Chic Mystique

From The Women to Valley of the Dolls, the vision of the couturier's salon -- parted drapes revealing swan-necked models parading in private for society's few -- once seemed fashion's chic-est ideal. It was a place where women hung, drank tea (or, if it's Sondheim, drank gin), ogled private trunk show fashions and got custom-fitted by someone who knew them intimately.

"My focus is exactly that," says wardrobe stylist/designer Jennifer Ramsay. "I want to make a '60s salon thing where girls meet after work, have wine, champagne, sweets and cheese while I have mini private fashion shows and trunk stuff. I want to cater to the customer in that way."

Rather than parade Balenciaga gowns and graceful models down runways, Ramsay, 30, has funked up the idea with Sansom Street's Echo Chic Boutique, an updated version of Ramsay's South Street staple of the same name that opened in the early '90s.

Fashion, old and new, is in Ramsay's blood, with an artist/hippie mom and a dad, David Goluboff, whose Retro Chic at 322 South St. was that area's hippest stop for vintage clothes for 20 years. "My folks never wanted me to be into superficial things," says Ramsay. "They always hoped I'd be a doctor."

By 1994, after stints at Cachet on 18th and Walnut and Hillary's Ice Cream (with fellow scooper Jill Scott), Ramsay felt her calling when her father decided to close up his shop. Ramsay took over, and rather than staying pure vintage, she went into new women's clothing as Echo Chic, first with low-end brands like Tripp and XOXO and eventually moving toward tonier labels. "We were successful as soon as I opened the door," Ramsay says, so much so that she bought her dad's building. Ramsay was also successful with her then-burgeoning side-biz as a stylist. South Street in the early '90s meant shows at the TLA with lots of up-and-coming national names -- Gwen Stefani, Shirley Manson, Jamiroquai -- as well as the blossoming of the Philly hip-hop scene. "That's where Eve and I became friends," says Ramsay. "She went from selling jeans at Gilly's to pulling up to my shop in a stretch SUV wanting an outfit."

All of these artists needed not only unique clothing but interesting ways of wearing it. Enter Ramsay, who put together many an outfit for a video or award show based on vinyl pants, platform shoes and club gear ("I was 21!" she exclaims in defense of her former aesthetic), plus head-bindis, old Prada everything, Sergio Valente jeans and ripped punk items blended with pricey ladies' wear. "I liked a mysterious look where you mix genres and decades into one," Ramsay explains.

The South Street scene was also where she met her now-husband, gangsta icon Schoolly D, a stylish gent whose taste for garish vintage '60s and '70s furniture has made an impression on the new Echo Chic's decor, such as the enormous red leather chair on the second floor.

Despite booming business on South Street, with the arrival of a child, the area's distinct turn toward a boardwalk vibe and Ramsay's desire to place higher-end brands, Ramsay decided to make the move uptown. "My tastes grew up and off of South Street. Uptown was, and is, as glamorous and mature as I felt," she says.

Uptown defines the new Echo's stark white studio with poured concrete floors and Lite-Brite Plexiglas ceilings and shelves. It's a spaceship-like locale lined with the likes of BCBG, Jil Stuart, Mimi Turner, Jo's Jeans and Miguelina.

This sexy gear goes well with the second half of Echo Chic's vision of individualist style. A bizarre climb up Ramsay's candle-specked metal spiral staircase -- right out of Funny Face -- finds Lisa Miroslaw showcasing "trend-setting" vintage like an '80s Fendi mauve suede jacket and several '70s Whiting & Davis mesh bags. Mirolslaw provided clothing for Goldmember's roller disco scenes and for the Oscar-nominated Far From Heaven.

"We can individualize a look," says Miroslaw, who often pairs vintage accessories (like clutches) and classic tops with the newer lines Ramsay offers downstairs. "By teaming well-crafted vintage items you can't find anywhere else with a newer item, you won't look like the cookie cutter vision everyone else is."

Ramsay's own retro vision is tinged with her current feel for all things futuristic. "I see everything now in warrior princess gear, like Princess Leia, who I used to make my mom help me emulate with the bun in my hair." With that, Ramsay mixes Edwardian jackets, '80s trapeze tops, washed out jeans, cargo capri pants, scrunchy leather boots with leg warmers, chain-mail necklaces and big '70s hats. "That's how vintage fits in," she says. "Designers who go for that look now are taking from the past. I just mix it up."

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January 27, 2005
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