The story below is from our March/April 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Roanoke’s fashionistas are rewriting the style rulebook, blending tradition with bold, refreshing choices that celebrate individuality and creativity.
Southern fashion has always been deeply rooted in tradition. But lately, Roanoke style setters have been playing with looks that break the rules ... sometimes with a refreshing sense of curiosity and joy. That’s why we asked a handful of local boutique owners to share the style rules they’re happy to leave behind ... and the fresh new looks they’re ready to embrace.
Ashley Wilson Fellers
Shoppers increasingly seek an elevated approach to loungewear, like the ensemble modeled here by store associate Sarah of Vivendi.
Here’s to the new rules.
Get Comfortable.
Roxy Broom, manager at The Bird Cage Boutique in Roanoke County, moved to the United States when she was just 16, and she watched her mom found several clothing and décor shops, the last of which she now helps manage.
Style comes naturally to Broom now — especially the kind of style that speaks to Roanokers. But as a newly-minted American teenager, she had to become a quick study in the way Southerners dressed. Back then, the folks around her had an outfit for every occasion, she says: tailored separates for the office; a dress and tall heels for dinner out; a pair of jeans for yardwork and everything in between.
And then came 2020.
“COVID changed everything,” says Broom. And after a year or more of working from home in comfortable pants, people just didn’t want to go back.
Comfort, as it turns out, is the new rule we dress by — no matter where we’re going. Buttery-soft fabrics are de rigueur and denim often appears at upscale restaurants. The trick, says Darcy Funk, owner of Vivendi, rests in selecting high-quality, hard-wearing jeans and loungewear with an updated silhouette and then layering those pieces in a way that feels more intentional than what you’d see in the gym.
William Drew Photography
To meet increasing customer demand for sustainable looks, La De Da has begun carrying designs from locals, including store manager Robyn Gross.
“In today’s world, a jean will take you to work, out to dinner, to church, to lunch with your friends,” says Funk, wearing a favorite pair of Paige denim with a feel-good, drapey-soft full cut. “A sharp, classic jean goes a long way.”
And it’s easier to wear, too. Gone is the restrictive era of the skinny-jean silhouette, with its tight waistline, synthetic-laden fabric and a sprayed-on look. These days, Funk says she often steers customers toward wide-leg jeans, sometimes with a trouser pleat, a front seam or other small details that can signal dressier vibes for the office or date night, but can dress down, too.
And if you’re afraid that the new, wider silhouettes aren’t for you, Broom suggests taking a second look at the fit ... and investing in alterations, if necessary. “Tailoring — even if it’s a relaxed piece like a jean — is a good investment,” she says, “because if you feel good in it, you’ll wear it.”
Mix, Match & Mash It Up.
William Drew Photography
Modern approaches to style are fresh, playful and personal... a bit like a grown-up game of dress-up. "We are starting to lean into who we are as individuals more," says Alyce Carlin (pictured in green), owner of New'd. "I think we've become a lot less rigid in our rules, which maybe is the new rule. We all have the ability to just be ourselves."
If you can remember a time when you wore the same fabrics head-to-toe, matched your handbag to your shoes and paired your patterns strictly with solids, you might be surprised by the latest ensembles.
Today, style is a study in contrast. Celebrities walk the red carpet in track pants paired with corset tops, silk skirts with basic white tees or joggers with tuxedo jackets. Mismatched textures, clashing colors and unexpected pattern pairings have flooded the streets of Paris and New York. Meanwhile, boutique owners report that on the local level, Roanokers are playing with their own down-to-earth ways to approach the mix.
“A lot of people have started pairing dresses with sneakers, or even tuxedos with sneakers,” says Alyce Carlin, owner of New’d in Salem. “That would have been a huge no-no 20 years ago.” It’s a welcome change, she says, and one that can shake up a wardrobe that’s stuck in a rut. “Just putting surprising shoes with an outfit you wouldn’t expect is an easy way of breaking barriers. You could wear a very structured tailored pant or shirt with jeweled mesh flats — something outrageous. And it can make your whole outfit a little more fun.”
