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Gretta Allen and Summer Gardner have a motto: “Life’s too short to be taken so seriously.”

The two Syracuse natives, who met working at Fringe Salon in Fayetteville, used the motto to create the name of their fashion boutique, Boutique Dilettante. The boutique is online only and launched in January 2021.

The boutique sells women’s and men’s clothes and is slowly adding accessories. Some of the clothes it offers include joggers, destroyed girlfriend jeans and men’s pullovers.

“I love the whole business side,” Allen said. “I always say, I’d rather be great at multiple things than perfect at one thing because perfection just takes up all of your time.”

Allen and Gardner share a love of fashion and shopping and first got the idea for the boutique in November 2020. Inspired by other local boutiques and with encouragement from their friends, they began looking across the internet and found wholesalers to buy from.

Between breaks at Fringe Salon, the two would talk about the boutique and what they should name it, eventually deciding on the name Boutique Dilettante. The Italian word “dilettante” means to dabble and was fitting since the business partners like to try new things.

Allen runs the boutique’s website and social media, while Gardner does the taxes and paperwork. At first, the boutique sold “laid back, comfy and casual” women’s clothing but has since expanded, adding men’s pullovers, jackets and joggers.

Before adding the new options to the website, the business partners reached out to their male friends so that they could get a guy’s opinion on which items of clothing they liked. Adding a men’s clothing section challenges the stereotype that boutiques can only be for women, Allen said.

“I think the men’s line is really cool because not a lot of boutiques have men’s clothing,” Gardner said. “And it’s just something to make us a little different.”

Allen also runs the website for Fringe Salon, where she and Gardner still work, owner Lauri Durkin said. Durkin loves their products and purchased a sweater from the boutique. She added that other coworkers at the salon have been buying from Allen and Gardner’s boutique, too.

“I’m 56, I’m going to be 57, and I have this sweater on that like a 20 year old wears,” Durkin said. “It works.”

Gardner and Allen also model for the website and take pictures of one another. In the future, they plan to add more clothing and accessories.

And since their motto is “Life’s too short to be taken so seriously,” that’s how they plan to keep running their boutique.

“We take it seriously. But it’s also learning to just do it,” Gardner said. “Because why not give it a shot?”

Published on March 9, 2021 at 10:42 pm