots forever.  It was Laura’s mother, Judy, who introduced me and Laura over coffee one morning in Andover, MA, just because I said, “Yes, Ma’am” to her when she asked me a question.  Not only do we consider the Pooles and Vinroots dear friends, but also, we consider MC, AWC, EE, CE, AP, SN, LBD, PQD, dear friends, too.  You know who you are.

So, now with this background, you can understand that we were not surprised to receive our invitation to the weekend events, which, were the 20^th Anniversary Party at the North Corner Haven outside of Lancaster, SC; the Hair of the Dog Party at Tabor on Providence; and, the Mint Museum Spring Gala at the Mint Museum on Randolph.  We thought we were only going to the first two, until, a week before, I sent a text to Laura telling her we planned to go to Kindred in Davidson on Saturday night.  After a flurry of texts with me trying to beg off:

Ring. Answer. No identification needed.

LTVP: Dude, you’re coming to the Gala with us

GHO No, that’s too much

LTVP I want y’all there

GHO No.  Save those tickets for someone else

LTVP Ok…now that’s just bad manners. I have your tickets.  I want you there. You’ll be in Charlotte.  And don’t say MP has nothing to wear. I can dress her. You’re coming. Don’t say you have to do crap with the girls. You’re coming. It’s settled.  Just stop. Stop.  Really

GHO OK

LTVP Love you

GHO Love you 

And, yet again, the edict worked.  She has done that to us for 20 years now! 20! 

Mary Perrin scrambled to find another outfit.  She rented the runway from a friend’s closet.  I had to wash and iron the crumpled tuxedo shirt that had been in the hamper since a party in January. 

So, Friday the 27^th arrived.  Children off to school. Dog off to the kennel.  House locked.  Three garment bags and two suitcases in the car, and we’re off to the Old North State. Around Carowinds, I started to get excited. 

We arrive in Charlotte.  The rest is the blur that was the weekend.  Prose fails, so my epic poem begins. 

We love you Laura and Perry Poole.

We just absofukcinglutely love you. 

Notes on a Weekend

Three hours in the car

Bad traffic around Columbia, SC – nothing new

A stop at a gas station in Blythewood where we run into Shannon and Hal Ravenel who ask what we’re doing – it’s South Carolina – you can run but you can’t hide. 

Horrible traffic on I77 in Charlotte

Get off on Tyvola Road – the only exit in Charlotte we think is important as it takes us to Southpark, Capitol, Poole Shop, Phillips Place, and the Pooles’ house

Head to the hipster Atherton Mill for new glasses at Warby Parker – both of us – helping the Charlotte economy one purchase at a time

Lunch at Price’s Chicken Coop – which we eat in the car on the side of the road

Sweetist iced tea in the South – causes heart palpitations 

Drive straight to Capitol

Rock star spot out front

Walk in to be greeted by Meredith Carter

Immediately hugged and kissed by LTVP

“Heeeeyyyyy”

“Y’all are here!” 

“Where else would we be”

“MP, come meet the Of Rare Origin, ladies. It’s a mother and two daughters. They’re presh”

“Y’all this is Mary Perrin and Hamlin O’Kelley, dear, dear friends”

Introductions, oohing, ahhing over the Of Rare Origin jewels.  Nicest ladies – mom and her two daughters – You going tonight?  Tomorrow? Great

I slide off and tell one of the many helpful Capitol ladies, “Laura has something in the safe for me, can you get it?”

LTVP whisper in my ear: “I can’t watch this, I’m going upstairs”

I had already bought the exact Of Rare Origin earrings which MP was trying on

Drug deal completed.

GHO, placing the Capitol 20^th Anniversary bag on the table, “MP, please open this now”

MP opens bag. 

MP puts impeccably wrapped present on the table and our new besties say, “Oh did they wrap that like that here? With that bow? Satin? Oh my GOD”

MP opens bag to reveal the EXACT earrings she tried on…with squeals of delight from the Of Rare Origin ladies

Forget me not

Sicilian hand carved

Find Laura who also squeals, “They’re GORGE and are going to be PERFECT with your red dress.”

MP, “Um…how do you know about that.”

LTVP, “Um..how you think, Ham?”

