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TEMPLE, Texas — If you knew fashion back in the eighties and lived in Temple, Texas you knew RoseBud.
For 30 years, the iconic store brought in high fashion from all over the world, and at the center of it all was Betty Thrasher.
Thrasher, Tom Ford’s aunt, opened RoseBud in 1979 with the dream of serving her community with style.
RoseBud first opened in Gatesville. As more and more people heard of her store, Thrasher decided it’d be a good move to make her way to Temple.
She said the name “RoseBud” came from where she grew up, but she added the capital “B.”
The goal of opening the store, she said, was to show people how shopping for good clothes can be a positive and fun experience that you always will remember.
“We would try to teach people to buy one good thing instead of three or four things that really weren’t as good for them,” Thrasher said.
From time to time, she would turn people away, telling them they shouldn’t buy something from her store.
Maybe this sounds like bad business, but to Thrasher, those are some of the best decisions she ever made.
She recalls a time when a woman came into her store and didn’t think she’d look good in a black dress. Thrasher proceeded to get her to wear one, and the woman was shocked it looked good on her.
“She was going to buy it, but I told her she couldn’t,” Thrasher said. “I told her she could only buy it if she truly loved it.”
Thrasher said she could’ve sold so many more clothes if she would’ve let anyone buy what they wanted, but she wanted people to remember her store in a positive way.
Thrasher’s heart was always in it, that’s why she loved the RoseBud so much. Now that she’s 93, she says she wouldn’t change a thing.
Since she was a little girl, Thrasher had been in the fashion business. Her father owned five department stores, but when the depression hit, he was left with one.
There, she learned what farmers had to wear out in the fields, and what it was like to work in store like her fathers.
All of her clothes were handmade growing up. Thrasher said those are some of the first designer pieces she ever owned, which set her standards for beauty.
“It all boils down to looking good; it just makes you be a better person,” she said.
Decades would pass and Thrasher would become one with the community.
So many of her fashion shows gave back to the community, including the shows for McLane Children’s Medical Center.
The city of Temple recognized her efforts by dedicating a day in her name. She has also won a multitude of awards from around the area.
The era of the RoseBud ended in 2007 when Thrasher experienced a health scare. Her heart was still in it, but she knew it was time to rest.
At 93, she still resides in Temple and makes sure to keep up with everyone she knows.
“If I could do the same thing again, I would,” she said.
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