Billy Reid
Nashville, Tennessee
Billy Reid in Nashville is an upscale and decidedly Southern take on men's and women's fashion. Billy Reid is for the man who doesn't mind paying more for investment pieces and recognizes the value of a great-fitting pair of pants. "We want all of our stores to feel like you're walking into your own home," he says, in a syrupy Southern accent; for a moment, you actually believe you're sitting in Reid's living room in his hometown of Florence, Alabama. There is nothing in the designer Billy Reid's store that has not been salvaged from a dump. His first collections in the 1990s earned him an award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, but six years ago, after losing his financial backing, he closed his New York business, then called William Reid, and moved home to Florence, Ala. The floors are made of pine floorboards reclaimed from a cotton gin. The dark wood display cases once belonged to an apothecary in Montgomery, Ala. Even the pedestals of an end table were amputated from what was once a claw-foot bathtub. Each light fixture is salvaged and refashioned for the showroom, accompanied by vintage wallpaper. The storefront window is a patchwork of wood window sashes collected from various demolition sites and architectural salvage stores around Nashville, Tn and Northern Alabama. The front doors were salvaged from a building in New York City that is now home to Billy Reid's New York store. DA|AD is currently working on the Billy Reid corporate headquarters in Florence, Alabama due to open mid June 2009. It will house their main offices, design studio, distribution warehouse and a new retail store.
