Earlene Moore helps a customer select a thong at Saks Fifth Avenue in Austin on Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. Moore got her start in the bra-fitting business in 1939 in downtown Austin. She once ran her own shop in Jefferson Square, where she fit Texas celebrities and politicos including Lady Bird Johnson and Ann Richards. Moore now works in the lingerie department at Julian Gold on West 6th Street. At 94, she says she still loves her job.
I photographed Earlene as part of the Austin American-Statesman’s “Austin at Work” column with writer Ricardo Gandara. The project, from which this photo is an outtake, fulfills my desire as a community journalist to bring local people and their life stories to the forefront. A similar photo column called “Our Town” is available on my website at juliarobinsonphoto.com.
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