“Bisé offers fashion accessories with flair”

Bisé offers fashion accessories with flair

Posted: 21 Sep 2010 02:48 AM PDT

Written by Macklin Reid, Press Staff
Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:49

Bisé proprietress Cassandra Van Cott shows off a blouse and a handbag that can be made for the occasion from any scarf. —Macklin Reid

Bisé is a small store filled with what proprietress Cassandra Van Cott calls "fashionable finds," accessories mostly — scarves, bags, fun jewelry — but also dresses, tops, even tee-shirts.

" 'Bise' is a friendly kiss in French — between friends, when they do the peck-peck on the cheeks," she said. "I added the accent. It's a take-off on the French word."

The quirkiness of the name is fitting, for what unifies the store's offerings is Ms. Van Cott's personal sense of what's fashionable, fun, what has flair.

"Whatever I happen to like," she said.

There's more than madness to the method, however. Ms. Van Cott, who lives in nearby South Salem, N.Y., has been a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue, was director of product development for Lillian Vernon, the catalogue company, and spent five years as luxury brands buyer for Duty Free International, the Ridgefield-based airport retailer.

The work for Saks took her to Europe a lot, and with Lillian Vernon, "I've been through the Orient and all through Asia, India," she said.

Now she's opened a little store in The Marketplace at Copps Hill, with an address of 109 Danbury Road, filling part of the old Books on the Common space. She had a "soft opening" a while back, and is having a ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration today.

"Hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, a raffle. Hopefully, we'll have a nice afternoon," she said.

The shop is open 10 to 5, Tuesday through Saturday, though Ms. Van Cott said she'll often stay a little later.

"Right now I'm just trying to get to know the customers here in town. Everybody has different price points they like. And is the customer my age, or my daughter's age?" she said.

Bisé's offerings are wide-ranging, and Ms. Van Cott cultivates a 'never-know-what-you'll-find' approach.

"Things will change often just to keep it fun, the shopping experience, and keep it new," she said. "My tastes are a little eclectic, just based on my travels. I think that contributes to making the shop fun.

"I'm really trying to keep it to thing you wouldn't find in department stores, to keep a truly boutique experience," she said.

"And I'm trying to stay very reasonably priced. You can get dresses for under $100, and jewelry ranges from $15 and up."

She showed off a few things

"There's scarves from Nepal, which are really beautiful — hand silk-screened and hand finished." They sell for $65.

"We do have other silk scarves that are $29," she said. "Some are batiked, some are plain.

"We have these accessories that turn any scarf — ours or yours — into a handbag, or a belt," she said. "Fabric belts, print belts are really in."

She sells French tee-shirts by Petit Batteau — it means 'Little Boat' and was originally a children's clothing line. But women loved the tees, made of soft, strong-weave, high-quality cotton.

"When I was with Saks on a trip to France, all the buyers were running to buy tee-shirts at Petit Batteau," she said.

Now there's a women's line, as well.

"They have a longer cut, which is better for a woman," she said.

"They can be dressed up or down, because of the quality of the cotton," she said. "A basic tee-shirt can be dressed up if you accessorize it properly. You don't have to have a frilly silk blouse. A basic tee-shirt can be just as chic."

She displays what look like long loops of rope — some silver, some gold — but they're bendable and hold the shape their twisted to.

"These are coil necklaces," she said. "They're like modern art for your neck or wrist. You can wear them on your wrist, you can knot them, twist them — they're fun to play with. My mom wears one almost every day."

She also offers work by a couple of local artisan jewelry-makers, including Linda Vree from Wilton.

"She can do custom pieces for a weddings or special occasions. She's really talented," Ms. Van Cott said.

She also has jewelry by Jean Jurson. "She does these lariats in semi-precious stones," Ms. Van Cott said. "It warps around your neck a couple of times."

She showed a junior dress, priced at $62, that she described as something her 16-year-old daughter might wear.

"I had a mother come in. She'd bought a dress for daughter at the mall, for a Bat Mitzvah, and she'd paid $250," Ms. Van Cott said.

At Bisé she found something she liked better, at a quarter the price.

"She returned the one to the mall and left here with a dress, little shoes, she had a handbag, she had a necklace — she might have even have had a scarf, a wrap — and it all came to less than the one dress," Ms. Van Cott said.

Another attraction at Bisé is Debbie Durham, a seamstress who works Thursdays.

"She does alterations and home decor," Ms. Van Cott said. "We have samples of her work in the store. She did the curtains, the bed covering, all the pillows."

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