Welcome to L I N U S :: a Eurpoean-style shopping salon
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kristen radakovich
ABOUT LINUS LOUNGE
With the opening of “The Art of the Shoe” at Linus Lounge, entrepreneur and shoe aficionada Kristen Radakovich unveils a unique European shopping concept, one in which shoe-passionate women can step into a comfortable and relaxing lounge – and walk out in the world’s most beautiful shoes. Twice-yearly, “The Art of the Shoe” will present a seasonal collection of never-before-in-Dallas designs by the most fashion-forward, even avant garde shoe designers, including luminaries such as Barbara Bui, Scorah Pattullo and Nicolas Kirkwood.

Says Linus Lounge owner and special-events expert, Kristen Radakovich, “I never set out to be in the fashion business.” (Instead, she trained to become a pastry chef!) “But when I met my husband and he turned out to be English, I moved to London and saw fashion in an entirely different way. There, fashion is a part of life.“

Radakovich was so taken with European shoe designs that she enrolled in a shoe-making class at Prescott and Mackay in London and even considered attending Accademia Riaci shoe school in Florence, Italy. The shoe-making was quite humbling and difficult, but having noted the innovative ways Londoners and Europeans marketed their shoes – many combined showroom and living space – Kristen began to dream of ways to market the unique shoes she was discovering.

The inspiration for Linus Lounge came from two of the world's most famous shoe designers - Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik. “Both operate from town homes, creating a uniquely personal environment for selling their beautiful shoes," explains Kristen.

With the Choo and Blahnik spaces in mind, Kristen Radakovich envisioned a shoe “lounge”; a comfortable space where shoe collectors could relax while having the first look at the season’s best shoes from the world’s top designers.

Considering a return to America, Kristen and her husband contemplated where to live. Through a friend’s enthusiastic recommendation, they decided to come explore the Dallas scene. Discovering that Dallasites are very fashion-forward, Kristen decided Dallas was the ideal place for her concept.

True to form, Kristen located the perfect setting in Uptown, on a stretch of Routh Street where antique shops, historical book stores, an institute for the study of culture and humanities, and bridal and eclectic retail boutiques all coexist in quaint turn-of-the century houses off a cobblestone street with a functional trolley line. London transplanted to Texas!


glamour from the ground up
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