Maxine Rizik Tanous, a Washington, D.C. specialty retailer doyenne who helped to decorate first girls, cupboard secretaries, Supreme Courtroom justices and diplomats, died Dec. 13 at her residence in Bethesda, Md.
Tanous died of pure causes surrounded by her household, in accordance with her son-in-law Paul Jacobson. Companies will probably be held Wednesday at 3 p.m. at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Bethesda, and Tanous will probably be interred beside her late husband, Peter, at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
Born and raised within the Beltway, she devoted six days per week and practically 70 years of her life to Rizik Bros., an upscale boutique that flourished because of extra formal costume codes and generations of Washington insiders looking for polished seems to be for day and night.
The fifth of seven kids born to Ayoub and Soraya Rizik, she grew up on Woodland Drive close to the Nationwide Cathedral. Her father and uncle Joseph, who began Rizik Bros. in 1908, every constructed stone homes a number of doorways down from each other. The brothers had immigrated to the U.S. from Tyre, Lebanon, and began out importing lace, a sought-after commodity at the moment Stateside.
Initially unsure about how they may make their manner in America, household lore has it that somebody prompt that the brothers construct upon their heritage of being Phoenicians, who have been nice merchants, and begin importing items and clothes to Washington, Jacobson stated. In contrast to the extra culturally wealthy and commercialized New York Metropolis, the nation’s capital was then primarily a authorities city. The arrival of Rizik Bros. — and different high-end retailers like Julius Garfinckel & Co., one other Washington establishment — was a novelty.
When the primary outpost bowed on F Road, the brothers and the shop’s different male staff dressed formally in tails to cater to their well-heeled consumers, who have been ensconced in salons and particular person dressing rooms and have been offered with kinds versus making their very own picks. Dwelling deliveries have been executed by horse and carriage for the prosperous clientele, who included the spouses of diplomats, politicians and socialites.
After a fireplace gutted the unique location, a reconstruction was accomplished in 1929 in a French Baroque type with a hat salon, in addition to furs and scarves showcased on the primary ground with a vividly coloured decor impressed by fashionable artwork. A Louis XV salon on the second ground displayed night robes and wraps and the third ground’s “Empire Room” was patterned after the interval of Napoleon I. Ebony, walnut and holly woods have been integrated into the design.
As a highschool pupil, Maxine Rizik began pitching in on the retailer and he or she remained closely concerned till it shuttered in 2021. That milestone capped off what had been a 113-year stretch for the family-owned operation. Whereas others might need welcomed retirement at that stage in life, she didn’t. When a Washington Publish reporter referred to as inquiring concerning the closing, Rizik hung up on her 4 instances earlier than reluctantly listening to her out.
Whereas the shop’s chandeliers and ivory-colored loveseats could have been well-liked in one other period, such retail lavishness and its comparable clothes have been now not in demand to the diploma that they had as soon as been. Furthermore, the casualization of America, on-line purchasing, the pandemic shutdown and shrewder price-conscious consumers had chipped away at full-priced retailers. “Let’s be clear: Again within the day, individuals spent their cash on clothes and niknaks. Immediately they spend it on cellphones,” Paul Jacobson stated. “Within the later years [of Rizik Bros.], an H&M opened throughout the road. How do you compete with an H&M?”
One class that held quick up till the tip was wedding ceremony robes, he stated.
Talking of Tanous, her son-in-law stated, “Primarily, there have been three issues in her life: the shop, her household and the Catholic church. That was how she approached the whole lot. She was very doctrinaire in a great way. Now we all know what number of traditions have been misplaced. She was what Washington was — proper down to creating positive there was a spoon on the saucer once you have been served a cup of espresso. That’s the type of element that she bought concerned with.”
After graduating from Marymount Faculty in Tarrytown, N.Y., she returned to D.C. and Rizik Bros. By the point she wed Col. Peter Tanous, a West Level graduate and a White Home army aide beneath President Dwight Eisenhower, she had turn out to be a purchaser for Rizik Bros. WWD reported information of her engagement.
