Maria Teresa Giglio - The lady whose name is synonymous with exclusive high-profile fashion

  NOTEBOOK [October 5, 2007]

"Today I sell dreams. A lifestyle, a way of  being and representing yourself”, starts off Maria Teresa.

Over so many years, in which she has being gaining experience about fashion and famous labels, her work has changed. Now it doesn’t deal just with business,  but also with human relations with helping people to change and come out with the best of their personality.

“My husband Michele and I started quite immediately, we had just get married and we were kids. Selling clothes was an easier job at the time. Working with high-level customers meant offering the best things on the industry. You had to rely on fabrics’ quality, cuts’ elegance, pieces’ style. They were settled values easy to understand. There was no extreme fashion  yet.

The 70s saw a changeover: labels made people agree. It was a golden age for prêt-à-porter. It was a naïve age as well, a label stuck on a dress was enough  for its symbolic value to increase magically”. Maria Teresa lit up remembering past times.

From the beginning her customers belonged to Palermo’s high society, elegant ladies who knew they could find  something special into her store. Over the years I’ve become friend and confidante with many customer of mine” she continues. “I have established an empathetic, affectionate friendship with them. Someone depended totally on my opinion, other one had a particular talent for finding new things. Me too was becoming more and more like a  psychologist, learning  in the field.

The family has grown over the years, two sons were born, Giuseppe and Federico, now working with their parents and running the business. “Today fashion sale has become a different thing” continues. “The emotional part is very important. Immaterial ideas are more and more sold.   

The value of designer clothes overshoots the material value. Buying a designer dress is like to bring home an art object: it’s an emotional investment. Ours is a challenging job: I take care of the shop windows dressing and I have to make customers realize that they can find really special things in my store. My shop assistants (I can’t call them salesgirls) have a big competence. The customer is given a warm welcome and advises because each dress is also a symbol requiring explanation and comprehension. My assistants know every trend. We help customers to create a style by their own, according to their body and personal nature. I’d rather don’t sell a dress than have it making a person ridiculous”.

So Maria Teresa is always very busy: “ People come into our store looking for the very latest fashions. My customers spare no expense, still paying attention to the value of pieces. Also they are well informed, especially girls. “I don’t tell them about trends any more,  it’s almost the opposite”  she laughs. “ As an expert I have still the task of explaining and translating the runway show’s language. Everybody has a look at the runway shows on the Internet, but remains confused because of the cryptic message. I have to explain that those are events addressed to persons of the field. I have to come up with ideas for our customers who look for the real fashion, the extreme chic.