Nancy Talbot, who with her husband opened in 1947 the first of what would grow into a chain of nearly 600 stores and a successful mail-order business selling "timeless" women's wear, died Sunday at
89, Bryan Marquard reports.
Merchandise tended to reflect Talbot's style and affection for bright colors. Red and orange were her favorites, and they figured prominently in the chain's
catalogs. The front doors to her stores were painted bright red. "Metaphorically, that's really who she was -- very alive, a bright, brilliant person," says her daughter Polly Talbot Donald of
Boulder, Colo.
"Our customer wants to conserve what is good and right for her in fashion," Talbot wrote in a company publication. "We look for clothes that are timeless because they are
ladylike, simple but not contrived, gimmicky, or extreme, smart but not faddy, fashionable but not funky -- chic and understated, the hallmarks of good taste."
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