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Skirts in the City
Charleston women love their
skirts. And wouldn’t you know one of the biggest stories
for Fall 2004 is the return of the skirt.
The emphasis on femininity
in fashion has meant an increased popularity for skirts of
all lengths, patterns and fabrics. But local women always
have been hot for skirts and some even have turned that love
of skirts into a business.
Kelly Baldwin of Momie Clothes,
Katherine Mullins of LulaKate and Dianne Anderson and Susan
Porter of Les Jupes were ahead of their time. They started
companies specializing in the skirt, knowing their day would
come. Skirt is the word for fall.
Porter started Les Jupes after
receiving compliments on a skirt of her own design she was
wearing. She began making her own skirts because she couldn’t
find ones ready made that she loved. Either the fabric would
be wrong or the length or fit not right, so she began sewing
them herself.
Eventually, she brought on
Anderson, who had been a part-time employee, as a full partner
because her merchandising and design experience proved invaluable.
The pair has found that attention to detail and individual
attention to customers have helped make Les Jupes a success.
That, coupled with the fact that the skirt has become an indispensable
part of a woman’s wardrobe, has been a winning combination.
“Women are looking for
feminine ways to update their wardrobe. It’s often hard
to find skirts that are fashionable and fit,” Anderson
says. “That is why we do made-to-measure. We have an
array of fabrics to choose from so you can coordinate with
items you already have.”
Katherine Mullins has been
a skirt girl since she was 6 years old. She made dresses for
junior high dances and gowns for debutante balls in high school.
But when she was laid off from a job at MCI more than two
years ago, she refocused herself and began sewing a lot more,
making A-line skirts. Not quite sure she could do this for
a living, she took a job at Blackbaud, where she wore her
skirts. She received many compliments on her handiwork and
finally decided to quit her job and make skirts full time.
Thus LulaKate was born.
“I knew it was something
I wanted to do and I was approaching 30, so I had to follow
my dream. I went to my boss and told him I was quitting to
make skirts full time, and he laughed,” Mullins said.
Now with 55 retail accounts across the nation and more on
the way, Mullins feels good about her choice.
“I think people like
skirts so much because they are fun and they are feminine,”
Mullins says. “They make women feel like women and they
are easy to wear. You can dress them up or dress them down.
They make you feel pretty.”
LulaKate (the name is a combination
of her great-great-grandmother’s name and her own) comes
out with new designs and new fabrics each season. Mullins’
favorite for fall 2004 is her Coco pink tweed skirt, which
is flirty and feminine, but she also likes the pencil skirts.
“Skirts that catch your
eye are the ones with details,” she says.
“Small details that are
classic, whether embroidery, pin tucks or ruffles, catch your
eye.” Hairstylist and makeup artist Kelly Baldwin and
her mom, Wanda Baldwin, were trying to find Christmas gifts
that were simple and not too expensive.
While shopping, they ran across some cute skirts and an idea
was born. They could find a cute pattern and cute fabric and
make skirts for their friends for Christmas. This started
a cottage industry that has really caught on.
As a mother-daughter team,
Wanda scours flea markets in her hometown of Moore, Idaho,
for fabrics, while Kelly searches here in Charleston. Using
old cotton sheets and other vintage fabrics found in thrift
stores and flea markets, the Baldwins create one-of-a-kind
limited edition skirts called Momie Clothes (pronounced with
a long “O”). Since the fabrics are vintage, once
the fabric is gone, no more skirts can be made of that material.
Plus, each panel of the skirt is different, interesting fabric,
making each skirt a little bit different from the next.
Kelly chalks up product placement
as one source of Momie Clothes’ success. The skirts
are sold where she works, Salon Eleven Eleven, and other salonsin
Charleston. “Part of why we are doing so well is the
skirts are in a place where women are coming in regularly.
Regardless of how retail is doing and the economy, women are
still coming in and getting their hair done.” Kelly
agrees that skirts are fun because you can dress them up or
dress them down. She thinks her skirts are popular because
“they are a comfortable thing to wear and the cut is
very flattering. They can be casual or a little more dolled
up.”
Mindy Spar is The Post and
courier fashion editor. Contact her at mindys@postandcourier.com
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