Hi! I'm Elizabeth Batson.
Welcome to my website and thank you for visiting!
For many years now, it has been on my mind to have my own clothing line.
From 1987 until February 2008, I had a really different, fun and funky clothing store, namely, 'the uptown downtown', in Greenville, S.C, where I grew up.
I'm the youngest of five children. My Mom and sisters have greatly influenced my fashion sense, especially my Mom! She is from Maine and worked for a furrier named Murphy's, who specialized in custom made coats of mink, chinchilla, beaver, muskrat, etc. Her exposure to the finer things in life and my Dad's ability and desire to provide her and their children with a wonderful life has made such an impact on me! Through my exposure to beauty-via travel, dining, and clothing- my fashion sense has been strongly influenced.
My Dad founded a textile company in Greenville, SC, once the textile capital of the world. He served the Army from 1950-1952, testing winter gear and clothing on top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, temperatures dipping to -40 degrees below zero. It was from here he courted my Mom; driving to and from Maine, warming up on her mother's lobster bisque. He sent my mother, after seeing her only one time!, while calling on the furrier where she worked and modeled, a double strand of pearls, ironically, from the jeweler in Greenville, SC, EXACTLY where MY clothing store would eventually stand for twenty years, some 35 years later!
In the summer of 1948, my Dad was there to buy fur used by the textile industry as yarn tensioning on textile looms. My parents married in October 1952, then my Dad brought my Mom "Down South" where they promptly started a family. My Mom was raised Catholic! I was born 13 years & four older siblings later in May of '65. (I'm a Taurus, a "hopeless romantic", steady, creative, bull-headed at times, and a lover of chocolate and other vices. Add a dash of ADD, OCD, and a touch of perfectionism and "Type A" tendencies, and "Voila"... Here I Am!).
Throughout my childhood, my parents took us everywhere they went. We've been richly blessed!
My sisters and I sometimes had the same dresses - in each our 3 sizes. Luckily for me, they'd let me wear their jewelry and scarves, I had clearly developed my own sense of style! (My Mom often recounts a story of how my Aunt Vivien asked me sweetly..."Elizabeth... Why do you change clothes so many times a day?" to which (my Mom SAYS? ) I replied, "Because I want to" teeth gritting with impatience. This tale speaks volumes.
I was independent, a free-thinker, and very open-minded even as a very small child! Fondly, I remember the dress I wore to the first day of kindergarten-a floral number with blue & hot pink flowers and a thin black velvet bow & ribbon.The dress hangs at my parents' and I STILL LOVE these colors, as my logo attests!
My Mom never went out of the house without being "fixed up". She would wear hats and gloves to Sunday mass. Her purse usually matched her shoes. She cried for days when Judy Garland died, which I understood. Music was always a big part of our lives. My sisters and I sang along to Bread, early Elton John, & James Taylor. I'd watch with wonder as my eldest brother went "out west" with his buddies each summer during college and return home with a wooly beard! I could not WAIT to travel!
I attended High School from 1978-1982, so I caught the tail end of the hippy era and boogied the Disco era in with my friends.
This was at the height of the "Preppy" look. Not one to do anything halfway, I've been seen in penny loafers with pennies (yikes!), Pink Espadrilles, or "dirty Bucks" shoes, Madras or corduroy pants-say Kelly geen with pink flamingos, or a Lilly Pullitzer wrap skirt. To complete my Preppy look, an Izod "polo" under a monogrammed wool sweater and Grosgrain interchangeable belts with the 2-sided goldtone buckles AND coordinated, monogrammed purse and "Add-A-Bead" necklace, which polished off my look, believe it or not!! However, my "long-haired" boyfriend whom I was forbidden to see- over and over again went to concerts all the time-Devo, the B-52's, Heart, Mother's Finest.
Life was all about the weekend and I began wanting "different" looks, unavailable in Greenville,SC. So I began shopping at thrift shops for "special"events, like Homecoming. My parents would take us to Rich's at Lenox Sqare in Atlanta, that was the deal then, NICE clothing for my Mom, sisters, and I! My sister Ann always was, and still is, coordinated from head to toe. She's that customer who buys the Liz Claiborne blazer, skirt, blouse, AND pants-whereas I've never bought an entire "outfit" in my life!
Every Summer was spent on the beach, all day and every day at Pawley's Island, one of the oldest beach resorts on the East coast. Almost 200 years ago, rice plantation owners went to the nearby beach to escape to cool breezes and Malaria. The colors of seashells, surfers' golden hair, seafoam, and unbelievable sunsets over the marshland, combine this with the early morning colors of sunrise at the pier - This is my inspiration, the precious gifts from God -
All of this drives me toward my goal of sailing-as much as possible-on my own vessel, of course!
Growing up, my oldest brother listened to Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, and THE Guess Who. "these Eyes" was my favorite song-I knew all the words and vividly recall looking at the clothes and "style" of the bands.
