Hi, I’m Denise. For 17 years I was a personal shopper at a department store in Chicago. Women over 40 would walk into my fitting room saying they were done with jeans and walk out with two pairs. The secret was never the label. It was the fit and the length.
What I write about
Where my stories come from
My fitting-room tests still come with me: sit down, reach up, walk to the end of the hall and back. For coats, there’s the hug test. Cross your arms, then reach forward like you’re hugging someone. If the back seam pulls, it goes back on the hanger.
My Aunt Bernice has worn the same gray wool coat every Easter since 1979, which tells you most of what you need to know about buying well.
How I write
No brands and no body talk, just cut, fabric, color and length. Hem first. Then decide.
Off the clock
I’m from Detroit and live in Chicago with my husband, Curtis. My tailor, Sol, has worked with me for 20 years. He can say “half an inch” from across the room, and he’s right about nine times out of ten.
How we check our stories: Editorial Standards and Ethics.
Twice in 17 years on the sales floor, a customer asked for my autograph, convinced I was an actress from a cop show. I signed my own name both times, and both times they thanked me anyway. These 10 celebrity lookalikes have heard “you look just like...” a hundred times, and they finally talked about it.
My aunt Bernice took her first acting class at 58, at a community theater in Detroit, because she said she was finally old enough for the parts she wanted. She has played the same grandmother in the same play three times and has no plans to give the part back. These 12 women had the biggest years of their careers after 50, and some got their first award nomination after 60.
In 17 years as a personal shopper in Chicago, I watched women over 40 walk into my fitting room swearing they were done with jeans and walk out with two pairs. The trick was never the label. It was the rise and the hem. These 8 jeans women over 40 are wearing this fall show which cuts came back and which ones are new.
The best coat I ever sold went to a judge in 2004, and she still wears it to court every November. When a woman over 50 buys a good coat, she isn’t shopping for one season. She’s shopping for the next ten. These 6 coats stars over 50 wore this fall show the kind of fashion that lasts, and each look comes with the place it was spotted.
