Vintage Hot Spot – Store Tour & Interview – Flutter Portland, Oregon
Welcome to another Vintage Hot Spot! We are so excited to be sharing with you a tour of Flutter, a delightful store in Portland Oregon and an interview with Flutter owner Cindy.
When did you open? Flutter opened May 2006 and our on line store opened last year.
What inspired you to open a vintage clothing boutique? Flutter's tag line is " A delightful disarray of found objects and clutter". We have many vintage and antique one of kind pieces gathered from around the world. The shop is very feminine and feels like one large international boudoir, but with a bit of taxidermy and oddities to break up the girliness.
It has several twists and surprises around every corner and many have described the feeling the store evokes as what Alice must have felt like as she tumbled down the hole to wonderland. There's a 14ft hand painted 1920's french wardrobe stuffed with vintage children's costumes There's always an abundance of antique silk Chinese lanterns and vintage religious chalkware….a saint for everyone! The one thing the store seemed to be missing was vintage clothes. I got myself started in this business 20 years ago buying and selling vintage clothes to support my addiction and need for an ever changing wardrobe!. It truly is a passion of mine and I'm so happy to be hunting and gathering once again for lovely gowns, silky slips and sequined tops. The vintage clothes boutique is the perfect addition to Flutter!
Flutter also houses 2 amazing designers Frocky Jack Morgan and Urchin.
Both designers deconstruct and reconstruct vintage & antique
garments resulting in amazing dresses and even wedding dresses!
Gossamer our latest designer, which specializes in hand dyed vintage
slips in the loveliest of Jewel tones.
What is your shop address? Flutter is located @ 3948 N. Mississippi Ave in beautiful Portland, Oregon
CLICK TO READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW!
What are your hours? Flutter is open every day 11-6 M-Sat & 11-5 Sunday, Extended hours in the summer.
Do you hold any special events at your store? Flutter is known to have a few parties now and again. It's not uncommon to find and accordion player sitting on top of my door, a model or 2 on stilts, pink donuts, champagne, django inspired band, and a cat. Check out a couple of videos of our parties on the Flutter blog
Is shopping indie and small businesses important to you? If so, why? It's very important to me and should be important to everyone. Supporting local businesses helps sustain our communities, allows us to have a full understanding of where the products were shopping for originated, the stories and the people behind it and allows for true independent, creative businesses to succeed. Portland does a fine job of supporting its own!
Anything else you would like to add? I love my little store, Flutter! What makes our store unique is that it is a store, where I believe everyone feels comfortable to shop. The store is living art that is constantly changing and working as one big installation, but never too serious….there's humor in it all and we like to have fun. There's always treasure to be found from large to small and expensive to affordable. The large birdcage in the back with the sweet little finches provide a nice background of sound in tune with the music. Flutter is an experience and a feast for the senses…a place to get lost on those rainy Portland days and find a "delightful disarray of found objects and clutter."
A special thank you to Cindy owner of Flutter for the wonderful interview.
All Photos are Copyright© Flutter
Interview Copyright© Vintage Indie
oh. my. gosh. What a lovely little shoppe!! Those hand dyed vintage slips are gorgeous!
Why are all the cool shops in Portland??? Maybe it’s time for a road trip!
You know, I was thinking the exact same thing. They are either there or in California!