Photo by Chris Granger.
Yvonne Lafleur has been operating her New Orleans boutique since 1969, offering signature and custom designed fashion products—from hats to perfume to apparel.
Yvonne Lafleur has been dressing New Orleans ladies since she was twenty-two, back in 1969. From her shop, tucked into the Carrollton Riverbend neighborhood around the corner from Camellia Grill, she has built a reputation as a maven of New Orleans vogue, offering not only her custom approach to women’s fashion but a deep well of knowledge on the etiquette of Southern style.
Lafleur’s taste has always been of elegance and quality, care and individuality—values that have been diminished in the modern-day retail landscape. After more than fifty years in business, the boutique that bears her name needed a way to reach increasingly online shoppers, without sacrificing its soul.
The answer came the day marketing expert Angelique Frizzell stepped into the boutique. It was obvious to her: Lafleur, at almost eighty years old, needed to be on social media.
“I still love my business. I love coming to work every day and having company all day; that’s what retail is all about. I sell pretty things, so I think of what I sell as what people buy for celebrations of life, so it’s a happy time.” —Yvonne Lafleur
Frizzell is a New Orleans native who grew up in Indonesia and London. Before coming into Yvonne Lafleur’s she had spent three years living in Paris, working for Fashion Network and Estée Lauder while getting a Masters degree from Parsons School of Design. A series of events, including a breakup with a long-time boyfriend and the expiration of her visa, brought her back home to New Orleans. “I was trying to decide my next step,” she said.
Her parents suggested she visit Yvonne Lafleur’s boutique. “When I stepped inside, I realized the place is magical,” Frizzell said. “It was very maximalist, like some of the boutiques I loved in Paris. It was so unlike the sterile shops seen today. Her shop was whimsical, with decorations everywhere. Yvonne describes it as a big closet.”
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Frizzell convinced Lafleur to appear in a series of videos. “She is, after all, the face of the business,” said Frizzell. “And she is so endearing and sweet, I knew that people would relate to her . . . She is seventy-eight years old, and it’s hard to keep up with her. She takes care of herself, and I believe she gives women hope for the future.”
Frizzell started posting the videos on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram; Lafleur was an immediate hit. In just over six months, the shop’s accounts have more than a million followers combined. People are planning their vacations to New Orleans just to shop at the store. Local residents have found their way back to the boutique, many who have fond memories of shopping there in years past. It has become a generational place, a tradition shared between mothers and daughters, and even grandmothers and granddaughters. “The accountant at the store has worked there for the past thirty years,” said Frizzell. “He now makes references to the store ‘pre- and post-Angelique.’ Their sales have skyrocketed.”
Frizzell develops weekly marketing plans, with ideas for video concepts. “I watch the comment sections of her social media closely, as many people ask questions that Yvonne, in turn, can answer,” Frizzell said. Many of the videos feature specific fashions or products, such as a peek into Lafleur’s antique glove cupboard, or a how-to on the best way to wear perfume. Others, though, just focus on Lafleur’s life. Frizzell “interviews” her, and the world listens as Lafleur shares pieces of her story.
Photo by Angelique Frizzel.
One of Yvonne Lafleur's signature departments is the millinery section of her store.
How It All Began
Lafleur came to New Orleans from San Francisco at age four with her mother, and they stayed with her three spinster aunts, all living together in a big house on Camp Street, working in the grand department stores along Canal. One aunt sold sportswear at D.H. Holmes, another worked in billing at Godchaux’s, and the third was the elevator operator at Maison Blanche.
These relationships opened up the portals of high fashion for Lafleur, despite the fact that she and her family had little money. She fell in love with retail and worked at most of the stores along Canal at one time or another. She learned to sew at a very early age and remade the hand-me-down dresses she received from her aunts.
She was educated by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart at Cabrini High School, where “can’t” was not in the vocabulary. She went on to attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, majoring in merchandising, but would take the bus back to New Orleans each Friday to work on Canal.
“In my senior year of college, I wanted to do something different,” she said. “I went to a smaller boutique on St. Charles Avenue and suggested that I teach modeling to young customers.” This bold idea resulted in Lafleur running a modeling school for the boutique’s clients.
It was shortly after that she partnered with Charlie Montgomery and his wife, Miriam, entrepreneurs from Fayette, Mississippi, to open her own shop, then called You Boutique. “I was twenty-two years old and just out of college when I opened in this location on October 15, 1969.” At the time, her specialty was custom-fitted women’s blue jeans, which she sold for $8. By 1974, she was earning enough to buy Montgomery out.
