NYC Blog: Men's Fashion, Retail and Visual Merchandising | The Bespoken: For Gentlemen

Guess What? Men Shop

 

There is a commonly held belief that all women love to shop, and that converesely all men hate to shop. In days of yore, some men were embarrassed to admit that they enjoyed shopping, thus reinforcing the sterotype. Shopping was deemed a femenine pursuit. Women who disliked shopping and men who enjoyed shopping lived as self-imposed exiles. Men were hunters, womern are gathers. While those ingrained sentiments may have had some merit back in the day,  its far from the actual truth.

Guess what, despite what you’ve heard, were told or believe…men shop! Anyone who’s been in Best Buy, The Apple Store, Nike, Puma, Adidas, The NFL Store, Diesel, Verizon, Sprint, J. Crew, Armani Exchange, Lucky Jeans, Ralph Lauren Polo or Rugby, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Sears, Starbucks, and even Petsmart know that men hang out there in droves. Factor in sports clubs, sports bars, and memorabilia stores and you’ll soon realize that men are shopping and consuming. The top of the list for men’s shopping may not always be fashionable clothing, although it comes close. Men are however uniformerly focused on what’s fashionable technologically. The latest Ipad, computer pad, or gameboy translates into status. Today even yesterdays nerd can have street (or office) cred if they have the latest electonic piece of hardware. This runs parrallel to women who use Manolo Blankik or Jimmy Choo’s to broadcast to their friends that they too have obtained fashion prominence..

The retail industry has been long obsessed with providing for the wants and needs of women. Store environments were designed to attract women. Men tended to have been an afterthought among retail and marketing executives for as long as anyone can remember, but not anymore. Today in our department stores, a concerted effort is made to address the needs of men and how men shop. Men’s departments are organized, size ordered, laid out following the color spectrum, signed with helpful information, i.e. selling points are articulated, “looks” are pulled together, and the ambience reflects the manufacturers aesthetic, ergo, Ralph Lauren looks just like his ads, filled with props from preppy athletic clubs, old world libraries, yacht clubs and safaris, whereas Calvin Klein is architectural, minimalist and almost Zen in its approach to attracting its customers. Men are welcome and find a place for themselves that is familiar and comfortable.

Clearly, men are paying more attention to their wardrobes. They’re spending more time shopping for themselves, and they’re even showing an increased interest in personal grooming products. Make no mistake, retailers, manufacturers and marketing executives are finally getting the message.

What accounts for this change? Men are watching suit shows like Mad Men and Entourage. They fancy themselves as a Don Draper or Ari Gold. They are watching NCIS and aping Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J. In short, they too want to attract women. Men are dressing for their office jobs, and forsaking casual Fridays. Men recognize that dressing better connotes confidence and, in some instances, a sense of authority. Men are watching the music industry where rappers hip-hop artists and indie groups are looked svelte at awards shows and on the red carpets in their slim suits. P. Diddy aka Sean John and Kayne West are bona fied fashion icons. Men are going to the movies and emulating Ryan Gosling, James Franco, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Men are reading GQ, Details, Men’s Heath, Men’s Fitness and Maxim. Men fixated on sports realize that David Beckham, A-Rod and Cristiano Ronaldo are looking good off the field too.

There is a food chain where the larger animal eats the smaller animal, and in turn, that animal eats a smaller animal. The same is true of the fashion chain. Given the current state of employment, and for too many, the lack thereof, men need to differentiate themselves from one another. They can do that to a degree with their apparel. The mid-aged and older people rely on style as a way of showing their managerial skills and as a means of competing against the younger workers who may be more technologically proficient. Rest assured conversely those younger men are trying to distinguish themselves from the guy in the next cubicle because they realize that everyone is technologically proficient, but if they can dress the part of mid or upper management and show some sense of style it may give them the edge.

Appealing to male grocery shoppers, Wheaties, the quintessential American breakfast food rebranded with a whole new name Fuel, as if men were more like  SUV's than humans. The new box with images of sweaty athletes like Peyton Manning shot against graphic black looks more like a movie poster for some action film starring Vin Diesel.. Say good-by to Cathy Rigby and Mary Lou Retton. They can chow down on fruity Pebbles. What’s inside the box changed too to cater to the male consumer, all the folic acid was removed (too girly) and they did amp up the sugar content for a quick boot of energy. This gritty rebrand conveys a masculine message in the rainbow colored aisle where princesses, leprechauns and cartoon characters that “real” men can eat cereal too.

The testosterone laden Super Bowl ads are all terrific and a huge water cooler topic the next day. We delight in seeing octogenarian Betty White being tackled.  Perhaps more interesting than the show, there were power cars, power foods, power drinks and lots of power gadgets. But I even I was taken aback by Unilever promoting its new Dove Men+Care, the first “for-men” product from the well-known brand. “Now that you are comfortable with who you are, isn’t it time for comfortable skin?”

