Bloomingdale designer expands jBlonde clothing line
Clothing designer Jennifer Massarelli awoke at 4 a.m. Monday with an idea for a spring dress. The Bloomingdale artist keeps a notebook next to her bed and quickly drew her idea and then went back to sleep.
This preliminary design may join some of Massarelli's other clothing pieces that are currently sold in boutiques and on the racks at Nordstrom and Dillard department stores across the country.
The clothing line, jBlonde, that Massarelli launched about a year ago, can also be found in her boutique that she recently expanded in Glen Ellyn. For nearly nine years, she has owned and operated her own gift shop, Enchantments. With the launch of her clothing line, the focus of the shop has changed as it grew a new location at 534 Crescent Blvd.
The new store, which continues to carry gifts and jewelry, is a natural progression.
"It's more of a reflection of where I'm at and where my customers have evolved to," she said.
Massarelli's clothing line evolved quickly after a great deal of work and research into the process. "I've always loved design and clothing. Designing my own line became a crazy passion," said the 36-year-old Bloomingdale woman.
While at an independent designer's market in New York buying clothes to sell in her boutique, a buyer for Nordstrom's East Coast stores approached Massarelli and asked her where she purchased the skirt she was wearing. "I was shocked. I was wearing one of the skirts I designed," Massarelli said.
This got the ball rolling and Massarelli flew out to meet with Nordstrom executives the next week. The store agreed to sell items from her complete line including sweaters, coats, jackets and dresses. For the past five seasons, over the past year, the store has come back to her for more. The retailer ordered about triple the quantity from a year ago, Massarelli said.
Massarelli describes her line "as a mix of classic and functional style with a couture edge. It's great fabrication and cuts and flattering on the body," she says.
Customer Sharon Finkelstein agrees that the line "fits amazingly well on all body types." The Long Grove woman travels to the DuPage County boutique when she's looking for something unique. "I get so many complements when I wear the jBlonde line. When I'm at a restaurant, women will follow me to the restroom to ask me where I bought my outfit," said Finkelstein, 44. "Jennifer just knows fashion. This is her calling," the avid shopper said.
The designer strives for "fashionable, yet functional" styles. An example is an exaggerated poncho that she can't keep on the shelf at her new shop. Selling for $149 at the shop, she has sold 20 of the ponchos in various colors in just two weeks. The hand-knit item made of wool and cashmere are also popular at Nordstrom stores on the East Coast.
The jBlonde line is now being tested at Nordstrom stores in the Midwest.
Massarelli says most of her clothing ranges from $80 to $250 at her shop.
When Massarelli comes up with a sketch for a new design, she works with a Chicago woman who creates a pattern and a sample. The item is then sent to a production group just outside Los Angeles. "It's important to me that 90 percent of my line is cut and made in the U.S." she said.
• Kim Mikus' column appears Tuesday through Friday. She welcomes comments at kmikus@dailyherald.com.