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fESsr
Where are they now?
,3-;
Building off her experience running her mom
's used clothing store, Dagua Webb opened up
her own store, Deluxe, in 2003.
Courtesy
Designing costumes leads
to graduate's Deluxe career
Dagua Webb is the owner of a vintage clothing store
in Eugene that also carries her own original designs
BYCANELAWOOD
NEWS REPORTER
Unlike most University students,
Dagua Webb spent much of her un
dergraduate years both in Eugene
and in Europe.
Webb, who is now the owner of
Deluxe, a vintage clothing store in Eu
gene, first attended the University in
1994 and completed her classes in De
cember 2003, but didn’t receive her
diploma until Monday. For about 10
months she was one credit shy of re
ceiving her degrees, but then the re
quirements changed, giving her
enough for a B.A. in art history and a
B.A. in French.
“I was interested in being a cloth
ing designer or graphic designer, or
possibly an architect,” Webb said. “I
even thought about owning a farm.”
While at the University, Webb was
heavily involved in designing cos
tumes for the University’s Depart
ment of Theatre Arts. Her costume
designs for a production of “T\vo
Gentlemen of Verona” earned an
award from the Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts.
Although she had some successful
moments at the University, it took her
a while to get here.
After graduating from South Eu
gene High School in 1989, Webb
moved to Bend, where she became a
small entrepreneur making clothing
for snowboarders. She also lived in
Humboldt County, Calif., and Seattle
before returning to Eugene.
Once in Eugene, Webb had the op
portunity to work for her mother’s
business, as she had done since she
was in middle school.
I ran my mom s Dusiness, caned
The Clothes Horse, which she sold in
2002,” Webb said.
While managing the store, Webb
dated a man who was interested in
academics.
“I always wanted to go back to
school, and he helped me get in,”
Webb said. “I didn’t have a diploma,
so I had to get my GED.”
Webb obtained straight A’s in her
first term and advanced to second
year French.
“I was nervous because I was five
or six years older than everyone else
in my class,” Webb said. “1 made it a
goal to care about it; 1 focused and
had almost perfect attendance.”
Not long into her college career,
Webb began traveling to Europe. She
spent spring term of her first year in
southern France on an exchange pro
gram, which prompted her to stay for
three extra months in the summer.
DAGUAWEBB
Graduated: Finished classes in December 2003,
received degree Monday.
Degrees earned: B.A. in Art History and
B.A. in French.
Activities involved in: Costume design for the
Department of Theatre Arts; student exchange
to France.
Issues at the time: Transition from the Clinton
presidency to the Bush presidency. Webb said during
the Clinton years, people in Europe were more con
cerned with cultural issues from the United States,
such as guns and rap music. But when Bush came
into office, people were more concerned with political
issues. While she was in Europe, Webb said Euro
peans were more politically aligned and now they’ve
become more polarized.
It was after returning from France
that Webb got involved with cos
tuming at the University, which lat
er led her to an interest in architec
tural art history.
“Costuming was extremely diffi
cult,” Webb said. “It was a three
hour-a-week class that took 40 hours
of my time. So I realized it was too
much for me.”
Following her first trip to Europe,
Webb began a cycle of living in and
outside the United States. She spent
six months in Germany, nine months
outside of England and another six
months in the Netherlands. That time
was spent with her boyfriend at the
time, Martin Cassidy, who was sent
to Europe by his employer,
Amazon.com. Webb later returned to
Seattle, where she realized that she
should finish her undergraduate
studies at the University.
“I came back and realized I was 12
credits away from a French minor,”
Webb said. “I realized it wouldn’t be
hard to double major.”
While at the University, Webb was
heavily influenced by Art History
Professor Richard Sundt.
“I really appreciated his style of
teaching,” Webb said. “The gothic
and medieval world is magical to
me, and most of that stuff came
from his classes."
Webb advises current students to
pursue the things for which they
have positive passions.
“Never pursue things for anyone
else or it’ll take you to a dead end,”
she said.
Soon after completing classes at
the University, Webb opened her
own business.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve
wanted to have my own business,”
she said.
Some would say Webb is following
in her mother’s footsteps, because
her mother has opened a number of
businesses in the past. However, Ann
Hathaway, Webb’s mother, disagrees.
“The concept of retail is following
in my footsteps, but she’s taking it in
a different way than I did,” Hathaway
said. “The people she is targeting are
more select.”
In April 2003, Webb opened
Deluxe, a clothing store located on
East 13th Avenue and Willamette
Street in Eugene.
“It is phenomenal. I can’t say that
anybody is getting rich but it’s an ex
citing place for the community,”
Webb said.
Webb said she has a venue for origi
nal designs, describing her store’s style
as more urban than folksy.
“Almost everything is vintage and
trendy used stuff and about 10 per
cent is designed, including jewelry,
cards and art,” Webb said.
In addition to opening Deluxe, the
3 3-year-old has recently become en
gaged to Shawn Nelson, an industri
al-robot operator and part owner of
the Burley Design Cooperative in Eu
gene. The couple is planning to mar
ry at the end of June.
“She’s super fashionable, re
sourceful and gorgeous,” Nelson
said in describing his fiancee. He
added that her traveling experience
has given her a broader view of the
world in regard to aesthetics in fash
ion and her lifestyle.
In addition to her small business,
Webb still has a lot she’d like to do,
including developing perfume and
body products, designing T-shirts and
hats and making baby clothing out of
recycled sweaters.
“She’s constantly evolving; she’ll
have one creative endeavor, pursue
that, and then develop another cre
ative endeavor,” Hathaway said.
Webb’s plans also include a family.
“I want to be a mother in the next
five years and start a family,” Webb
said. “When that occurs, I know
that’ll be my focus and everything
else will be secondary.”
canelawood@ daily emerald, com