When we named Marissa Hartington Woman of the Year in 1999, we recognized her role in building Marissa Collections into an enduring fashion institution with her husband, Burt.
Another quarter-century later, as the specialty store marks its 50th, we honor her again—a rare recognition reserved for those whose vision and impact only magnify over the decades. Today, there’s no doubt that Marissa’s eye and conviction established the framework for how Naples presents itself to the world.
Born in Poland, the style-maker immigrated to America with an education in psychology, an intuitive eye for beauty and fierce determination. Having started with a small store in 1975, she introduced American sportswear when it was still finding its footing and championed European houses before they had regional name recognition. Her influence brought major designers, like Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors and Carolina Herrera, to Naples long before the city was considered a luxury enclave. Meanwhile, she built a clientele that understood style as an expression of individuality rather than a shorthand for status. “When you style yourself, you are telling a story,” Marissa says.
While other retailers focused on domestic standbys and uniform assortments, Marissa pioneered high-low styling, offering designer gowns alongside perfect T-shirts and jeans. “As long as I’m alive, we’ll have the store based on that concept of high and low, because that’s how we live,” she says. Naples evolved with the same sensibility, equal parts polished and accessible.
The past four years brought significant expansion under the leadership of her son, Jay, who is now CEO. The store opened a Palm Beach location, added a boutique inside The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, and launched an outpost in Nantucket. This season, David Webb opens a store-within-a-store at Marissa Collections. But the foundation—the taste, rigor and loyalty that define the brand—is thoroughly Marissa. She remains entrenched in the day-to-day, going on buying trips, discovering emerging designers and straightening the racks. “If my name is still on the door, I owe it to my clients, my staff and my community to deliver,” she says.
Still, her most significant contributions often unfold behind the scenes. She connects newcomers to causes where they can make an impact and orchestrates introductions that elevate philanthropic events. In dressing rooms, she builds women’s confidence, with each piece intuitively selected to empower. Her generosity shows in small gestures: the homemade soup delivered to sick friends, the mentorship that pushes for excellence and inspires staff to stay for decades.
Through fires, recessions and hurricanes, Marissa has remained constant, cultivating fashion as a vehicle for connection and cultural expression. And through that lens, the world sees Naples as it is: rooted, refined and inimitably stylish. —Stephanie Granada