The focus now is on connecting with the male shopper by creating a gender friendly environment. The Art of Shaving was among the first to embrace this idea in the men’s grooming space, but its San Antonio-based supermarket H-E-B that appears to have set the stage for the next generation of male-skewed shopping. H-E-B debuted its Men’s Zone earlier this year. Though it’s been described as a “man cave” decorated with blue floor lighting and flat-screen TVs, it’s an aisle filled with toiletries and more. With 20 ft. of product on both sides, the Men’s Zone contains some 534 personal care items, as well as five touch-screens that provide grooming tips and product advice. Sephora, albeit for guys.The concept appears to be clicking with shoppers. After being open for just one month, partner Procter & Gamble reported that total sales for products housed within the Men’s Zone grew 11 percent; body wash sales rose 37 percent.

While it remains to be seen how many other store-based retailers will look to create their own versions of the Men’s Zone, online retailer www.drugstore.com has already staked its claim in cyberspace. Launched in last February, www.athisbest.com carries more than 10,000 SKUs of grooming items, health products, fitness and personal care essentials exclusively for men.

The figures are also downright handsome in the personal care arena. According to the Packaged Facts report, “Men’s Grooming Products: A Global Analysis,” the men’s grooming industry is already valued at $20 billion worldwide, and is expected to grow exponentially to as much as $30 billion by 2014. Perhaps Ben Bernanke might want to turn our recently closed Post Offices into men’s cosmetic stores. An extra $30 billion in our economy might be a welcome source of revenue.

On the retail front, French luxury brand Hermes opened its first men’s-only store on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue. Coach debuted its first boutique for men in Greenwich Village; Ralph Lauren  transformed its Rhinelander Mansion flagship location on Madison Avenue into a men’s store and J. Crew has followed suit with its men’s (only) store a on the opposite corner. This follows the success of their Liquor Store on White and Broadway which is a converted bar. Speaking of which, denim bars like Earnest Sewn in the Meatpacking District serves more styles of denim and then there are brands of Vodka. Denim bars are de riguer and popping up in mainstream retailers too. www.mysuit.com once an online made to measure custom suit retailer is opening their fifth bricks and mortar store this year in New York. Men are shopping.

Another common belief is that women do most of the shopping for men. Research shows that about 75 percent of men shopped for themselves last year, compared with just 52 percent in 1995, according to research compiled by The NPD Group. Based on projections from its consumer panelist data, NPD is reporting men’s apparel sales totaled just over $51 billion for the 12 months ending December 2009. In an economy that has been stagnant or at least static, the women’s sector continues to loose traction with retailer seldom making project sales. However, the men’s sector shows growth each year from one to almost four percent above projected sales.

So the next time you’re shopping. Take a look around do an informal count of men and women at the sales desk and sales floor. Challenge your assumptions!

If you’re interested in reading more on the topic I would suggest “Branding The Man: Why Men Are the Next Frontier in Fashion Retail” by Bertrand Pellegrin or visit his site www.brandingtheman.com

Smoke and Mirrors

 
Two of the world’s most beautiful women and spokespersons for L’Oreal, Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts are having their advertising withdrawn for misrepresentation. Which is odd as the brand name L’Oreal literally means “of or pertaining to the lore; (as in folklore) usually said of certain feathers of birds, scales of reptiles, etc.” in other words… skin.
 
The famed manufacturer, L'Oréal, has been forced to pull ad campaigns in the UK featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington. The same ads and images are used here in the US. It seems that   there were complaints that the images were overly airbrushed. Here in the US, we have no such standards and we’re perfectly fine with it. We like to believe that cosmetics are a magic potion, and that yes, a bottle of this, a jar of that, will magically transform us back to pristine eighteen year olds. Can I swap you some magic beans for your cow?
 
The official British watchdog group, “the Advertising Standards Authority” declared that both ads breached the advertising standards code for exaggeration, were being misleading and banned them from future publication. The banning of the ads upholds the idea that ads should accurately depict product claims. If L’Oréal claims that these celebrities look like this due to L’Oreal makeup, but simulated their beauty with photo retouching, the ASA claims an exaggerated claim, and one that is not representative of the results the product could possibly achieve. In truth, On Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts worst day they are more beautiful that the rest of us on our best day.
 
In addition to the official claims of "exaggeration," women's advocates see highly retouched advertising photos affecting women's self-perception and creating a false sense of real beauty. "Pictures of flawless skin and super-slim bodies are all around, but they don't reflect reality," Liberal Democrat MP, Jo Swinson is quoted in the Guardian. "Excessive airbrushing and digital manipulation techniques have become the norm, but both Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts are naturally beautiful women who don't need retouching to look great. This ban sends a powerful message to advertisers…let's get back to reality."

