Studio 101 holiday trunk sale features custom skating costumes
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Hoping to snap up an Olympic caliber creation, Tierza Moblo headed to Studio 101 bright and early Friday morning.
The Muskegon resident, her husband and four children headed to Traverse City the night before, getting a hotel room to facilitate their shopping expedition. Studio 101 topped their list as their daughter, Rachel, 8 1/2 is a serious skater who has potential with a capital P.
"She skates six days a week and competes all over the state," Moblo said. "We've just hired a coach for her who comes in once a month from Colorado."
"This coach thinks she has what it takes to go all the way, it's just a matter of her determination and dedication," she added.
Studio 101 hosted a Holiday Trunk Show for Skaters Friday and Saturday, showcasing designer and custom creations of Audrey Baer, owner of Dancer's World in Port Huron. Primarily a seller of dance wear, Studio 101 used to host trunk shows of skate apparel but stopped a few years ago when former owner Pat Easterday sold his business to Kris Hains. Hains decided to revive the tradition and couple it with a different shopping flavor.
"I just wanted to give people something different to do than getting up at 5 a.m. and going to the mall," she said.
"I thought it went really well," Hains noted. "Audrey really specializes in custom-made dresses and she told me her only sewing training was ninth-grade home economics and here she's making these skate dresses."
Drawing devotees of the sport to view her dresses and practice wear, Baer said that a dress is a crucial component of a skater's program. The look, material, style and flow of the costume must match the music and mood. Usually a choreographer requests both the dress and the music before making the routine.
"The coaches are very particular about what they like to see their skater skating in," said Baer, owner of Dancer's World for 13 years. "I help people pick out the right color and style, something jazzy or something waltzy or something to turn into a Western look."
One component of Baer's business is trying to ensure that skaters avoid a singular moment of horror: two girls showing up at a competition wearing the same dress.
"Oh, they'd be furious to see the same dress," she said, adding she tries not to sell the same piece in the same town. "People always want different looks."
Tierza Moblo spent nearly four hours shopping Friday morning. Near the end of the marathon, she consulted with Baer on a custom-accessorized dress for a new program being developed for her daughter. They worked through Baer's boxes of crystals, picking out the colors and styles before determining the best pattern to glue them on a dress.
"The crystals can be quite expensive, you can spend $300-400 a dress just on crystals," Baer noted.
Rachel Moblo is one of a set of triplets that have no shortage of athletic talent. Sister, Nicole, is a competitive dancer and brother, Luke, plays hockey and is training as a partner for ice skating pairs dancing with Rachel. Their mother is pleased that they each have a place to shine.
"They're always stereotyped as 'The Triplets' and this gives them each their own identity," she said.
Ferrying her children around to their different sports, Moblo manages a schedule more exacting than an busy airport control tower's. However, her days are easier in some ways than they used to be with three premature newborns: she and her husband changed 230 diapers a week for years.
Moblo said Rachel's talent for skating manifested early. At age 3, she began asking for lessons. Her parents dismissed this as a whim, but over the next year persistent requests finally prompted them to sign her up.
"We put her in basic skills and the coach saw her and said he wanted to work with her," Moblo said. "She's got a natural talent."
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