Steal Magnolia Blvd.

You’ll be giving Encore Nouveau an encore visit time and time again, after stepping into this modern wardrobe wonderland. This reasonably sized boutique is known for their new and gently used affordable luxury clothing and accessories.






Although this Magnolia corner shop has an overwhelming amount of clothing, it is highly organized for your browsing. Round floor racks, wall racks, cubbyholes, closets, cabinets, and dressers are intricately decorated and creatively stocked to the brim with clothes and accessories. You will feel like you entered a wardrobe stylist’s closet rather than a Burbank boutique.

No matter your style or size, Encore has something for every woman and girl. From retro to modern, from elegant to casual, from brand new to gently used, there is everything and only one of everything. Each item is carefully priced lower than its online eBay value, so that you are getting the best bang for your buck.

As you shop, you will notice the extreme organization of the store. The first two round racks at the front of the store are labeled the New Arrivals rack, which is changed out every week and loaded with new items, while the second front rack is named Oo La la for its high end labels and employee picks. When you see what lies on this rack, you won’t help saying “oo la la!”











On this rack, the more expensive pieces can be found, but only for good reason. Small tags on the hangers name the label and the original price versus the Encore price. Some items that are marked higher are highlighted on the tops of the racks and placed next to a framed explanation of its cost, the name of the designer and what that designer is best known for.



The other round racks are divided up by bottoms and tops per size. The farthest rack is Encore’s $15 sale rack. Items that have been in the store for a long time rotate from new arrivals, to regular racks, and then finally to the $15 sale where there are plenty of good finds.



On the walls of Encore Nouveau lie gowns, dresses, and skirts, as well as a blue jeans section with an arrangement of sizes and a little black dress section, perfect for any LBD emergency.





The staff and owners are extremely friendly and can dress you in an outfit to fit any style. Owner and actress Kathleen Bailey has been styling herself and her friends for auditions for years, and has a keen eye for what’s trendy and popular. Magazine clippings and composites of items and celebrities are scattered around the boutique to show you which hot celebs are wearing what.

One of their newer racks consists of the popular and trendy head scarves, neck scarves, and shawls, as well as a hanging trough of $10 bathing suits. And of course every outfit needs a pair of killer heels. Encore Nouveau has shoes in great condition and at a fabulous price. The boutique has all the top designers and labels including Jessica Simpson, Steve Madden, Guess, BCBG, and more.









Oh, and don’t forget the closet of belts, handbags and purses atop of the racks and shelves, and cases and cases of jewelry. With earrings and necklaces to match any price range, Encore Nouveau has a treasure box full of $5 jewelry, $10 handmade rings, and items from the Nicole Miller collection.













Magnolia Blvd. is known for their infamous Ladies Night Out event on the last Friday night of the month, but little do people know that L.N.O was birthed at Encore. This 2 ½ year old store has been putting the event on for almost as long as the boutique has been open. During L.N.O, Encore holds great sales, raffles, wine and cheese, as well as featured artists or musicians.



What makes Encore Nouveau so unique is the comforting atmosphere and relaxing vibe that it gives you when you enter. Colors of salmon and sea foam green calm your senses, as we all know that clothes shopping can be quite stressful. The dressing room may remind you of your mother’s bedroom with the tall floor lamps while the window pane décor and rough finished furniture may take you back to that summer at your Auntie’s South Carolina country home.





And just like any warm and cozy home, Encore has a little living room area, complete with floral couches, a coffee table decked out with books, magazines, and cookies as well as a small kitchen area where customers can help themselves to hot coffee and herbal tea in quaint ceramic mugs.





Everything is for sale in this Magnolia boutique, including the artwork on the walls. These romantic framed images celebrate the curves and beauty of the female body and can be purchased as is for $125 or $100 for just the print.



Location: 3322 W. Magnolia Blvd.
Hours: Tue-Thur & Sun: 11am-6pm, Fri: 11am-7pm, Sat: 10am-6pm
(818) 848-3788
www.encorenouveau.com






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As ever popular as vintage clothing is, it is never simple to find a piece with the right quality and the right fit. Women change decade after decade and so do their sizes. We must admit that the curves we carry are not the curves that our grandmothers and great grandmothers carried 70 years ago. Vintage stores are plentiful, but Swift Boutique and Style Studio has an arrangement of sizes for every girl, with a little something more to offer.


While Swift does carry hand selected vintage, and a lot of it, this boutique is also home to vintage reconstruction, and one of a kind designed pieces by owner, fashion stylist and creative consultant Carrie Diaz. Inspired by cuts, fabrics, and eras, this fashion mogul recycles vintage clothing making one of a kind vintage for the modern girl.





Diaz knows that vintage doesn’t always fit right, and that is why she provides alterations and even complete makeovers, transforming a ratty piece of vintage into a red carpet beauty. Owning something that is rare and altered just for you has become important now more than ever with the incline of competing styles. Swift has just that because being unique and original is something that Diaz is so inspired by.

All vintage clothing is dry cleaned and repaired, making you feel brand new in your old outfit. The store also has an arrangement of new shoes and accessories as well as custom made items by Carrie. If you thought it couldn’t get any better, it does! Swift provides private styling consultations to help their customers complete their look, whether it be modern or vintage, and Swift also does private sewing lessons in the boutique.







