Category: Fashion Feature

After more than two decades in the bridal couture business, Pat Kerr Tigrett is looking to a younger market. And, maybe, if it’s possible, even having a bit more fun.

At her 25th anniversary fashion show and retrospective last month, Tigrett showed a line of funky prom dresses that rocked down the runway with cowboy boots and Gibson guitars.

“At the fittings for these wonderful girls, I got very inspired in seeing them and the sort of freshness they have,” she says. “It’s not just the way they look in the dresses — though they’re so adorable — but their enthusiasm once they put them on. They sort of lit up.”

Inspired by amateur teenage models Hannah Belz and Claire Nelson, Tigrett began to create seven dresses she says have a “fun, funky, au courant feel to them” a mere 10 days before the retrospective.

“I really work best under pressure. I work when deadlines are on me. I get incredibly inspired and creative. I love the energy that comes with quickly putting a show together,” she says.

Tigrett has always had a way with white, creating wonderfully dreamy and ethereal wedding gowns. What began as an interesting hobby — collecting antique lace — eventually propelled her romantic gowns to the covers of A Plaza Wedding and Martha Stewart Weddings. She also has a couture line of evening-wear — ball gowns and cocktail dresses — and a children’s couture line of first communion dresses, christening gowns, and dresses and knickerbockers for the youngest members of wedding parties.

The designs are often created on the wearer using tissue paper; then each one is hand-cut and handmade. Tigrett says she’s been cutting up one-of-a-kind pieces of antique lace for so long, it’s no big deal. It doesn’t even make her nervous; she just does it.

On this day, seamstresses are buzzing in almost every room of Tigrett’s downtown penthouse, preparing her designs for a bridal market in New York.

Unlike some fashion designers, Tigrett isn’t looking for a new gimmick or a new look for each season. Her collections don’t have themes.

“I have been doing the same thing every year that I’ve been in business, just about,” she says. Even the prom dresses — which have a decidedly edgy attitude — have similarities to her bridal gowns, with fitted bodices, intricate designs, and iridescent fabrics.

“This is a tiny variation of the corseted tops I’ve been doing for 20 years. I’ve also been doing voluminous skirts, but these are freer in that they don’t have the underlinings and silk taffetas and the big, big skirts,” she says.

Instead, the skirts — some of which detach — have the volume without the weight. In one, yellow and purple flowers are attached under a puffy tulle skirt. In another, both the top and the skirts are cut asymmetrically, giving it a bohemian look. Muslin underskirts and a beige crinoline are the base for a celadon overskirt and strips of ribbon, tulle and lace.

“Sheer silk taffeta has been worked into it, with lace along the back. Swags of gathered tulle are cut in a bohemian fashion,” Tigress says. “It’s the kind of dress that you really look at up close. Every little section has an interest to it.”

Tigrett has been commissioned to do prom dresses before and has created cotillion and debutante gowns, but says those dresses were more serious.

“These are more frivolous,” she says. “They’re with more abandon. These are great prom dresses for this age, or just party dresses. Gosh, you could wear your cowboy boots and shop at Kroger in them.”

And while the prom dresses show that she’s still inspired by Memphis, or at least some of the young people who live here, they also represent something of a new beginning for the designer.

Tigrett says her work is designed for the “celebrations of life,” events that usually require a vow of some kind: marriages, Bat Mitzvahs, christenings.

Now, with 25 years of promises and vows behind her, Tigrett is ready to celebrate in a new way. “With prom dresses, the whole idea is to party” she says. “I wanted to have that energy. I’m going to celebrate this entire year — any excuse for a party.”

For this season, we believe in gold,” says Arlene Goldstein.

As if to illustrate — or illuminate — her point, she is wearing dangly gold earrings and a beautiful golden cuff bracelet that winks under the Parisian store’s bright light fixtures.

Goldstein is the fashion director for Parisian, the newest addition to the Memphis department-store family. Part of her job is forecasting color and style trends for men’s and women’s wear. It’s little more than a week before the store opens in Carriage Crossing in Collierville, and Goldstein is in town to help educate the staff.

“All the associates get training on the products,” says Goldstein. “Buyers come from corporate to teach them so we get professional sales associates who make shopping not only fun but expeditious.”

