By: Chris Oregon

Choosing what clothes to wear is something we all do on a daily basis. Some of us get ready for different occasions. This brings us to Jessica, manager for retail store Bastille.

Bastille is a high-end retail store with three locations; two located in Utah and one located in San Francisco. Bastille is a company that cares more about quality instead of quantity. Bastille may be smaller than other retailers but the impact they’re having in the fashion world in Utah is like no other.

Jessica’s coworkers always speak highly of her. That is just the type of person she is. She is straight-forward but she is always kind.

“Ever since I was a kid I always was interested in fashion,” Jessica says. She is one of those people who understand why we spend so much money on clothes. “I honestly don’t care what others think about the pricing of some of my stuff because I think I look good.”

“She is always smiling and she brightens up any room she walks into,” says one of her coworkers.

Working at Bastille gives Jess the opportunity to see how Utah is advancing in the fashion world. “People are starting to recognize these brands we carry and they know which brands are popular worldwide,” Jess says. “It’s so crazy seeing everyone from teenagers to middle-aged people wearing these clothes. All of this is good for us because we get to sell more and therefore we are able to get cooler stuff compared to other retailers,” she explains to me. “We like to give the people what they want.”

“If you were to go back, like, five years you would rarely see people buying high-end, expensive clothes like they do today. Nowadays you see people wearing a plain, black t-shirt that costs $85,” she says. “I get kids coming in here all the time asking when we are going to get new John Elliott stuff. That blows my mind because his stuff is really nice but simple. A t-shirt can run you $60 and a pair of his sweats are $185.”

“I love my job so much,” she says. “I get to help others look cool. I love the feeling I get when I help someone find what they’re looking for. Seeing them feel confident in new clothes makes me feel good.”

“Working here is so much better than other retail jobs I’ve had in the past,” says one of her coworkers. “Jess is just an awesome person to work with. We all feed off each other’s vibes and I feel like that helps our store in so many ways. We compete with other stores because of the stuff we carry but also with the workers we hire. You can’t get this type of help from very many stores.”

“I get to help choose what we carry in-store,” she says to me while explaining how they choose products. “I love that I get a say in what we carry. I love fashion and so do our customers so I get to choose what I like and what I think the customers will like. After all, it is always about the customer so we try to make them happy.” And that’s the kind of person Jess is. She genuinely cares about her customers. Jess wants to get to know her customers on a personal level. She cares more about the customer than making a sale and there aren’t very many places that give this type of service.

“Every day when I get ready I base it on how I’m feeling. I love clothes because it lets me express myself in ways that I can’t even explain. People will always notice your appearance so I like to make sure that I’m dressed well so I feel confident.” She tells me how she always loves to make a good first impression and one way she does that is by wearing the clothes she loves

“Fashion lets me be me. I can express myself however I want. Sometimes I feel like I can express myself better through my clothes,” says Jess. “I like to feel confident when I go anywhere and I get to do that with my clothes,” she says when explaining how fashions defines her. “Fashion lets me express myself in so many ways. It’s hard for me to describe myself and I think it’s the same with my clothes. One day I can be into dark clothes and have it fit baggy, and the next day I’m wearing brighter colors that are more fitted. You know what I’m saying?”

“So yeah, that’s how fashion defines me. It allows me to express myself. I get to feel confident and it allows for me to be me,” she says to me as we say our goodbyes.