Looking Back at Madison’s PARIS STYLE and its Teen Fashion Board

Friday evening I had a glimpse into a bygone era of Madison, Indiana’s Main Street shopping scene. An Open House at Jefferson County History & Art Center‘s PARIS STYLE Exhibit brought back a flood of memories of my own teenage years in the late 1960s. Although I didn’t grow up in Madison, the artifacts on display certainly represented the era. Nylon stockings, prim cotton dresses, plaid wool skirts, a wall of illustrations from Seventeen Magazine, and so much more.

Opened as a chic women’s clothing store in 1953 by Abe & Sylvia Osipe, the PARIS STYLE shop at 129 East Main Street remained in business until 1994. Forty years! Since then, the shop’s bold sign has been removed and the second story windows uncovered, returning the exterior’s upper portion to the original 1870s Italianate facade. Now Betty Jeffries women’s clothing boutique occupies the storefront, and owner Ralph London has brought a fresh new vibe to the space.

What Ralph has discovered in the six years Betty Jeffries has operated at 129 East Main Street is that his customers enjoy sharing their PARIS STYLE shopping memories! Before you know it, he began researching and collecting all things PARIS STYLE. His diverse collection is on display until September 28th at the Jefferson County History & Art Center and features clothing, accessories, ad layouts, photographs, and PARIS STYLE’s signature purchase packaging. As today’s caretaker of the former PARIS STYLE storefront, Ralph appreciates the history of the building and stories woven through the 40 years of the Osipe’s ownership. Ralph shared, “Even though the Osipe’s were terribly saddened to close the Madison store in 1994 as fashion trends had changed drastically and shoppers looked elsewhere, they were a terrifically successful women’s clothing store. And judging by the stories I continue to learn, we should celebrate that.”

Welcome to the PARIS STYLE Exhibit!

I particulary enjoyed the PARIS STYLE newspaper ads and articles about their teen Fashion Board who were “to give advice to high school girls concerning the latest in teenage fashions.” It was fun to see the names – and the faces – of friends and acquaintences who served as the store’s “fashion influencers” back in the day. In the times before cell phones & tablets, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, this store and many others across the country made great use of local teenagers to model the store’s clothes in fashion shows, attend store-sponsored events, and generally “promote the brand.”

Nancy Perry Bear of Madison, Chairman of the 1969 PARIS STYLE Fashion Board, fondly remembers her two years on the Board. She joined after two friends on the Fashion Board (Linda Schultz Manis and Marina Datillo Cooke) who worked with her at the Ohio Theatre recommended her to the PARIS STYLE manager, Louise Johnston, and sales clerk, Freida Thomas. “We represented all three of the local high schools – Madison and Shawe in Madison, and Southwestern in Hanover. The shop had 8 1/2″ X 11″ photos of all of us mounted around the store. We’d have meetings (mostly talking and laughing!), then we’d go through the racks of clothes Frieda pulled for us to try on. She had definite ideas as to which dresses were best for which girls and what outfits were the best to showcase the store at fashion shows”, Nancy recalled. “In those days at PARIS STYLE, you didn’t rummage through the racks of dresses encased in zippered plastic bags and see what suited your fancy. That was Freida’s job, and you wore what she thought was the best look.”

The store, typically packed to the gills with garments, had no room for fashion shows. As it was, you had to thread your way through the clothes to reach the one dressing room in the back. One fashion show Nancy recalled was held at Historic Madison, Inc’s Windle Auditorium. “Someone played the piano for our background music, and we walked down the center aisle wearing our selected outfits”, Nancy remembered, “and the store hoped the community audience would enjoy the show and be inspired to buy.” One of Nancy’s favorite activities was the annual trip to Seymour or Columbus where members from all of the Osipe’s PARIS STYLE stores would be treated to lunch and talked to about what the stores were up to. Today’s teenagers have an unending array of channels on which to view the style recommendations of the “top teen influencers”. These popular content creators are the first to know when there’s a new fashion trend on the way, and social media channels to drive home the message.

Today’s teen influencers showing us how it’s done.

Ralph London’s Betty Jeffries shop takes a cue from PARIS STYLE promotions, but definitely gives it his own spin. This Spring he staged a successful Mothers Day Fashion Show and plans to hold another in 2025. His dress sales are crazy popular, his store is light and bright, and rummaging through the racks in definitley encouraged! There is no teen Fashion Board to play the role of influencers, but the shop is active on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok, reaching their audience with colorful and timely messaging about the goings on at Betty Jeffries.

If you missed the Open House, complete with complimentary PARIS STYLE tote bags by Madison Made and “storefront cookies” from Chickadees Home Bakeshop, I hope you find a time to swing by the exhibit to take a trip down memory lane and celebrate your community. Building story upon story of Madison Main Street‘s retail history and working collaboratively with each other, it’s no wonder Madison is a 2024 Great American Main Street Award winner!