Olivia Fortson: Going to Pieces

I've been hearing buzz about Pieces, a booth at the wildly popular Cotswold Marketplace (www.cotswoldmarketplace.com) that sells women's clothing and accessories, so I went by to check it out.

Pieces is run by Laura Park, whom I've admired over the years that I've covered Charlotte's philanthropic scene because she's very involved in giving back to the community, especially with arts groups. (The photo above is of Laura in Pieces with her daughter, Lawson). Laura is already an established vendor at the marketplace for several of her booths that sell home furnishings and decor under the name Laura Park Interiors.

Now she's also using her sense of style and her great eye to stock items for Pieces.

"I call it Pieces because I wanted to sell great, fun pieces," Laura said. When I dropped by Laura was there with her daughter, Lawson, who helps her mother with social media including Instagram. Who needs to hire a social media expert when you have a teen daughter on hand? Especially one that's as creative and fashion savvy as Lawson (I encourage you to check out Lawson's excellent blog, www.mannequinstyle.com).

I consider Pieces a find, and obviously others do too since almost everyone who was working at the marketplace that day happened to be wearing something they bought at the booth. Cotswold Marketplace owner Melissa Vandiver was in a dress from Pieces. When her co-worker Kat Hoskins heard her talking about how much she loved it, Kat pointed out that she was wearing a dress from Pieces as well. Then Neely Anderson chimed in and said she was wearing a Pieces top.

Here's a photo of Kat, from left, Neely and Melissa in their pieces from Pieces. They're standing in one of Laura's home decor booths:

Even though Pieces takes up a small area, it's so stocked with great items that I had a very hard time picking out a few of my favorites to highlight, but here they are: