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Fragomele says she wants to test the Wilmington scene with “fashion forward pieces.”
Wilmington native Liza Fragomele returned home from New York City to open fashion boutique Trudy By Krista Connor Photos by Rebecca Parsons, Moonloop Photography
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t’s not easy being a 28-year-old female entrepreneur, but Liza Fragomele is fortunate. With support from her parents and immediate family, a lifelong dream is taking shape in the form of her new clothing boutique, Trudy, located at 1801 Delaware Ave. in Trolley Square at the site of a former consignment shop, Déjà Vu. The Wilmington native and Tatnall School graduate got her start in the fashion world in New York City’s SoHo, where for six years she interned and then worked at Beth Buccini's luxury women’s boutique, Kirna Zabête. She eventually became a buyer, which gave her the privilege of curating the store’s selection and traveling to Paris and Milan every year. Despite her love for New York, Fragomele missed the slowerpaced, “small town” feel of Wilmington—and most of all, she missed her family. She moved back home to Trolley Square two years ago and shortly thereafter she and her parents began brainstorming. When they heard that the Déjà Vu space was going to be available, it gave them an idea.
“This space here at the shop is what started the whole project,” says Fragomele. “My parents were working on this very closely with me and said, ‘That would be a perfect place for a boutique.’ I didn’t really see the vision for it at first because of all the work that would have to go into it. But I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to do this.’” Flash forward to March 15, and a small group of friends and family—including her parents, two sisters and a brother— are gathered in the open, naturally-lit space for a ribboncutting helmed by Fragomele’s uncle, Mayor Mike Purzycki. Guests mingle amid clothing pieces from brands like Mother, GRLFRND, Ganni and Misa. As a tribute to “the amazing figure in my life,” Fragomele says, Trudy was named after her mother. Challenges of running the shop have come in many forms, and one of the biggest is Fragomele’s transition from buying for the high-end luxury designer to shifting gears to a different demographic, she says. MAY 2018 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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