I heard my Dad asking my sisters while on thier way out the door, going on dates and wearing "micro -minis", "Where's the rest of that dress?" Not too long ago, I wore one of those dresses to an American Red Cross annual Fundraiser, "Retrofest". It is a HUGE event that people really get decked out for in over-the-top 1960's and 1970's garb. My shop sponsored Retrofest for the last 5 years! Viv's apricot crepe minidress with rhinestones trimming the dress and "Dyeables"-The pumps you'd buy back in the day, they were off-white and could be dyed to match any shade one's heart desired!
Another micro-minidress-this one, my sister Ann's, also came in handy for Retrofest. Tie-dyed brown, tan, and orange polyester that laced-up at the neckline and belled out at the sleeves. Brown lace-up vinyl Go-Go boots completed the look.
I attended, and graduated from, Clemson University in 1986. My roommates and our friends went to Atlanta and Athens, Georgia to hear bands as much as we could! Husker Du, the Replacements, REM- I fell in love at first sight with a Yugoslavian who was a leather-jacket-wearing, mohawk-donning bass player from NJ who was at Clemson on a wrestling scholarship.Need I say more... I received college internship credits interning at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. (Only YOU could get credit for working in a casino!, I was told). My best bud and college roomate, who was earning her Master's in English while I was getting my Undergrad BS suggested I apply for a scholarship the summer before my Senior year & attend Oxford University with her,which I did. Next thing I know I'm learning French (yes, French-in England-the only course I liked and could take at Oxford). Next thing I know I'm being tutored in the beautiful formal gardens at New College, Oxford, by a gorgeous Greek god...and I'm the only one in the class. That was rough!! Before I graduated the following August, my wrestler & I opened a tiny shop in the basement of an apartment building off-campus, naming the shop, 'the underground' appropos, its locale and influenced by my summer in London, riding the "tube", called 'the Underground'. (We also got to Germany, Paris, and Amsterdam, while there.)
A year after graduating, I found the spot I wanted-at, my Mom's suggestion of looking downtown, still reasonably priced and at the start of its rebirth- A Hyatt just having been opened across the street-and the former location of the jeweler where my father had purchased the pearls for my Mom from, those 35 years before! 'The uptown downtown' was finally born! Many didn't "get" it - Doc Marten's, Vintage clothing, incense, recycled Levis-but so many became friends and loyal followers. I prided myself on having a warm atmosphere where no-one felt unaccepted, where differences were embraced, not scorned or mocked. Information about the music scene and a bulletin board where Yoga classes to "drummer needed'' postings were lovingly posted and always perused. The Mayor called "us' (the shop) an Icon. Neat! All sorts of people could be seen at any given time shopping at 'the uptown downtown'. Three generations of 'girls' might all be enjoying our merchandise: the Grandmother reminiscing while gazing at a rhinestone dress clip from the 20's or 30's, Her daughter remembering HER faded ,well-worn bell-bottoms, HER daughter thinking SHE'S the first of the three to "discover" the Dead, tie-dyes,or political stickers!
Two summers ago, while lunching with my mentor,Patsy, I mentioned that I'd always dreamt of having my own clothing line. I'd come to know and admire her through attending her auctions and estate sales where I bought for my shop -from fox stoles to polyester muu-muus to lucite decorative cowboy hats! She was always kind and fair with me. I was young and new at this auction stuff. Patsy was always free with information, teaching me, "look" came over her as she said, a bit mysteriously, "I've got someone you need to meet". That's all that was said. Eventually, via Patsy, I'd be in touch with a Brit, Karen, who is currently my production and Quality Control co-ordinator. Karen lives in Thailand, speaks several languages, once cut a Jazz album, used to live in South Africa, knows Bali to Manila to Vietnam and has a very different way about her than I, which I very much NEED for this new baby of mine-My clothing line. She's super organized and reels me in when I start to get overwhelmed or sidetracked. I'm all bells,whistles,pink and purple. SHE'S practical and monochromatic. She's no-nonsense and strictly business. I wear my heart on my sleeve and don't hesitate being "emotional".
In January 2007, I began going through my Rubbermaid tubs -stuffed with everything from dry-rotted vintage pieces, scraps of trim, dog-eared pages torn out of all sorts of things, my scribblings on anything from napkins to business cards. My clothing line already WAS... in my mind and in those tubs of fabric swatches and remnants and great memories of clothes we'd had as kids and of my Mom's. I can also fondly can see Mom's Aunt Gert-Gertie, a beautiful white-haired Lady, if there ever was one. Now a snowbird and always tanned, coiffed, and wearing white jewelry, she always had her lipstick on and used those white creamy "pencils" under the White part of her fingernails, which I found fascinating! She had a profound influence on my ultra-feminine, lady-like taste, along with my beautiful, warm, unconditionally loving Mom, and Dad. Much of my inspiration is from nature, ALL of it from God. From the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Eastern coasts- from the Outerbanks of NC or on trips with my friend to Boca Raton, Florida. I consider myself a Southern Lady and have old-fashioned values but with a seemingly contradictory, at times Bohemianism about me. My love of and appreciation for art, music, nature, nostalgia and all things "girly" (soft, sweety,pink oftentimes, and that "smell good") paired with my deep Faith combined with growing up in a loving,stable, supportive home have empowered me!
