Instead of an oversized, gray American Eagle hoodie, Mitra Chester envisioned a “post-apocalyptic dress.” Within an hour, she revamped the men’s apparel into a fitted fashion.
Clasping an oversized cup of coffee on a frigid Monday morning, Chester modeled her creation and spoke about Deluxe, the downtown boutique, and Kitsch, the second-hand clothing shop that she and her husband Aaron own. Since moving from Austin, Texas in 2003, the couple, along with Chester’s mom, Debrah Demirza, has encouraged what Chester calls a “post-modern” spin on fashion and cultivated a community among local designers.
As their 7-year-old daughter Willow tells her teachers and other potential customers to whom she offers her colorful homemade paper fans, mom’s Deluxe boutique is home to the fancy fresh attire and dad’s Kitsch shop hosts the crazy, zanier styles. Deluxe opened in 2003 while Kitsch opened last November. Within blocks of each other, both shops offer snapshots of past things incorporated into modern life.
“The whole state of the world right now is demanding the same thing from everyone: to look back towards what we can reuse,” Chester said. “People understand that they can be really cutting-edge without having to buy the latest fashions in malls at full price that were manufactured overseas.”
The post-modern aesthetic that drives Chester’s boutiques and designs means to her that “an amalgam of various pieces of clothing from all throughout time and all over the place are removed from their context and put into a new place.” She loves the steam punk movement, a fusion of Victorian era and futuristic elements with a mad scientist vibe, and calls bargaining, thrifting and treasure-hunting her “sincere and personal passion.”
Design, Chester explains, must expand beyond local fashion in order to be “pioneering,” and she hopes that people from New York City could find something they like in her Eugene shops.
Chester estimates that between 50 and 100 designers’ clothing, jewelry and accessories are featured in both Deluxe and Kitsch at any given time. She doesn’t mind if their works are not mass-produced, as long as she’s encouraging creativity within the community. Many of the designers, such as Lane Community College art student Moria Wheeler, have participated in the two fashion shows that Chester first concocted in 2007. The third fashion show of its kind is scheduled for this spring.
Wheeler, who calls her Jaunty Designs line “a mystical technicolor daydream for your wardrobe,” recalls spending an “ungodly” amount of time during spring break sewing 23 outfits for last year’s Cirque De Luxe fashion show. She describes the show’s outcome as “energetic and fantastic.”
“Mitra does it all and then some – it’s mind jumbling,” Wheeler said.
The daughter of a craftsmen reseller dad and seamstress mom, Chester draws upon skills and inspiration from her childhood. Demirza, who provides alterations, offers sewing lessons and savors time with her two grandkids at Deluxe, remembers Chester and her brother Dannon’s first sewing projects. Before they were 7, they had made a pillow and a kimono. Chester’s husband, too, comes form a family of collectors and is particularly interested in pop culture.
Their two kids are already heading in their parents’ creative direction.
“They’re both definitely going to be in that world,” Chester said. “They’ve known it since birth.”
Her 4-year-old son loves snug clothing and superhero attire, while Willow has made drawings that have become silk screen designs.
“People have an antiquated idea of what crafts are,” Chester said. “They think it’s an elderly thing and it’s not perceived as a legitimate medium of art with the ability to create something really cool and hip.”
“My dad was involved in an artists’ co-op in Boulder during the 1970s,” Chester said. “He calls it the good ol’ days. That’s what’s happening here; we’re having a revival.”
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