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[0:22] Mo Brady: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:43] Mo Brady: Happy holidays, listeners. Today we bring you a conversation between The Ensemblist's Anna Altide and Dionne Figgins. Most recently seen in New York shining in the ensemble cast of Off-Broadway's Smokey Joe's Café, Dionne has also performed on Broadway in Motown, Memphis, and Hot Feet. But her other passion is for fine period clothing, which led her to become the owner of the fine vintage clothing and luxury goods store, Couture du Jour. Dionne spoke with Anna about how she turned this passion into a thriving storefront in New York's theater district, and how her two careers continue to interweave. Here's their conversation.

[1:39] Anna Altide: Can we go ahead and start with your name and where you're calling from today?

[1:43] Dionne Figgins: My name is Dionne Figgins, and I'm calling from New York City.

[1:46] Anna Altide: All right. So talk to us about Couture du Jour. I suppose your journey in getting involved.

[1:52] Dionne Figgins: So Couture du Jour is a vintage store. We do fine vintage clothing for women and now also for men. And it's located in Midtown on 44th between 8th and 9th. I recently took over ownership of the store. I started the transition last October, and I was in the middle of the transition in March when Corona hit. I had to close the store from March until August. And during that time, me and the owner, because we hadn't finalized all of the transition of business, the journey to becoming the owner, I started shopping at Couture du Jour in 2009 when I was in the ensemble of Memphis the Musical. You know, in between shows, I would, you know, just be walking around in the area. And previous to that, I had left New York for like three years and moved to L.A. And so this was kind of like my reintroduction to being back in the city.

And so, you know, going to the store or finding the store rather was like, oh, there's a hidden vintage gem. I love vintage clothing. And so I started shopping there in 2009. I became very, very close with the owner. And that's kind of where my journey began. In between gigs, when I wasn't in a show, I also sew. And so I started taking sewing projects as just like a little bit of extra money on the side. And then last year, I had just come off of doing Smokey Joe's Cafe at Stage 42. I didn't roll immediately into another show. There wasn't really anything that I was interested in doing in terms of shows on Broadway. And so I was like, you know what, I should just go to the store and start working there. And so that's what happened. In February 2019, I started working there pretty much full time. And by the summer, I was already in conversations with the owner about taking over the store.

[3:40] Anna Altide: Wow, what an incredible, that's incredible. That's absolutely incredible. When would you say your appreciation for vintage clothing began? Just take us through that origin story.

[3:49] Dionne Figgins: From the time that I was little. So I grew up in Washington, D.C. And you know, my mother is a working woman. And so she had a nine to five. And so when I was out of school at three o'clock, I went and I would stay with my Aunt Geneva in my aunt's suit. You know, they're watching Guiding Light and stuff in the living room and going through their perfume, spraying myself and putting on all of these beads and like touching things that I know I'm not supposed to touch. You know, they're of a certain generation. And you know, that generation, they really learned how to take care of their clothing. They took a lot of pride before fast fashion became a thing. And so the care and the quality of clothing, even from like the early 80s, is completely different, you know, to what we are working with now.

And so, you know, they have clothes from the 60s and the 70s, all stored away in trunks. And so I'm just in there like throwing things around, putting what I could on. Also at my studio, my dance studio, every year we would have a flea market. My dance teacher, Doris Jones, when we would have these flea markets, she would bring out all of the like costumes and all of the clothes from people who were training there in the past. And like at my studio, you know, Chita Rivera trained at my studio, Hinton Battle trained at my studio. There's a few pictures of me at these flea markets, like with oversized teals on, like a suede, an oversized peep-toe suede heel. But in retrospect, like that's when I got introduced to all of these vintage labels.

[5:17] Anna Altide: In terms of Couture du Jour, how do you scavenge for one-of-a-kind pieces? Is it mainly donation-based? And if so, what is like your auditing process?

[5:23] Dionne Figgins: So I was lucky that when I took over the store, I was able to acquire the collection that the previous owner had. So I acquired all of that. But since being there, I've also begun to discover how best to source clothing. But I've been able to acquire really a lot of really great pieces through estate sales.

[5:40] Anna Altide: Does Couture du Jour lean into like a particular style or type of vintage, or does it feature notes of all sorts of different eras?

