Lismore has many treasured, quirky arcades and when you next head downtown to support local business, take a stroll down the Strand Arcade and you’ll remember why it’s one of Lismore’s favourites.

It’s elegant and bright and has numerous shops open and busy, one of which now includes Julia Taranto’s rebranded Paris in the Strand.

Previously known as My Tailoress, Julia told the Lismore App she saw the flood disaster as an opportunity to follow through with her idea of a change.

“Before it was My Tailoress. I started with the intention of it being a couture design studio. Then when I realised girls were going up to the Gold Coast for their dresses, I thought we need to have these here for them. So, then it became the retail store for formal dresses but the name didn’t match what I was doing. It felt like it was a tailoring service. It is - I do tailor the dresses for customers - but I think this gives a retail concept that the name was missing before,” Julia explained.

“My Tailoress will still operate for wedding alterations, formal dress alterations, I’ll still be here for all of that. Now the image of the store has grown. I could feel the need for the change before the flood so it was the perfect opportunity. We saw the chance to turn lemons into champagne,” Julia mused.

Ms Taranto studied fashion in Sydney where she worked with Sydney-based designers until making Lismore her home nine years ago.

“I started the business eight years ago here at this location. I research the best-selling labels in Australia and make sure I’m bringing in stock that’s from award-winning labels. For example, I stock Jadore - they win a lot of awards for their designs – they’re an Australian company. So is Tania Olsen – she’s an Australian designer from Brisbane. Working with those designers and bringing in the formal dresses that the girls want, I’m keeping the stock new as it keeps turning over each season, bringing in the new collections, making sure I’m picking dresses that are appropriate for school formals mainly. Making sure it’s classy and elegant. There’s a lot of timeless designs but there’s a lot that are right on the cusp of fashion at the moment. They don’t have to go to Brisbane or the Gold Coast because I’m bringing the stock here.”

Julia’s passion for fashion and for Lismore have powered her through the exhausting flood recovery process, along with her three children.

“My children have been incredible. My youngest, who is 13, was coming down and hacksawing out the villaboard, pulling that out with his bare hands, recutting villaboard and drilling it on for me. My other son who is 18, he’s an apprentice builder, he gave his time and showed me how to complete work and how to keep going, he put up shelving for me. My daughter who is 20, she had the vision and the interior decorating skills and the image. She is able to come through with that younger generational look and knew what she wanted it to look like,” Julia explained.

Ms Taranto said that she and numerous other business owners in the Strand Arcade, proudly standing on Molesworth Street since 1989, have been putting in extra hours to ready the arcade for welcoming customers and visitors again.

“We’ve been in here on Sundays, other shop owners in the arcade, sanding and painting…getting the arcade looking good and happening again.”

flood inundation in Strand Arcade, February 2022

Julia expressed her dismay at the flood recovery funding process and felt empathy for landlords with intentions to support their business tenants.

“You have to spend a whole lot first before they give you that first half and then when it comes to the next half, you’re on your own, trying to pull from everything you’ve possibly got to enter into the next section of the funding. It’s completely depleting. I feel very sorry for landlords that can’t access any funding, that’s where we’re stuck. Businesses can be given funding but if landlords don’t have the funding to clean up their shops, they might have multiple properties so it’s rough to expect that they can do this on their own.”

“We put our stock up on the flood shelving so we lost stock. I’ve just ripped the flood shelving out now.”

Paris in the Strand will unveil its new look and glamourous new designs this afternoon as they open the doors for the first time post-flood. Evening wear shoes will also be another new feature of the stock available.

“Thursday from 5pm we’ll be opening up and showing people what we’ve created for them so they know that this is for them. This is their shop. This is their formal wear store. I’ve really created this for Lismore. It’s a bit emotional,” Julia said.

This special event is open to everyone and those drawn to the allure of the glamour gowns can make an appointment with Julia to try something on if a special occasion looms on the calendar.

“Absolutely it’s open to everyone to come and have a look. Every appointment will be from bookings. They can book a time and come in and try on dresses for their formal. There are laybys available so they can stagger payments, as there always has been. Hemming and alterations are all done here by me so the dresses go out looking like they were made for the clients,” Julia explained.

To view and try gowns and shoes at Paris in the Strand, make an appointment with Julia via the booking page on her website.