Furever Fashion
“Mob wife” fashion might be trending but as far as vintage fur coats go, Marie & Marcele Boutique owner Crystal Brown says they’re as classic as it gets. Next year will make 15 years that the shop has carried the vintage jackets in store during the winter months. You’ll find styles made primarily between the 1940s and 1980s. “It’s more of a sustainable fashion,” says Crystal. “We don’t buy new furs. These will last lifetimes because real fur is durable.”
Crystal grew up surrounded by antiques and all things vintage. Her parents used to deal antiques and they would travel just to find unique goods. “We used to have an Aerostar minivan and they would literally pick the van around my brother and I with finds,” she recounts. “I always loved seeing the eclectic things, and playing dress up. My mom would buy vintage clothes that were cheaper because they were damaged or something and we would have tea parties in the clothes.”
When they began the store, Crystal and her mother, April, wanted to share their hobby so they brought in a selection of vintage clothes and jewelry. They’ve slowly phased out most of the vintage clothes since a lot of the sizing was too small for the average person. But the furs have remained a hit.
Crystal and April shop in different places for the vintage coats each year — some of Crystal’s favorite pieces came from a mother / daughter trip to Paris. They try to stock anywhere from 8 to 12 each season, and usually sell half before Christmastime. “The goal for the store has always been to have something for everyone, but to also kind of get out of the box,” says Crystal.
The jackets don’t come cheap being both vintage and real fur, but Crystal thinks of them as an investment piece. “Nothing is made how it used to be,” she says. “A lot of reason these have lasted so long was because they were made by hand or with high-quality materials.” Not to mention, each coat is one of a kind and sure to have a backstory you can only dream of competing with.
This year the store has coats originally from Japan, Germany and more. She can tell you what each coat is made of and whether something is fake or not. Mink and fox, she tells us, are the most luxurious of the fur coats but they also come from raccoon, chinchilla, rabbit and more.
Although temperatures don’t get too low in The Sandhills, Crystal says she has sold several, over the years, to military wives that were moving somewhere with a colder climate, like Germany.
Worried about being too extra? Crystal emphasizes wearing what you love, despite the norm. She says, “I think when you live in a small town you think you have to be super plain, but there should always be something to be excited about in your wardrobe. No need to be ordinary if you don’t want to be.”
