Horse and June...

New Store on the block is vintage boutique Horse and June. When you first step inside the store, you find yourself taking a double take and questioning, is it a vintage store? The look and feel of the store is somewhat new and the usual musty smell is notably absent. When you begin sifting through the rails, you get confirmation that it's vintage alright, but perhaps not as you might know it. What sets Horse and June apart is the fresh approach that owner Zoe Wong has taken: she stocks well preserved pieces, sourced from individuals who really care for their clothes and want them passed onto a good home. Zoe describes her customers' as "stylistically elegant individuals who like a quirk to their look". I'd like to consider myself one of these! Some of the designers you'll currently find stocked include great labels like Celine and Halston. I have my eye on a particular Celine bag!

I wanted to get the story behind Horse and June, so over a cup of tea, Zoe gave me the low-down. Her vision  was always to have a career in fashion, unfortunately this was not a dream shared by her Dad, who wanted her to do something that would offer her a clear career path. So a deal was struck between the two of them. She’d choose to study something conventional and if after completing her studies she still wanted to work in fashion, she could set out at achieving it at that point. So after 4 years of studying Science in Trinity College, her Dad raised the question “so, what’s next?” to which she responded “fashion”. True to his word, her Dad kept his promise “let’s look at the options”. Zoe began looking into fashion courses abroad. The options were whittled down to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, Polytech, Hong Kong, Parsons New School for Design, New York. She decided to go with Parsons. Zoe’s time in New York gave her a good understanding of the fashion world, after her studies in Parsons, she went onto work for a shoe designer, where they clearly thought she had talent offering to get her a visa if she remained working with them. Zoe calls this juncture in her life her “quarter life crisis”. It was an offer that many would have jumped at, but home was calling her and she also knew she’d be tied to the particular company. So at home we now find Zoe in Horse and June where the doors opened to the public in December , the snowiest December in Ireland in 60 years. Her greatest moment to date was when she realised the store was as comfortable as she intended it to be, with customers taking off their shoes and taking a browse around in their socks.

Horse and June is to be found on 22 Drury Street, Dublin 2. You can also check out Zoe’s blog which will give you regular updates on what’s in store.