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Born as the only child to Dorthy and Charles Decoux, owners of a boutique hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Magdalena was her parents pride and joy. From a young age, they spoiled their daughter, as Dorthy and Charles were in their forties by the time their family expanded from two to three. Despite spoiling their daughter, Dorthy and Charles made sure to teach Magdalena the value of hard work. She would assist them in the operations of the hotel, from house keeping to concierge, there was no task that they didn’t teach their daughter how to do. As Magdalena aged, Dorthy took note of the praise she got on her daughters looks and started entering her into beauty pageants. It wasn’t long before the young girl started winning, and with winning, came cash. The cash quickly left the hands of the adolescent and went into the hands of her parents and thus, the hotel. It was almost a bitter circle for Magdalena, her time outside of school was spent a the hotel working and when she wasn’t, she was on display only to have the money she won go back into the hotel. Throughout her teens, Dorthy kept Magdalena in pageants, despite the protesting of her daughter. And since Magdalena was of legal working age then, they made sure to have her assist without direct supervision of an adult at the hotel whenever she could. Not paying her, they made sure she had every want she had fulfilled, considering it a trade of sorts. It was during this time that she started working with the in house seamstress and learned how to sew. After graduating from High School, Magdalena realized that despite loving her parents dearly, she had enough of the life she had and told them she planned to move to New York. The decision came after a conversation with a guest of the hotel, an older man who had stayed at the hotel quite frequently. He told her all the wonders the City had. He told her if she needed a place to stay, she could stay with him until she got on her feet. Her parents protested the decision, saying that she couldn’t survive a day in New York. Packing up her bags in the middle of the night one July night, Magdalena, who was eighteen at the time, rode the greyhound bus from New Orleans to New York City. Once she arrived, she called the man, Steven, who allowed her to crash on his couch. It took a couple weeks for her to find a job, but before she knew it, she was working as a seamstress/tailor at a mom and pop shop alterations shop. The pay wasn’t much but the owners also owned a couple units in the building the alterations shop was in and they gave her a good deal on the studio Not being able to afford the apartment on sewing alone, Magdalena got a job at Saks Fifth Avenue as a personal stylist. Telling clients she could do the alterations for them cheaper on the side, she started her own side business, making extra income. While doing this, she started taking note of the cut and styles of the latest trends. With the money she made doing alterations on the side, she started buying fabric and creating designs. They were rough in the beginning but she had found her passion. One day, at the age of twenty-one, Magdalena was shopping for an older woman named Helena, when Helena’s son, James, surprised his mom by showing up to take his mother to lunch. It was love at first sight between James and Magdalena, much to the disapproval of his mother, and the two started seeing each other. Their relationship moved quickly, before either knew it, they were engaged and decided to elope. James, a Wall Street executive, insisted that Magdalena quit her two jobs so that she could focus on her passion, design. He even offered to pay for her to attend FIT so she could hone her craft. At first Magdalena declined the gesture, as she was used to working hard, but after realizing she was just running into a wall with the route she was going, she took James up on the offer and attended FIT. After graduating, Magdalena worked hard on her designs, and even started working with Diane von Furstenberg after months of pursuit. At the age of thirty, Magdalena left Diane von Furstenberg to try to focus more on her designs. As much as she loved worked for a fashion house, she wanted to make a name for herself in the same right. Talking James into buying her a space so she could have her own shop, the two found a perfect spot in the East Village. During the build, Magdalena realized she couldn’t fully stock the place with only her designs, she decided to turn it into a high end second hand vintage store, where she also featured her designs that were inspired by the 40’s and 50’s. In the winter of 2005, Magdalena opened up her store “Bete Noir.” Shortly after opening the doors, Magdalena found that James was being unfaithful and the two ended up divorcing. Due to a prenup never being a thought when they first married, Magdalena ended up walking away with a pretty penny, as well as the ability to keep her shop. After the divorce, Magdalena dove head first into Bete Noir, making sure it was a thriving, successful business. Expanding it, when the space next to hers opened up, she made sure to include space for a workshop for her and any employee that decided they wanted to give design a hand. Filling the shop with one of a kind pieces, Magdalena has made it a point to try to travel the world to find one off pieces from places like London, Paris and France, while keeping the prices reasonable so even college students could afford to look fashionable. |
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