Spring Fashion 2016

In the green room, Kim (left) is wearing One Eleven and CJ is dressed by Mood.

317 S. Orange St. Missoula, MT 59801 406-543-6609 • missoulanews.com photos and stories: Chris La Tray stylist: Julia La Tray models: CJ Rogers, Jenny Montgomery, Lauren Norby, Kimberlee Pollock, Christine Gill clothing: The Trail Head, Betty's Divine, Divine Trash Vintage, Laurel Creek, The Green Light, One Eleven, The Buckle, Mood Boutique, Sora, and Olive & Iron thanks to the Wilma for providing the venue

On the cover: Left to right, CJ is wearing a dress from Sora; Lauren is in shirt and pants from The Green Light; Kim is dressed by Betty’s Divine; and Jenny wears Laurel Creek.

Kim and Jenny are in the Wilma lobby wearing clothes from Mood Boutique

Lauren takes ten in clothes from The Trail Head

Christine is dressed by Sora Spring Fashion 2016

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A night at the theater has Christine (left) wearing Laurel Creek; Jenny wears One Eleven

One Eleven has your number

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n any weekday, walk through the front doors of One Eleven on Higgins Avenue downtown and it’s likely the first face you’ll see belongs to its owner, Paige Livingston. There’s no hidden back office to run the shop from, and her desk faces the front doors.

person partnership Livingston shares with her parents, Don and Alison Livingston. Livingston says that because she is the most frequentlyencountered face of the store, people often don’t know how large of a role her parents play in keeping things running, particularly with no other employees.

mer. I buy for the lawyer who works upstairs. I have the space to do that. We try to appeal to everyone. I don’t want someone to come in and say, ‘Well, I guess I’ll buy a pair of earrings because that’s the only thing that will fit me.’”

Livingston admits that she’s never been that into fashion. She relies on her mother’s eye for

“I could never have a desk job,” Livingston laughs. “I like to talk to people. I like to be right here where I can see who comes through the door.”

Livingston, a Missoula native, purchased the store in the spring of 2010 from Angela Kenyon, who operated a boutique called Miss Zula’s in the space that One Eleven now occupies. Livingston was the general manager of the store, and when the opportunity came to own it, despite some initial shock she realized it was a perfect opportunity.

“I was twenty-three then,” Livingston says. “I had just moved back from Portland and was wondering what I was going to do with my life. Then Angela [Kenyon] moved to Whitefish and offered to sell me the store.

Financially I wasn’t capable at the time, so I literally asked my dad, ‘Will you buy me a job?’”

He did. Ownership of the store is a three-

“We call my dad ‘The Prez,’” Livingston says, “though his role isn’t really much more than changing lightbulbs and pouring wine on First Fridays. But my mom works the weekends, and she also comes on buying trips to Las Vegas. We work very closely together, and so far it is working well.”

One Eleven’s large space is divided roughly in half, with one side devoted to jewelry and gifts, while the other is for women’s clothing. This allows Livingston flexibility in what she buys — from gifts and items for people with no interest in fashion — to clothing for, as she describes, “just about anyone.”

“I buy denim. It’s Missoula, everybody wears denim,” Livingston says. “But I also buy for the mother of the bride who needs a dress this sum-

helping people put outfits together, for knowing what will look good on them (“Including me!”

Livingston laughs). She loves the relationships she has with her customers though, and particularly enjoys the opportunity to stock the store based on what she sees interests them. 3

Spring Fashion 2016

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Kim and CJ both look fabulous in clothes from Laurel Creek.

Twenty Years and Counting lthough she denies possessing any kind of retail wizardry, Laurel Creek Clothing owner Debra Dudley has managed to keep her women’s fashion boutique open, as of last October, for twenty years. That’s quite a trick to pull off anywhere, but particularly impressive in a quixotic downtown retail environment.

She attributes her success to her customers.

That relationship, she admits, is the biggest, most pleasant surprise she’s faced over those two decades. “What’s totally amazing,” Dudley says, “is the people who shop in your store become your friends. And I think downtown shoppers are a pretty loyal bunch.”

Dudley, a native of Iowa, first came to Missoula in 1974 to study at the University of Montana. While working at the former Village Motor Inn, she met and married a management trainee. Over their first fifteen years of marriage they moved ten times, including two spans of managing the hotel where they’d met. Finally the couple was back to stay (they’ve recently celebrated their 39th anniversary), and Dudley had an opportunity to start her own retail business.

“The gift shop became available, so I started off selling clothes there,” Dudley says. “It was literally 350 square feet. My husband was like, ‘You need to do something a little bigger.’”

