Satisfied customers
As Cache La Boutique in Elland celebrates with a fashion show, broadcaster Liz Green tells Stephanie Smith what she has learned from opening a fashion shop. Pictures by Roth Reed Photography.
LIZ Green has interviewed the Dalai Lama, made award-winning documentaries on Death Row in Florida and spent three days in a legal brothel in Nevada, but she reckons she has learned far more about folk from almost a year spent running her French-inspired fashion shop in Elland, Caché La Boutique.
“This is the psychology of shopping,” she says. “It is how we perceive ourselves, our attitudes to our bodies – and sometimes what our companion thinks.”
Liz left the BBC last year after a 32-year career in Leeds and Yorkshire regional radio. She was the first woman to solo-present a local radio breakfast show, and was twice named Yorkshire Personality of the Year. She began thinking about opening her own shop after missing shopping during lockdown. Holidays in the south of France had inspired a love of French style, and she wanted to bottle a nostalgic, chic look and bring it home to Elland, with lots of choice for mature women of all sizes.
Caché La Boutique can be found in a swish shopping location within a conservation area not far from the Elland Mill complex. It offers fashion for year-round style, not just sun and sea, and most of the labels are French.
Last month, Caché marked the new season with an in-store fashion show modelled by
Liz’s Yorkshire celebrity friends. Many customers have also become friends and Liz has learned much about fashion shoppers since she opened. “This is the psychology of shopping,” she says. “It is how we perceive ourselves, our attitudes to our bodies – and sometimes what our companion thinks.”
Here are some of the shopper types she has met in-store:
The last-minute dasher. “A woman will burst through my big pink door with panic in her eyes. She is going to a wedding/funeral/party, usually that day or next,” Liz says. “She has put off looking for an outfit. I am her last hope. She doesn’t enjoy shopping for clothes. With luck, after a panic session, she gets what she needs. I have had women crying in relief.”
The “I hate my body shopper” – Liz says: “I am very familiar with this woman. She has gained weight, maybe menopausal or unhappy – in her head, she is still the size 10 of her youth. We share which bits of our bodies we hate. They usually are the same – bellies, arms, leg shapes. They don’t want baggy clothes. My challenge is to show them they can look amazing without stepping out of their comfort zone. Having been overweight before I had diabetes and dropped to a size zero, I know how many of us feel.”
The “Never Too Old” shopper: “I have several elderly but fabulous clients. For them, colour, shape, being bodacious, is paramount. One is a very sprightly 90 years old. The first time she came, she was in her trousers and a jumper. She left Caché with the most fabulous