Louise Rafkin - Writing Sample

Professional Profiles > Mary DeAngelis

Power Suit Alternatives: Mary DeAngelis' vision of the stylish dress-for-success look

After a few years waitressing in fish houses in Provincetown, Mass., Mary DeAngelis remembers clearly the day that "I realized I could not serve a lobster to another hot, cranky tourist."

DeAngelis didn't want to move: "I absolutely loved Provincetown -- the beauty and nature and smallness of the place -- and I was determined to live here." But her job options were limited, in the small town's tourism-based economy.

Then DeAngelis' grandmother died and left her a sewing machine. Always a style maven, DeAngelis starting whipping up her own designs. Soon a local clothing store in which she occasionally worked began selling her tops.

Nine years later, DeAngelis, 42, is running a million-dollar-a-year clothing business with her name on the label.

"Selling retail, I saw that most American women didn't look a thing like fashion models, and most women over a size 10 were desperate for stylish and sophisticated clothing," she says. "My philosophy about clothing is very opinionated. I believe women should dress comfortably, fully accepting their bodies and their age. My clothes are very modern, but timeless. These are clothes for professional women who don't have to, or want to, wear power suits."

More specifically: DeAngelis makes simple, well-cut clothing in luxury fabrics such as silk, merino wool and matte jersey. More than 120 boutiques across the country carry her clothes. She designs around 35 pieces for 5 collections a year, everything from black, matte jersey camisoles to red boiled wool zip-up car coats.

And though sewing and cutting are contracted out to workers from Provincetown to Boston, everything that happens in this growing business originates from the living room office in DeAngelis' 100-year- old home. The Cape Cod Bay shimmers just 20 yards away, and during summer months, DeAngelis starts her day with an early morning skinny-dip. Bob Redic, DeAngelis' office manager, pedals up on his vintage bicycle around 9 a.m. and joins his boss for coffee before beginning his day on the phones.

"Every day I talk to people all over the country," Redic says, "and most are wearing suits and are shut inside in fancy shops or huge office buildings. They have no idea that I'm inside this sweet house with a fire burning while the snow gathers on the pine trees outside. There are not many jobs where you love the people you work with, you love the environment, and your boss cooks lunch for you every day."

Whatever she's doing, DeAngelis does stop at noon to fix lunch for her employees, toting her somewhat-ornery chihuahua, Joey, on her hip. She bears a slight resemblance to her Italian grandmother, whose picture graces the tags on her clothing.

"I'll always have an office in my home," says DeAngelis. "It's important for me to be able to work in my pajamas if I want to. But most importantly," she adds, "I only work with people who are nice, both as employees and as customers. Nasty people don't get 5 minutes of my time -- that's the luxury I have now with the success I've earned."

DeAngelis didn't always have a choice about those she worked with. The early years of the business were challenging: "Hardest was not getting access to credit," she says, "I had a slew of male bankers turn me down because I didn't have assets, even though I had thousands of dollars of orders in hand."

DeAngelis borrowed her first start-up funds from friends and relatives, some of whom had little to lend; she paid interest on the loans in clothing. After a few years on her feet, she received a sizable loan from S.E.E.D -- South Eastern Economic Development, an area funding agency -- and became the first woman to win Start-Up Business of the Year from the group.

At the awards dinner, DeAngelis candidly recounted her struggle. "I stood in front of a room full of 300 bankers, stylishly dressed to the nines, and I told them of my countless unsuccessful loan interviews," she says. "I think they were challenged by my story." Later, her own bank, through which she had poured $500,000 the previous year, called to apologize for having not initially approved her application.

Judy Miles, who owns the retail store J. Miles in Cambridge, Mass., swears by both DeAngelis' clothing and her down-home style of doing business. "Mary is effervescent," says Miles, "plus she is a designer who has worked in retail so she knows what sells. And if I need anything, I just give Mary or Bob a call and everything is taken care of right away."

DeAngelis' fellow designer Kiki Von Hoppe, owner of the clothing line Go Lightly, seconds Miles' praise. "Mary puts love into her work," she says. "In this day and age where getting a bargain and dealing with everything impersonally is the norm, Mary's personal style of doing business really stands out. She has integrity and she treats her customers like friends in her village."

For example: Recently a Californian customer broke an ink pen in the pocket of her $300 jacket. One call to the studio and DeAngelis and Redic had the problem on its way to being solved: a new pocket was cut and shipped to the stitcher. A week later the customer had her jacket back, good as new.

DeAngelis sells her clothes at design shows held each season in New York City. She also is developing a mail-order catalogue and website (www.MaryDeAngelis.com) and has started to sell new designs to tried-and-true clients by "showings" on video.

On a recent snowy day in Provincetown, DeAngelis and her design assistant, Mia Alvarez, cavorted in the woods of the Provincelands in full DeAngelis gear: boiled wool skirts and contrasting jackets in red and black. As they skidded around a half-frozen pond, twirling and screaming in the cold, Redic shot the video for next fall's line. "I'm at work," DeAngelis said with obvious delight. "What could be better?" Joey the company chihuahua, also in a mini-DeAngelis boiled wool coat, shivered by the edge of the pond. When the crew returned home, Redic tossed another log on the fire and DeAngelis brewed a fresh pot of coffee.

Clutching the still-shaking Joey, she marveled aloud: "Who would guess this is what being in the fashion industry would look like?"