A

Loren Brunberg, who helps Dudley run the store, has been part of Laurel Creek since almost the beginning. She says Dudley’s attentive customer service is what has kept her store going where others have failed. “I think our customers trust that we’re not just going to say, ‘Oh, that

looks great on you,’ just so we get a sale,” Brunberg says. “They know they’ll get honest feedback and help.”

Dudley is particularly happy with her relationship with the brand Eileen Fisher. Like many clothing companies, Eileen Fisher operates its own stores but also works with select smaller boutiques — like Laurel Creek — scattered around the country. The company recently became the largest women’s fashion company to be named a B Corporation. This certification means that

Eileen Fisher voluntarily meets high criterion for environmental and social performance, transparency in how they operate and the materials they use, and, finally, accountability.

One example Dudley cites is that at Green Eileen stores, customers may exchange old clothes for credit, then those stores resell the recycled clothing with all proceeds going to the various causes Fisher supports, primarily related to supporting young women. This type of business practice is important to Dudley, who is a firm proponent of supporting small, local businesses, sustainable manufacturing, and companies giving back to their communities.

“We sell quality,” Dudley says. “Our customers like to tell us about the Eileen Fisher clothes they bought the first year we were open.

It’s all still relevant, you just wear it differently.

Like a jacket, instead of the skirt it came with you wear it with skinny jeans and it’s a completely different piece. They aren’t clothes you wear two or three times and then throw away.”

Dudley downplays any magic touch in her approach to fashion. “It could be anything,” she says. “It could be cookware. I like people, and clothes just happened to be the journey that I took. I like people more than I like clothes.”

Magic or not, twenty years in business — selling clothes or something else — is no small feat to pull off. 3

Spring Fashion 2016

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A grand entrance for the Spring Style Preview at Plonk

Buck chows down as mother Allison looks on at Fashion Week’s popup Glamour Shots

Matt understands glamour is a serious business during Fashion Week

Spring Fashion 2016

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On the catwalk for Spring Style Preview at Plonk

Predicting trends six months out

T

for selling festival clothes,” says Aimee he fashion world runs on its own calendar. For Missoula’s downtown bou- McQuilken, owner of Betty’s Divine. “We have a lot of college kids going to Coachella or tiques, that generally means they are Sasquatch, events like that.” buying seasonal products they won’t These are the big music festivals, and maksell for another six months. A ing sure the racks are stocked for a specific spring/summer buying trip aims at acquiring “look” can be complicated. goods for fall/winter, and vice versa. This presAlso complicating things for Missoula bouents one of the bigger challenges for clothing tiques is the area’s dedication to outdoor recrestore owners.

“What is in here has been hand-picked,” says Debra Dudley of Laurel Creek. “I typically will go to New York to buy for fall, which is our bigger season.

I’m there the week after New York Fashion Week, and while I’m not in the tier of stores that would be invited to go to those headline events, they’re still huge shows that I go to. A week there is stimulating but it’s exhausting.”

Most boutiques attend similarly massive shows in Las Vegas two times a year —bearing thrilling names like Capsule, Magic and Pool—where vendors from around the country are available in one place. In many cases, this is the only time store owners will meet their brand reps in person. If it seems like an all-or-nothing roll of the dice, it kind of is.

“It’s hard to think six months ahead,” says Paige Livingston of One Eleven. “I don’t want to think six months ahead. People don’t Jenny adjusts her look from Divine understand that when I pick Trash Vintage; bag from Betty’s Divine something out from a vendor, that company cuts six pieces for me, and six pieces ation. Buyers are looking for items that are not for the next boutique, and so on and so forth. only durable and weather-appropriate, but that They don’t cut 30 pieces for every boutique. It also look good. just doesn’t work that way.”

“The outdoor industry really pioneered susIt’s difficult to predict what will be popular tainable clothing,” says The Trail Head’s so far in advance. Some items may languish on Kimberly Baker. “So as our production processthe racks, a gamble that doesn’t pay off. Others may become wildly popular, but, generally, once es in the outdoor industry have advanced, my lead times have gotten farther and farther out.” the line items of that original order are gone, Baker is often selling garments that were they’re gone. If a store only buys one size large dreamed up two years ago: they are developed of a garment and it sells, every other size large by the manufacturer over the course of a year shopper could be out of luck. before Baker sees them, then she has to buy the The fashion industry also tries to create its clothes a year before she can sell them. own seasons beyond the spring/summer, “It’s difficult to guess,” Baker says, “so I fall/winter dynamic. For example, there is have to make pretty big predictions and hope “resort season,” a kind of year-round readiness that everything my vendors are producing is that basically requires a boutique to be able to going to follow the fashion industry as closely as outfit an affluent customer who wants to go sit it can.” on a beach regardless of the time of year.

