'Cutting edge' fashions

Last March, Isolde Semm-Herder turned her love affair with stylish clothes into a business: Boutique isolde. The shop carries new and vintage designer clothing for women who don't mind paying more for better quality — say $250 for a casual top or $450 for an informal dress.

"It's a little more cutting-edge fashion," the native of Ireland said. Her kind of fashion.

Even back when she still performed gynecological surgery, Semm-Herder said, she preferred the unique designer clothes she used to pick up all over the world.

She and her late husband, Kurt Semm — a German gynecologist and pioneer in laparoscopic surgery — traveled extensively over the years. Semm-Herder later remarried.

In her boutique, Tory Burch, Maria Cornejo, Hanii Y, Anna Sui, Phillip Lim and Tevrow & Chase are just some of the designer names available.

"If you know fashion, you know these names," said Semm-Herder, relaxing on one of two chairs in the center of her boutique. Around her, the walls are pink — she calls it "Isolde pink."

"It's not a girly pink," she noted. "It's strong."

The boutique is split into two rooms, each accentuated by a pink chandelier. Large, empty oil-and-vinegar bottles decorate the smaller area, which includes some vintage clothes. Semm-Herder said she had to scale back her resale inventory — with prices ranging from about $750 to $2,000 — because the Tucson market does not support it.

"It just hasn't been my No. 1 seller," she said, pointing to a used Chanel jacket selling for $1,500. New, the garment costs between $4,000 and $5,000.

"It's all part of the learning curve, to adapt," said Semm-Herder, adding that she opened her business to invest locally by offering products that will persuade people to shop at home.

"I'm a firm believer that we should support our community."

Semm-Herder's goal is to make her boutique a comfortable place for women of all ages to shop. Getting older does not equate with a diminished sense of style, she added.

"I'm 45, and I still want to be fashion-forward," she said, noting that her boutique is apt for mother-daughter shopping.

"I've got lines that the daughter finds cool and the mom finds cool," Semm-Herder said. "I've got stuff that is girly and stuff that is not so girly."

The clothes suit her sometime employee Milena Sefferovich, 28. A professional photographer who recently moved back to Tucson after living several years in New York, Sefferovich said she gets much of her clothing at the boutique.

Accustomed to the distinctive fashions of New York — which can be difficult to find in informal Tucson — Sefferovich said she is grateful for the boutique.

"I can finally buy these unique things in Tucson," she said.

University of Arizona sophomore Isabelle Dimang said she discovered the boutique recently during a sale promoting its recent move from the rear to the front of the plaza.

"I just loved it," said Dimang, who ended up getting a part-time job there about two weeks ago. Like Sefferovich, Dimang, 19, buys plenty of clothes from the boutique.

"They're just so nice," she said, neatly arranging some colorful tops for display.

How to find it

● Boutique isolde is at 7047 N. Oracle Road, in Casas Adobes Plaza. It is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-4 p.m. Sunday. Phone 575-9119.