Oakland boutique celebrates a decade of fashion.
By Flora Tsapovsky
A brick-and-mortar boutique celebrating its 10th birthday in 2017 is no small feat. McMullen, the multibrand boutique blowing a lonesome designer horn in Piedmont, hit that anniversary this month, so a celebration was in order. Instead of the customary fashion show or cocktail party, owner Sherri McMullen marked the occasion with a community event on Nov. 15, which included a cocktail party and a discussion panel that felt both close-knit and global.
Moderated by Rajni Jacques, fashion director at Teen Vogue, the panel brought together New Yorker Amy Smilovic, founder of the lucrative clothing brand Tibi; Tamu McPherson, based in Milan and fashion blogger at All the Pretty Birds; and McMullen. Their audience included long-standing clients, local bloggers, and media and fashion students from Oakland School of the Arts, which benefited from the ticket sales. Introducing her fellow panelists, McMullen called McPherson her “sister,” highlighting the immediate connection between the two upon meeting two years ago. She also shared that Tibi is one of the few brands carried at McMullen since its opening.
Framed by colorful displays of McMullen’s specialty — hard-to-find unique womenswear designers — the panel, described by Jacques as an “informal gathering, a conversation among women,” spun a variety of topics, from building a business to diversity at the workplace. Coming from different backgrounds but clearly sharing a love of fashion, the panelists had something else in common: pivoting, at a certain point in life, to get to where they now stand. For McMullen, that moment came when her boss told her that she’d need to obey him in order to get ahead. (McMullen declined to name the workplace.) “I remember thinking, ‘Buying for a department store is not the right environment for me,’ ” she said, “so I drafted a business plan with the Oakland community in mind.”
Smilovic, together with her husband and business partner, moved away from the brand’s trend-following strategy in 2012, essentially reinventing Tibi as a more timeless, classic label fit to compete with the rapidly growing competition online and in the malls.
McPherson, who attended law school, decided to pursue a career in fashion and pioneered the street-style blogger niche in 2008, then changed course again and turned her blog into a timely lifestyle website/Youtube/podcast hybrid. “We’re staying on top of our social media, but there’s nothing like a well-written long-form article,” she said.
Jacques went from a “9-to-5 job” in the magazine industry to freelancing as a creative director, then back to a job at Teen Vogue. “Fear is a meaningful factor, but you just have to take the leap,” she said later, when a young audience member Above: Tibi founder Amy Smilnovic (left), boutique owner Sherri McMullen, fashion blogger Tamu McPherson and Teen Vogue fashion director Rajni Jacques discuss fashion and careers to celebrate McMullen’s well-stocked and festive 10-year anniversary party, left, and panel discussion. Below left: Audience member Alana Rayford. Below right: Guests Rebecca Clark (left) and Cori Taylor at the anniversary party for the Piedmont boutique.
asked her about the art of getting ahead.
On that topic, McPherson confessed to having the so-called imposter syndrome in the beginning of her fashion career that she had to ditch.
Smilovic was always business-savvy (“I didn’t just babysit, I had a babysitting company in eighth grade,” she said) but she felt “removed from the industry” until finding a supportive community among fashion bloggers like McPherson and Leandra Medine of Man Repeller. McMullen said she doubted herself when launching the boutique, but the local fashion lovers came through, allowing her business to grow.
“It’s important to have a great female mentor figure, but really the confidence has to come from within,” she said. As McMullen begins its second decade in Oakland, a roomful of local supporters and like-minded female entrepreneurs couldn’t be a better bonus.