When push came to shove L'Oréal UK admitted that Turlington's image had been "digitally retouched to lighten the skin, clean up makeup, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows". (Just a few things) However, it claimed there were still signs of ageing, such as crow's feet, and that the image "accurately illustrated" the achievable results. Not even the British would dare to comment on Ms. Roberts. Heaven forbid! I’ve seen the ads, and I can tell you that a baby’s behind has more wrinkles that Julia Roberts forty-four year old face.
 
“I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth!” Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.

Courtesy of www.retaildesigndiva.com where it appeared on August 22, 2011

Shopping In A Small Town (part two of two)

 

The Bicentennial Minutes continue to run. Everyone from Jessica Tandy to Gerald Ford seems to have shot a minute. The Bicentennial Minute is a cultural soup that defines who is “popular” in 1976.The Bicentennial Minute, like memory is ingrained in our collective consciousness. Yet some thirty-five years later, of the 365 minutes only two or three are available online. The William Paley Center for Media (Museum of TV and Radio) does not have a single Minute in their collection. The Bicentennial Minutes all but lost. Hopefully stored safely in some warehouse waiting to be released like a genie from a bottle. Memory operates the same way. It is remanded to our darkest recesses. It’s forgotten, but a part of the trajectory that set our lives.

Shopping in a small town is like that too. Stores that we once knew as well as the back of our hand, stores and shop owners that were as welcoming as an old friend, places we passed as often as the maple trees that lined the streets are long gone, nearly forgotten. They are memories.

My father shops at Mink’s. Mink’s is a store for men, grown men, husbands, aka fathers. Today a father and son can dress in the same brand, exchanges tees and find something at Aeropostale or Express that they can both wear, but this is 1976 and the last thing a seventeen-year-old wants to do is dress like his father. We’d rather enlist. We do everything humanly possible to look not like or fathers. I stop in Mink’s only when I am obligated to. Mink’s on South Orange Avenue rose in prominence after the Newark Riots, which extended to East Orange, where their main store is located. We stay out of East Orange unless we can’t help it. I do not know if there is a Mr. Mink’s, or if the name is meant to convey luxury. Regardless, it’s a feminine name for a men’s store. The store logo is an ebullient script, not unlike Lord & Taylors. To compensate for the feminine name and script, the store is done in a kind of Hollywood Regency style. Very masculine, dark walnut wood and cigarette smoke stained lampshade as yellow as your lungs. . Mink’s is the kind of place where Don Draper (Mad Men) might shop. It has two floors. The main floor is filled with suits, shirts and accessories. This includes cloth handkerchiefs, which men are still using. It is easy to shop at Mink’s. Every suit comes in midnight black, navy blue and charcoal grey, and that’s it. Every shirt is white, and every tie is striped. When men come in “looking for something different” a Mink’s salesman (there are no saleswomen) understands that what he is saying is “I want the same exact thing in a slightly different shade”. Mink’s does not sell ready to wear. Clothing is altered. Every suit, every arm and every cuff. The tailor is an old man, and cast by MGM, non-descript, old world accent and has a yellow measuring tape around his neck. You will have your inseam measured publically. Mink’s is a male bastion. The pant will “break” once, and you will wear your new suit, and be delighted that no one will know notice it’s new, because this season’s grey is just an “Umph” lighter. “Umph” being a technical term to indicate just a little bit. The main floor of Mink’s is more orderly than the Dewey Decimal System. Everything is pressed and pant creases are as sharp as the edges on an envelope. Clothing is arrayed in gradiant shades from light to dark. You will not get anything that looks “mod” or subject to be found in the pages of Esquire or Gentleman’s Quarterly. You might find a “continental” cut suit in sportwear, jackets and blazers if you are lucky. At Mink’s you will get a “safe” suit, a uniform you can wear to the office on Wall Street, a baby christening, dinner at Rod’s,  a church supper or Father’s Day at the grammar school. Mink’s second floor is where it’s at. Clothing is relaxed. Clothing is fashionable; it’s for the younger set, men who are trying to be “hip” like the ads for Lord West, Musk For Men and Hai Karate. It’s a floor that James Bond would shop on if he were to settle down in a center hall colonial off of Valley Street. Mink’s second floor sells stripped body shirts, safari style jackets, blazer with patch packets and contrast stitching. Casualwear. The sell pieces from the Johnny Carson Collection. You can purchase a swimsuit, a Cabaña outfit for Miami, tennis togs, polo’s, and leisurewear too. My father purchases his first pair of flares, a pair of slacks; they are white with a raised flocked blue tartan print. They are beltless with an expansion band and Western style pocket. These are slacks you wear to make an entrance. My father is turning forty-six and his mid-life crisis is about to go viral. Mink’s second floor is for men who want to dress to attract the opposite sex. 

