A peek through these windows is as gorgeous as a peep inside a candy store. But the sweets here are gumball-color sweaters, chocolaty leather coats and candy-cane ties. It's no surprise to learn that the owner of Remix, Stacey Ditata, worked as a visual merchandising administrator at major department stores. She knows the power of organizing merchandise in categories of color and style and does so to great effect.
"It's clearly what I can do," she says, waving a small costume-bejeweled hand around the room. "Actually, it's a form of manipulation," she goes on, in lowered voice. If temptation is the result of manipulation, Ditata succeeds. The racks themselves are works of art -- coats with furred collars, sequinned gowns, minks and satiny kimonos, beaded bustiers and swirled '70s skirts and pants are grouped with their own kind. "Successful selling is doing work for the customer by directing them to what's interesting," she explains.
Lunchtime on a Friday finds Ditata shimmering in a yellow sequin jacket and satin heels. A petite woman, she admits it is easier for people her size to fit into vintage clothes. Mostly, her focus is on the '50s and '60s, when shoulders were narrower and hips broader in contrast to the waist. She tries to get her hands on items from the '30s and '40s whenever she can. But such things, she says, are hard to find in good condition and she's keen to keep her prices in the $20 to $50 range.
Out to shop for a hen night, a threesome was clearly delighted by what they found. The girls squeezed their mitts into slim, pastel-colored gloves found fetchingly draped over the sides of candy-striped hat boxes and pointed their toes into patent knee-high boots. They tried on veiled hats, sized up a rhinestone-studded basque and went away giggling with their purchases. Another woman picked idly through silk scarves, spilling prettily from an upturned floral umbrella.
-- Alexa Beattie
