Today was interesting, to say the least. I attempted to swim in the Puget Sound. Once you get used to the frigid waters, a giant wave might sneak up behind you, knock you over, or hit you with a million stones it picked up from the bottom of the sound. Nice. A friend and I walked into town later in the afternoon, looking to see if their were any good shops around. Hidden behind a shop that sold goggles and Billabong dresses and swimsuits for babies, we came across a "Pepper Boutique".
Now, If you have ever walked into a boutique (.... Juicy Couture) and whipped out your camera to take photos then you know, they'll just tell you "Sorry, hun, that's a no-no"... Proprietary only or watchamacallit. We walked into the place, and I thought it was a vintage store at first. I saw something resembling a flapper dress, an "I love San Fran" tee, and something that might have been a hot pink rain jacket. And it had that smell, the vintage store smell. But, it was apparently a real Boutique. At least, that's what the employee invading my personal space bubble was trying to tell me.
Her name, or really silly alias, is Pepper. And according to her website, the corporate world was simply not for her. Bye-bye, Nordstrom's Production team, hello sandy beach and no customers! Wait, what?! By the look of what was on the racks, it didn't seem to me she really had a choice. I'm no fashion designer, but sweet jesus, her clothing looked more like creatures ready to devour your entire body than be cast as pieces for a re-couture ready-to-wear collection. There were blue tunics belted with plastic farm animals, NEXT to the "Chanel Couture, Paris" Decor and the Marilyn Monroe photographs! It was a disgrace. The horror continued, hanger after hanger. You couldn't even see the clothes on the racks because clothes had been hung sideways, on top of the racks. There were a few pairs of really great vintage boots, surprisingly, and also a few flannel creations that my friend Katie found, but Pepper didn't have enough room for her clothes. It looked like the place where all the naughty vintage fabrics go... deconstructo HELL.
What happened there is something I shall always remember. I entered, snapping a photo of the entrance, and she came right up to me and said, "In Boutiques, you're not allowed to take pictures of any clothing, you know. You're not allowed, cameras are not allowed in here, so you need to take out your camera right now and delete the pictures. Take out your camera, show me you deleted that picture. Can you show me you've deleted it? Show me you've deleted all your pictures." I know it is silly, but I seriously thought she was going to steal my camera and never give it back. And all I could think was "Why, so nobody steals your great ideas? Nobody is going to steal your designs... you can't even see the clothing, there is so much crammed together!".
And then...
"You'll notice that a lot of the clothing is ripping. A lot of people come in and touch the clothing and pull it out, and they don't keep in mind that it is all really delicate, and so, you can only touch it by grabbing it from the hanger." But "delicate" didn't mean dresses made from tissue paper-thin slips from the early 1920s. And "ripping" didn't mean people were digging their claws into her deconstructed flannel jackets and chewing on the sleeves. These pieces were falling apart at the seams.
"Everything in the back is $2000 or more [It all looked the same, just so you know]. Are you looking for anything for an event? Because I will schedule an appointment right away and then we can discuss and I can help you and... are you just looking? Well I have to get back to pressing and steaming and whatnot, so if your not going to buy anything [We had been browsing for only about 5 minutes] then I need to get back to work."
She essentially kicked us out of her store. Even though I know that one is perfectly capable of running a boutique and making clothing too. Look at Anna Banana of The Pretty Parlour! She can work on her clothes and still run her damn store, a store frequented by people like...oh, I don't know, Zooey Deschanel.
The nerve of some people. Ah, well. It was still a wonderful day at the beach. And I was pretty inspired by all the junk and few nice things I had found. Katie and I both agreed, going to that store, it makes you want to make clothing.
(When I got home, I did turn on my sewing machine. But that is all I will say about that, for now.)
made me want to buy some flannel and spice it uuup
ReplyDeleteand go back and buy those boots o__o can't get them out of my head!
The nerve of some people. Whatever happened to the customer is always right? I've met some pretty snotty boutique owners myself, i mean sheeeeeeesh! Chill out!
ReplyDelete-indigo
ps. Thanks for the wonderful comment on my art post, you are so sweet!