At Artists & Revolutionaries, a new women's clothing store in Vergennes, the racks are packed with garments in a variety of hues and styles: emerald and cobalt silk dresses, boxy velvet tops, barrel-legged wool pants, quilted jackets splattered in paint. Most of them were designed and sewn by just one man: John-Michael Schlotter. Growing up in Shushan, N.Y., right over the border from Arlington, Schlotter always had a thing for beautiful clothing. His mother and grandmother were seamstresses who did alterations and made wedding dresses for local women. He loved poring over the fashion pages of the New York Times. When he was in the fifth grade, his grandmother bought him a sewing machine, which he taught himself to use. Schlotter made clothing for his school friends and stitched patches on his own denim jackets. It was a skill he eventually parlayed into a career, designing clothes for stores in San Francisco, Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley for more than three decades. During the pandemic, Schlotter, 56, settled in New York's Essex County, just across the lake from Vergennes. This year, he set up shop in the Little City, moving into a small second-floor space on Main Street in March. In the fall, when a much larger storefront became available just a few blocks away, he jumped at the prime location. Formerly occupied by Ten Stones Emporium, it even had space for him to set up a two-room atelier in the back for pattern making and sewing. The store's aesthetic is meant to evoke an "old, abandoned French countryside house of some musician or artist," Schlotter said. The floor is scattered with kilim rugs. An ornate wire birdcage stands on a table, and large plants fill the space. The artfully patinaed tables that display some of the clothes come from Schlotter's own furniture collection. A wall built from antique doors serves to divide the front from the back of the store. Schlotter bought the blocky, wooden checkout counter from a customer. In the 1800s, it served the same purpose at a Vergennes general store. But the main draw is the Artists & Revolutionaries clothing line, which Schlotter launched in Hudson, N.Y., in 2012. For seven years, he ran a shop on Hudson's main thoroughfare, Warren Street, where his customers were often sophisticates from New York City, including celebrities Claire Danes and Parker Posey. Many of the popular styles…