Sweet Home Southlake
Reese Witherspoon's Southern boutique sweetens up DFW shopping destination
On August 2, Southlake Town Square teased a major retailer announcement on social media with a picture of sweetheart celebrity Reese Witherspoon. Then it quietly dropped a post that was met with many googly heart eyes and wild applause emojis: Witherspoon's Draper James boutique will be opening in the fall, it said.
"We're SO EXCITED to welcome Draper James to Southlake Town Square this fall!," the shopping center said in the post on Instagram and Facebook, which was shared by Visit Southlake.
A spokeswoman for Draper James confirmed August 5 that the brand was headed to Southlake but declined to elaborate on any details yet. "Stay tuned for more from us in the next few weeks!," she promised. An opening date has not been announced.
Witherspoon, the Oscar-winning actress known for blockbusters like Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama, and Walk the Line — as well as the hit HBO show Big Little Lies — was born in New Orleans and raised in Nashville. She started the Southern-inspired fashion and lifestyle brand in spring 2015 and opened the first store in Nashville later that year.
Adorably, she named the company in honor of her grandparents, who "taught her everything she knows about gracious Southern living," the company says.
In 2016, Draper James opened the doors to a pop-up in Dallas' Highland Park Village, then returned later that year to open an 1,800-square-foot brick-and-mortar shop. Witherspoon herself stopped by to christen the store, and she brought along her husband and daughter.
The Highland Park Village boutique recently closed. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the brand now is sold at Neighborhood Goods in Plano. According to the Draper James website, there currently are standalone shops in Nashville; Atlanta; and Lexington, Kentucky.
Draper James boutiques feature ready-to-wear, accessories, and home products in a variety of seasonal prints. The easy-breezy, Southern-inspired styles lean toward shirt dresses, wrap dresses, and midi and maxi dresses. There are also tees and tanks, sweatshirts and outerwear, totes, handbags, and sunglasses. A popular T-shirt asks, "What Would Dolly Do?"
"Draper James is steeped in Southern charm, designed for real life, and unapologetically pretty," the brand declares.