Shopping + Style

Local Fashion Designer
Furniture Facelift
Ice for the Price
Dela Dolce Vita
Vintage Clothing
Tiny Shop That Can
Instant Gratification for the Home
Place to Accessorize
Store for Books You Didn’t Know You Needed
Store for the Shopping Challenged
European Import
Oprah–Endorsed Accessory
Essential Winterwear
Beauty Secret
Retail Fashion Shrine
Beauty Boutique
Antidote for Green Guilt

Local Fashion Designer
With designs that reflect her international travels and love of art, the fashions of Kimberly Kjurek (of Kjurek Couture) have been a hit with both local and national style mavens. Kjureck, who studied studio arts at Augsburg College and then in Florence, Italy, brings a worldly sophistication to her clothing line. Her collection of A-line belted jackets, butterfly-sleeved coats, tulip skirts, and tunics is sold at five stores in the metro area, including Cliché, as well as another handful of boutiques around the States. 2403 Lyndale Ave. S., 612-870-0420 [top]

Furniture Facelift
With a nip here (a smaller, more streamlined space) and a tuck there (furnishings and accessories that cater to three distinct lifestyles), Gabberts, the grande dame of local furniture stores, is primped and poised for a comeback. The key manufacturers are still present, as is the design studio and personal touch that made Gabberts famous, but the store has rededicated itself to exquisite merchandise and returning the brand to its former glory. Galleria, Edina, 952-927-1500 [top]

Ice for the Price
In February, jewelry designers Linda and Kim Renk, sisters from Winona who founded the accessories brand Sequin, saw their first jewelry collaboration for Badgley Mischka hit the runways in New York City’s Bryant Park. The costume jewelry, which ranged from rock crystal chokers to an architectural necklace with large-scale stones, was anointed by Women’s Wear Daily as “spectacular” and quickly hit the must-have list for department store buyers and fashion goddesses from coast to coast. Available at Macy’s, 700 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-375-2200 [top]

Dela Dolce Vita
Fans of sleek-lined contemporary Italian home furnishings in pop-art colors have more to fawn over at Roam, the modern furnishings and accessories store that opened up next to Ligne Roset. Since the ownership is the same, a doorway was knocked out of the wall so that customers could easily move between each store. What’s to love: the plastic and wood furnishings from Magis, accessories from Alessi, and the Dot Spot, an entire area devoted to furnishings from Blu Dot. 813 Glenwood Ave., Mpls., 612-374-5555 [top]

Vintage Clothing
Northeast Minneapolis’s Rewind Vintage is what a vintage store should be—small, clean, and expertly edited. Owner Sarah Hoese, formerly a dealer at now-defunct Theater Antiques, opened this shop and quickly attracted a devoted following. Find novel dresses from the ’70s and ’80s, a fabulous selection of boots and shoes, and a drool-worthy wall of accessories. Plus, it’s much less expensive than the Twin Cities’ other vintage stores. 2829 NE Johnson St., Mpls., 612-788-9870 [top]

Tiny Shop That Can
From the Pine Cone Hill bedding and Christopher Spitzmiller lamps to Oscar de la Renta candles and books on interior design, fashion, and traveling, Victory is packed with charm. We love, love, love owner Kerry Ciardelli–Olson’s classic storefront and everything in this little Linden Hills shop. Vintage, antique, and new furniture, jewelry, glassware, chandeliers, soaps, linens, frames, and lots of personal and home accessories are at once refined, fun, and flirty. 3505 W. 44th St., Mpls., 612-926-8200 [top]

Instant Gratification for the Home
Nothing can kill the shopping buzz faster than finding out that the perfect couch you have to have is a not-for-sale floor model that will take months to order and deliver. Enter Schreier Home, interior designer Jeff Schreier’s Stillwater store, where shoppers can now walk in off the street and see rooms finished with high-end furnishings from the likes of Baker, E.J. Victor, and Century—all of which can be bought on the spot. Go into a store and walk away with a room! 124 S. 2nd St., Stillwater, 651-426-8428 [top]

Place to Accessorize
{high} Walking into StyledLife is like walking into the fabulous accessories closet of a fashion magazine. Owner Kevin Quinn has stacked his boutique with the finest new and vintage purses, belts, jewelry, and hats for women, plus ties, cuff links, and travel accessories for men. And while we love the selection of new items—Kooba, Lambertson Truex, and Dunhill—it is the mint-condition vintage that keeps luring us back. Gaviidae Common II, 555 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-746-5400 [top]

