07/31/2026
Reflecting on the journey of Lady Beret as we approach our 4th year in business.
Pooja and I met in the cruel summer of 2020—brought together by a like-minded group of people and a fire pit. It was there that we discovered our mutual affection for turtlenecks layered under everything, a special connection to Paris, and the belief in sustainable fashion as a vehicle for self-expression.
Just two years later, Pooja approached me with an idea. She signed up for a market in Downtown Jersey City on a whim and asked me to join her as her partner in vending. We brought together our vintage collections and formed Lady Beret. We brought in the very gifted design expert becki kozel to create our brand, modeled on girlie-girl nostalgia, the shared memories of our mothers’ glamour in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, with a nod to our beloved City of Lights.
Completely unrelated to our business, these last 4 years have been challenging to us both. Real “life sh*t,” as they say. The business survived because we remained committed to sisterhood and the shared belief that platonic love is one of the most undervalued forces in our world.
We now begin Year 4 with the exciting announcement that we are taking a residency at 3rd & B’zaar in the East Village. It comes almost exactly 20 years after I left home for the East Village—bittersweet and beautiful.
It takes a community to create a thriving small business—we literally could not have done this without:
🩷 lookatmyrecords and robsociety, who are ALWAYS game to schlep and contribute their sweat and time to the unglamorous aspects of this biz.
🩷 JD and becki kozel for their feverish sourcing abilities.
💜 Alessandra and Phantasm for bringing us closer to the Jersey City vintage community.
❤️🔥 Our landlords, past and present—especially Tatoo Goals and ༒Ася༒.
🩷 Friends who donated clothes, became loyal customers (looking at you, Kerry Breen!), shared our events and content, and the Jersey City vintage and online communities that have championed us.
