Vagabondia - Knoxville, Tennessee, or my "Knoxville moment"

Vagabondia
27 Market Square
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 865.525.4842
www.vagabondiaonthesquare.com

The ad for Vagabondia would normally have dissuaded me from stopping by as it advertised “clothing in sizes for real women.” In the fashion world, that generally means size 12 and up. And seeing as how earlier that morning I had to ghetto-rig my size extra-small wrap-dress to fit tightly enough around my waist, I knew Vagabondia probably wouldn’t have anything for me. (I’m not bragging, it’s just a good intro.) (Ok, I’m sort of bragging.) But? I was wrong about that.

I wanted to explore Knoxville’s downtown Market Square, which is reminiscent in look and spirit of SoCo or North Guadalupe in Austin. There was even a café that had a sign for – no kidding – Blue Bell ice cream! I had a few hours of down-time, and to be honest, I just really liked the name, so I went in anyway.

The store itself is pleasantly cluttered with artistically displayed clothes and accessories. I was especially drawn to the handbags hung on the wall and busied myself with looking at them until I noticed the beautiful art that was everywhere. I don’t pretend to know anything about art, but these paintings were just compelling. There were impressionist-looking (?) scenes of glamorous, flapper-ish women in pretty gold and black hues. Anchored by a huge mirror in the middle of the store, these paintings were perfectly dispersed among the racks of clothes and gave the store a comfortable, shabby-glam feel. Collette, a sweet tabby cat lounging in a basket of scarves, definitely did her part to add to the cozy atmosphere.

(See Cynthia Markert’s paintings at www.cynthiamarkert.com)

The adorable owner Andie Ray immediately began chatting me up in that charming manner that Southern women have and other women just… don’t. We talked about her store, I told her what I was doing in town, and as I commented on the paintings she said if I liked them I was welcome to meet the artist who just happened to be sitting on this little sofa in the back near the dressing rooms!

The three of us exchanged cards and chatted for awhile longer when Andie’s eyes lit up. She grabbed her phone and called her friend - a local radio producer – and handed it to me. I did what any smart PR girl worth her salt would do: I immediately pitched my client.

I thanked Andie for the introduction, took a few complimentary postcard prints from Cynthia and was preparing to leave as a man and his wife entered the store – and I noticed his fleece had the logo of the local NBC affiliate. “You’re having what I call a ‘Knoxville moment!’” Andie said as I introduced myself to yet another producer. I had already booked my client on the network, but as luck would have it, this gentleman was the producer of… a style program. Tee hee! Needless to say, I told him about IHE and my head is full of ideas.

I cannot express how welcoming and gracious Ray’s little store is. It is filled with beautiful, affordable items (well, truth be told I only turned over the price tags on the handbags) and I imagine that more than one “Knoxville moment” has been had inside. If you’re ever in town you must pay her and little Collette a visit - “real women,” extra-smalls and all.

I Heart Rating: Five Hearts