{low} If you’re short on cash but high on style, the option to buy ten accessories for less than fifty bucks should be enough to drag your stylish behind out to the MOA to visit ForLove 21. Forever 21’s sister accessories-only shop is an oasis for über trendy earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and cocktail rings (few more than $10). Sure, you may get what you’ve paid for, but at bargain-basement prices you can afford to change your accessories every paycheck. Mall of America, 952-854-4190 [top]

Store for Books You Didn’t Know You Needed
The Walker Art Center can provide you with the prettiest coffee table ever—not the table, but the books that adorn it. The Walker’s books not only look great, they provide just enough intellectual stimulation to make everyone in the room feel smarter. Need a volume on Michael Barney, Mitch Epstein, Japanese 2-D art, Arte Povera, Catherine Opie’s photography, or maybe a few essays on minimalist aesthetic theory? The more obscure the topic, the more likely you are to find it here. 1750 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-375-7600 [top]

Store for the Shopping Challenged
Romeo and Juliet Shops even carries Push gifts. If you’re asking what those are and why you should care, try stopping by the store. Owner Michelle Courtright Bjork knows the perfect gift for every occasion and labels them so literally that you can’t go wrong. One trip to R&J, and suddenly you’ll earn the coveted title: gift-giving genius. Gaviidae Common, 555 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-332-8850 [top]

European Import
The unmistakable khaki-and-red check. The luxe British gaberdine. The holy grail of trench coats. Burberry has landed in Minnesota, with a Mall of America address. Fashionistas, rejoice! If only you could buy the accent too. Mall of America, Bloomington, 952-854-7000 [top]

Oprah–Endorsed Accessory
A product has most definitely arrived if Oprah has one. And she owns a work/life bag by Urban Junket, the brainchild of two local ladies, Tracy Arnold and Tracy Dyer. The bags, meticulously crafted from leather and other quality materials, are as versatile as the women who carry them. Holding all the contents of a busy life, they are proof that carrying a laptop doesn’t mean you have to sling five pounds of black nylon over your shoulder. Available at Blanc de Blanc, Karma, StyledLife, Walker Art Center gift shop, Gallery 360, Quince, russell+hazel, and more [t0p]

Essential Winterwear
With our climate, it’s amazing how long we’ve had tolive without a store that carries great basic cotton pieces for layering. But now we have American Apparel in Uptown to keep us warm. Inside, find men’s and women’s stuff in a rainbow of colors—T-shirts, skirts, pants, jumpers, tights, accessories, and more—none of it manufactured in a sweatshop. If those are too basic, try the lamé leggings on for size. 1433 W. Lake St., Mpls., 612-825-3000 [top]

Beauty Secret
Mom always says beauty comes from the inside. So does Horst Rechelbacher, founder of Aveda. His new store, Intelligent Nutrients, specializes in Neutraceuticals—a fancy term for supplement-packed food (even chocolate) that helps you feel good, which in turn makes you look good. Coming soon: all-organic, all-natural cosmetics, hair care, and even pet care. 983 Hennepin Ave. E., Mpls., 612-617-2002 [top]

Retail Fashion Shrine
By some stroke of fashion luck, the gods of style decided to shine their love upon our great state’s lone Nordstrom over the past year. First, it welcomed a Chanel accessories boutique (chain-handled lambskin bag, anyone?) and then boutiques for Chloé and Yves Saint Laurent. Not content with providing fashion solely for upper-echelon buyers, Nordstrom brought in Via C and a slew of young ateliers, including Milly, Doo Ri, and 3.1 Phillip Lim. By the time you read this, it is quite likely that the Gucci Boutique will be open. And, of course, there are always the shoes. Now if only Father Nordstrom would bless us with a couple of downtown outposts. Mall of America, 952-883-2121 [top]

Beauty Boutique
There is a beauty wonderland in the Twin Cities, a mecca of all things Francophile, refined, gorgeous, and chic—and it goes by the name of Chérie Boutique. Besides hard-to-find French apothecary lines and New York–based lines Bond No. 9 and Fresh—plus a great selection of Kiehl’s—peruse the girliest of lingerie and bags by Longchamp. Now, go stock your vanity. 750 E. Lake St., Wayzata, 952-475-2212 [top]

Antidote for Green Guilt
Recycled, reclaimed, biodegradable, organic, sustainable—Ryan and Tina North first created a gift store that flew the banner of the green revolution, and now they’ve expanded into a home store. Besides environmentally friendly furniture, Twin Cities Green has linens, cleaning products, dishes, frames, rugs, and even toilet paper. Grab a roll and flush your guilt away. 2405 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-374-4581 [top]