Street Beat: Wardrobe marks 38 years
- The Wardrobe
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Spring was in full bloom inside and out at 231 D Street this past Saturday when The Wardrobe celebrated its 38th anniversary. Colorful designs by Chalet, Cut Loose, and Jess & Jane among others were on display, matching the array of flowers on a table in the quaint courtyard where a jazz trio added to the festivities.
“I’m calling them the sound of fashion,” Heather Caswell, proprietor of The Wardrobe described the Bay Area and Sacramento musicians - Heath Proskin on base, Jenn Schaaf on drums, and Alan Ernst (the “esteemed,” he joked), on keyboard. “I’ve been playing with a concept called the sound of fashion for decades and I was a DJ before I owned my boutique,” Heather said. “So, I bring the sound of fashion. Fashion is music to the eyes I like to say.”
Heather stepped away to assist a customer who was admiring a blouse. “That’s my top of the year,” she explained. “It’s made for the wardrobe that looks gorgeous…made in San Francisco, and I identified it as the most important top that anyone could have for travel or just everyday lifestyle...This one’s really special cause it has the side panel; only found here at The Wardrobe.” The customer agreed that the green top was gorgeous, and Heather added, “That’s the color of female empowerment,” then listened as the woman shared a personal story and described a skirt she owns in the same color as the garment she was purchasing. “You’re gonna love this so much,” Heather exclaimed, adding that a fall color palette was going to be made and that the customer would probably want an additional one in another color but that, “this is a great beginning.”
The clothing item that had just been purchased was made by Cut Loose out of S.F. and Heather shared that this company is the one that, “drives The Wardrobe’s look called California chic. This is a debut I just created – must have, cotton linen top of the year with their help…they change their color palette twice a year.” Heather then showed me the signature scarf she was wearing, made for her store by fiber artist Katrina Ernst, a local designer she would be featuring later this year.
As customers milled around, sipping bubbly and perusing garments, Heather explained that she is a, “practicing color therapist,” before showing me the color card she created, one that she was offering as a gift to customers that day. “This is part of the language of color…it gives people some inspiration around how colors can make us feel and empower us.” Among the 17 color choices on the card, I discovered that black is protective, safe, and absorbs all colors. Gold reflects confidence, power, and wisdom, while pink translates into unconditional love and warmth.
Heather studied for 30 years with Carol Klesow, who has been her “color teacher and mentor” and with whom she created the color card and teaches classes on color occasionally.
Heather believes that she has been, “instrumental in helping Davis…go from a cow town to a stylish California chic town. It was a total cow town, I built my store on used 501 Jeans …it’s an agricultural university but it’s been really fun.” She referred to her clients as, “Some of the most impactful women on the planet,” pointing to the flowers next to the register. “…from the director of the Women’s Heart Health Program at UC Davis…the founder of the first heart health program in the U.S. My clients are also the director of the MIND Institute in Sacramento...I get to help them feel gorgeous.”
Among those impactful women is Camille Kirk, sustainability director for the J. Paul Getty trust who was trying on an outfit that Heather described as, “the epitome of style right now if you want one of the most chic things.” She stood in front of Camille, asked her to turn around, making suggestions for accessories like “strong earrings” or a “fun bracelet,” but adding that they were “not necessary.”
Camille shared that she, “absolutely” adores “Heather’s approach to style” and that she feels like she “makes it really accessible.” She added, “I am in a job where I need to look professional but creative at the same time and she nails it with pieces that she carries…she provides a great combination of professional, creative, interesting pieces; feels unique. I think she makes an effort to source small designers and often has products that are made more sustainably which is rare. Fashion is hard.” Camille told me that she has always loved Heather’s, “great approach to color. It’s not all black and white. She has pattern and color and she embraces it which is also delightful.” She concluded by stating that, “Heather’s fabulous, The Wardrobe’s fabulous. A total gem in the state of California.”
“So many multi-generational women together playing dress-up,” Heather commented as she looked around at the gathering. A handful of women ranging in ages from 50 to 80 graciously agreed to model some of the designs that afternoon. Among them Beverly Chance, Amina Harris (owner of the Hive in Woodland), Sandy Lorber, Carol Livingston, Deborah Horowitz and Raissa D’Souza, Associate Dean of Research for the College of Engineering and a professor in computer science and mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis.
“I love fashion, and Heather is such a warmhearted person. I’ve been shopping at The Wardrobe for twenty years, all her different locations” Raissa shared, adding that Heather is a, “pillar of the community” who “brings us all together.” She added that, “It’s nice to enjoy fashion…it’s really great for all the young women to see that you can be feminine and fashionable and empowered and successful.”
Heather, who refers to herself as an activist and a heart health champion, said that she likes to, “blend fashion with activism.” She has been involved with national wear red day on the first Friday of February and she has done, “a lot of educating on women’s heart health,” and “helped green light the UC Davis red dresses on display in our downtown, growing awareness.” She started a heart health alliance and is also “very involved in activism in the community as well. But again, my favorite activism is when I blend fashion with my activism and raise money for good causes. Including fashion shows that have raised millions and millions of dollars in the Sacramento Valley.”
Heather’s specialty has, “evolved into creating a true look that’s curated, one of a kind inspired by the community, a reflection of the community,” as she calls it, “wearable art.” Her “style philosophy is the art of becoming you…a journey of self-discovery…ruled only by your imagination.” She added that individuals are ready, “for really being who they are authentically, feeling empowered with intentional style and color.”
As I was leaving I turned back and took in the moving palette of colors, a painting pulsing with life and spring and strong women, Heather Caswell wielding the brush, encouraging them all to be, “California Chic...dynamic, edgy, elegant, sassy and a little bad assy.”
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