By MICHAEL AUSHENKER | Contributing Writer
Years ago, freshly graduated from college, Julien Heart had caught wind that the first Ralph Lauren Polo store was going to be in Beverly Hills, as part of the Jerry Magnin store. She entered the high-end Rodeo Drive clothier, walked right up to the store’s namesake and boldly announced that Magnin was going to hire her.
“He looked me in the face and said, ‘Oh, really?’” Heart recalled, chuckling.
Her move worked. She asked when she should start and Magnin responded, “Today!”
“He was my mentor,” she said. “In three months, I was the top sales person, managing and buying.”
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
Cut to today and Heart, along with hubby Alan Siegel, now runs Weathervane For Women on Montana Avenue, Santa Monica’s choicest street. The boutique boasts loyal customers including many Palisadians, who buy Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons.
Weathervane—which also carries Tom Brown, Gary Graham and Simone Rocha—specializes in edgy, avant-garde fashions from emerging European and Japanese designers.
“I happen to love the Japanese culture and have been fortunate to travel there,” Heart said.
“We’re the only ones who carry these lines,” Siegel said. “Anybody on the Westside who likes that has got to come to us.”
The Jerry Magnin store on Rodeo was how the Castellammare couple met. Siegel was so smitten with the young sales lady, he returned repeatedly.
“She took me out of Armani suits and put me into Yamamoto,” Siegel said.
Forgive the expression but Heart has always had her heart set on working retail. At 15, she worked at a Rupert, Idaho music store until she was college-bound. While majoring in marketing at Boise State University, Heart worked at a high-end clothing store called Serendipity and learned the ropes of buying and selling.
Speaking of “serendipity,” if Heart had another fortuitous career turning point, it came in 2008 when the couple’s daughter, Madison Avery Siegel, was heading to college and Heart was anxious to return to retail clothing. When she approached the septuagenarian owner of Weathervane (which many decades ago originated in Pacific Palisades) for a part-time position, she was asked what her ideal job would be.
“If I had my druthers, I’d open a store exactly like yours, but I’m too old, and it’s too expensive,” Heart responded.
As it turned out, the woman, who had owned Weathervane for 40 years, happened to be “very quietly talking about selling,” Heart said.
She sold the boutique to Heart and Siegel at the worst possible time.
“I came back from Paris and the economy crashed. It was terrible,” Heart said.
“I had a lot of faith in Julien,” Siegel said. “She had the most consistently good taste I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Thankfully, things started turning around by 2010 thanks to Shop Local efforts and companies such as Lucky Brand and Williams-Sonoma opening outlets, although she admitted, “Montana used to have more street traffic.”
“It took longer because of the economy but everyone went through that,” Siegel said. “Now we have our own identity. We have a number of brands that no one else has.”
Weathervane’s other half comes from advertising. Originally from Baltimore (“My life was like the movie ‘Diner’”) and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s fine arts program, Siegel produced the sustainability documentary “Food Fight” as well as 30 years worth of TV ads.
His body of work includes countless car commercials and a Coors Light campaign that included Dr. Dre, Pharrell Williams and Quincy Jones.
November Films founder Siegel (not to be confused with the Alan Siegel who has produced several Denzel Washington movies and the upcoming “London Has Fallen”), who handles the store’s website graphics, ads and social media, said handling Weathervane’s marketing has given the former art teacher a chance to utilize his bachelor of fine art skills again.
Another simple yet effective touch: Siegel brings in chocolate chip cookies for customers.
“I enjoy baking,” Siegel said.
“It’s a very good blend between Alan and I,” Heart said. “It’s extremely creative. We’re a great match. We’ve been together for 30 years.”
With a view of the ocean horizon out one window and the mountains out the other, Siegel can’t complain when working on Weathervane’s visuals out of their Castellammare home.
Meanwhile, Heart is happy to be out of the house and hands-on at her store.
“I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. And what I want to do,” she said. “And not a lot of people can say that.”
WEATHERVANE FOR WOMEN
1209 Montana Avenue | Santa Monica, CA 90403 | 310-393-5344 | weathervaneforwomen.com
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