Our grandpa’s family owned The LaRose Shoppe in downtown Moline, Illinois. Upscale clothing. Prom dresses picked out on pedestals in front of three-way mirrors. Purses monogrammed in gold.

But to our family it was so much more than that. Our mother and our two aunts grew up in it. Our dad even worked there! For a VERY short time, right after our parents got married. Stories for another day…

Though the family moved to San Diego in 1977, we still grew up surrounded by the store. Not just in countless stories, but literally surrounded by endless driving gloves, embroidered dress and jacket sets in unreal colors, intricate stitching, fringe and velvet, lace, leather and So Many Scarves! Many of these things still have the original tags. Keeping special things runs in the family.

Our grandmother Verdelle is our style icon. She passed this love, this appreciation for style and clothes, on to her three daughters, each with her own amazing style. They are the reason we look at garments and see people.

So that’s what I’m doing here. Finding good things. Finding their stories. And helping them find their next chapter.

Because the best things don’t necessarily need to be kept.
Sometimes they just need to be passed along, or recast.

Who Walks In Here

This is for the keepers. For people who kept the concert tee, the moto jacket, the slip dress — not because they’ll wear them again, but because throwing them out feels like firing a character mid-season. You don’t keep vintage for the fabric. You keep it for the second act.

Selected Filmography — a life, in genres

1. The Art School PhaseConvinced she’d be a painter. Kept the paint-flecked carpenter pants as an alibi.
2. The Angst-Driven Café YearsFlannel, silver rings, and firm opinions about bands that no longer exist.
3. The ‘Real Job Now’ ComedyStructured blazers. Sensible heels that were never once sensible.
4. THE NORTHEASTA move, two blizzards + the hottest summer ever and one pair of 501s that kept the receipts.
5. Present Day — The ArchiveStopped keeping everything. Started releasing it, with the story attached.

Every piece here had a life before this.
So did we.

♥ Meg & Mal