[5:45] Dionne Figgins: It definitely features notes of all different types of eras. I mean, I'm really big into the fifties, but I'm also really, really fascinated by fashion of the eighties. The funny thing is like fashion continues to like recycle itself. In the eighties, they had an obsession, much like we have now with the twenties. I try to find someone who will appreciate it, like a second home, almost, you know, I try not to separate suits. I'm really into like, we have a large collection of business suits for women. And so like, I have a lot of power suits and which is really good right now. Cause you know, we have this boss vice president coming in. So everyone's coming in with suits, you know, so I'll try to be mindful of like what's happening currently in fashion, but also aware that like some people just really love a 1950s housewife style dress. You know, so I try not to get too, I'm period specific because people are literally coming in looking for every era. So I need to make sure I'm flexible in that way.

[6:49] Anna Altide: Is your hope perhaps to tap into the online vintage market?

[6:53] Dionne Figgins: I have to, I have to, because here's the thing, like the store is located on 44th between eighth and ninth, that's Times Square. And with the shuttering of Broadway, when Broadway shut down, it significantly impacted everybody as you know, but the traffic in that area, that Hell's Kitchen area, it went all the way down. Like it's, there's no one down there. You know, so many people have moved out of the city. It's very challenging because again, these are one-of-a-kind pieces. Every piece has to be measured because once they leave there, there's no return policy, right? I make a point to like photograph every flaw that may be on the garment. I have to measure as if I'm measuring someone for a costume.

My heart goes out to obviously all small businesses during this time but particularly small businesses run by actors during this time, because it's been actors and performers, because you've been hit with a double whammy. You know, so many actors in our business in the theater specifically, they have all these other skills that they don't get to put to use. You know, actors have been able to come through and bring me clothes and I'm able to give them a little bit of money for the clothes or consign. I'm not, because I'm really trying to find a way to like, again, build this community. You know, I know that actors, they're like, I'm not wearing this gown or I wore this gown and I'm not wearing this gown again.

Maybe I can consign this gown and get some money, you know, in this time of hardship. And so it's given me the opportunity to kind of think outside of the box, try to elevate the other people in our industry that have all these additional talents. Like everybody's in a huge pivot right now. You know, the store gives me an opportunity for those that are like in craft because the craft community and the vintage community are like very closely connected. They're interwoven. It's such a perfect marriage during this time because you always have folks looking outside the theater world for beautiful pieces and crafts and whatnot, whether online or in New York. I've seen an outpouring of support for local businesses.

People are very serious in that area about supporting their local businesses because when things open, they want to make sure these stores and these businesses that have been around, the store has been open since 2006. So it's not new, you know, and people want to make sure and help ensure that this is something that will be alive when we all get to go back outside and enjoy our lives with some level of normalcy. And, you know, I think it's important as we do transition back into being able to go back to the theater, that we remember this time and continue to support local businesses. You know, continue like when things open up and everything is quote-unquote normal again, we really need to be mindful that this is not just for this season, but this is how we should always support our community businesses.

[9:47] Anna Altide: Once we do reach a point where it is safe for Broadway houses to be filled again, and hopefully you return back to the stage, if that's a choice you want to make, how do you anticipate navigating between being a business owner and a stage actress?

[9:59] Dionne Figgins: There's nothing better than the tourists that are coming to my store to come into the store and see actors that they might have seen on a stage or be able to have these conversations. Like I have people come in all the time and they start talking about a show and I'm like, oh, what did you go see? And they're like, oh, I just saw that. And I was like, oh my God, my friend is in that show. It's a perfect marriage for me. My other favorite department in the theater is the costume department. Because I'm so connected to the costume department, that also works in my favor as well. I know about clothing and I know the people who might be able to come in and help me with the store when I need it.

[10:40] Anna Altide: Absolutely, Dionne. Anything else you'd like to share with us?

[10:43] Dionne Figgins: It's the holidays and I know that means something a little bit different this year, but we are having a sale. Everything from now until the 24th, I will be open on Christmas Eve. So if you want to come by and pick up a trinket, everything in the store will be 50% off. So that's half off for everyone that comes into the store. And if you mentioned that you heard this on The Ensemblist, if this gets out before then, you can come and get an additional 25% off.

[11:13] Mo Brady: Special thanks to Dionne Figgins for sharing her stories with us today. You can find Couture du Jour online at couturedujournyc.com, or in person on 44th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in Midtown New York.

[11:34] Mo Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by Anna Altide, Jackson Klein, and me, Mo Brady. Please rate and review The Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. Our Patreon members have on-demand access to our full archive, including full conversations with our guests and early access to episodes. You can support us there for between $5 and $20 a month at patreon.com slash theensemblist. Thanks for listening. Until next time.