Fashion bloggers galore

LTVP is a BIG DEAL

Tap on the back

It’s Michelle Pae, another Andover pal who flew in from New York

Tour of the shop for Michelle with Laura

It’s now 2 and the buses leave for the party at 3:15

Bye..bye..bye

Jump in car and drive to Hampton Inn 

Bye, Michelle, see you in a minute

Check in 

Park

While parking, a car does crazy stuff in parking lot

MP: “What the hell are they doing?”

It’s another ancient friend, Max Caulkins, another Andover guy, who flew in from Denver with his talented interior designer bride, Ramey, the night before

“What’s up, Maxwell OBC?”

“Dude, you ready for Laurapalooza?”

“What does one wear to shoot skeet at a cocktail party in South Carolina? A Valentino?”

Walk into hotel

See y’all in a minute

Up to room

Unpack of sorts

Get dressed for the big event

Emerge from room hoping attired correctly 

Max to me, “Well, you look suitable. Like a gentleman farmer”

Flower Power on display – lots of prints in the lobby

See our new Of Rare Origin best friends again

Michelle, Max, Ramey, MP, and I jump in a van to go to North Corner Haven in Lancaster

45 minute ride

Feel a little car sick

Arrive at the “farm”

And, there, it is.  The fever dream. It’s Laura and Perry’s wedding if they had not eloped and had designed it

Flowers everywhere

A large low table centered on the lawn strewn with flowers and pillows and set on rugs

Flowers everywhere

Flowers everywhere

Flowers everywhere

A party barn with flowers everywhere

A swing suitable for Fragonard with flowers everywhere

A large wooden bar in the middle of the lawn

A secret bar down the path manned by Charleston’s own Brooks Reitz and his gorgeous and talented designer wife Erin

ROSÉ ALL DAY 

Signature cocktails

Bespoke flower crowns 

Skeet shooting

Fishing 

Hay rides

PBR

Lots of PBR

Crushing brews

Hanging out with Sylvia Baker and Leslie Baker

Crossing the lawn to give Pablo Mozo a hard time….more Andover people…and to greet his dear, lovely wife Rita and their son Pepper

Laughing with Rich Vinroot – Dr. Rich Vinroot that is – who had to be pressed into service for a DFO

The always beaming with pride Richard Vinroot – always glad to see us – always so gracious and appreciative of our support of his daughter

The smiling Katie Vinroot O’Brien – the loveliest little sister 

Flowers everywhere

Flowers everywhere

Flowers flipping everywhere

Fort Lonesome embroidery for our girls

Picture of me and Laura…did we coordinate the pink and blue outfits? #sisterbyanothermister #brotherbyanothermother #trouble

MP and I on the swing

Falling out of the swing 

Sarah Wrenn and Nobles Barbeque pig picking

I mean really? Pig and cue and slaw and butter beans and tomato pie…hell yes

Is there really a moonshine teepee?  You bet your ass there is 

Laughter

So much laughter

Flowers everywhere

Flowers everywhere 

A blonde haired maharani in pink, puce and turquoise passes on the porch

To the same blonde haired maharani from me, “Dude, you better get some woolite…you got some mud on your chiffon”

Mandy and Reese Rencher! Mandy is an old Davidson College friend of MP’s

You can’t hide in the South.  You just can’t 

Hilarious Elizabeth Edwards and her dry and sly husband Chris Edwards armed with camera– thanks LTVP for introducing us

Funny side jabs with Judy Vinroot

“HAMBONE! HAMBONE! HAMBONE!” being yelled at by Rich Vinroot who’s still on Middle East time – yeh….that’s it…it’s the time change….not the drinks…meeting his girlfriend, Elizabeth

Supper on the lawn in the gloaming

Me, Michelle Pae, Rita and Pablo and Pepper Mozo, and the blonde haired maharani

Finally seeing Perry in his overalls and jacket

Me to Perry, “Dude, is the man in the big house gonna let you stay on your tenancy? Did you bring in enough tobacco this year”

Perry, “Hamlin, that’s funny.  You seen Laura?”

Me, “Not in hours”

Cranking it UP in the party barn with Lee Fields

Dancing 

Dancing

More dancing

People still smoke? 

Things getting a little hazy

PBRs

Hanging with MP’s cousin Perrin Dargan and his bride Lisa, whose brother went to camp with me 

“Can you even believe all this?”