Even national chain stores in malls operate Another might be “festival season.” in similar fashion.

“May is a big time of year for us at Betty’s

“We start getting spring in January,” says Tonya Robinson, director of sales for Buckle.

“We do have a say in what we get, to a point.

We have a team of buyers who buy for the company, but we do have direct communication with them on what we need in our regions. If you look from Anchorage to Arizona, there are different needs.”

Robinson’s store managers try to replicate

that hand-picked, unique feel that boutiques provide, at least as it relates to Buckle shoppers.

“We don’t get a lot of SKUs of the same thing,” Robinson says. “We might get one small, two mediums and a large, and then once it’s gone, if there isn’t any more in the company, then it’s done. It’s good because in a place like Missoula, you won’t see someone wearing the same outfit, you won’t see 10 of those pieces.”

Still, for all the headache from making predictions, these owners and buyers enjoy the process. It enables them to personally select items, sometimes specific to the desires of individual customers. It also enables them to carefully shape the image of what their store is about.

“That’s the point of a boutique,” Paige Livingston says. “That’s what makes it special.” 3

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Clare: Just got off the river, and has surfed the wave every month for the past year! After drying off, she wears a tee she stole from an ex-boyfriend (always the best ones, she claims) and the pants are little boys’ high-waisted Carhartts.

Earth tones aren’t just for fall anymore, and cowboy boots aren’t just for rodeos and music festivals either.

Katy and Raven: Raven (right) likes vintage and actually everything she is wearing was thrifted. Katy is inspired this spring by color blocking and 1980s sportswear.

Pepper: Springtime in Missoula is about layering, not to mention gigantic shades for when the sun peeks out from behind the clouds. “I’m wearing this long coat because it’s cold out,” Pepper says. “And I like long coats.

And I’m wearing this red sweater because I’m going somewhere special.

And I just got my hair done.”

Farch: Found the fringed sweater in the ladies section of T.J.Maxx. It makes him feel like a Sith Lord or an evil Jedi, but also “glammy” like David Bowie. The Hawaiian shirt is from Golden Girls Second Hand in Helena.

Sarah: Debbie Harry-inspiration with denim on denim. Spring gets a nod via floral Doc Martens. And a little street photography while she’s out and about, perhaps?

A concentrated effort

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t’s 9 a.m. on a Monday in early March, and a collection of downtown boutique owners and managers have gathered over coffee at the Front Street Market to finalize their plans for Fashion Week. The midApril celebration, now in its second year, is just one example of the type of event this group organizes to help draw shoppers to downtown Missoula.

It’s also an example of how these presumed adversaries in a competitive market for customers have joined forces.

“We try so hard for people to have a reason to come down here,” says Paige Livingston, owner of the boutique One Eleven, “even if it’s just for cocktails on a First Friday, just to get people in the store.”

One Eleven has been successful despite the challenges facing downtown businesses. In the six or seven years she’s been involved with the space, both as manager and then as owner, only two have been “a piece of cake,” as she puts it. Much of her time involves scheming ways to get people to visit downtown, coming up with special events and even helping people understand how to use the city’s new parking meters.

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Those kinds of shared issues are what prompted the shops to combine efforts. They realized many Missoulians simply don’t know what’s available downtown, and those folks represent a pool of customers largely untapped.

Figuring out ways to grab prospective shoppers’

attention could best be solved collectively. In fact, it’s actually became an enjoyable process.

“I really love being in these meetings with these women who are able to do this together,”

Spring Fashion 2016

says Kimberly Baker of The Trail Head. “I think that it really is better for all of us for one and another to succeed. And we are all really different, we have different products. A vibrant economy is important for all of us.”

Debra Dudley of Laurel Creek agrees.

“I think there’s a nice mix of boutiques,” she says. “When it comes to shopping for clothes for women there’s a good spectrum.

I love how we all work together.

There doesn’t seem to be any animosity or jealousy or anything.

It’s a good group.”

Fashion Week is just one example of the group’s efforts to create attention and excitement about downtown shopping.

Expect to see more combined events throughout the summer and into fall, with some of the Fashion Week events—like the Collective Sale and the Cold Moon Collective—returning in autumn.

“Looking forward, I think there are a lot of good things going on downtown,” Dudley says. “What’s been done at the Wilma and the Top Hat will only bring more events to Missoula. I feel good about the future down here.” 3

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