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Copyright December 21, 1999 The Des Moines Business Record
By Nate Hoogeveen

The corporate ladder is a busy place. So a Des Moines clothier's role is to make fashion as carefree as possible for businesswomen.

Among Des Moines businesswomen, it's no surprise to spy a peer in a Younkers red blazer or Talbots navy pantsuit everyone's seen dozens of times. 

Deidra Parman, account executive at KVI/Seabury & Smith, had grown frustrated with the selection of business clothing available locally. Running from shop to shop to search out unique clothing was time consuming. Then a friend introduced her to Jacki Stevens, a woman who sells the Doncaster line of women's clothing from her Urbandale home. Stevens sells clothing in weeklong shows at the beginning of each season. At that time, she installs grids around the perimeters of two rooms in her house and hangs more than 300 articles of clothing from them. "You can find in an evening what would take days going to the malls and shops," Parman says. 

As women move up in the ranks of executive roles, extra time shrinks away. Beyond job-related pressure, increased expectations for community involvement come onto the scene. Child-related responsibilities like hauling three kids to different parts of town for hockey, ballet and piano lessons don't go away. "And, once a woman reaches a certain level, the expectation is to dress like most professional businesswomen," says Gina Pia Cooper, editor-in-chief of FashionFinds.com. "It takes time many women don't have. That's why services of this type are so valuable." 

Stevens began matching women with apparel while she attended Grand View College. Like many students, she sifted through thrift shops for clothing. Her friends kept asking about her great-looking clothes. She'd ask them to guess how much her outfit cost. Often, it was just a few dollars. They started giving her money to pick out clothes for them. Soon, she was in business. Her thrift-clothing business continued for about five years until she noticed an advertisement in Vogue for Doncaster representatives in 1994. She checked into it and liked the company's management and the clothing. "The styles are very classic," Stevens says. "The clothing is high-quality." 

Her clients changed drastically, from bargain hunters to executives and what she describes as "the country-club set." The average cost for a suit is about $500. "The clothes she sells will last me several years because they wear a long time and also because they are not trendy," says Mary Miller, vice president in charge of sales at Polk County bank. "They are classy." 

Stevens' role changed with her clients, too. Her function is to be a time and effort saver. She learned to keep folders of fabric swatches and drawings of each skirt, blouse and jacket so that she could make matching recommendations later. Now she keeps files for about 75 regular customers who have grown to trust her recommendations. She also meets her clients at tailor shops to make sure the clothing fits. Customers like Parman make as many as three-quarters of their dress-apparel purchases from Stevens. "I just don't have time to go looking and looking and looking," Miller says. She says her involvement in the Johnston community and at church curtail much of her shopping time. "Jacki's almost like a personal shopper." That's because Stevens is one of a handful of local clothiers who provide a heightened attention to details beyond measurements. 

Many of her clients know each other, so she even keeps social tabs. If Stevens catches wind that Marilyn is wearing a red blazer to a fund-raiser, she alerts Claire that she'd be wise to choose a different ensemble. She knows each woman's preferences, and doesn't try to sell skirts to women who need to be in slacks, such as doctors, real estate agents and traveling saleswomen. "I'm very subtle," Stevens says. "I don't push people into buying what they don't want. I'm always just trying to be in tune with what women need."