The death last week of the pathbreaking comic book artist Trina Robbins reminded me of an odd bit of history. Before she was a cartoonist, Robbins owned and operated a Lower East Side boutique called Broccoli, where all of the clothes were hand-made, the regular customers included (according to Wikipedia) Mama Cass, Donovan and David Crosby — and all of the merchandise was in Trina’s size, so that the store could double as her personal clothes closet.
(Source: Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Misfits, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revolutionized Art and Invented Comix by Brian Doherty.)
I think I once read that “the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.”
Thanks for the info. It’s always heartening to hear about people who truly walk to the beat of their own drum.