Lafleur described her evolution as ‘growing alongside her customers’. For the college-age women, she stocked clothes for sorority parties and football games. When they started getting married, she added wedding dresses and bridesmaids' gowns. Then she began offering luxury lingerie and gowns for debutante and Mardi Gras balls. When she inherited an aunt’s hat blocks, Lafleur opened a millinery department. She listened to her customers and stocked the store with merchandise they wanted. When she debuted her signature fragrance that bears her name, the name of the boutique was changed to Yvonne Lafleur as well.
In an interview with John Jones for his book Louisiana Stories: Growing up in the Bayou State, Lafleur stated, “I still love my business. I love coming to work every day and having company all day; that’s what retail is all about. I sell pretty things, so I think of what I sell as what people buy for celebrations of life, so it’s a happy time.”
Photo by Chris Granger.
One of Yvonne Lafleur's signature departments is the bridals section of her store.
Yvonne Lafleur on Fashion
Unlike many boutiques, Yvonne Lafleur’s carries many of the store’s own branded fashions. Lafleur pointed to hundreds of patterns hanging from the ceiling. “In the 1970s, I owned a factory in New York,” she said. “A lot of the merchandise in the store is my creation and my brand. About eighty-five percent of the clothes in the store are made in the United States.”
The store still offers complimentary alterations, a rarity even in locally owned boutiques today. “I believe when a customer buys something, it should fit them,” she said. “We offer alterations on site to make sure each item fits perfectly.”
“A well-made hat should be balanced and elegant, and light. It should be worn on an angle, and you should still see the person’s face. It should adorn the face and the outfit but not overcome them. I look at a person’s coloring to decide what will make their face look wonderful. I consider the shape of the face, the width of the shoulders, and how much skin shows. Making a customer look beautiful in the hat is my objective.” —Yvonne Lafleur
For Lafleur, an outfit isn’t complete without accessories. “We have a dessert case in the store—a long case from Scotland. It is filled with accessories to add ‘dessert’ to your clothing.” There is also silk lingerie, hair ornaments, jewelry, cashmere socks, purses, silk scarves, cashmere ponchos, and more—all curated with gifting in mind. “When people come to New Orleans to visit, they like to take gifts home to their friends,” said Lafleur, who also offers complimentary gift wrapping, using signature wrapping paper with a pattern of tiny violets. “Violets are a symbol for the store because they are a symbol for loyalty,” she said.
Frizzell noticed Lafleur seems happiest when in the millinery department, with its treasure trove of accoutrements including silk flowers, ribbons, hat pins—many of them in a display case Lafleur says is from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England. “Wearing a hat perpetuates the feminine mystique of the Southern lady,” says Lafleur in one video. She keeps her hat forms in a large, mirrored armoire that she bought in Paris for her twenty-sixth birthday. The felt hats are made of animal fur from France, the straw hats from Italian fibers.
All hats are custom-made by Lafleur using Mauboussin flowers from France, as well as French point d’esprit lace, nettings, ribbons, and feathers. “A well-made hat should be balanced and elegant, and light,” she said. “It should be worn on an angle, and you should still see the person’s face. It should adorn the face and the outfit but not overcome them. I look at a person’s coloring to decide what will make their face look wonderful. I consider the shape of the face, the width of the shoulders, and how much skin shows. Making a customer look beautiful in the hat is my objective.”
Yvonne Lafleur on Fragrance
Inside Lafleur’s boutique, her signature fragrance fills the air. “It took two years to develop because first, what you want is something that already exists. Then you have to decide on how you can make something different that you like just as much. So this was the final product.” Once the scent was settled on, the eau de parfum spray came first, followed eventually by lotion, bath gel, powder, and a candle.
The fragrance, made using traditional French methods with all-natural flowers and herbs, has notes of Italian bergamot and English lavender. In one of her videos, Lafleur demonstrates how to wear it. “First spray on your hands and rub them together, maybe rubbing the shoulders of your blouse or jacket, and just lightly touching your hair. You use your hands to speak, so that gives a hint of your fragrance to the person you are speaking with. I also spritz a bit into my bosom.”
Shop Yvonne Lafleur's at 8131 Hampson St. New Orleans, or at yvonnelafleur.com. Follow her on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