For now, the store is a combination of beauty and chaos. Cardboard boxes are stacked nose-high on the sales floor, but the make-up counters gleam in pure white and sparkling silver. In the shoe department, boots in rich fall colors are already on display. Unclad white mannequins stand guard near the aisles; baby strollers are lined up by the glass doors. In almost every one of the store’s 130,000 square feet, denim-clad workers are unloading boxes or moving display fixtures.

The Parisian store opening is big business. And it’s celebrating its debut in style with a grand-opening gala, a preview shopping day, and what seems like a hundred special designer events and trunk shows.

The Saks company, which owns Parisian, bills the Memphis facility as its store of the future. And the company is building similar facilities in Little Rock and its home base of Birmingham.

“We have a restaurant that opens onto the street and a golf shop with a putting green and plasma screens. It’s interactive,” says Goldstein. “Architecturally, there are wide aisles, special lighting, comfortable seating areas, and high ceilings.”

There is also a manicure bar where shoppers can get their nails done and a stunning array of in-store shops, including Memphis’ own Boulevard and the first U.S. location for British fave label Jigsaw.

Because it really is all about the clothes, says Goldstein.

“It’s a unique blend of stylish merchandise and special things so you don’t see [others dressed like you] coming and going,” says Goldstein. “Our buyers know how to cherry-pick from a large assortment and get the very best.”

Goldstein was once an elementary-school teacher, but after a friend asked her to do a wardrobe-planning course for working women, she started thinking fashion. She was a Parisian customer and decided to call a friend at the company, who put her in touch with the company’s human resources department.

“I was told, ‘Sometimes our favorite customers want to cross over and work for us, but it usually doesn’t work.’ I guess, in my case, it did,” Goldstein says.

Now, instead of teaching reading or math, she teaches must-haves. Each season, she picks 10 items that serious shoppers — and not so serious ones — need to own to be in style. The list is usually posted in the store.

“We’d all like to clean out our closets at the beginning of each season and start over, but that’s not in the cards for everybody,” she says. “Instead, you just get the must-haves.”

Goldstein says Parisian wants to be synonymous with fashion and service. Like many boutiques, associates will keep client lists, alerting their customers to upcoming sales and promotions and new items they think they might like. Customers who see an item they want — but can’t find their color or size — will also get high-tech help. Associates will find the item with a new company-wide product locator system.

“We think we’re on trend without being intimidating. We’re inviting,” says Goldstein. “It’s about helping you with your own sense of style and doing it your way.”

Goldstein’s and Parisian’s Must-Haves for Fall 2005:

• A Little Jacket in Velvet, Corduroy, or Tweed

This form-fitting jacket should be able to work at the office or on the weekends. And texture is important.

“We feel very bullish about velvet, anything in velvet, but especially the velvet jacket,” says Goldstein.

• Long, Layered Necklaces

The more strands at the neck, the better. Try vintage, tribal, or bohemian styles, especially those with natural elements such as wood and semiprecious stones. And don’t forget gold, gold, and more gold.

• Skirts With Volume

If the jacket is the smaller the better, the skirt is just the opposite. Ruffles are huge.

• An Extraordinary Sweater

Cowl necks, cocoon shapes, and cashmere are this season’s classics.

• A Feminine Top

“We’re very knit-oriented,” says Goldstein. “You can wear it paired with jeans or a slim skirt, but we think the blouse is back big-time.”

Extra girl points for lace and ruffles.

• The New Hobo Bag

The one bag that just might be able to hold all your stuff. The best bags are in metallics, snakeskin, or suede.

• The Cropped Pant

“With the fitted jackets and the cropped pants, we’re into very short subjects this season,” says Goldstein. “My sister recently tried on a jacket and my mother thought it was too small. We’re just not used to wearing things so close to the body.”

In terms of cropped pants, options abound. Look for ones that hit knee-length, mid-calf, or just above the ankle.

• Something Fur

Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be real. But fur — whether on a collar or as an entire piece — adds sumptuousness to the season.

• A Chic Suit

“Things got very casual for a while, but now they’re swinging back,” says Goldstein. Suits should be tailored, but to your personal style.

• The Western Boot

Paired with a voluminous skirt, it’s instant bohemian.

• And a Bonus …

“Something that’s not on the list but

probably should be is the belt,” says Goldstein. “The belt is back. I was just in Europe, and everyone was wearing a belt. I thought, I didn’t get the memo or I would have had a cute belt on.”

Consider this your memo.