Portnoff’s was conveniently located under the train trestle. It is said that local (Newark born) author Phillip Roth used a variation of the Portnoff name for Portnoy's Complaint and in Goodbye Columbus, which has a scene shot in South Orange;  Jack Klugman plays Ben Patimkin an old time garmento hoping to assimilate in a waspy community. Presumably based on Mr. Portnoff. While many if not most people who lived in South Orange and Maplewood were upper middle class and upper class they opted to live in mostly self-imposed segregated areas. While the community was primarily Caucasian there were many people of color. There were large groups of conservative and reformed Jews, and there were neighborhoods of second and third generation Italian and Irish. Everyone knew the rules. Portnoff's was the store that they went to… social climbers on their way up the hill and Jews that had arrived. A woman was once heard to say, “There was no Christmas trim in the window”. Suits were shown on dressmaker forms. The suits were made of better (meaning imported) material. Suits were made in Italy, the only place where “good” suits are made or so decried Mr. Portnoff, you carried himself like Russian aristocracy. When I was old enough to purchase a suit all by myself, a frightening prospect for my father, I went to Portnoff’s. Me, a Christian, a Catholic. Mr. Portnoff was lovely and helps edit my choices down to what a proper young man should wear. Me, “proper” not an adjective I ever heard. I fell in love! I had a limited budget, and Mr. Portnoff knocked off 15.00 from the ticketed price providing he could rely on my patronage. I wasn’t 100% certain what patronage really was but I promised it anyway. fifteen dollars in 1976 was a fortune. To further stir the pot, I did not buy a “suit”. I bought a blazer. My father was livid; I did not go to Mink’s. I shopped at Portnoff’s. I hear my father’s voice, as he struggles to contain his confusion, frustration and anger. “That’s where people from the mountain shopped”. “People from the mountain” was code for Jews. My father knew what he was dealing with and that there was no way to convince me about “us” and “them”. I did not live in that world. It was for naught. The blazer was beautiful and I wore it well into the 1980’s. It was a blue plaid tartan tweed. Mr. Portnoff gives me the low down and explains clothes to me in a way no one ever has. He tells me it has a ticket pocket, and kissing buttons (which appeals to my sense of romance) and an equestrian cut with a contrast underling in the back lapel. I think to myself. This is not a mere blazer, it is a history lesson, it is my entre into the world of fashion.

There are not many stores for men’s clothing in South Orange; Dan Manzi’s is where you go if you do not deign to enter Minks. Dan Manzi’s is a classic menswear store with a little bit of everything for everyone. I got my school clothes there. We bought my Grandfather his birthday cardigans there. In all of Dan Manzi's there is nothing sols with a logo or company nane on it. The idea of wearing someone else's advertising is a foreign concept. It was a very democratic institution. The shop was well stocked and neat as a pin. There was old fraying wool carpet that was scored to the canvas by four ways, T-stands and rolling racks. I tripped in that store a million times. My father was “old school”, of the belief that his children were the extension and reflection of him. Therefore, we were to dress in a certain manner. Shopping is about bonding. My father used Dan Manzi’s to teach us (my brother and I) the rules, a pant legs breaks here, not here, a sleeve length ends here not here, the seat needs to be pulled in, but not too much. Jackets with shoulders too broad couldn’t be altered no matter what they said. The benefits of side vents vs. center vent, vs. no vent. These rules annoyed me to no end, but ultimately served me well. I bought a pair of brown ribbed velveteen corduroy pants at Dan Manzi’s, they looked very fashionable, but “whooshed” like the devil whenever I walked and my thighs pressed against one another. As a sophomore in high school purchased a pair of butter yellow Tattersall slacks that I wore to death, they has clips on the  side that you could adjust so that they fit your waist or hips, I wore them through the knees. I was bereft, but true to form in a small town stock and styles do not change too much. Entering my senior year Dan Manzi still had stock my size. It was there as if my Tattersall slacks were waiting for ne to return. My father like Dan Manzi’s, he commiserated with the salesmen. They spoke the same language. My father wanted us to have “school clothes” and what he called “Knock-abouts” i.e., Play clothes. At fourteen the notion was annoying, at seventeen, the idea was appalling. My father thought it was cute to tell us that we could shop at Young Cottage, a store for infants and toddlers.  So I acquiesced and I got belted sweaters, Henley’s with white piping, madras and wallpaper print button downs, Chinos aka Khakis and all sorts of things I had little use for. How different the world order is. Dan Manzi prided themselves that they did not sell jeans. Denim was for laborers, we were patricians.

