Instant Gratification
Because I was never able to lose enough weight to wear the clothes I love, I started to scour the neighborhoods on Long Island for large size women’s clothing. I was so frustrated. To many designers of those years, large size women’s clothing meant tall! Finally a group of clothing designers realized the vast number of short women that also had weight problems. You see, you can’t just get a size bigger! If you need a garment to get over a tummy and big hips, getting a larger size in a blouse doesn’t work! Being so short, tops fell off my shoulders. If it was considered a plus size the length of the shirt was too long! All slacks and skirts had to have half of the fabric taken off to shorten the garment to look normal.
The birth of petite large sized clothing was born. Now there was a selection that would fit me!
I found one store not too far from me that had my size! I went shopping there and had a ball! So many things fit and looked decent! Having had a large wardrobe first via my mother and then my nephew, I couldn’t decide what and how much to buy! I was spoiled. I spoke to the owner to try and get an affordable wardrobe together and she asked me to work there, and I would get a hefty discount off the clothes. This was a greater incentive for me than the Real Estate Office. I told her I was a teacher but I could handle summers and weekends plus the busy shopping season when school was closed. I was there for a while, once again happy with my wardrobe, when another woman came to work . Together the three of us were doing fairly well. We were quite a team, the owner was short like me, but not heavy. Her solution to being fat was bulimia! She would eat and then go throw up. It explained the broken blood vessels in her face that she carefully hid with makeup. The other woman was tall and heavy, but she was in proportion and wore clothing well. I don’t remember the exact circumstance but the owner was in a cash pinch and the store was going to have to be closed. We were miserable. Somebody suggested that if we became partners we could keep the store open and share the profits. The other woman hired an accountant to tell us what we needed to pull off the deal. I had a small inheritance that came to me from my mother’s death. I spoke with my husband and we were all in. I didn’t give them the money, just signaled that I had it. Negotiations went on and finally it was revealed that the profits wouldn’t sustain three of us, just two. I was out! I still don’t understand how I got voted out, but the rationale was I still had a teaching job! I was hurt, but not defeated. I went to one of my relatives who was a lawyer to set up my own business. I didn’t have the money to rent a store so we decided to finish off our one car garage and put in a walk in entrance. We left the garage door front, and placed a false wall behind it. We painted the concrete floor and placed a couple of cheap area rugs on it and had slat walls put up. The slat walls held hangers and displays. We set off an area with a curtain as a dressing room. I had an old desk which I placed on the back wall as a place to take money and have promotions. It was at that point that I found out it was illegal! I couldn’t adverise. I would have to go word of mouth and limit the store to by appointment visits. It didn’t sound bad to me! After all, I did have a job! I went Manhattan to wholesalers and I went to the Jacob Javitz Center twice yearly to look at upcoming styles and look at new designers. I set up appointments at different plus size clothing designers. I must say, everyone in the garment center was super nice to me. I ordered what I could afford and had it delivered. I put out the clothes and the place was adorable. When I was finally ready to open, I sent out flyers to people who I knew and waited for my first sale.
