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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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“London Sky,” a vintage settee reimagined by Pryor and Peacock with a dramatic view of the London skyline.
Provided by Pryor and Peacock
The women at Pryor and Peacock — two sisters and their mother — thought that was a shame. They decided to save these carefully crafted pieces and breathe new life into them using old designs and new technology. The results are one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture, each with its own feel, design and story.
It started with a crazy idea. Interior designer Luca Shapiro, one of the sisters, was trying to revitalize an old telephone chair — the kind with a little table built onto the side for a phone and notepad. She wanted to upholster the chair with pages from a phone book. The idea was so specific, she knew she’d never be able to find the fabric she was looking for, so she began researching ways to make it herself.
What she and her business partners — a.k.a. her mom and sister — discovered was digital textile printing. The method first came about in the late 1980s, and the process has become more precise through advances in dyes, inks and the inkjet printers now used by manufacturers. Pryor and Peacock use the process both as the only practical way to achieve their specific designs and as a means of reducing waste associated with traditional furniture making.
One aspect of that waste has been a hot-button issue of late: water. According to the World Bank Group, textile dyeing and treatment account for an estimated 20% of industrial water pollution. With the onslaught of data centers, conserving water seems to be more important than ever. While P&P is a relatively small operation, which couldn’t possibly consume the levels of water being used by big data, the company believes that every drop matters.
Fast-furniture is another detrimental trend the women wanted to address. Cheaper, lighter and more convenient pieces are now favored over carefully made and designed furniture.
“Squirrels in the Shire,” a one-of-a-kind furniture piece created by Pryor and Peacock.Provided by Pryor and Peacock
P&P finds unique statement pieces from the past and gives them new life through period-appropriate design and cutting-edge textile technology. It also sees this as a way to protect wildlife. While the company is committed to abstaining from leather and fur in its production, reducing the need for new wood means less deforestation, and the preservation of animal habitats.
Sustainable practices aside, the work is really about pairing artworks in unexpected ways. The designs are mostly sourced from old art books, featuring illustrations from centuries past. Sometimes P&P finds a piece of furniture, and looks for ways to enhance its beauty through design. Other times, the design comes first, and they scour antique shops, auctions and flea markets to find its perfect canvas.
The results are always completely unique, and frequently come with fun, inspiring stories of the art, the “frame” and sometimes both. It’s thanks to these unique pairings that you won’t find anyone with the same piece as you. Of course, that means if you see something you love, you better get it before somebody else does.
P&P presented its first pop-up shop in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, last month, and is looking for other in-person opportunities to show its work.
To learn more about the business and browse its current inventory, visitpryorandpeacock.com.
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