Of equal merit and fashion opportunity was Maguire’s in Maplewood Village or David Burr on Springfield Avenue in Irvington. These stores rounded out a fashion education. Shopping was an activity like Little League between father and son. It will come as no surprise that I was not on the Little League. I was vexing to most salesman who would patronize me and call me sir, “what is sir looking for” to which I’d reply. I’m looking for the kind of pants that Clifton Davis wears, but I’d settle for David Cassidy, you know low on the hips.  And I’m looking for the kind of shirt that Michael Ontekean, you know on “The Rookies” wears.  David Soul has one too on “Starsky & Hutch”, but he only wear he’s sometimes… it’ a zippered knit with an O-ring pull ?I received most of my fashion education from TV, It was David Janssen’s plackard jackets on Harry-O, Chad Everett’s wardrobe on Medical Center, Chad, who as a neurosurgeon wore custom made shirts (no pockets) and leather trench coats. I admired Bill Bixby, and Alejandro Rey mod looks on The Magician and The Flying Nun, but clothes like that were not sold in South Orange.

Bellin’s Boystown was a small store on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood. It was the place you got your school uniform or filled the list for what to bring to summer camp. Even then it looked antediluvian. It was something out of the 1920’s and hadn’t been altered since Wilson was in office. It was tabled with high stacks of pyramids of boxes and shelves with neatly folded stock behind glass counters. It looked like a set for a Chaplin movie, ready for Charlie to destroy with his cane as he skated around to purchase a penny handkerchief. I don’t know all the salient details, but at some point Mr. Bellin retired and his head salesperson, Jerry Nardone took over the business. It stayed Bellin’s for a while then it became Jerry’s. Jerry’s moved to South Orange Avenue on the corner where Ramosser's Bakery gave way to Decorating on a Velvet Shoestring. Jerry’s was a large space, with risers and a dropped soffeted ceiling in an atomic kidney shape (left over from Ramossers) It was merchandised electrically with store fixtures and furniture finds from “Junk Week”. Jerry’s was a not just a place you shopped at, it was the town hall, the place to get good gossip, where you could be entertained and become part of a surrogate family. Jerry’s was a small town store. It could never exist anywhere else. Jerry Nardone was a good friend. Jerry and his wife Pat ran the Baird Community Theatre for years and years. They produced hundreds of plays, from the sublime to the ridiculous. One month it was The Crucible; one month it was The Boyfriend. It was French farce, Tennessee Williams or a holocaust drama like, Jacob Comes Home. The Baird Theatre enriched our lives. I was in many of those plays. I directed some of them. The Baird was a not-for-profit venture. It was done for love. Through its doors came talented people who wanted an opportunity to get their feet wet in the theatre. Theatre is a time consuming venture and all coalesced at Jerry’s. Retail is about community, it is about socializing. It is easy to get lost in a small town. To be dismissed. We sometimes fail to see what’s important. Jerry Nardone always had a smile; Jerry’s was a place to be found. I don’t think he was successful if you measure success solely in numbers and money. If you measure it in how many people adore you than he is a very wealthy man. I hope that someday Mr. Nardone receives his due for all he has done to bring art and culture to a small town.

For shoes, we went to Gem Bootery who had styles that rivaled any retailer at The Livingston Mall. The entrance was in an arcade style, windows to the left and right, an open vestibule. The store was walls and walls poorly constructed wood cubes, each cube containing the left foot shoe. Like everyone, I knew my size, but was still measured. Usually with several other pairs of shoes nearby to promote multiple sales. It was not an attractive store, but they did sell a lot of shoes. Actually, it was two stores, which were abutted, one side was for women and children and the other was for men. There were stylish shoes, clogs, Wallabies, Hush Puppies, Buster Brown. Dingo boots, (worn by Joe Namath and OJ Simpson) mottled and two tone wedgies or clunky heels, and Cuban and Chelsea boots. If you veered towards something more traditional, there were wing tips, Oxfords, penny loafers with, and without tassels (naturally I was a tassel), and my favorite side buckled with a snub nose. When Gem Bootery went out of business, “We Got Movies” moved in. The cubed wall was the perfect size for videos. Do you remember when people rented VHS and Beta video tapes? I worked at the video rental store, which was owned and operated by a lovely family, the Iverson’s. They were very good to me and I think about them often. Gem Bootery was the only game in town when it comes to footwear in South Orange, but I do have vague memories of Community Shoes in Maplewood. It was a larger, a more sophisticated store with “name brands” Johnson & Murphy, Frye, Bostonian and Florsheim. Community Shoes looked much more successful, indeed it may have been.

I believe all these stores are gone. I only know what I know. I know when I was on the precipice of adulthood I was trying to figure out who I was, who I wanted to be. These stores informed my adolescence. They were part of a community, a community of men. A place of bonding and aspirational purchases. Places that without ever having to say it, said that there was a place for us in the world.

