Debbie Dickson ’82 (left) and her mother, Claire (right), keep fashionable Philadelphians flocking to their boutique by forecasting and offering the latest trends.

Dickinsonians with a flair for the fun side of fashion are the focus of our cover feature for summer. You’ll encounter designers Sophie Simmons ’94 and Kate Duvall ’04, company co-owner Scott Beaumont ’75, marketing professionals Jeff Funk ’91 and Marisa Jacobs ’78, boutique co-owner Debbie Dickson ’82, and photographer Doug Inglish ’91 and get a peek at how the presidential style of William G. Durden ’71 evolved.

• Sophie Simmons ’94
• Kate Duvall ’04
• Scott Beaumont ’75
• Jeff Funk ’91
• Marisa Jacobs ’78
• Debbie Dickson ’82 (below)
• Doug Inglish ’91
• William G. Durden ’71

Mother Knows Best

Claire and Debbie Dickson ’82 team up for women’s fashion

By Jerilyn Covert ’04

What daughter describes her mother as a “way hip woman”? Debbie Dickson does. Dickson ’82 and her mom co-own Claire Dickson Boutique outside Philadelphia. Dickson says “it’s wonderful” working with her mom, Claire, who started the store in 1980, two years after Debbie left for college.

“It’s a general understanding [that] family stuff stays out. Business is business,” says Dickson, who calls her mother “Claire” at the store and “Mom” at home.

Although she majored in political science and planned to attend law school, Dickson says her present career would not come as a surprise to her former classmates.

“I was always in fun, cool clothes and always into fashion even if it were a great sweater with jeans,” says Dickson, whose schoolmates often borrowed her clothes.

She started helping her mother around the store after she graduated. It wasn’t long before the mother-daughter duo discovered their mutual fashion sense. They do their own buying on weekly trips to New York and yearly trips to Paris and Florence, and they choose from the newest fashions based on pure gut feeling.

“Working in fashion is just something that’s in you, just something that you feel,” says Dickson, who names flowing, knee-length skirts and the color pink as the latest trends. The boutique has been recognized by Lucky, Philadelphia and Style magazines, but Dickson takes the most pride in her store’s “hands-on service,” which has even involved personal visits to customers’ homes and closets.

Her clients “just want to be put together,” says Dickson. They “want it all done for [them]. That’s where department stores fail. Someone might find a great jacket, but there’s no one to say what it goes with.

“I like making women feel good about themselves,” she continues to say. Fashion gives women “confidence [and] brings out a whole different personality.”