By 7:30 a.m., there’s already a line outside of Zephyr Barber Shop, where McCall Harwell is arranging carefully curated vintage clothing pieces and transforming the space for the day’s pop-up. When the doors open, the room fills fast — racks turning, hangers clinking, conversations rising over the racks. Strangers weigh in on silhouettes. Friends pass pieces under the curtain. Someone doubles back for a jacket they can’t stop thinking about.
“Everyone is everyone’s stylist at a pop-up event,” Harwell says. “The dressing room becomes a social event.”
In Birmingham, Nan Curated has become something people plan their Saturdays around, occupying a space that didn’t exist before. “It felt like you either went thrifting or shopped at high-end boutiques,” Harwell says. “Nothing felt like the middle ground I wanted.” What she imagined was something cool and fresh — vintage, but curated.
“This is the type of place where I wanted to shop in Birmingham,” she says.
Before Nan Curated had a name, a following, or a line out the door, Harwell was collecting. “I was always collecting pieces for something I didn’t even know yet,” she says.
Eventually, she took the leap and tested the idea. She built an inventory and planned a pop-up.
“The first one went way better than I ever expected,” she says. “People kept saying, ‘This is amazing,’ and that’s when I knew.”
If it happened again, she promised herself, she would quit her job. It did.
“I just had a gut feeling,” she says. “Everything in my life started to make sense.”
In addition to pop-ups, she now offers private shopping sessions in her showroom.
“Vintage clothing carries a sense of longing and familiarity,” she says. “It’s from someone else’s life entirely — and now you’re wearing it.” She finds inspiration in eras that prioritized craftsmanship and character. “A lot of vintage was made better than today’s clothing,” she says. “We’re very minimalist now, and I like that there used to be more fun with patterns and color.”
Harwell never knows when she may find the perfect piece — at an estate sale, on a trip, or somewhere else completely unexpected.
“I source very intrinsically with my life,” she says. “Sometimes I take sourcing trips, but I find things wherever I go.”
Experience has sharpened her eye. “I move fast when I source,” she says. “I can touch something and immediately know what it’s made of.”
What matters most comes down to three things: silhouette, material, and uniqueness. “People come to Nan Curated for pieces they can’t find anywhere else,” she says. Fit is non-negotiable. “I know how frustrating it is when something looks great on the hanger and terrible on your body.”
The moment she finds a perfect item, time stands still. She still talks about a reversible, floor-length fox fur coat — plush fur on one side, green corduroy with penny lane–style fur trim on the other. “It was a gem I found in the boonies,” she says, laughing. “Go figure.”
Then there is the Isaac Mizrahi set: a low-cut, scoop-neck black blazer paired with a matching black bra designed to peek just above the neckline. “It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever sourced,” she says. “It’s too small for me, or I would never sell it.”
Harwell has no plans to expand; her heart is firmly rooted in Birmingham and its people.
A brief experiment with e-commerce confirmed what she already knew. “I realized that, for me, this was not about strangers across the country.” Nan Curated was built for Birmingham.
“Every decision I make is intentional and rooted in the local community,” Harwell says. Echoing a favorite philosophy, she adds, “You don’t change the world by being everywhere. You change the world by changing your five-mile radius.”
“I want to see faces,” she says. “I want it in person. Analog. Human.”
Harwell sees vintage as both a cultural and practical investment. “That level of craftsmanship just isn’t being made anymore,” she says. “The materials and details are disappearing.” Pieces endure because they were made to. “Everything was precious to that generation,” she says. “They kept things. They repaired things.” The pieces she selects are always in style and poised to grow in value.
It’s important to Harwell that no two looks are the same. “We shouldn’t all look alike,” Harwell says. “We’re not clones. We all have our own personality, and our clothing should reflect that sense of individuality.”
For Harwell, Nan Curated is about connection as much as it is fashion. “I want it to feel personal, intentional, and human,” she says. “It represents humanity to me.”
Watch for the next pop-up or schedule a private shopping session at @nan.curated on Instagram.
“We shouldn’t all look alike. We’re not clones. We all have our own personality, and our clothing should reflect that sense of individuality.”