After hearing the frustrations of customers discouraged by the lack of size options in vintage clothes, the owners of The Getup Vintage on State St. decided to do something about it: they started their own clothing line.
“I am a firsthand witness to ladies walking in and looking at the first 1950s dress that they see,” says co-owner Kaylan Mitchell. “And that dress happens to have a twenty-four-inch waist, and they say, ‘Oh, my thigh could fit in that,’ and they get discouraged really quickly about vintage clothing.”
“The fact of the matter is that most vintage clothing that was saved is of smaller sizes,” Mitchell explains. She cites prom dresses as an example of an item that might be saved for posterity, whereas “clothes that were of more normal size got passed down [to relatives]. They got used more, they were worn out, they were given to your sister or your cousin.”
So Mitchell and partner Lindsey Leyland teamed up with local seamstress Kristi Kuick to launch the Cosmic Collection, a clothing line that recreates vintage looks in a broader variety of sizes. Using authentic fabrics from the 1960s and 70s and classic designs modified to range from XS up to 3XL, Mitchell and Leyland hope to encourage more people to discover and explore vintage clothing.
Each item is handmade using vintage fabric, so no two pieces will ever be the same. The garments are also designed to be gender neutral, Mitchell says, “depending on the fabric and how daring you want to be.”
Prices range from $46 to $140 for options including overalls, dresses, blouses, and tunics. Currently the Cosmic Collection is only available at the Getup’s store at 215 S. State.
While that might change in the future, Mitchell says, for now, she’s happy to keep it exclusively in the real world.
“The whole point for me was selling it in the store so people could try it on,” she says. “It’s for local people that come in and don’t have a size that they can find. As much as I’d love to sell it online, this is a thing for Ann Arbor.”
