Bobby From Boston: A Documentary from Lea Winkler on Vimeo.
Bobby
Garnett began collecting vintage clothing as a teenager, selling out of his
home in Dorchester and later, out of his prep school dorm room in Maine. After establishing his reputation as a true
lover and connoisseur of vintage, he went on to open Awo, a leather shop in
1969, Muddy River Trading Company in Brookline, MA in 1971, Uptown Strutters
Ball in Provincetown in 1970, and in 1980, Strutters located in Boston’s North
End, South End, and on Newbury Street.
Bobby From
Boston has evolved from a personal collection, to a showroom, to an
internationally recognized source of premium men's and women's vintage
clothing.
The
founder, Bobby Garnett passed away in 2016. His daughter Jessica, along with
her faithful employees keeps Bobby’s legacy going strong. Every detail in the
carefully curated space celebrates Bobby’s passion and the shop continues to be
a primary resource for the movie industry as well as major fashion labels such
as Ralph Lauren, Jcrew, Tom Ford, LL Bean, Abercrombie, and Tommy Hilfiger.
We hope too
see you soon! Nothing made Bobby happier than waving to folks from his antique
quilt-draped Mission style rocker, telling them the full story behind any piece
of clothing and belting out the lyrics to the retro funk and soul music that
always provided the perfect hunting soundtrack.
450
Harrison Avenue Suite 19
Boston,
Massachusetts 02118
617-
423-9299
Bobby from
Boston’s Legacy Continues
Bobby
Garnett's daughter Jessica runs her late father's South End store.
by ABBY
BIELAGUS · 1/17/2017, 9:53 a.m.
Many of us
knew that he had been sick for a long time, but when news came of Bobby
Garnett’s death, a collective gasp could be heard around the city.
Garnett was
a beloved figure in this town, and not only because of the well-curated vintage
clothing and accessories he brought to our shelves, but also because of his
constant smile and endless ability to chat with strangers. Those whose regular
weekend routine included visits to Garnett’s South End store, Bobby from
Boston, wondered what would become of his extensive collection. Thankfully, on
this front, we can now exhale, because Bobby’s daughter Jessica Garnett Carrion
has agreed to carry on his legacy.
It wasn’t a
decision that came easily. After all, she grew up being awoken morning after
morning in the dark hours to scour flea markets with her dad.
“His whole
life revolved around this business, so I wanted to do my own thing. At one time
I wanted to be a chef! But working here and going to the shows and meeting
people, it’s growing on me,” Carrion says.
Not that
she’s a stranger to the world her father inhabited. She’s been working at the
store since 1998, and before that she has memories “as a kid of always running
around the stores on Newbury Street and in Allston.” Carrion even spent time in
Montreal, when her father had a store there. “I went for a month and worked
there. I even learned some French,” she says.
Now that
she’s at the helm, Carrion wants to respect her father’s vision, but implement
some of her own ideas as well. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to keep the
store the same as it was, with his ideas, but also with my ideas now too,” she
says.
One big
change she made was to close the smaller space adjacent to the main room where
the women’s clothing was previously displayed. A furniture store will occupy
that space in the coming months. But this doesn’t mean Bobby’s will no longer
carry women’s vintage—quite the opposite: Carrion has dedicated the back of the
store, a space originally used for storage, to women’s apparel and accessories.
She took down a wall and moved around some cases, and the result is a store
that’s more open and filled with light.
“Women
would walk in and say ‘Oh, it’s just a men’s store,’ and walk out. I see people
come in now and they walk straight back to the women’s section. They can see
from the front of the store to the back. They can take everything in at once,”
Carrion says.
She also
has plans to make the store easier to shop by rotating stock seasonally. And
someday, she wants to start designing.
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