River Oaks District’s Newest Store is a Little Place With Big Wows — La Vie Style House Draws a Crowd
A Pink Paradise With Serious Growth Power
BY Shelby Hodge // 10.20.21La Vie Style House founders Lindsey McClain and Jamie Coulter at the opening of their boutique in River Oaks District, Houston. (Photo by Johnny Than)
By boutique standards, the new La Vie Style House, just opened in River Oaks District, isn’t overly large. But the business that the adorbs caftan-centric shop did during a pre-opening party was enormous. In little more than two hours, 54 pieces sailed out of the door in La Vie’s signature pink shopping bags.
Caftans in lace, sequins and other floaty fabrics along with wraps and shirts were clearly a hit with the clutch of women of all ages and sizes. The enthusiastic turnout was no surprise to La Vie Style House founders Lindsey McClain and Jamie Coulter, both of whom winged in from home base in Dallas where the fashion savvy have been scooping up the merchandise since the store opening in Highland Park Village last year.
Houston is only the second brick and mortar store for the company but plans are in the works for a third in Palm Beach. But, of course.
“It’s that Elizabeth Taylor vibe. It’s Slim Aarons, a nod to the ’60s,” Dallas native McClain explains of that prospective expansion. “Everything we have is easy and glamorous. Wear a caftan. Put on jewelry and go anywhere.”
The evening was hosted by a quintet of women, influencers in their own right — Sheridan Williams and her daughter, Lauren Haley in from Dallas; Whitney Kuhn Lawson; Lisa Oren; and Becca Pritchard.
“We started styling in 2013 and realized there was a void in the market,” Coulter, a native Californian, tells PaperCity. “We started creating caftans in 2016 and had very small trunk shows. Then in 2017, we launched in Barneys and then it was a whirlwind.”
Elizabeth Anthony
Just as the Dallas La Vie Style House is a sugar plum vision in “Parisian” pink, so the Houston store reflects the same esthetic with pink walls and pink furnishings. This is uber feminine territory.
PC Seen: La Vie Style House CEO Max Defforey, Laura Sakowitz, Hayden Lasher, Dancie Ware, Laura Rathe, Rania Mankarious, Laura Ward, Rachael Berry, Liara Tamani, Kristina Wilson, Talbott Sham, Mary Patton, Shelby Webster, Talbott Sham, and also in from Dallas Suzanne Droese and Missy Rogers Peck.
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