Outline’s Founders on Emotional Dressing

Who will open the next great Brooklyn boutique? That was the question buyer Margaret Austin asked herself back in 2021 when Jen Mankins closed Bird, a beloved neighborhood institution that first brought emerging designers and hard-to-find European avant-gardists to Brooklyn. Austin grew up in Brooklyn Heights and learned her trade at Opening Ceremony and Totokaelo. But she always had the idea to open a store of her own one day. Suddenly, the timing seemed not just right but urgent.

“I had this feeling that if I didn’t do it, someone else might,” Austin says.
She linked up with two childhood friends: Hannah Rieke, a former set designer, and florist Julia Edelman. And in 2022, they opened Outline on Atlantic Avenue in a sunny white space with a backyard. From the start, it was stocked with some of Austin’s favorite designers, including Dries Van Noten, Lemaire, Auralee, and Our Legacy. Today, Outline is one of the most exciting new stores in the city — the only place you’ll find Colleen Allen’s debut collection, Flore Flore T-shirts, Cecilie Bahnsen’s latest Asics collaboration, and poofy Molly Goddard dresses all in the same place. Austin, who does the buying, and Rieke, who oversees the visuals and design of the store, handle the operations themselves: You’ll find them there most days, along with Edelman’s exuberant bouquets, which are available on-site and through a weekly subscription.

We chatted with Austin and Rieke about the ethos behind Outline, their intertwining personal styles, and their approach to interior design following a recent end-of-summer renovation.

How would you each describe your style? Has it changed since opening the store?

Margaret: When I was at OC, I wore a lot of really crazy stuff all the time. New designers like Charlotte Knowles; there was a guy named Tropical Rob. I wore definitely more outgoing kinds of things, Opening Ceremony Collection even. During the pandemic, I started wearing more comfortable clothes, obviously. And maybe even just getting older, I realized I didn’t actually feel comfortable in a lot of that stuff but was just wearing it because I wanted to feel like I was cool. Or to show people like, Oh, I’m on top of it. I know what the next thing in fashion is. Now, I buy things I feel like I can wear every day. And that’s part of the philosophy behind what we do here at Outline. We want to buy clothes that are well made, beautiful fabrics, and things you want to put on every day. And of course, we do throw in the Colleen opera coat every once in a while. Or the Dries mohair fur jacket. But we’re encouraging you to wear that every day as well. Clothes are meant to be worn.

Personally, I’d say my style is pretty comfortable. But I love to throw in a special piece here and there. I like to call it “emotional dressing.”

Hannah, what about you?

Hannah: Similar to Margaret, I really only buy things I, like, can wear all the time. I think that means I’m often underdressed. I wear also a lot of skirts, so I’m sometimes overdressed. I’m just basically never appropriately dressed. I definitely am not a trend person; I always dress the same. I dress nicer now that we have all this amazing clothing and Margaret’s choosing all of it. Before the store, I’d be wearing Levi’s and a T-shirt, and I’m still pretty much wearing that but maybe I’m wearing more of The Row than before. We both have a masculine way of dressing. One of our best friends describes my style as romantic, which I found really funny.

Do you think they’re right?

H: You know when someone tells you something about yourself and you’re like, Oh my God, you’re right? I love a Chanel ballet flat, which is not exactly on brand, but it’s what I wear with dirty jeans.

M: Yeah, we’re both tomboyish but throw in a feminine touch here and there. I hate to say, like, Miu Miu, but you know.

Is there something Hannah would wear and Margaret would never wear or vice versa?

M: We always say we’re the same font, different sentences.

H: Sometimes we’re in the same paragraph, different sentences.

M: I’d say I’m slightly edgier than Hannah is. I’ll wear something that has a more interesting silhouette, whereas Hannah is very classic. I’ve gotten more classic in my dressing because of Hannah.

H: And I’ve gotten more fun, for sure.

M: Yeah, you wear Tabis now.

What’s an example of a day when you guys have shown up and said, “Okay, this is the same font, different sentences”?

M: I would say when we both come in wearing long skirts and T-shirts, but I’m wearing Comme des Garçons Salomon mary janes and Hannah’s wearing a Chanel ballet flat. But, like, we both look kind of like sister wives.

H: Or we’re both wearing all stripes or all white.

M: It’s often the long skirt, which is something I definitely picked up from Hannah. But the long skirt I would wear would be a pleated Comme skirt, where Hannah’s wearing a prairie skirt from The Row or something.

Does Outline’s style match your personal styles completely, or are there differences?  

M: I do buy pretty intuitively for the store. It’s very rare that I buy something I wouldn’t wear myself.

There are times, now that we know the customer better, when we will buy something with someone in mind. But even with that, I would still want it to be something I would feel comfortable putting on my body.

The clothes we have here are expensive, right? And I want people to feel like it’s a piece they can have forever and wear forever. I don’t want to encourage people to buy something they’ll just replace in a season.

Do you both do most of your shopping through Outline?

M: Yeah, and sometimes we’ll want something and we’re like, “No, we have to sell it.”

H: We spend so much time with the clothing. We try everything on. Sometimes, when the store is slow, we’ll walk around and talk about the things we covet.

M: It’s hard having a store you can’t really afford. We’re both on “no buys” through the end of the year.

Tell me about the store’s design and the changes you’ve made recently?

H: We chose the space because it’s such a special layout. It was a total gut reno; our broker said we were crazy. We knew the flow and the vibe we wanted the space to have. We saw the windows, and we saw the backyard, and were like, “We’ll take it.” The bones were here. We just wanted to enhance that.

M: And the renovation happened basically because we needed the second fitting room. Sometimes you need to be in a space a little while to really understand what your needs are. So now that we’ve been open for a few years, we were able to sense — oh, we need more shelving space in the back. Or we need a second sitting room. Or we need a better jewelry case.

H: All of the furniture is vintage or custom. A big thing for the store is that, much like the clothes, it’s all meant to be lived in and loved. And it’s all purposeful. Nothing is just solely aesthetic, even though it is beautiful. Aside from the racks of clothes, it doesn’t really feel a lot like a store. We always describe Outline as being in your friend’s fabulous closet with a bunch of friends trying things on. We have a lot of regulars. That’s our customer base, so we’re just hanging out and getting dressed.