THE FASHION ISSUE
AUDREY’S BOUTIQUE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS In a city like Spokane, it’s quite a milestone for a small, locally owned business to stick around for a half-century. For Audrey’s Boutique, however, whether it would be serving women for that long was never questioned. When it opened in the late 1960s, Audrey’s was a specialty lingerie shop with a focus on bra fittings for post-mastectomy women. “We go through their life journeys with them, with breast prosthesis and bra fittings and everything else,” says Victoria Zvoncheck-Ferro, the boutique’s fourth and current owner. This dedication hasn’t faltered, and the store has since expanded to dressing women over their undergarments with collections in casual, business and formal wear. “My philosophy for the store is ‘Every woman is beautiful, they just don’t know it,’” says Zvoncheck-Ferro, who’s also known around town as “The Bra Whisperer.” In addition to making women feel beautiful, Audrey’s Boutique also seeks to empower them. “It’s an all-female-owned business,” Zvoncheck-Ferro says. “Started by a woman and maintained by women.” She credits the boutique’s 50 years of success to the level of care given to each woman who walks in. “We develop relationships with these clients and especially the mastectomy clients because you’re going on such a personal journey with them,” she says. — MORGAN SCHEERER
MODELS IN THIS SECTION: (page 22) Tierra Duke, Gianna Bardelli and Elyse Sawyer; (page 24) Brandon Martell, Paul Forster and Ben Fife; (page 25) Tancie Doruth, Raleigh Brown and Forrest Kuharski.
24 INLANDER AUGUST 8, 2019
Tony Brown (center)
Vagabond Soundtrack Worn, storied denim and workwear for men and women is the focus of Tony “Breezy” Brown’s vintage fashion offerings By Morgan Scheerer TONY “BREEZY” BROWN RUNS his fingers over the sleeve of a denim jacket, lingering where the fabric has been sunwashed. “This is what gets me out of bed in the morning,” he says. “This is beautiful to me.” Brown explains that this jacket, now for sale in his basement booth inside Boulevard Mercantile, was probably worn by someone who rode horses. He can tell by the places where the denim has been washed out; by sections that are more dirt-stained than others, by the lines that have yet to fade in the sleeves, showing they were often worn rolled up, with the elbows at a 90-degree angle. Pieces like this, those with a storied past, are what get Brown excited. Brown is a Spokane-based vintage clothing curator who specializes in denim, although workwear from the 1940s and ’50s is his true love. He sells these worn wares under his brand Vagabond Soundtrack at Boulevard and at JUNK in midtown Coeur d’Alene. “I like rugged, distressed clothing, which a lot of people don’t even touch,” he says. “For me, the more distressed, the more worn out, the better story it tells.” Denim jackets of all washes with varying degrees of distress, some lined with Sherpa, others with patches, line a whole side of his booth, while “grandma” sweatshirts line another. Overalls have their own section, and a glass case filled with silver and turquoise jewelry sits in the middle. Cutoff denim shorts, one of his more popular items, are hung, folded and stacked in multiple places, sorted by waist measurement. “It’s American, it’s classic, and it’s timeless,” Brown says of the denim he works with. “It looks good on everyone, it’s stylish.”
Brown has always been a fan of things past. After closing his former Spokane record shop, he turned to what he does best: shopping. He hits thrift stores and garage sales to find his pieces, along with having connections with pickers. Brown delivers to his spaces at least three times a week, a testament to his dedication to finding new inventory. “I think of all the people in Spokane I’m the most aggressive picker,” he says. Brown has been “hardcore” curating and selling vintage for about six years. In this time, he’s seen a rise in the popularity of vintage clothing, with more shops opening, and a wider variety of shoppers walking through the doors of the shops. While he sees dressing vintage as a trend, he also thinks the popularity of it is here to stay. “In this style, [the pieces are] one-offs,” he says. “They’re wearing something that they’re not going to run into someone else wearing at a party. It’s unique; it can be artful and artistic. It’s an expression.” In addition to the uniqueness of his pieces, Brown says the fact that each has a past contributes to the popularity of vintage. “When you go to a store and get a pair of distressed jeans, they’re distressed in a factory,” he says. “My distress is because someone worked in it, or wore it forever, or just loved it until it’s threadbare. And I think there’s a lot of people who don’t want their clothes to look new, I’m one of them. I want my clothes to tell a story.” n Shop Vagabond Soundtrack at Boulevard Mercantile, 1905 N. Monroe; JUNK / Midtown Market, 811 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene Instagram: @vagabond_soundtrack