Within the early years of their marriage, the couple lived intermittently in Leavenworth, Kan., West Level, N.Y., and Bonn, Germany, resulting from Peter being stationed in these cities as a army diplomat. By the late ’50s, that they had returned to Bethesda to boost their three kids: Bruce, Jacqueline and Joan.
Unfailingly businesslike and attuned to Washington requirements whether or not that be political protocol, societal manners or costume codes, Tanous was identified for Outdated World in her method. “If she have been alive, I might say, ‘Maxine is what Washington was,’” Jacobson stated.
Regardless of having an important humorousness, when it got here to Rizik Bros. or coping with prospects, the whole lot was dealt with historically in relation to society. Of medium peak along with her brown hair at all times completely coiffed, Tanous usually crossed paths with the previous U.S. Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the salon, the place they shared the identical stylist.
For the family-run retailer, she routinely traveled along with her sister Renée and brother Michel to New York’s Garment District to mine new and hard-to-find designers. Together with her siblings, she oversaw all elements of Rizik’s enterprise together with merchandising, advertising and marketing and back-end operations. Tanous’ consumers might at all times depend on her for any event. As soon as a panicked Nationwide Geographic staffer rang up the shop as a result of a scientist would quickly be flying in from Africa to ship a speech, and he or she had nothing to put on. Requested if the speaker might buzz by the shop beforehand, “Maxine stated, ‘Completely.’ She might measurement up anybody actually by glancing at them.” It turned out to be Dian Fossey, Jacobson stated. “Maxine had all of it laid out for her after which Dian went from the shop straight over to Nationwide Geographic to ship her speech.”
A number of feminine Supreme Courtroom justices frequented the shop — the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was considered one of its regulars, as was the late Madeleine Albright. After beginning out on F Road, Rizik Bros. was later housed at two completely different addresses on Connecticut Avenue.
Her daughter Jacqueline recalled Tuesday how “the shop prided itself on exacting style and want to convey breakthrough designer fashions from notable ‘homes’ that weren’t available in different native girls’s shops. Many have been sourced from Europe [including Valentino] in addition to Lanvin and Poiret relationship additional again within the firm’s trajectory.”
Tanous’ daughter Joan additionally famous Tuesday how the shop put a number of designers on the map in America by giving them their first probability, akin to Maggie London, a label that’s now a division retailer staple. Within the years earlier than the closing, Max Mara was a key useful resource because it was not as available in D.C. because it was in New York.
Regardless of amping up social media and majorly refreshing the boutique in 2017 so as to add designer assets like Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell, Adam Lippes, Oscar De La Renta, Carolina Herrera and Monique Lhullier, the extra up to date method wasn’t sufficient to raise the enterprise. The introduction of a delegated bridal and eveningwear space with unique kinds additionally was one other try to buoy gross sales.
Understandably, the shop’s closure rankled Rivitz. “It was her life and it was her father’s retailer. She was unhappy that it wasn’t in a position to proceed, resulting from many issues that have been exterior of her management,” Jacobson stated. “Her life’s work was sustaining the shop’s presence because the foremost boutique for upscale girls’s fashions within the nationwide capital space.”
Together with being a religious parishioner of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, the place she served as a eucharist minister, she was a steadfast Washington Commanders fan. She additionally appreciated to learn, each the newspapers and nonfiction books, to mingle on the Congressional Nation Membership and unwind at residence in historic Irvington, Va., by tending gardenia timber, choosing recent figs and pruning flowers.
Along with her husband, Tanous was predeceased by her siblings Madeleine Cury, Denyse Malouf Michel Rizik and Jacqueline Rizik. She is survived by her sister Renée Kalil, her brother Philip Rizik, her son Bruce Tanous and daughters Jacqueline Jacobson and Joan Tanous. Consistent with Tanous’ needs, in lieu of flowers donations could be made in her reminiscence to St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Bethesda or to St. Jude Kids’s Analysis Hospital.
