The Carriage Trade

When I first started to practice my field after a short stint in the Metro DC area I moved back to my home town Kalamazoo Mi. in 1973 Kalamazoo was flying high. I went to work for Thelma Blow AID at The Vogue Shoppe ,as I've said before it was a beautiful Shoppe in a huge Victorian house with a modern showroom addition painted black on the outside. Upon entering one was in a huge foyer with a winding stairway to nowhere, It was fabulous at first site and most people were duly impressed. We catered to women ,these women I refer to as The Carriage Trade they are almost all dead .Todays client is hardly ever Carriage Trade. These women never worked and were never home in the afternoon and just as likely to be  out playing cards and drinking as having there hair done and drinking. they were a breed of there own they somked and smoked and laughed and we all had a great time .Lots of my buisness was done over lunch .It was a big deal to take the designer to lunch and out do there friends most clients knew each other,  it was a very social buisness. I loved thse women and they Loved me I still Love this buisness but I do miss these women.......