Remembering Forgotten Women
When Oprah Winfrey said good-by to 67 pounds last year, she also said good-by to Forgotten Woman.
“She was a client,” confirms Nancye Radmin, owner of the coast-to-coast chain that specializes in large-size luxuries like pleated-silk culottes, cashmere sweaters and leather suits. “I think she’s the greatest thing that ever happened to the large-size woman. When she was heavier, she made it OK. And when she lost weight, she gave women hope.”
Radmin, who spent a day in her Beverly Hills store recently, says Winfrey didn’t keep her clothing source a secret. She even had the tall, tan, outspoken retailer on her daytime talk show.
But there are celebrity clients Radmin isn’t allowed to mention, and she understands why: “I don’t blame them. I don’t think anyone wants to admit she’s heavy.”
Radmin knows how it feels. She ballooned from a pre-pregnancy Size 4 to a Size 16 after the birth of her second son. When she went looking for cashmere sweaters and silk blouses, she claims she was laughed out of stores.
The experience drove her to open the first Forgotten Woman on Lexington Avenue in mid-Manhattan in 1977. Now there are 20, stretching from New York to Newport Beach and racking up a yearly sales volume of $40 million.
Radmin may have dropped weight and 115 points of cholesterol, but she still thinks of herself as a big woman and is a walking advertisement for her stores. When she orders from large-size divisions of companies like Liz Claiborne, Laura Biagiotti, Hino & Malee, and Paul Stanley, she adds a Size 10 for herself.
“They used to call me ‘crazy Nancye,’ ” she remembers of the difficult days when she would plead with top manufacturers to make large versions of their clothing. But no one is calling her crazy now. “The national retail average is $150 per square foot annually. We’re doing in excess of $800,” she says. “We’ve gotten designers to recognize we want, need, demand and crave beautiful clothes.”
Among the merchandise in her Beverly Hills store is a $300 black baseball jacket appliqued with “decals” from fine European hotels. It’s an eyeful and Radmin explains why she carries it:
“We are big. We can’t snap our fingers and make ourselves smaller, so we might as well make a fashion statement. When you weigh 200 pounds, you’re not going to disappear. So you say: ‘Here I am. I’m big. I’m beautiful.’ ”
Radmin bought only 100 jackets for the entire chain: “At that price, my customer doesn’t want to see herself coming and going.”
But activewear is a different story. It is a big seller, especially in the Beverly Hills store where “we get the Pritikin ladies,” says Radmin.
She has only one firm rule for people with extra pounds: “Go shopping. Quit putting it off because you’re going to lose weight tomorrow. In the meantime, don’t look unattractive.”
Even without the advice, it’s unlikely Radmin will ever run out of customers. According to statistics at her beautifully manicured fingertips, “35% of America’s population is a Size 14 and above. If it weren’t, all those diet centers wouldn’t be making all that money. I don’t think in my lifetime we’re going to see the return of Rubenesque women, but thank heavens we’ve gotten past Twiggy.”
