NORTH LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lindsay Giambattista’s parents chuckled when she told them she wanted to give clothes to girls in need.
They figured the Teen Vogue-scouring daughter of a fashion industry veteran wanted an excuse to do more shopping.
Fast-forward two years: Lindsay, 17, oversees a boutique offering clothing to girls in foster care, handling $1 million worth of donated apparel last year from designers, retailers and people from as far away as Tokyo.
The idea started snowballing after Lindsay looked at 10 trash bags filled with her own duds and decided it wasn’t enough. She reached out to friends and relatives, and the word spread.
Taylor’s Closet — named after Lindsay’s sister who died at birth — now serves about 300 young women in the Fort Lauderdale area, each getting up to six garments a month. Girls in the foster care system, or who recently left it after turning 18, are invited.
Similar boutiques have opened in Dallas and Spokane, Wash., and more are in the works.
Initially, Lindsay was just looking for a fun community service project to fulfill a high school graduation requirement. The deeply religious teen prayed for divine guidance and says she got it.
“This (idea) kind of came to me,” she said recently, “and it was from God.”
When people heard about her project, they gave her office space for the boutique, donated services and material to build it, and sent her brand-new clothing to fill the racks and shelves — and a warehouse in the back to hold everything that passes the boutique’s “like-new,” high-fashion threshold.
Lindsay’s mom, Linda Giambattista, was a fashion industry sales rep before she quit to home-school her children a few years ago. She sees clothes as a way for girls to express themselves, and knows the teasing and self-consciousness that can accompany girls who can’t afford to shop at trendy outlets.
But the power behind Taylor’s Closet goes beyond that.
“It’s not really about the clothing,” Mrs. Giambattista said. “It’s about what’s happening there. They experience love and hope.”
Ashley Larkins remembers her first time at Taylor’s Closet. As she scanned what she described as “some busting stuff” — teenspeak for something that looks good — the 19-year-old started bawling.
Miss Larkins had been in foster care since she was 14, when her mother decided she couldn’t take any more of her eight children.
“She’s like, ’I’m getting tired of y’all,’ ” Miss Larkins said, her voice breaking. “I came home from school one day and my stuff was sitting outside.”
The teen spent a year at a women’s shelter before moving to a group home. Another girl at the home, who has become Miss Larkins’ best friend, told her about Taylor’s Closet, and Miss Larkins went to see it for herself.
“I started crying because I felt like so loved, like somebody finally cared about me,” Miss Larkins said. “I was just so happy.”
In an earlier interview, Lindsay said that although the store is a product of her faith, she doesn’t try to force it on her customers.
“We’re not there to convert them or whatever,” Lindsay said. “We just want to give them pure love that’ll change their lives.”
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