Models displayed different clothing during the fashion show. Beth Crawford | Collegian
Maggie Anne’s, a boutique in downtown Hillsdale, debuted trending styles such as pastels and detailed jeans at a spring fashion show on April 18.
Hillsdale alumna Patti Bailey, who owns Maggie Anne’s, hosted the fashion show with Sue Cervini. Part-time employees Amy Braxmaier, Nan Hoberg, and Joanna Wiseley, along with Bailey’s friend Ginger Moore, posed as models.
Local patrons and college students attended the show. Refreshments included macaroons and tea sandwiches, as well as wine for those of age.
Sophomore Maggie Carriker said she appreciated how Maggie Anne’s highlights smaller and more local fashion brands.
“Some of the pieces you find in here are really unique, and that helps your own personal style and makes you feel like you’re not just following whatever you have to be wearing,” Carriker said.
Cervini said pastels, bright colors, florals, wide-leg pants, and details on jeans are among some of the trends for the spring season. Bailey said details on bags are also a popular trend.
“One of the other big trends in handbags is the three-dimensional flowers,” Bailey said.
At the beginning of the show, Cervini showed her wardrobe wheel to the audience as a way to help them organize and coordinate their outfits.
“I would compare the axle of the wheel to the basics of your wardrobe — navy, white, black, khaki,” Cervini said. “The spokes are the separate pieces that work back into your basics.”
According to Cervini, accessories act like the rim of a wheel, tying the whole outfit together.
“It just takes that one little pop of color to update your wardrobe,” Cervini said.
Carriker said she enjoyed seeing the new spring styles.
“I loved the explanation of the trends,” Carriker said. “I very much anticipated the layering look and loose-fitting clothes, and I saw a lot of that today, which was really cool to realize what I’ve been seeing is true.”
While the models changed clothes, Bailey advertised home goods from Maggie Anne’s, such as painted wine glasses, wedding gifts, and charcuterie boards.
“I call the store an updated traditional apparel and gift store,” Bailey said. “We are such a unique, small store. The brands that we sell are strictly specialty. You’re not going to find them in Kohl’s or all those big mall stores that went out of business during COVID. The mom-and-pop stores are what survived and what a lot of people like to support.”
Bailey said growing up in Hillsdale and working at Jacobson’s department store eventually led her to buy Maggie Anne’s.
“I was a children’s buyer, and I thought that I would open a children’s store downtown after I had my daughter,” Bailey said. “My neighbor worked here at the store, and I asked her if the owners would be interested in selling, and she said, ‘Yeah, they were just talking about it.’”
After purchasing the store 28 years ago, Bailey decided to keep its existing name.
“It was named after the two previous owners’ mothers, Margaret and Anne,” Bailey said. “So when we bought it we just didn’t change the name because it didn’t make sense. It had been in business for 17 years, and we didn’t want to mess with anything successful.”
According to Bailey, women of ages 35 and up are the store’s main shoppers, often coming in from Coldwater and Quincy to stay at their lake houses in Hillsdale over the summer.
“They tell their husbands they’re going to Kroger to go grocery shopping, and they come here and shop for a couple of hours,” Bailey said.
Bailey also encouraged Hillsdale students to visit Maggie Anne’s.
“We would love to have the college students come and shop with us and check us out,” Bailey said. “We have all kinds of fun things, such as gifts for your little sister in the sorority.”
