About Us

What does stylish mean to you?

Are you interested in stories about the latest trends in dog fashion, home decor and products for dogs? 

Are stories about shelter dogs and the heroes who advocate for them important to you?

Bark & Swagger offers great tips and resources that make life just a little bit easier, all with a sense of style!

I’m passionate about animals, fashion, travel, home decor and rescue, and that’s what you’ll find here. After a recent move to Fort Lauderdale from NYC, we’re loving our new life in the sunshine.

I can’t wait to share my tips and information I hope will help you solve problems you may encounter as a pet parent. As mom to Sophie and Jasper, I have a lot to share! I’m always on the prowl for fresh, new designs, products and ways to solve common, and not-so-common issues. And, nothing is better than being a part of empowering fellow pet parents.

How did a former publicist in the entertainment industry find her way here?

My passions. For years, I’d been looking for ways to marry what I love – animals, fashion and making a difference. When my husband and I got our adorable Portuguese Podengo, Sophie, shown below with me at the American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Awards, little did I know she would be the key to bringing it all together. But, isn’t that often the case? Our pets do bring it all together; they complete our families.

First, A Dog Fashion Designer

I’d recently retired from a 30 year career in entertainment PR and decided to go back to school to study fashion design, thinking I would create a company designing for women. I’d followed fashion trends all my life and, in my PR career, worked with designers and entertainers. One drawback? I didn’t know how to sew!

So I took a course and made a practice coat for our new pup, Sophie. That was the beginning. We were stopped on the streets of New York City, our home, everywhere we went. People really seemed to like this coat. I made another one. It happened again! Pretty soon, it dawned on me that in dog fashion, I could combine my passions and give back, as well.

Couture by Sophie’s The Whitney coat

Couture by Sophie was born. I get to design and make beautiful dog couture, and Sophie is my reluctant, sometime model & muse.  The materials we use are cruelty-free, so no animals were harmed in the making of Couture by Sophie designs. We also give a portion of each piece we sell to the Best Friends Animal Society, a wonderful organization that champions the no-kill movement.

We’ve had some fun adventures since we started the company. We walked in a New York Fashion Week runway show and participated in the celebrity gifting suite of the Golden Globes, where we got to meet actors from a variety of tv shows and films (that was fun!).

Me & Sophie on the red carpet of the AHA Hero Dog Awards

Enter Bark & Swagger

So, how did we get to Bark & Swagger? Being involved in the world of dog fashion has been so much fun, I wanted to share it and share the beautiful things I find with other dog parents, looking for stylish clothes and accessories.

Along the way, we rescued Jasper, our little bull-in-a-china-shop terrier mix, and our two Chihuahua puppy mill babies, and they have completed our family, giving me even more fodder for helpful tips I’ve learned.

My focus is empowering you; and doing it with a sense of style. I discover companies doing very interesting and wonderful things all the time. Also at Bark & Swagger, you’ll find info on shelter dogs (ShelterSTYLE), a big passion for me, and stories or interviews with experts in their respective fields, be it fashion or something else I think you might find informative, and could help enrich our lives with our canine friends.

And, I don’t know about you, but I do like my fix of celeb news. From time to time, I’ll showcase some of the faces we know so well and the dogs they love.

So, welcome to my world! Grab your favorite beverage, curl up and stay awhile.