 

 

Shopping In A Small Town

South Orange, NJ is getting ready for the Bicentennial. Everything is red, white and blue and we are wearing flag print. It is 1976. Bicentennial Minutes have been running all year on TV to buoy up American patriotism, which has long been on the wane. On Thanksgiving evening during The Walton’s, Lucille Ball does a Bicentennial Minute on corn husking, and how the activity provided colonists in New England with a welcome break from the monotony of farm life. (Corn husking all day… not monotonous?) No one questions that the voice over narration is the British born, Patrick McKnee, (Stead from The Avengers). It is a time when the country was still war weary from Viet Nam, disillusioned by Watergate, and in recession. Our family license plate is INF-333. This means we can get gas on the odd days Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, truth be told, Wednesday does not seem that much odder than Thursday. How does a small town celebrate the Bicentennial? There will be a parade on the Fourth of July and a community picnic, which is a big step up from the perfunctory fireworks (July 3^rd) to which we are accustomed. Everyone knows that Maplewood will do us one better on the 4^th. The Boy Scouts and Brownies will be marching, as will the Kiwanis, and Knights of Columbus. At what seems like great expense The Philadelphia Mummers have been hired to march. Descending on South Orange Avenue will be men dressed head to in banana yellow, hot pink and lime green satin and spandex. Their costumes will be rhinestoned and include sequined rickrack everywhere a sewing machine will go. They will have feather sprays in grander proportions than a Vegas showgirl. It is like nothing we have seen.

Fashion in a small town takes many shapes and sizes. In South Orange, “fashion” as we know it today simply means dressing “nice”. A word that is used frequently, “That was nice”, “Be nice”, and “She looks nice”. Hippies have now become “New-Agers”. They have waterbeds, painted rainbows and macramé in their homes. They have swapped out their bohemian attire for corduroy and denim jackets. The fringe is gone and patchwork is in. Bell-bottoms are now flares. Peter Pan collars with ruffles and bows create a sober look when paired with denim wrap-around skirts. Fashion in a small town mimics what the rest of the world does.

Some of our mothers will shop at Elsie Sommers in the village where all the dresses are stored on pink padded hangers in whitewashed French Provençal armoires, you will tell Elsie what you are looking for, and she will dispatch her sales clerk like a lady in waiting with the wave of her hand to retrieve her latest acquisition. The armoires are jammed packed. It is easier to get through the wardrobe to Narnia than a Sommer’s armoire. Elsie Sommer speaks shorthand with her staff, “You know the one.” “The new pink.” “The one with the shoulders”. Her clients are mostly from what is called “the other side” meaning Wyoming Avenue, meaning the “Newstead” area. For all intents and purposes, a gated community without an actual gate. These are the upper class who merely share space with us, the middle class. Ms. Sommers does her buying in New York, the fashion capitol of the US. She buys “designer”. She is known on site at the three B’s, Bendels, Bergdorf’s and Bloomingdales. Ms. Sommers hold court. Her word is law. She is a grand dame and dresses like a Gabor. At Elsie Sommer’s you will purchase your important dresses. The “good dress”. Everywoman has one. It has a special place in your closet. According to Elsie, everyone is a “darling”, even me! Our mothers will not quibble about price, but be ready to have it out with your husband when you get home. You will be billed. Ms. Sommer's finds handling cash distasteful. When you receive your invoice, you will send a check and a “thank You” card. Elsie Sommer's has the distinction of being the most expensive dress store in South Orange and Maplewood, in fact, the most expensive dress store in all of Essex County. You will be catered to. It is a tea party from 10:00 (store opening) to 4:30 (store clothing) You will be offered tea in a porcelain cup with a saucer. You will be completely seduced. When you get home, your dress will be in a box, there are no bags at Elsie Sommers! It is all about experience and theatre of retail. You have been cast in a depression era screwball comedy and you are at some fancy dress salon you have no business at. Elsie Sommer has “an eye" or what is known as “good taste”. There are dresses she will not sell you. Miss Sommer does not mince her words… “It’s atrocious! It is appalling…foul! It is not the right dress. “You’re too old to wear sleeveless, my dear”. Right dress…wrong occasion. Let’s try another; you need to lose some weight and your husband”. The magic of Sommers is that she will sell you only what you need, you will look good in it, and it will not be something that you would pick up if it were out on the rack. Sommers had a flawless reputation.

