Babette Pinsky is a woman with an eye for style, and a passion for fashion, but that’s nothing new. Her love for fashion developed at an early age when her mother taught her how to sew, and by her teenage years she was crafting her own clothing. Ready to hit the market with her own line, she opened her first store in 1968 where she became known for her skillful pleats and beautiful textures.
While colors and silhouettes change with time, Babette’s signature pleats and attention to texture still remain at the heart of her designs. “Color is in the air,” she says, whereas the details become your signature: it’s what distinguishes your designs from another designer.
Babette makes it a point to design for what she knows her customers will wear, whether or not that follows what’s currently trending. Her approach has proven to be quite successful, as she now has eight stores open nationwide, as well as several retail partners carrying her line.
However, a little over a year after bringing her fashion-forward, San Francisco-based brand to Minneapolis, she is ready to try something new. This Thursday Babette opens her Walking Among the Mannequins exhibition—exclusive to the Minneapolis store.
Inspired by an exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology featuring moveable mannequins in the 80’s, Babette wanted to create her own interactive exhibit as a way to completely engage customers in her clothing. Babette explains that an interactive exhibit gives you a different perspective of the garments, “You look at all sides, you look at it 3-dimensinonally.” When people try on clothing, they really only see the front, she says.
To fix that problem, she has completely redesigned the store to make room for the human-like mannequins and live models. The gallery-style display will preview her fall 2015 collection, as well as her newest label, Red Square, a casual line of clothing. Minneapolis’ style expert Grant Whittaker will host the event; guiding guests throughout the exhibit while discussing Babette’s exciting fashion journey. For an added bonus, local artist Peyton Scott Russell’s winning window display from the Edina Art Crawl will also be on show.
View Babette’s latest innovation featuring her new fall collection from 5 to 8 p.m. today, April 2 at her Minneapolis store located at 4999 France Ave. S.
