he BKc has had the opportunity to meet some extremely talented and creative minds since our humble beginnings. It’s rare to be in the presence of a person[s] only to realize by the time you’ve parted ways that you’ve just had an unforgettable experience with a pioneer and legend. We had the privilege to do just that with none other than Bobby Garnett owner and curator of Bobby from Boston. On an extremely early Saturday morning in Boston we met with a significant yet quiet staple in the fashion industry. A man that has naturally set trends that many have covertly replicated and amassed a true clothing collection that only few can even fathom. In writing this we realize that diction can’t begin to describe what we witnessed. We can only hope to paint a picture to help you understand what Bobby Garnett has and continues to accomplish.
When you walk into Bobby Garnett’s shop on Thayer St. in South Boston you truly enter another dimension. It’s so meticulously designed that you find yourself taking more than a few minutes to adjust to your surroundings. Something Garnett purposely thought of when constructing the shop, “I try to work on the pattern of a grid so that the fixtures and the displays are in a straight line. When people are trying to display shoes they’ll have one shoe pointing forward and one shoe to the left or something. Well, I put both shoes forward (laughs). I like geometry and If they’re angles they’re calculated angles.” Everything is calculated and if something is off, he’s already taken a mental note of it. “Ahh” he shouted, “I don’t like the shop the way it is.” What he was referring to was the pile of clothes on the pool table that to him was an eye soar. He’s that orderly.
Garnett started out in the vintage arena but acknowledges getting his eye and patience for shopping and collecting from his mother, “My mother was a big influence on me and fashion because she’s a clothes hound and she was a shopper. That woman could shop! I learned a lot from her in regards to shopping and having patience and finding the bargains because she dressed us very well on a small budget.”
With the things I buy I want them to have continuity
We had the ability to witness first hand Garnett’s patience when we left his store and walked a few sites down to a flea market in which Bobby eyed a U.S. Postal mail bag as soon as he entered the market saying, I’ll take that, with no hesitation. Due to health reasons he’s in a wheelchair but that didn’t stop him from finding two chanel jewelry holders on the floor behind a vendor’s table. He’s that good. Garnett notes that he doesn’t pick up everything that’s worth purchasing, it has to fit his store’s theme, “With the things I buy I want them to have continuity with the rest of the stuff [in the shop] so people can see that there’s a certain theme or style, [things]aren’t just all over the place. There’s a lot of nice things that I pass on because they don’t fit in to what I’m trying to do.”
We then left Mr. Garnett at the store to tend to his clientele while manager and good friend Kristen Daley took us to Mr. Garnett’s warehouse in Lynn. The best way to describe what we we’re about to embark on, [The Bearded Man had this experience multiple times prior], is to imagine your favorite object[s] you’re collecting or would like to start a collection of-shoes, baseball cards, 8- panel caps or tweed blazers, and then imagine you have a warehouse the size of two loft style apartments in Williamsburg and that still won’t equate to what Mr. Garnett has encapsulated in his warehouse. Everything from the ‘60s and back, suits, ties, suspenders, raincoats, athletic footwear, undergarments and the list goes on. “People think I’m crazy for putting that warehouse together like that. It’s not about what other people think but it’s about the fact that I like it.”
Throughout our time spent with Mr. Garnett we couldn’t help but think that even through his collections of clothes he was in some context a historian. Interestingly enough he didn’t see it that way, “I never really think about the history of what I buy. I think about it when I see a movie, read a book or look at old photographs. But when I’m doing it I really think more about the save the planet aspect. I’m proud of the fact that I’m in a business that is the recycling business,” he continues “We’re not a nonprofit or anything but I’m glad we’re doing something that’s keeping a lot of stuff out the dumps.”
The interesting point that manager Ms. Daley made about Mr. Garnett was his love and loyalty to Boston. He never felt the need to leave or take his business elsewhere she says. Garnett a native Bostonian has never strayed from his community and when you have people like Ralph Lauren himself coming to visit that’s all the proof one needs to know staying true to yourself can equate to longevity and recognition in any realm, “His [Ralph Lauren] buyers were buying from me before I actually met him. He had heard about me from his buyers so he came to visit,” says Garnett “He came and I appreciated it and we had the store closed for him and I had a couple of times to chat with him and stuff and that was all cool. But the people in the neighborhood were freaking out more than me (laughs).”
Finally, we spoke to Garnet about his definition of vintage and he immediately broke it down into three sections, “Antique clothing, which normally are clothes 100 years old or more but I would say 1920s and earlier are antique clothes. From the ‘30s to the ‘60s is vintage clothing and anything after that I consider specialty clothing.” Simply stated and to the point, something Bobby Garnett will always exemplify. Garnett said people always told him in dealing with folks in his niche that nice guys finished last, in his case, the outcome has been a little different. 
Bobby’s shop is in the SOUTH END of Boston, not South Boston.
Very nicely written portrait – the best I have found that describes Bobby and his point of view. I haven’t met him or been to the store, but reading about it makes me want to take a trip just to visit!