“Nope”

Finally breaking the seal and hitting the woods for the bathroom….you can take the boy out of Beaufort………

PBRS

Hot Bojangles biscuits

Should’ve eaten one 

Didn’t 

Everyone a little wobbly

Max showing January Jones and Irene Neuwirth how to shotgun beer

Time to get in the van back to Charlotte for the 40 minute ride that takes 25 at 1 a.m. 

Crushing 5 more PBRS on the bus with my new best friend

“Man, you’re like a pro”

“I’m from Beaufort, South Carolina. I’m 46 years old. I’ve been doing this for 31 years.”

“Well…this twink from Memphis is impressed.”

 “What’s a twink?”  

Finally back to the hotel

Lights out, pork chop

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Damn if it’s not bright in here

I need coffee

I’m gonna hurl

We’re too old for this shit

I’ll got get us coffee down stairs

Run into Octavia and Thea from Of Rare Origin

“I’m dying”

“We are too”

“I am really dying”

“I ate some of the peach in the moon shine bottle”

“Oh…you really are dying”

Showers

Trip to Southpark

Nordstrom, Neiman, Crate & Barrel

Shoes for MP to go with red dress borrowed from Anne Marie Hagood

New glasses for the kitchen

Drive up to the new Shake Shack

Out of burgers

WTH

Drive to Tabor early for the Hair of the Dog

Erin and Brooks Reitz and Scott Newkirk greet us

“You look rough”

“I feel rough”

Gorgeous day

Gitman Brothers

Scott, “Which one did you buy?” I show him “Of course you did” 

Best hot dogs ever

I ate 3

Yes I did

So much LaCroix water

Just hot dogs with Mrs. Vinroot and Jane Scott Hodges

Mrs. Vinroot, “How’s [so and so]?”

Laura…..no Perry

Max to Laura, “What time should we be there tonight”

Laura…face drops…determined look.  Eyebrows set, another edict, “I NEED y’all there by 6.  Not kidding. I’m saying 6:00 so y’all won’t be later than 6:15. It’s tight time sched.” 

Serious as a heart attack

MP and I look at each other – be there by 6

Fort Lonesome embroidery as thank you for Anne Marie Hagood

So many flowers

Clementines to weigh down table cloths

Bright blue skies

No humidity

No bugs

No kidding

More laughter

More LaCroix

Gotta go rest

Tons of water from the Whole Foods

Thank you gift of pink peonies delivered to the Pooles

Thanks John Lupton

“Most beautiful flowers ever” 

Resting on bed

Brain is dead

Body is dead

How we going to do this again? 

Laughing about last night

Make up appointment for MP….have fun…don’t come back looking like Tammy Faye

Another shower

Penguin suit

Waaaaay overshot my coverage when a brunette beauty emerges in red with the perfect earrings and hair…..almost 19 years of marriage.

Uber called

Meeting Caroline Waller in lobby…who just popped over from India, as one does

Uber arrived

Uber deposits at Mint Museum

That’s not a tent, that’s a goddamned MARQUEE

Suppa under the Marquee for hundreds….hundreds…of bedecked, bespoked, bedazzled ladies and their menfolk

John Lupton does it again 

Flowers everywhere

We arrive with Perry Poole who says, “Yall wait up”

Erin and Brooks Reitz arrive

Perry, Brooks and I with the same slippers.  Brooks has on socks…bless his heart…

Pic of slippers

By end of night, Brooks’ socks are gone

“Heeeeeeeeey”

“Heeeeeeeeey”

Ramey and Max pull up

The Andover posse has your back, LTVP. We’re here by 6.  And, we get it….we’re here. It’s perfect. You’re in charge and it’s perfect.

Guccified in white and red ribbons, “I just rolled out of bed looking like this”

Pic of MP and LTVP “Mint condition”

Cheese wafers with pecan halves in silver baskets – Southern AF

“Ok, Ham, they’re not cheese straws, but they’re still good, right?

Why does she value my opinion?

“OMG MP…you’re GORGE..look at you”

“Ham, you’re a lucky dude”

“I know…remember…I’m coming to your wedding? Remember?”

“Awww…love y’all”

More guests

“How was your afternoon, Mrs. Vinroot?”

