Smash hit

When a customer arrives, the racks in the personal shopping suite (with a good ladies’ room and a small luncheon menu on hand) will already be filled with clothes Elaine thinks they will like. The fitters and alterations experts will be on standby. She’ll make lists outlining all the permutations for their garments, suggesting which jacket works with which trousers and skirts.

Most of her customers she knows so well that she’s already familiar with what’s in their wardrobes and when she finds something that will extend the life or possibilities of something they already own will ring and say “such and such a top or sweater has just come in — do you want to come and try it?” Or even more seductively — “shall I send it over?”

When she started she was young and most of her customers were young. “I helped somebody find a suit to wear when being interviewed for her doctorate. We found one, but it cost $200 — a real stretch for her then — but she got her doctorate and today is a very successful psychologist and her husband is a hugely successful businessman and she is still a client. I don’t have many women who are ‘just’ rich men’s wives. I dress my women for book tours, for television appearances, for crucial interviews and, of course, for their charity balls and weddings and other black-tie do’s.”

She says she’s willing to help somebody find just a single jacket but, as she puts it, “the nature of this store is that people come in ready to spend money”. All she asks is that they telephone first to make an appointment, preferably giving at least two weeks’ notice. She’s too coy to tell me how she is rewarded. Is she paid commission? I wonder. All she will say is: “I am very well compensated. I’m the top seller in the store and I do very nice business.”

To give you some idea of just what “nice business” she does, it’s worth recounting that she recently gave the details of a typical day’s business to New York Metro. “My first client bought a Galliano suit, five sweaters, and a fabulous Missoni sweater coat. Then two executive women came in together. One bought a coat, a jacket, two sweaters, and two pairs of trousers — all Oscar (de la Renta). Her friend picked up two suits from Akris and a Sempione pantsuit. The next client was the mother of the bride, and she picked up a very beautiful and fairly expensive evening dress from Vicki Teal. My last client bought two dresses, three sweaters, a pair of trousers, a jacket, and a suit — Akris, Narciso, Dolce, all top brands.”

And just to put it into some kind of financial perspective you might like to know that a typical Galliano dress will sell for about $1,500 (£800), an Oscar de la Renta outfit for $4,350 and you’d be lucky to get away with $1,250 for a Missoni coat.

“I love having challenges,” she says, “and in particular I love helping women who are heavy. One of my favourite customers was a young woman sent to me by her friends who were all sized 4 or 6 whilst she was a 16 (American size 16 is a British 20). It’s hard for a young person because young clothes aren’t geared for fat people. This woman had the face of an angel but she had been battered by shopkeepers. After I’d left her in the changing room to go and find another garment for her I came back to find her standing in the middle of the room sobbing.

‘I thought you’d tell me I was too fat to help,’ she said, ‘but you’ve found me so many lovely things I can wear.’ Before now I’ve sewn together two shirts — and two skirts — to make somebody happy. I can break up suits and sell tops and bottoms in different sizes to please them. I’m a very good editor. I can tell you where the four perfect white shirts in the store can be found.

“I never let anybody leave looking awful. The only business I get is word of mouth so I could never let it happen. Some of my customers are very generous. One young woman has sent me every friend she has, but others prefer not to let their friends know that they don’t do it all themselves.

“In an ideal world I don’t like to do more than three customers a day. I like to get to know them, their body shapes, their likes and dislikes, what sort of lives they live so I can get them a look to match. The first time somebody comes in will really be spent getting to know them, assessing what they need. I’ll pull some clothes together but the next time I'll try and stretch them. I don’t want to repeat the clothes they’ve already got — I want to show them something new.”

On the day I’m interviewing her one of her regular clients, Fern Hurst, an attractive divorcée in, I guess, her late forties, a former City planner and real estate expert with homes in New York and Aspen, comes in. She sportingly allows me to sit in on the consultation. She’s known Elaine Mack for years. “I stopped working when my children were little and then I felt I wanted some help. I needed a look for my adult life, a sophisticated New York go-anywhere kind of look. I also wanted versatility and to carry things through from one year to another. Elaine has given me that. She’s wonderful. I don’t buy a thing unless she says so. I never shop anywhere else. I may cruise other stores but I seldom buy. I may spend a fortune with Elaine but it’s very well spent.”

Today, she doesn’t want a lot. She’s been to the trunk shows and already has a good wardrobe. She’s explained to Elaine on the phone what she wants and Elaine has three different stories, all set out in groups on the rails, ready for her. “She's got a wedding coming up so I’ve got a rack of evening dresses to tempt her. She wants a lightweight summer suit and some jackets which will turn trousers into a pants suit and she could probably be tempted by a dress. But what she really wants to finish up with today is some sportswear for the ranch in Colorado or the beach.”