Hollywood Studio Magazine (October 1972)

Rita's shop blooms between jungle and lagoon An attractive blonde fashion designer, encountered by chance during a visit to Mexico, who has a fascinating life in that rarity of the Space Age-a place that’s truly“off the beaten path.” PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO - The long, low building rambles up and down a rocky ledge between the lagoon and the jungle. No doors or Windows mark its open-sided facade. A thatched roof of coconut palm offers the sole protection from the elements. “Rita’s Boutique,” the sign says. “Hours — 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.” Barefoot customers are invited to browse among native cottons and hand knits. The rough wooden floors of the multi-level interior were planned especially for bare feet. Rita’s Boutique has to qualify for top honors, worldwide, among fashion shops in off-beat locations. The story behind it is a part of a current trend in life styles, the desire “to get away from it all.” In Spanish, the shop and living space above is called “Casa Huitzi calli,” the House of the Humming Birds, named for the dainty honey-suckers that fly in and out. The shop, the rocky ledge, the lagoon are at Yelapa, a South Seas-style paradise, small-size, along Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Yelapa is accessible in one way only - by boat from Puerto Vallarta, the growing resort Community up the coast. Unless, of course, you want to undertake a six-day burro ride along a rough jungle trail. Rita Tillett, internationally known fashion designer, is Rita of “Rita’s Boutique.” She, her husband, Howard Taylor, and their children came to Yelapa a few years ago from Mexico City, seeking relief “from smog, traffic congestion, too many people, a life too fast-paced.” Rita is a striking blonde “glad to be done with wearing shoes and a girdle.” She talked about the flight from “over-civilization” as we walked through the shop, looking at dresses in bright Mexican colors, at embroidered “wedding shirts” for men, big for evening wear in the tropics. “When we came here,” she started out, “one canoe a week put in at our lagoon. We were viewed with amazement, called those Gringos on the beach. “Now the excursion boat comes every day from Puerto Vallarta, bringing a couple of hundred people to stay three hours. Over there on the beach is a six-or-seven-room hotel and a restaurant. A small village is just around the bend, hidden from view by the jungle. About 20 Americans have villas along the slopes up from the beach. “We have no electricity and don’t miss it much. Kerosene lamps look pretty at night when the place is quiet.” Rita’s open air Office does have traces of civilization, like a typewriter and an adding machine. “There’s no need for doors or Windows in the shop or in the living quarters we’re building above. In rainy season, we push things back a little farther against the rear wall which follows the rocks. “Food? We order it by boat one day and it’s delivered the next. This System makes eating rather expensive. One of the Americans living here said: Yelapa is a cheap place to live if you can afford $50 a day for food. He was joking - but not much. “The kerosene bill is fantastic too. But, on the other side of the ledger, we have mahogany beams in our kitchen, rosewood panelling in our bedroom. “We go to Puerto Vallarta by speedboat when necessary. Maybe every couple of weeks. And to Mexico City a couple of times a year. “Business? It’s good enough. After the excursion boat leaves, private yachts come into the lagoon. Affluent women like my clothes because they are looking for something different. My designs are different for sure. I use hand-screened prints for one-of-a-kind dresses. Every 10 yards or so, the fabric takes on a different look. “Our only worry is that Yelapa will grow. Puerto Vallarta is on the edge of a minor revolution, an explosion. Hotels are sprouting like mushrooms. “There wasn’t a decent road 10 years ago. Now Air France has started direct flight Service from New York City, bringing in hundreds of people twice a week. There’s even talk of a road from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa. “We hope such a highway will never happen. Our lagoon is much as it was in the days of the conquestedors. We’d like it to stay that way.” Rita Tillet comes from a cosmopolitan background. Her father, the late Otto Butterlin of Mexico City, was an internationally known artist. Her first husband, Jim Tillett whose name she uses professionally, is a widely known fabric designer. Rita moved in high society in Mexico City but she’s happy in her “thatched roof house in the middle of nowhere.” “We have social occasions,” she explained as we sipped tequila at a table set out on the rocks, with a Siamese cat named Marie Callas — “because she lost her voice” — rubbing against our ankles. “Around Christmas, we have parties on the beach with turkey and cranberry sauce to eat. You see men in business suits, women in Pucci gowns in Yelapa then. “At New Year’s, we have a fish fry on the beach. And set off skyrockets. “It’s funny. Remote as this is, our friends all find their way here.” MY QUESTION: Do you design many formal gowns?” caused Rita Tillett to break up. “Formal gowns!” she repeated in an explosion of laughter. “I haven’t even heard that term for years. All I can think of is Mexico City debutantes. They’re 15 years old, iyounger than in the States, and they wear formal gowns in ice cream pinks and blues. Do people still wear formal gowns? Turn three pages—Continued