“Inconsequential”

Oh…hello Avett Brothers

Oh…hello Andre Leon Talley

Oh….hello Dave DiB

Oh…hello Julia Evans Reed

Oh…hello hot dog pal Jane Scott Hodges

Oh…hello hungover Rich Vinroot

To the Oscar de la Renta Exhibit

Overheard:  That’s beautiful…that was my wife’s…is she here…no she died of cancer a year ago….brava Marianna Sheridan.  Brava.

Some purdy clothes

Drinks on the patio

Deviled eggs with pickled okra

Ham delights – had to explain those to Pablo

Table 39 a/k/a the Andover Table a/k/a Upper Right 

Max and Ramey

Rita and Mary Perrin

Rando guy from Maine…sucks for him.

Pablo and Hamlin 

And our new best friends Tanu and Sanjeev Gulita – Dr…Dr….Dr…..

“You know why your magnolia leaf place card is so small, Tanu?

“No, Hamlin, why?

“Racism”

She about spit out her wine

Fried green tomato

Crab salad

Angel biscuit

Relish tray

Quail 

Stone ground grits

Hoppin John 

Collards

Shrimp pie

Strawberry pie

Video of the amazing work of Marianna Sheridan with the Oscar de la Renta Archive

Shhhh…….Oscar’s son in law is speaking

Oscar who?

De la Renta, dummy. 

#oscarsowhite

Need another drink

An “Excuse me” to Seth Avett…why didn’t I open my mouth? 

Auction starts

Auctioneer has lost crowd 

But they still raise $180K

Duh

Speaking later to Scott Avett, “How are you?” “Good. You?”  And that was it…dumb ass me

Everyone on phones and up from tables and milling about

Meredith Carter: Hamlin make them hush and get this after party started

After party started

Dancing

Another bar opened

More dancing

My feet hurt

People STILL smoke?

Hanging with the Caulkins and the Mozos

“How’s Young Master Friedman, Pablo?”

“Did you just call him ‘young master’?  I’m stealing that”

“I’m from South Carolina…we say it all the time”

Cinderella’s coach about to be a pumpkin

Then another hour passes

Space time continuum is warped

Completely skewed

Lisa Dargan, “Hope I didn’t insult y’all last night”

Bwahaha 

Hanging with Perry

Hanging with Pablo

“Oh…wait…you’re from SOUTH Carolina”

Meeting Marianna Sheridan’s sister

Semi-drunk conversations with the Hodges about NOLA…more new besties

Hanging with Laura and MP and Jane Scott  and Philip Hodges at the patio…not wanting to leave by having to go…it’s so late…

….getting teary yet, loser?  Yup……..sure am…oh…Ham

……….music in the background…..maudlin much?

“Daisy’s laugh was the sound of money”

Your daughter’s going to Bowdoin…it’s cold up there

We’ve been with Laura since Phillips Place

We’ve been with Laura since Phillips Academy

Don’t want it to end

Flowers everywhere

Thank yous begin

Goodbyes begin

As the Avetts say, “True sadness”

Long leavers are the best

Long leavers are the worst

Everyone in the South is a long leaver

Come see us

Come see us

Come see us

Come see us

If you’re ever in New Orleans, call

If you’re in Charleston, call

Laura has your info?

Unfortunately for Laura

Is it Labor Day yet?

Jane Scott Hodges to MP, “Those earrings are stunning”

Jane Scott Hodges to me, “That cummerbund is amazing”

Point to MP, “Well, she needlepointed it”

Jane Scott Hodges, “No way”

MP, “And the store lost it”

Janes Scott Hodges,  “Those assholes”

MP “I made them make a new one”

Jane Scott Hodges, “Good for you. It’s fab”

Tanu and Sanjeev offering rides home

Drunk woman gets in his car and thinks it’s an Uber

Me to Sanjeev, “Now that’s some white privilege right there”

Thank you gift

Oscar de la Renta book

Hugs and kisses goodbye

Uber back to hotel 

Lights out porkchop

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Not as hungover

Tired

More coffee

Bojangles

I77

I26

Home by 12:30

Distribution of swag bag to children

Texts of undying love and thank you

More pics

Don’t cry cause it’s over

Smile cause it happened

Is it Labor Day yet?

Pelican Inn

Pawleys

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Thanks, Pooles

We just absofuckinglutely love you