I started my career in the world of fashion doing alterations and occasionally sales for an exclusive dress salon on Newbury St. in Boston Ma. by name of Stuarts Inc. By the time I arrived (mid 1980s) the shop was in it’s waning years and the only one of it’s kind remaining on the street . I am so grateful to have had the experience!
The shop was elegantly decorated with plush carpet, heavy velvet drapes, French provincial furniture and just a handful of garments on display. When a customer came in she was pleasantly greeted and asked what she might be looking for. After a short discussion about preferred styles, color and size the gentle lady was comfortably seated on a satin brocade couch.
There she waited, chatting with the shops owner Yvonne Stuart. At this point it was the sales clerks job to go into the back room (where most of the stock was kept) and pick out (with great care) no more than three items meeting the criteria. One at a time each garment was presented with a short and eloquent description. Occasionally one of the girls was asked to model a favorite piece. Some customers required a few trips to the back room but most were quickly pleased in just one or two presentations. Some outfits were dismissed with a sniff, while others declared divine. After the viewing the two or three favorites were carried to the MOST luxurious fitting rooms. Each with its own cut glass Chandelier casting a soft and golden light designed to flatter. A velvet couch, floor to ceiling mirrors and a beautiful wrought brass hanger on which to hang Madame’s day frock. A seamstress was then summoned where she sat waiting to be called outside the drapes, pins and ruler in hand. Nearly all garments required some type of adjustment. A hem here, a tuck there but most often a bit of ease. You see the majority of our ladies would rather pay for a little alteration than wear the next size up!
As I said Stuarts was the last of it’s kind on Newbury Street and I remember my young and "hip" friends teasing me about working at such a hopelessly old fashioned store. I enjoyed every minute of my stay at Stuarts. I was there just a few short years before I started my own business and was very sad when Mrs. Stuart passed away and the store finally closed. Thank you Mrs. Stuart, the experience was rich beyond compare.
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