Flirty Frocks, Cowgirl Hats
(04/29/2009) Things to help you look cool this summer are now
 Janis Hewitt
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in Montauk at Kelly B, a new shop owned by Kelly Bogetti on the South Plaza.
If last weekend, which was downright balmy and drew a tremendous number of people to Montauk, was any indication of her success, she’ll do okay.
“I sold out of everything,” Ms. Bogetti said. “I was floored!” Her inventory has bikinis, flirty frocks and tunics, summer cowgirl hats in a variety of colors, including a pale pink, jewelry, sandals, and bags.
One line of bags, by Murval, is cleverly designed. A stylish handbag or clutch disguises an insulated section to tuck a hair iron for women on the go. Another hides a beach cooler, and there’s a duffel bag with wheels. The line ranges in price from $21 to $65. “They’re fabulous,” Ms. Bogetti said.
Island to Island, a funky beachwear shop owned by Sandy Funk, was the last business in the space. The shop is unrecognizable, having gone through a transformation that included stripping down the walls and adding pristine, white wainscoting with vivid splashes of pink all over. A pink, zebra-striped curtain covers the dressing room for privacy.
Ms. Bogetti got her retail experience in her parents’ two stores, A Little Bit of Everything and Wave Wear, both just north of the new store on the same block. Wave Wear was her baby for the past few years. “I took it to a different place,” she said, crediting her mother, Kathy Volpicello, for teaching her about the business.
“My mother is the smartest woman I know. Of course, we have different ways of doing everything,” Ms. Bogetti said, adding that she will still manage Wave Wear. “I’ll be on roller skates, flying back and forth between shops all summer.”
Before moving to Montauk full time, the Volpicello family summered there for many years. During one of those summers 30 years ago, she met her future husband, James Bogetti, a roofing contractor who did most of the work on the new shop.
They have four children, ages 4 to 17, and all pitched in on the renovation. “Sometimes my girls would have more paint on them than on the walls,” she said with a laugh.
A former model and actress, the shop owner has appeared in soap operas, commercials, and on episodic television. She was on “Hey Dude” for 10 years and played a 16-year-old when she was 26.
She has always been enamored with the fashion industry, she said, and attends Fashion Week in New York City each year. “It’s my favorite time of year.”
She will sell some couture items in the shop and hopes eventually to design her own line of clothing for the Kelly B label. But most of what she offers will be casual resort wear at affordable prices.
“It will be recession-proof. I want to keep it so everyone can afford to shop here,” she said.
The shop is open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be open daily in summer from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.