J Bohn Bishop of JBohnBishop Mercantile at Smith Mountain Lake says her current favorite mashup juxtaposes a floaty, feminine dress with a casual cap.
“I don’t want to do my hair. I don’t always have time,” she admits. “So I’ll wear a dress and a hat, no problem. It’s not a wide-brimmed hat; it’s a baseball or a trucker hat ... The trucker-hat scene is really big.” Bishop loved the look enough to create a build-your-own hat bar in her boutique, where customers could embellish caps in unique ways. “It’s me. I’m being 100% authentic,” she says of the look. “And I think people are saying, ‘Oh, I can wear that too.’”
William Drew Photography
At Tim & Zach Thrifty Finds, thrifted and upcycled items get a second chance ... and become affordable treasures for today’s sustainability-minded shoppers.
Choose Secondhand & Sustainable First.
When Timothy Head — co-owner of Tim & Zach Thrifty Finds — first got into the business seven years ago, the wave of interest in sustainable, secondhand fashion was just gaining momentum.
“I started selling clothing on eBay and Poshmark just to pay the bills,” says Head, whose side gig eventually allowed him to leave his corporate job for a life in fashion resale — a life he now shares with his partner and store co-owner, Zach. “I felt like I was helping the environment and giving myself a paycheck at the end of the day ... And now we have a mission-based thrift store with a goal to keep everything out of the landfill that’s possible.”
His journey to the Cloverdale storefront happened to align with a surge of sentiment from Gen-Z and millennial consumers, who now, research shows, often seek out secondhand before buying something new.
Carlin of New’d — a consignment boutique — agrees. “Choosing secondhand first? It’s a huge shift. People want to do their part to take care of the earth and this is a big way we can do it.”
To meet those demands, boutique owners like Crystal McBroom are making adjustments. McBroom, who owns La De Da downtown, has begun curating select vintage and retired pieces for her inventory, along with clothing created by local designers who work with upcycled fabrics. “I’ve noticed that those items are now outselling our regular items by double,” she says.
And perhaps the best part, says Head, is that embracing secondhand and upcycled can unlock new levels of creativity and fun in your wardrobe.
William Drew Photography
Lanita Porterfield of Virtuous Closet, an online formalwear boutique, says that confidence is the key ingredient in a great outfit: “You have to own what you wear, even if it’s not popular,” she says. “Because when you walk into a room with confidence, it shifts your whole personality.”
“There’s a new trend called Cottagecore, Grandmacore — your grandma’s chunky knits with cats and pumpkins on them,” he says. “If you’re in a style rut, just walk into a local thrift store and have fun ... You’re going to discover styles you never knew existed.”
Just be you.
But perhaps the best new rule of all, boutique owners say, is this one: wear what you love.
“I think my favorite part of fashion today is that almost anything goes as long as you wear it confidently,” says Darcy Funk. “There aren’t necessarily ‘wrong’ pieces. How you put them together matters. And I love when I see someone trying a style that wouldn’t be what other people wear, but it shines on them because they’re confident.”
That’s the sentiment that inspired Lanita Porterfield, CEO of Virtuous Closet, to found her online formalwear boutique. On the hunt for affordable ballgowns that were “classy and elegant and beautiful, but left something to the imagination,” Porterfield kept coming up empty-handed. So the Roanoke resident decided to launch an online shop for buyers of all sizes who were searching for similar looks.
“You have to own what you wear, even if it’s not popular,” she says. “Because when you walk into a room with confidence, it shifts your whole personality.”
And that means that, whether you’re heading into a wine bar in cashmere joggers or going to the grocery store in a bold mix of prints, you can embrace your creativity without fear.
And that’s a new rule we can live by.
The story above is from our March/April 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!