Christina Novak
Christina’s personal taste comes from her overseas travelling from Germany, Panama, and Pakistan as a child where she was exposed to many exotic sights, sounds, colors, and cultures. Her parents were a major influence on her sense of style. Her British mother, Jean, was a classic dresser with a love for pearls, and simple silhouettes.
While living in Germany Christina’s sister Sarah turned two and Julia Child baked her birthday cake to celebrate the occasion. Christina’s father, Joe, was a world traveler, with an admiration for a high quality of clothing and a true love for luxurious fabrics such as cashmere, silk, wool, Irish linen & Egyptian cotton. He taught Christina to look for and appreciate signs of quality seams with matched stripes and plaids, how the fabric under a collar was different than the overall fabric of a jacket. He would crush fabric in his hand, hold it and let go to see if it wrinkled. He would say, “This is the fabric you would want to avoid; you would look like you have been sleeping in your suit.”
Christina’s earliest fashion memory is wearing a white lace dress with brown satin bows on the shoulders in the 6th grade that her father bought for her from Garfinkels.
In 1992 with five Hermes scarves and one scathingly brilliant idea, Christina decided to open her own business; having recently become a single parent and wanting to have her daughter, Arianne, with her as much as possible this was the option that made her happiest.
Christina’s philosophy is, “To find the best of the best. We have a very high standard for our customers who also have a love for luxury items. We take the hard work out of resale shopping by selecting the highest quality and cleanest items for you.” Over the years, having been blessed with some of the most talented and creative staff, we continue to offer not only high-end designer items but also an assortment of unique and sometimes eclectic pieces.
“Fashion is Fun”, I really believe it can be a most enjoyable pastime.
Just shy of their 30th year in business, New to You, Inc. carries on Christina’s love of the unique and eclectic, with a taste for high quality, designer pieces.
About Us
New To You was founded in 1992 with 5 Hermes scarves and 1 great idea — Sell “buying mistakes” for other people.
Over the years, we've fine-tuned our shop and our philosophy. New To You offers not only high-end designer items, but we also offer very honest style assessments to the customer. We would never say something looks good unless we truly believe it. We love to help people put together pieces for a special occasion, job interview, or just for having cocktails and dinner with friends.
We have been supported by the community since our doors opened and we hit the ground running. It was always a delightful surprise to find we had been positively mentioned in such prestigious and popular publications as The Washington Post, Washingtonian, bloggers, and famously being featured on the NBC Today Show.
Sustainable Luxury
Recycling is a beneficial way to help the planet.
The fashion industry causes more pollution and waste than almost any other business; “buy, use once, throw it away” appears to be the mindset of many.
Designer consignment offers an environmentally friendly, yet equally stylish alternative. There is something to be said about purchasing items that are composed of good materials and craftsmanship. The difference of putting on a dress or suit that is well made compared to popping on a cheaply constructed garment is huge; you can see the difference across the room. In addition to recycling designer goods, we work hard every day to remain as environmentally friendly as possible. We recycle dry cleaning plastic and paper covers, hangers, safety pins, boxes, tissue and more.
Yes, it can be inconvenient to have to sort your items, wash them and take them across town to recycle but the time and effort is always a worthy expenditure.
Sometimes it is easier to just donate your items to a local thrift shop — as long as you are not throwing items in the trash or just moving them into another closet to sit and hang around for a couple of decades.
Authenticity
We never accept anything less than authentic.
We have high standards. In order to offer our customers, the best possible products, we take every step to ensure that every product we sell is not only high quality, but 100% authentic.
With decades of experience, we have seen a lot; a lot of beautiful designer pieces - contemporary and vintage. Each item that we take in is thoroughly examined and assessed to ensure that it correlates with each brand's specific standards. If we have any doubts whatsoever, we do not accept it.