European Fashion Maven Falls For The Woodlands, Creating a Unique New Store — Inside Bowtique

Building off her childhood sense of fashion born from adding ruffles or altering a hemline on her drab brown Russian school uniform, Bowtique owner Sabina Kupillas brings a real European sense of style to her newly moved Woodlands store.

Kupillas was raised in Russia, spent nine years in Israel, and then came to the United States and lived in New York City and Portland, Oregon. She brought her store to The Woodlands in 2022, originally in the Market Street shopping land and now in Hughes Landing.

Kupillas immediately felt at home in Texas, and appreciated the way women here dress.

“Women here are very feminine,”  Kupillas tells PaperCity The Woodlands. “They wear more colors — pink and light blue. Women want to look feminine. It’s not all gray and black like other places. Women here, they like shiny and sparkly. I like women to be able to look feminine.”

But that shine and sparkle should be unique, Kupillas feels. And she runs Bowtique with that mindset.

“If you spend $500, you don’t want to see that dress on other people in The Woodlands,” she notes.

When ordering, Kupillas typically won’t order more than three of something and she takes care to order clothes in variety of colors.  She also still maintains mail order customers in Portland and New York, and shares merchandise with them in order to keep duplicates out of Texas.

Kupillas orders from markets in Milan and Paris and travels there twice a year.

“In February, we buy for next winter, and September for spring and summer,” she says.

As far as trends go, Kupillas finds that after COVID, women are more into buying what they like on themselves.

Take jeans. “I have have low rise and high rise, and I have skinny and flare and bootcut,” Kupillas says “I feel like now everyone wears what’s comfortable.” Bowtique carries Joe’s Jeans.

One of this European clothing maven’s favorite lines for dresses is Shoshanna.

“She’s the most feminine and has the best fabrics,” Kupillas says. “And if I speak about more avant-garde and more unique it will be NY 77 design.  The avant garde isn’t limited to dresses for NY 77.” The outerwear Bowtique carries is distinct as well. An oversize bomber with a zip-off scarf is on the rack.

Kupillas pays special attention to fabrics here in Texas.

“Here, we carry a lot of cotton and linen and natural fabrics,” she says.

Bowtique also carries the popular Black Halo “Jackie O” dress, which she said has been a best seller in the United States for the past six years.

“We sell it and there is a waiting list. It has an amazing fit, very feminine,” Kupillas says.

A new line for Bowtique is Tara Jarmon, a Paris designer with stores in France, Monaco, England, Switzerland and Luxembourg.  Bowtique has separates from the line that can be paired with other pieces to extend looks.

In addition to carrying dresses, blouses and trousers, Bowtique has hand-made Italian shoes and belts, handbags, French outerwear and jewelry from Chan Luu, which features 18K gold-plated jewelry with real stones.

But don’t think Kupillas has forgotten she’s in Texas now. You can even find her unique slant on Western wear blouses for the Rodeo season. Yes. Bowtique isn’t afraid to surprise you either.

Bowtique is now open at 1950 Hughes Landing Boulevard, Suite 1225.  Its hours are Mondays through Wednesdays from 10 am to 6 pm,  Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 am to 7 pm, and Sundays from 11 am to 6 pm.