Local shop shows Hawaiian spirit for Flower Show contest

Davida Levin owns one of the more tenured businesses in Manayunk. She’s been running her children and maternity consignment shop, Worn Yesterday, on Main Street for more than 25 years. 

She is also the only Manayunk business to compete in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s window decorating contest, to coincide with the 2012 Philadelphia International Flower Show from March 4 through March 11. The flower show’s theme for this year is “Hawaii: Islands of Hawaii”, and the 65 Philadelphia-based businesses who entered the window decorating contest are encouraged to incorporate the theme into their designs.

Levin says the Hawaiian motif plays into her consignment shop’s strength. Her window is adorned with vibrant, flower-laden clothes, grass skirts and rainbow-colored leis. The leis hold extra meaning for Levin, who says ‘lei’ can be translated in the Hawaiian language to ‘child’ because a beloved child is clutched around one’s neck.

“The fun thing about children’s clothing is you never have to look hard to find things loaded with flowers,” Levin says.

Levin previously won the award for most festive window in 2010 for the flower show’s “Passport to the World” theme.

Levin’s story of how she took on the children and maternity consignment business mirrors Cinderella’s – complete with her own wicked stepmother, according to Levin. 

Her real mother died when she was four years old, and Levin’s father married three months later, and relocated from her native South Philadelphia to Lower Merion Township, just outside of the city. During high school in the early 60s, Levin adored popular clothes like Lady Bug and Villager, which were assembled in the Allegheny section of Philadelphia at the time. The outfits looked like school uniforms by today’s standards, Levin says, but her stepmother refused to spend money on them.

Selling affordable clothing for children is Levin’s way of helping young people feel better about themselves, she says.

“People treat you nice if you look good,” Levin says. “It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.”

The Flower Show’s window display winners will be announced on March 2.