The future home of Retta Jane + Retta Jane Interiors
I’m currently planning the biggest expansion of my career - opening our first retail space - and I don’t have all the pieces in place. Including all of the funding. Most people don’t understand.
But here’s what I’ve learned about building beautiful things: the blueprint emerges as you build, not before.
Right now, my interior design clients are trusting me with six-figure investments based on work I did years ago. They’re choosing me for projects even though most of my current work is still in the pre-construction phase - no glamorous ‘after’ photos to show them, just blueprints, renderings, and my word that we’ll create something extraordinary together. They’re investing in vision over certainty, reputation over recent portfolio shots.
The original rendering for a client’s primary bathroom | The finished project many months later
The same happened with Retta Jane. I launched the clothing line without perfect timing, without industry connections, without a flawless business plan. Just conviction that timeless, beautiful pieces deserved to exist in the world - and the grit to figure out how to make them.
How the Augusta Tunic started in its first fitting | The finished product many months later
Here’s what I’ve discovered: the most sophisticated clients, the most beautiful projects, the most successful businesses - they don’t happen because everything is perfect. They happen because everyone involved believes in building something that doesn’t exist yet.
My current interior clients aren’t choosing me because they’ve seen my latest work (most of my portfolio is from 2018 and earlier, before I paused to launch Retta Jane). They’re choosing me because they trust that the same vision and ethics that created those earlier spaces will create something even more extraordinary for them.
One of my favorite kitchen designs…it’s still beautiful today, but was photographed years and years ago!
Let me be clear: building without a complete blueprint doesn’t mean building without a plan. I create forecasts, develop budgets, research markets. I work within carefully considered boundaries, even when those boundaries aren’t fully defined yet. The difference is that I don’t wait for every variable to be solved before I start moving.
The retail space I’m planning isn’t just a store - it’s a completely new concept for St. Louis. Picture this: Retta Jane clothing and home pieces, other carefully selected brands, our interior design studio, and a wine bar/café with reading room - all in one space. Community programming for women across generations, with the flexibility for book clubs to meet alongside board meetings. Holiday teas, etiquette classes, movie nights. A place where mothers and daughters can shop together, then stay for a bite and conversation.
Reading Room inspiration images from our Flagship deck
The inspiration for this comes from a 30+ year tradition I treasured with my mother and grandmother. Every year, the weekend before Thanksgiving, we’d take a “girls’ weekend” to Chicago. It was formal - no jeans allowed - and I could bring a friend. We’d visit museums, have long lunches, shop, and always end with wine and Shirley Temples at the top of the Hancock Tower. Those weekends created something I didn’t fully understand then: they were about more than shopping or sightseeing. They were about creating space for women across generations to connect over beautiful things.
Chicago trip from the mid-1990s, with my bestie Eileen
I want to take that feeling - the culture, the conversation, the intentional gathering - and give it to our Retta Jane customers not just once a year, but as part of their everyday lives.
It’s what urban planners call a “third space” - somewhere between home and work where community actually happens. Big cities have them everywhere, but nobody is really doing this in St. Louis, especially in Clayton where we’re planning to locate. I’ve already had conversations with women in corporate leadership who are eager to host investment meetings and executive gatherings in our café space. There are plenty of places in Clayton for men to gather - golf simulators, “Fight Club,” bars - but nothing that truly caters to professional women seeking sophisticated community.
A look into the ‘third space’, from our Flagship deck
We’re essentially creating the physical blueprint for what we’d like to roll out in our national stores one day, and the early response suggests we’re filling a real void. You don’t need to have a daughter to connect with what we’re building - though if you do, imagine being able to bring her to a place where ambitious women and beautiful things coexist.
What I’ve learned is that doors rarely open themselves. You have to initiate the conversations, ask for help, surround yourself with people who know more than you do. When I reopened my interior design practice this year, I didn’t wait until I had a full pipeline - I started having conversations with past clients, architects, builders. With Retta Jane’s expansion into womenswear, we haven’t launched yet precisely because we’re still perfecting the fit and details, but we’ve already begun conversations with buyers and clients to gauge interest and gather feedback.
The retail space represents the same philosophy. I’m actively having conversations with potential investors, landlords, city planners, other business owners who’ve created community spaces. Some doors will open, others won’t. But none of them would open if I waited until everything was perfectly aligned.
Retail inspiration images from our Flagship deck
What I do have is this: twenty-plus years of creating beautiful spaces and pieces for discerning clients. A growing fashion brand built on quality and heritage. An unshakeable belief that luxury retail can be more than transactions - it can be community, experience, relationships.
And sometimes, that’s exactly the blueprint you need.
The most extraordinary spaces I’ve designed didn’t start with perfect plans - they started with clients who trusted the process. The most timeless pieces in the Retta Jane collection weren’t born from market research - they emerged from understanding what actually lasts.
This retail space is the next evolution of that same philosophy: build something beautiful, figure out the details as you go, trust that the right people will recognize the vision before it’s complete.
Because here’s the truth about building without a complete blueprint: it’s not reckless. It’s the only way anything truly beautiful ever gets built.
If this vision resonates with you - whether as a future customer or potential investor - I’d love to hear from you!
Bravo! Love this plan!
What a great idea! Where do I donate?