ALL DRESSED UP

Over the past year, hundreds of Perth based frock fanatics have discovered and fallen in love with {Em} Clothing, a Subiaco boutique stocking one thing and one thing only… fabulous dresses in every colour, silhouette and style imaginable.

Home to designs by Alana & Co, Bebe, Caroline Hedaya, Depiction, Honey & Beau, Leanne Lim, Jayson Brunsdon, Elle Zeitoune, Grace & Hart, Little Gracie, Luela, Nicola Finetti, Pink Ruby, Stylestalker, Talulah, Ae’lkemi, Valerie Tolosa and Seventh Vision, {Em} Clothing is a must visit for anyone hunting for something to wear to the races, a wedding, or anything else that is worthy of a fabulous frock.

“I decided I wanted to open a dress shop that just sold dresses, all kinds of dresses from casual right up to more dressy/formal dresses, and everything in between,” owner Claire Cheery tells X-Press on the eve of {Em}’s first birthday. “I think Perth has become a lot dressier, there’s been a shift to wearing dresses for all occasions, which I love because we have the right climate for it.”

Opening a boutique in the current economic climate is no easy feat, but Cherry is pleased to report that {Em}’s first year of trade has been better than expected.

“It’s been a lot of hard work with seven day trade. It’s funny because it’s been a year but I feel like the shop has been here forever. The good thing for us is that we opened in a bad economic time so we had realistic goals and we knew what we wanted to do and how we were going to differentiate ourselves in the market.”

Though she originally planned to target a fairly young demographic, Cherry has found that the frock-loads of dresses in {Em} have attracted a diverse range of shoppers.

“Our target market when we first opened was supposed to be 20-35 but even today I’ve had a 14 year old customer and one of our best clients is 60. We find that a lot of the pieces are quite timeless and we’ve kept our range to a minimum, so we only have about 15 designers in store because we like to showcase a lot of their collections.”

Whether on the hunt for a maxi, a mini or something in between, {Em} Clothing is a must visit. Check it out at 2/103 Rokeby Road in Subiaco (behind Jacksons Art Supplies) or online at emclothing.com.

_EMMA BERGMEIER