Charleston has always been a city of high style, good taste and elegant fashions. Now through Nov. 4, the Charleston Museum’s exhibit Charleston Couture traces 200 years of the city’s fashion trends.

The exhibition showcases gowns, suits and accessories worn by Charlestonians from 1770-1970. As citizens of a wealthy port city, people from Charleston were well traveled and had great access to the latest fashions from Europe. On display are 19th century gowns by Charles Frederick Worth, widely considered to be the “father of haute couture” and Spanish fashion designer Mariano Fortuny. Also featured are dresses by local Charleston dressmakers.

The dresses in this show are simply exquisite. The sumptuous fabrics, dripping with embellishments, are lavish, elegant and graceful. It’s also fascinating to see how dramatically fashions have changed over just 200 years. The early pieces are made of layer upon layer of embroidered fabric, which is meant to be worn over elaborate underpinnings and hoops. Later pieces – like the coral silk chiffon cocktail dress – conform to the body’s natural shape and are charming in their easiness and flow.

The Charleston Museum is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 3-12, and free for children 2 and younger.

For more information, click here.

It’s no secret that Myrtle Beach is the place for mini golf. As you drive around town you’ll see Jurassic Golf, Treasure Island Golf, Dragon’s Lair Fantasy Golf and a seemingly endless array of other spectacular mini golf set ups, complete with waterfalls, shipwrecks and other over the top obstacles.

But this summer, there’s a mini golf course in Myrtle Beach that has something none of the others’ have: fine art.

Now through Aug. 31, the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is offering a nine hole mini golf experience inspired by famous works of art.

The course is the perfect expression of the museum’s 15th anniversary year theme: Art for Fun. Designed by Board of Trustee member Bill Pritchard, each hole features a different painting by artists like Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.

One of pieces showcased on the course is Edvard Munch’s expressionist masterpiece, The Scream. You might get your fellow golfers to mimic the painting’s freaked out subject’s expression by telling them that the 1895 pastel sold for $120 million dollars at Sotheby’s last month.

The golf course also takes its inspiration from Jonathan Green’s The Escorting of Ruth. Green is a South Carolinian artist whose beautiful, colorful paintings depict the lowcountry Gullah culture in which he was raised.

The golf course is open for play Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. It costs $3 for 9 holes or $5 to play through twice.

The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is located at 3100 S. Ocean Blvd.

I will never forget the first time I saw The Lion King and saw a traditional Broadway theater, with its velvet seats and ornate proscenium arch, utterly transformed into the African savannah. As dozens of actors dressed as lions, monkeys and birds marched into the theater and through the aisles in the opening number, I held my breath. It was a moment of pure, theatrical magic.

Now, South Carolina audiences will get to have the same rush. The Lion King is playing at Greenville’s Peace Center through July 8.

The play is set in the Pride Lands of Africa and follows the story of Simba, a young lion cub who finds himself far away from home after an attempt on his life. Over the course of the play, Simba must deal with the guilt he feels over his father’s death (his father, Mufasa, is killed saving his life) and return home in order to avenge his father’s death. Though filled with plenty of comedy and upbeat songs like “Hakuna Matata,” The Lion King definitely deals with some dark stuff; Shakespeare’s Hamlet inspired the creators.

The stage play was adapted from Disney’s animated hit movie by the brilliant stage director Julie Taymor. Taymor looked to Africa for inspiration on how to bring the play to life, and the result is an aesthetic that is anything but cartoonish. The actors are dressed in fabrics reminiscent of mudcloth and the masks are designed to mimic traditional African masks. Director/designer Taymor also makes ample use of puppetry to create an Africa filled with giraffes, antelope and other animals.

Tickets to this fantastic show range from $35 to $135 (for VIP tickets). Click here for a schedule of performances and to buy tickets.

You might want to think twice about your outfit before stepping out this July. Joan Rivers, the famously frank red-carpet maven, is coming to Columbia.

South Carolina Pride Movement is bringing the brash comedic legend to town for a show at the Koger Center. The performance will be held on July 13 at 8 p.m.

When most people think of Joan Rivers they think of the husky voice, plastic surgery, and her over-the-top red carpet zingers. But Rivers is also a trailblazing comedienne. There were few female comics working at all when she began her career in the 1960s – let alone women whose humor was so irreverent, straight shooting and cheeky. It was only 1969 when Rivers skyrocketed to fame with her appearance on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. Her success paved the way for future comediennes.

There’s good reason that Rivers has been called “the hardest working woman in show business.” Over the years she has participated in a number of different projects in addition to her stage show. She won Celebrity Apprentice in 2009, is the author of several best-selling books, and she is a Tony-nominated actress and Emmy-winning talk show host.

Today, Rivers is host of E! Entertainment Television’s popular Fashion Police, where she dissects the awards season’s styles of Hollywood’s biggest stars with her trademark razor-sharp wit. She also stars with her daughter on WEtv’s Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best?

Tickets to the Koger Center concert, which range from $30-60, are on sale now at www.capitoltickets.com or by calling (803) 251-2222.

Sure your local Cineplex has stadium seating, Dolby surround sound and that famous butter-flavored popcorn – but does it have lions and tigers and bears?

Ok, so the lions and tigers and bears might be getting their beauty sleep during the Riverbanks Zoo’s ZOOvie nights, but there’s no denying that the zoo offers an exciting backdrop for this summer film series.

I have so many friends with kids who say that they haven’t seen a movie on the big screen since the Clinton administration. If this sounds familiar, this is a great chance for you and the family to enjoy a movie together. Sure, the films being shown are still for kids, but with your kids happily flopping on a picnic blanket, you and your hubby can relax and enjoy a movie and a beautiful S.C. summer night with minimal shushing.

ZOOvie nights are all new this summer. On June 29 and July 6, 13 and 27, family-friendly films will be shown at Riverbanks’ Palmetto Plaza. The gates will open at 7 p.m. and the films will start at dusk. Admission is just $5.

Again, most of the animals will be asleep during these wild movie nights, but there’s still plenty to do at the park. The carousel will be spinning each evening. If you haven’t been, the zoo’s carousel is really special. Instead of ponies, the merry-go-round consists exclusively of endangered species. The Spots n’ Stripes Railroad and the Wild Adventures Climbing Wall also will be open. These attractions will shut down at 8:30 – just about the time that it gets dark enough to see the movie.

The schedule of films includes appropriately animal-themed favorites like “Zookeeper,” “Puss in Boots,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.” For schedule updates and weather cancellations visit the zoo’s facebook page.

You won’t miss the movie popcorn; concessions stands will be open if you need a snack.