Newhouse, 57, is the owner of Phyllis, a contemporary, New York-style clothing store on Emerson Street in Palo Alto. She is a small woman with bright red lips and a rumple of granite-colored hair that makes her seem taller than she really is. From the hat on her head to the ankle-length hem of her dress, she is encased in designer clothes. It's a look that stops at her feet. From there, comfort dictates, as does a kind of embarrassment about the mismatch between shoes and clothes. "It does upset me the way my shoes look. Most of the time I don't look down."
Before Phyllis, Newhouse was a Jacqueline of all trades. She was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, a clerk in a record store and a secretary at Stanford University. It wasn't until she started working in her father's store that she found her calling.
Her father, Mose Newhouse, stocked the store, then called Stanford Clothing Store, with secondhand goods, army surplus clothes, funky hats and rental tuxedos. But as Palo Alto grew up and became the heart of Silicon Valley, his merchandise went out of style. "People no longer rented tuxedos to go to the opera," said Newhouse.
When Mose retired in 1975, Phyllis took over the store. Her first act as proprietor was to replace the original inventory. Out went the fatigue pants, Panama hats and mint green cummerbunds. In went the fruits of Newhouse's first buying forays--secondhand dresses and flea market froufrou.
By 1979, Newhouse realized she didn't have time to run the store six days a week and still scour the flea markets on Sunday. "I gave up the secondhand clothes and started going to the shows in San Francisco," she said. "One year I had these cute things from India. Another year I had everything in white."
Now her buying trips take her to America's fashion capital: New York. Amid floors full of clothing, her biggest challenge is finding clothes she loves, not just the latest craze. "If nothing turns me on, I get scared and start to feel like I don't know my own business. Then I'll spot something I really love, and I'm so relieved. Then I think, 'Hey, this is fun. This is wonderful.'"
Despite the thrill of the hunt, she admits feeling surprised when someone compliments her taste. "I never thought I'd have a store," she said. "I was ashamed of it at first. I had wanted to be an artist, and now I was a merchant."
After working all day in a store, the last thing Newhouse wants to do is shop. Life is about balance, she contends. Instead, she takes acting and singing classes, activities she plans to continue until she is "too feeble" to carry on.
"I'm shy on the outside but in here, I might do anything," she said, pointing to her heart. Anything except buy uncomfortable shoes.
--Janice Podsada "I never thought I'd have a store. I was ashamed of it at first. I had wanted to be an artist, and now I was a merchant."
Back up to the Table of Contents Page