Saturday, January 16, 2010

Style Profile: Lauren Wilkins




Bow+Arrows in Austin is a must stop for cool women/men's wear. At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a shop owner?

I actually never intended to be a shop owner, I managed and bought for a boutique in Dallas for a long time and after that I swore off retail forever and moved back to Austin. At that time my brother had a vintage moped shop with a friend of his called Austin Mopeds. They asked me to bring in clothing and we split the space, they named it The Royal Family. We had it for about a year, but I wasn't really into the clothes I was having to buy for our customer - mainly little skater punks and fixed gear hipsters. The east side wasn't quite ready for a more sophisticated clientele. I decided to move out on my own and do more of what I was interested in, so I opened bows + arrows - it was basically a big snow ball effect, and me just doing what I knew to do.

Can you define your personal style?

The key word in my personal style is EASY. I live in my old Justin ropers and Current/Elliot jeans or little dresses. Basically I feel like I'm either dressed like a 5 year old little boy or super super girly. I don't like to think to much about but just go with what I feel like.

What's in the store right now that you can't live without?

Well there's not much left in the store at the moment since Christmas, but its all about to start pouring in. I've already got dibs on some of Karen Walkers flirty dresses and a new pair of n.d.c. made by Hand Ankle Boots - their killer.

Top tunes playing on your ipod at the moment?

in the store we've been listening to a lot of The Pains of being pure at heart, Thao, Throw me the Statue, the XX, and always the Black Keys.

The new blog Arrows and Arrows, what can viewers expect?

Arrow and Arrow is basically a collection of things that inspire Currie (Spartan: spartan-shop.com) and I on a daily basis. Its not always fashion for me, I mean I love fashion and with spring coming in and fall market going on I'm sure I'll be posting a lot more of it, but for me there are so many things that influence design - whether it be the clothes I'm into or my store as a canvas. I'm interested in art, culture, music, travel, etc... all of these things help to define what we do in the store. So basically you will find an eclectic mix of what we see as inspirationally creative. Oh and I'm always interested in people that create - in any form or medium, I'm always inspired and it keeps me going in my own forms of creation.