When I first thought about opening my own store, one of the parts that made me most excited was being able to be one of the first people to view a new season’s collections. Before I started working in retail I was the type of person who always sought out the latest and greatest – and it would kill me if I missed out on something new. Having my own store was the perfect way to secured first-hand access to the collections!
Never being one who wanted to be wearing the same thing as the person standing next to me, my focus was on originality – and I use that same mentality when buying for the store today. I remember always reading the magazines from InStyle to Lucky to People to GQ, Details and even Time covered fashion in some light. Really almost every magazine has some aspect of fashion enclosed in it. I would inspect every outfit on the pages of these magazines and wonder where all the celebrities featured in the clothing would be getting these great outfits. (And not the ones who were just modeling – the ones who were photographed at events, parties, etc.) I wanted some of these outfits – I needed them – I just had to figure out where to find them.
Enter my friend, Laura, a former employee at the BOP in Madison. When I would visit – she would always show me what was new and what was recently featured. It was amazing. I mean, I had shopped at boutiques before, but never really was able to spot the pieces that I envied from the magazines. So thank you, Laura for helping me develop that eye.

Today, I still read all the magazines (and when I say ”read,” I really mean “scan”) to see what the celebrities are wearing – they really do drive the fashion industry. I have seen lines take off just because the right celebrity was seen wearing one of the styles.
Now, with the store, I am constantly checking to see if any of Flaire’s pieces are featured. It’s truly one of the exciting parts of owning a store – seeing the pieces you carry in the magazines you have read for years. What I have also been noticing lately is that quite of few of our collections at Flaire have been featured in some of the season’s hottest television shows – it may only be a quick glimpse - but it’s still exciting to see.

Check out who’s been seen in some of the collections we carry in store!

Cory Monteith in Five Four

Shenae Grimes in Isabel Lu

Katie Cassidy in House of Harlow

Zac Efron in Life/After/Denim

Adrian Grenier in Modern Amusement Eyewear

Lo Bosworth in Fifteen-Twenty