Everything that is in the store is also available online in their Etsy store, at www.etsy.com/shop/iloveswift, which is constantly updated every week. Although their big online buyers are in Australia and England, locals can search for clothes online and then come straight to the store to try it on, without all the hassle of browsing. Prices vary from $5 jewelry to $300 one of a kind gowns.





Swift has been featured on the red carpet as well as in Lucky Magazine and the Huffington Post. Some of their clothing can even be seen on the hit series Mad Men.
This is a must on the Magnolia list, and don’t forget to visit them during Ladies Night Out, on the last Friday of every month, as well as their quarterly sales and show cases.



Location: 3216 Magnolia Blvd.
Hours: Wed - Sat: noon-6 pm, Sun: 1pm-5pm
(818) 558-1289
www.iloveswift.com




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Fashion Designer and Wardrobe Stylist, Audrey K Robles, is the owner of the Audrey*K Boutique, which received second place for Best Boutique on My FOX L.A.’s HOTLIST in 2011. With a fusion of modern contemporary and elegant vintage, this store features everything from clothing to jewelry to gifts.



Audrey*K offers exclusive, limited, and eclectic dresses from small design labels as well as clothing from her own private label, in which Robles designs herself. As a Stylist, Audrey finds her passion in stirring confidence in women, while refreshing their wardrobe. Reigning from a long line of beautiful and talented fashion divas, Robles knows this is what she was meant to do. No where else can you get the expertise and the friendly service that Audrey*K offers.





The boutique caters to a more mature clientele, ranging anywhere from women in their 20’s-50’s. Robles’ traditional dress shop prides itself on bringing femininity back, while rejuvenating a sense of inner power. The Audrey*K label also features reconstructed and rejuvenated vintage pieces, brought back to life and into the store for your taking. Where else can you get a one on one stylist while dress shopping, and know that you’re receiving true quality.





As well as clothing, this boutique features gifts and jewelry, all complimentary gift wrapped with your purchase. Audrey*K carries limited amounts of the most unique and retro jewelry you can find. If you stumble upon something you like, you better grab it, because once it’s gone it’s never coming back. Bottle cap necklaces and earrings, matchstick boxes, bracelets, skull bows, watches, candles, vintage headbands, mustache lollipops, clutches, and so much more, line the shelves and tables, giving the boutique a new approach to old vintage.











What makes this boutique even more incredible is the amazing lay away program. See something you like? Don’t have the money? Audrey says that’s ok! Pay 30% now for 30 days, and she will save it for you. Things go fast in this top notch boutique, and with lay away you won’t miss a single thing. On the Audrey*K website, you can also purchase online as well as create a gift registry.

Audrey*K is a proud contributor to the monthly Ladies Night Out, which falls on the last Friday of every month. The store stays open later and offers $25 airbrush tanning by Knockout Tan L.A. While this goes on in the back of the boutique, the front displays one of the talented artists featured in her store. Every month is different, giving you a chance to meet and talk to the artist behind those earrings you’re wearing or that dress you feel so lovely in.

You will always find something to make you feel beautiful in the Audrey*K Boutique!





Location: 3414 W. Magnolia Blvd.
Hours: Tues-Fri: 11am-6:30pm, Sat: 11am-6:30pm, Sun: noon-5pm
818 558-1733
www.audreyk.com



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Magnolia Blvd. is considered unique because on this long stretch of Burbank, it has just about one of everything, making it stable enough to be its own little town. And it is artists like the ones at Towns Burr Gallery, that give Magnolia and Burbank its heart and soul.



Opened four years ago by husband Bruce Burr and wife Connie Towns, this beautiful Magnolia location always has some “visual snacks” for you to come and see. With incoming natural light, an open spacious floor, and pristine white walls decked with exquisite artwork, you would never be able to tell that this gallery was remodeled from a Chiropractic office.



Connie Towns displays her floral watercolor pieces in the gallery, which are mostly painted right in the middle of the store a couple times a week. Her paintings are inspired from Towns and Burr’s Hawaii wedding, which has a tropical flora and fauna feel. Some of her watercolor has been featured in the patient’s rooms on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy.



Husband, Bruce Burr, has a different approach to art, through that of the lens of a camera. He calls his pieces “visual snacks,” and that is exactly what they are. Burr’s photos are composites of multiple pictures through the use of shadowing and layering. His contemporary photography is known for his use of compiling photos together, by offsetting the canvas or stacking. His work is unique and fun to look at, making the mind work just as much as the heart.







Also in the gallery, a number of other artists are featured, and the work is always ever changing. Right now in Towns Burr, you can see acrylic and pen work by Linda Ternoir, photography by David Friend, ceramic by Mims Ellis, and western paintings by Rob Ward, as well as an outstanding wood carved representation of Friedrich Nietzsche, by artist James Laurance.











As well as selling original pieces, Towns Burr offers fine art giclée prints done by an ink-jet printer, greeting cards of both Burr and Towns' artwork, as well as hosting many different art shows and galleries. Their last event was the Pasadena Society of Artists new members exhibit and the shows usually offer music and refreshments in the courtyard.







Location: 3609 W. Magnolia Blvd.
818-845-7144
Hours: Tues-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm
www.townsburrgallery.com



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