For some women Feller’s is the be all and end all of dress shopping in South Orange and Maplewood. Mr. Feller ascribed to the rules, no white after Labor Day. God forbid he catches you at the opening of the opera season in white duchesse satin opera gloves. He would read you to filth at intermission of La Traviatta and publically reprimand you that he has the same gloves in teal, aubergine and puce…and he did! Tsk...Tsk. You park in the Shop Rite parking lot and pray you will not be towed. There is a sign that reads “this parking lot is exclusively for Shop Rite customers. All other’s (that’s you!) will be towed” If the police issue a ticket you will swear you were just in the grocery store, which is adjacent to Fellers. An officious little police office will give you the fish eye, and ask, “Where’s your bag, lady?” He’s gotcha. Parking comes at a premium, as you will compete with the Post Office, Eric Wagman, the family photographer, and Victor’s Barbershop, who’s customers who are also parking in the Shop Rite lot. After all that, why would you want to shop at Feller’s? Mr. Feller is an effete man who invokes Franklin Pangborne. He is an old school homosexual, completely closeted and completely conspicuous. He has immaculate taste. His shop is done like a set from a Phillip Barry play, all trellises with festoons of daisy’s running here and there. The interior is painted white and sunshine yellow and filled with white wire birdcages on Queen Anne tables. They are filled with yellow canaries. The birds are perched on swings and white driftwood. The sound of their calls can be sweet or maddening. One weekend, when the shop was closed, Mr. Feller opened up to find hundreds of dead parakeets. The landlord had turned off the heat that weekend, and they froze to death. It was still as a tomb, not a single mating call. In true Feller form, Mr. Feller clapped his glove hands “Toot Suite”, and a sent a retinue of employees to the Maplewood Pet Shop, Woolworth’s in Irvington, and Bamberger’s pet shop in Newark to refill the cages before store opening. Mr. Feller cried like a baby as he dumped 127 birds into a garbage bin. Unlike today, dresses at Fellers were categorized by what they did and where they were to be worn, there were day and evening dresses, there were cocktail dresses, outdoor dresses, N & D’s, (neat and dumb) ensembles, which were dresses with matching jackets, or overcoats, there were mother of the bride dresses, tea length dresses, two and three piece traveling suits, and business suits. Mr. Feller had millinery and sold hats when women seldom wore them. Mr. Feller sold gloves. Mr. Feller created looks. You did not buy clothes there you bought “outfits”. Mr. Feller catered to the women you didn’t make the grade at Elsie Sommers. Fellers was grand, but mostly pretense, it was a store where you could shop off the rack, items were priced and tagged.

Certainly not everyone could afford Elsie Sommers or Fellers. In 1976, we lived differently, casually. Pantsuits and tunics had arrived. If you are off the right age you have acquired a Diane Von Furstenberg wrap around, alas, mostly we are wearing cheap reproductions. Mothers do not wear jeans, but might wear a Calvin Klein's apron dress or a copy of Oscar de la Renta's rhumba number.  Geoffrey Beene and Bill Blass create “sportswear" for the masses. Their signature looks all add to the new American chic, this look is identified as simple, restrained, clean. Collars are worn up. Then comes Halston fresh off of “Hot Pants” and onto deep necklines, cat suits and disco attire.  This is all great for the fashion world, but it has been diluted by the time it gets to South Orange.

There are no discounters or chain stores in South Orange, there ware stores like Howard Perly, the Dress Shoppe, or you might go to Maplewood, to Delia’s or Suzy-Q. Clothing is on rounders. It’s a quantity, not quality business. It appeal to women on a budget. The clothes are colorful but bland. The fabrics are an amalgam of blends like polyester, dynel and acetate. Things that do not grow. This is where we, the middle class shopped. Time permitting; we traveled to the Livingston Mall. All well and good, but it neglected community values by supporting your local retail, your neighbors.

In South Orange, women bought their costume jewelry and handbags at Miss Tobie’s. The building was condemned and was one of South Orange’s oldest structures. It was a wooden building that pitched to the right. It looked like an illustration from The Three Little Pigs. “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down”.  The building was a health hazard. It is now a part of a public park. Miss Tobies was dark and decrepit. When the building went so did Miss Tobie. Here was a character. She was as round and plump as a kick ball. She sat behind her counter and had “a girl” a fully-grown woman ring up the sales. Although on first glance she might not look it, Miss Tobie was a nervous woman and was always doing something with her hands, repairing a clasp, or shortening a link on a piece. Ms. Tobie with her magnifying glass was an expert at undoing knotted chains. Ms. Tobie saved the day! Miss Tobie sold great costume jewelry and an awful lot of crap. Regardless, if you brought in a dress, printed blouse or jacket she would pull out this and that and in short order a lilac enameled flower pin looked as if the dress was designed around it. Ms. Tobie told some items three do a dollar or might have an estate piece worth a hundred dollars. It is 1976; women are wearing beaded necklaces, gold chains, bracelets sets, broaches, faux silk floral lapel pins, stickpins, and rings. If it does not match, it coordinates. It finishes the look. Ms. Tobie is a rite of passage store. It is the store your mother takes you to when you finally convince her that you have to have pierced earrings. It is the store where your father will get you dropped earring when you graduate high school. The dropped earring something that grown women wear, not Daddy’s little girl.

