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Business & Tech

A Carroll Gardens Transplant for the Slope

Cosbi comes to Fifth Avenue.

After seven years on Court Street in Carroll Gardens, Cosbi A. Cabrera has added her airy clothing shop, Cosbi, to that stretch of Fifth Avenue (between Fourth and Fifth streets) which used to house an antique store called and the sex toys emporium, the Pink Pussycat.            

Her new space, which features her Brooklyn-made line of women’s and children’s wear has an attractive, muted look. There are antique display cases filled with enticing jewelry, a vintage high chair in the children’s section, a wire birdcage and a stack of children’s books, including the award winning "Thanks a Million" and "Stitchin’ and Pulling," which she illustrated with her delightful paintings. On the wall behind the counter hangs a large black and white quilt with bold letters of the alphabet.       

Cabrera’s appealing summer collection in delicious fabrics and painterly colors includes a bustle back linen skirt ($266), a purple and brown linen floral dress ($250), wrap and other blouses in entrancing patterns ($145) and sun dresses that bring to mind summer in the South ($200).            

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The prices may seem steep but here’s the thing: everything is expertly hand made and can be made to order to fit you perfectly for the very same price.            

Cabrera, who everyone calls Cosbi, is the mother of two young girls with a home in Lefferts Gardens. She has a real warmth about her and a soft and friendly presence. When customers enter, her smile lights the shop and she’s eager to help.            

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Born and bred in the Brownsville/East New York section of Brooklyn to parents from Honduras, Cabrera’s creative talent revealed itself early.

“My pre-school teacher told my mother that my drawings of people actually resembled people,” she told me.              

She attended Brooklyn Technical High School, where she studied industrial design and later attended Parsons School of Design, majoring in communication design.              

As a young graphic designer, Cabrera designed album covers for Atlantic Records and Sony Music. She loved the variety of the work.

“One day [I was] working on a notorious rapper, the next day Yo Yo Ma,” she says.

Still, she had a burning desire to create her own artwork. While at Sony Music she started making dolls in her free time.

“I was on fire to work on textiles to create my own content.”      

Slowly, the artistic and entrepreneurial spirit bloomed.

“In the record industry you're handed the content, handed the meaning, your job is to create clarity around whatever that is. I wanted to create something and imbue it with my own meaning.”

Her co-workers admired the dolls with their tulle skirts, vintage lace bodices, silk boots and beaded and embroidered crowns and many wanted to buy them. “

I decided that I would take them to market, but I didn’t know exactly what that meant,” she said.

First, she took them to doll shows, but doll people weren’t responding. It was art collectors who got hooked. The one-of-a-kind dolls, called muñecas developed a cult following and even earned Cabrera an appearance on Oprah.              

In 2004, she opened a shop and studio on a desolate stretch of Court Street in Carroll Gardens. It was originally intended for making and selling the dolls.

“It was just me and a 24-hour cab stand," she said. "We were the only vital businesses for a long time. We were literally the lone flag on the lunar surface."           

Within a couple of years, the shuttered up storefronts opened with shops.

“Now There's Frankie's, Court Street Grocers, Buttermilk Channel. It’s a wonderful neighborhood with wonderful businesses,” she told me.

Cabrera’s reputation was also growing and customers were coming from all over to buy her dolls. She became a women’s dress designer quite by accident. Doll customers would admire the doll’s costuming and asked if she could make the same outfit for them.        

Clearly, it was Cabrera’s graceful aesthetic and style that people responded to.

“I absolutely love to work with really super fine quality textiles such as vintage laces and materials with a delicate quality.”            

But when she started to make women’s clothing she found that she liked to keep the design very clean.

“It is revisited day after day, week after week. You don't want it marked too much with a specific detail. It has a longer life when it's clean and simple.”                        

Cabreara’s designs may be clean and simple, but her dresses, skirts, and blouses are anything but boring with their stunning fabrics, historical references and sometimes bold sense of color. They look extremely wearable for a day at work or a fun night out.            

About a month ago, Cabrera was driving home from her Court Street shop when she happened upon the Fifth Avenue Fair. She parked her car and discovered that there were quite a few vacant storefronts. She followed up the next day and saw the space that she is now in. The fact that it has a garden clinched the deal.             

About her move to Park Slope, Cabrera is optimistic: “We have an established customer that we've grown for the last seven years, that's quite loyal and excited.”

And she’s looking forward to the official opening party on August 18 (to which the public is cordially invited). In the meantime, she has a long to-do list preparing her fall line, finishing up special orders and getting the shop ready for the official opening.

While Cabrera exudes patience and grace, it’s clear that she’s unbelievably hardworking and accomplished. So how does she do it all?           

“Applying yourself and giving your heart to it. Really putting your heart into it. That's how I felt with the dolls, not knowing specifically who my market is. There's a tender touch to certain things .You can't figure it out without a reference or an experience. There are points in our lives we don't know what questions to ask. You just have to take a step.”

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