Avery Trufelman

With Linda.

When this curator rediscovered the mannequins in the 80s, word traveled around academic fashion circles.

A slow trickle of curators and professors and editors made pilgrimages to Maryhill, each one adding a little more to the pool of knowledge.

But then finally, the news got to Susan Train, the Paris bureau chief for Condé Nast.

Of course, Susan Train knew all about the Teatro del Amad.

Susan flew from Paris to the Pacific Northwest to see the mannequins.

And was she wearing heels when she touched down at the Portland airport?

She always wore heels and always wore pearls with her blonde hair chopped in a chic bob.

Oh, and she always carried a purebred, long-haired American Kennel Club dachshund with her.

Linda remembers she had one named Nifofia, which is a flower.

I had to look it up.

Linda tried to roll out the red carpet as best she could.

She took Susan to the only place you could eat out for dinner, which was a truck stop across the river called Jack's Fine Foods.

And when Linda took Susan to the Maryhill Museum to see the Teatro de la Mode, Susan adored it.

She could see past the grime and the mismatched outfits and recognize what it once had been.

And she looked at the Teatro de la Mode and she fell in love.

It was kind of love at first sight.

And there was another love blossoming between Linda and Susan.

Not in a romantic way.

I mean, how could you not be completely taken with this glamorous person?