If you were “artsy”, you went to Ted Lowey. He tanned his own leather and soldered his own brass. Into every other piece was a sliced geode the size of a potato pancake. It was his signature look. He sold hand-made leather bags. They came in one color… natural aka brown. But might be burnished or aged, might be embossed or scored, and you left knowing that your bag was a one of a kind. Lowey made rings, necklaces and bracelets. He charged what seemed a fortune. Lowey was a burly man with a baldhead. He sat in his window in a white tee, jeans and sandals. He had a defined chest, flirted with housewives, and patronized their husbands.  I recall an earring, a silver stud. In 1976, this is heresy. His life through the window, which I pass often, seems romantic.

Today I paint with a broad stroke. There is not a lot to pick and choose from, fashion wise, in South Orange, but no one complains. We are all dressed, and nicely so. We dress differently for the PTA than The Rosary Society, lunch at Orange Lawn or lunch at Victor’s 21. We do not wear the same dress to two different weddings. Women wear nylon hosiery, girdles and safety pads under their arms. Perspiring is not an option. Clothing is ironed with a steam iron, even in August. Every woman knows the rules and abides.  The ERA was killed in the House in 1976 and young women were just emerging as feminists. Our mothers are in their late 30’s, which is old in 1976. Thirty is not the new twenty, it’s the soon to be forty. Women know they are the reflection of their husbands and family. They dress accordingly.

Return in a few days when Shopping In A Small Town will visit menswear stores.

 

Hello Operator...

Hello Operator, this is an emergency! Get me Sephora right away!

Everybody knows what to do in a medical emergency… you dial 911. Now, Sephora wants you to dial 1-877-Sephora for a beauty emergency.

Yes, the beauty retailer is launching a “Same Day Beauty Delivery Service” when you're fresh out of Clinique, Loreal,  Make Up For Ever, or Bumble and Bumble.

It used to be if you were out of your insulin injections, asthma inhaler, or severed an arterial vein and in distress, EMT was just a few digits away. What constitutes a beauty emergency? You’re prepping for a date and realize that your foundation is gone, or perhaps you’re on your way to “Speed Dating” and the Maraschino Cherry lipstick you swear by falls to the floor and break into pieces. Stay calm, take a breath and know that Sephora will be there.

The service is currently only available in New York City and accepts orders during the hours of 8:00am and 11:00 am for delivery between noon and 9:00pm that same day. There's a $15.00 delivery charge (less than the price of a taxi to the shop), and a $50.00 minimum order. Deliveries are made in a black-and-white Sephora branded Mini-Cooper. How cute is that?

Okay so us cheapskates will make do with what we have or run over to Duane Reade. Whatever!

courtesy of www.retaildesigndiva.com where it appeared on July 27th, 2011

But Who Gets Custody Of All The Hangers?

Forget about the twins, (one each)  the homes, the cars and all the celebrity accoutrement. The real question in the Lopez-Anthony household is who’s getting custody of the hangers?

ET, TMZ and Access neglected to see the real issue that may make this divorce a true “free-for-all. Concert tours, hosting American Idol, launching mediocre CDs and performing at Ukrainian weddings is “small potatoes”. The big question is what will the fashion world do without Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony? That’s right,  the announcement that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were getting a divorce shook the world of fashion, well now that I think about it, maybe more of a shudder , than a shake. WWD didn’t put it quite this way, but fashion insiders are saying forget staying together for the kids, stay together for fashion’s sake!

Lest we forget Anthony and Lopez looking all lovely dovey had just announced a line of clothes they are designing together that is about to launch at monolithic Kohl's. Lopez has long been in the fashion business, (Remember “Sweetface” and “JLo”) selling Jennifer Lopez branded items for over a decade. Her fragrance business alone has generated over $1billion dollars. Her signature fragrances include… Glow, Blue Glow by 
JLO, Glow after Dark, L.A. Glow, Miami Glow, My Glow, Sunkissed Glow, Deseo, Deseo for Men, Deseo Forever, Live, Live Luxe, Live Platinum, Love & Glamour, Love and Light, Love at First Glow and Still.. The fragrances are as distinctive as their names; can anyone tell the difference between LA Glow and Miami Glow?

Women's Wear Daily is reporting that the launch of two clothing and accessories lines by the couple will go on as planned. Well, almost as planned. The duo will no longer be promoted as "the first celebrity couple to simultaneously design collections for one retailer," and the lines are now being advertised as two separate collections.

In 1975, super celebrity couple Sonny and Cher spit up. The divorce was acrimonious. They each launched separate shows, The Sonny Comedy Revue and The Cher Show, reception was mild, the magic was gone.

The family that designs together resides together!