Bayou Icon | Katie Bonnette

ARTICLE BY VANELIS RIVERA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK

Katie Bonnette is not in the business of selling clothes. After more than two decades of maneuvering the trendy landscape of the fashion retail business, especially one that has shifted to digital platforms over the years, she has grasped the true nature of her occupation. “We’re in the business to build relationships, pour into women, help them leave here feeling confident and beautiful and powerful,” she says with a certainty that is indicative of her edifying journey from working in retail at a young age to taking a chance on herself and owning two successful boutiques in Ruston, Louisiana.

West Monroe native, Bonnette considers her beginnings humble. “I wasn’t raised with a silver spoon so to say.” Her father was a full-time Baptist preacher and her mother was a teacher. “We never went without, but we didn’t have a lot growing up.” Even then, her mother was the epitome of style and class. She remembers tagging along while her mother rummaged through discount racks, selecting clothing items that always made her look like “a million bucks.” It was an important lesson to learn, especially since, as a child of the 90s, she constantly had her head in fashion magazines. “I couldn’t buy them because, my gosh, they were like six bucks,” Bonnette recalls, explaining that her absorption wasn’t tied to name brands. Instead, she was mesmerized by the beauty of the clothing, the photographic aesthetic of the ads, the styling of the women from hair to makeup to accessories. The overall impact of clothing ads and her mother’s intuitive fashion sense informed her from a very young age that style is what you make it.

Bonnette’s fashion retail experience began in high school when she worked at a children’s clothing boutique. But her savvy for sales shone during her college years. While attending Louisiana State University (LSU), she worked at a local boutique part-time. There, she was offered a sales job by a customer who admired her work ethic and natural ability to relate to anyone who walked into the store. The offer took her by surprise. She opted to pray about it first, unsure of whether she wanted to leave an undemanding job, especially as a college student. “All I had to do was show up and sell clothes, and I got like five raises in six months because, baby, I could sell it.” Ultimately, Bonnette joined Rodéo Boutique at 18 years old. There, noting her potential, owner Shanna Boudreaux poured into her. They traveled together to elaborate markets from New York to Los Angeles to Las Vegas, which allowed Bonnette to gain valuable experience in the wholesale industry building the foundation for what would become her entrepreneurial success. 

After Bonnette graduated from LSU with a degree in general studies, Boudreaux pitched the idea of opening a store together. Initially, the partners were considering Austin as a destination, but even then (15 years ago) the rent was too high. “As high as a cat’s back,” says Bonnette. In the midst of regrouping, Bonnette’s heart shifted. She was dating Wesley Bonnette, the man who would become her husband, and she didn’t want to move further from him. So, in 2010, the business partners opened Rodéo Boutique in downtown Ruston. Nine years later, Bonnette bought her out, rebranding and relaunching what is now Goldie Boutique. A year after, emboldened and ready for another challenge, she bought The Fashion of Ruston, a boutique many consider a Ruston staple, having been open for close to 75 years. Bonnette considers it a privilege to own a piece of Ruston’s heritage, ripe with history and the footsteps of so many generations of women. “I’m dressing now like four generations of people. I’m dressing the grandmother, the daughter, the mom, the granddaughter. It’s wild. It’s unbelievable to get to be a part of it,” she says. 

The two stores are a block apart and in many ways have grown up with Bonnette. She likes to think of The Fashion as the grown-up sister who is “very posh, very mature, and has her life together,” while Goldie is the fun little sister who likes a good time and is the life of the party. While the energy of both stores are different and Bonnette is meticulous about curating them based on the demographics each serves best, she treats them like sections of a department store, akin to Neiman’s or Dillards. Customers can peruse the “section” they associate themselves with most, and, of course, that can change based on mood or event. After all, some of us may be a little Goldie and little Fashion at the same time.

Like her two stores, Bonnette is very much fluid with her style. “I have never been afraid to dress how I like,” she says, admitting that such bravado has come with questionable fashion choices, like the time she came home wearing a house coat that had been repurposed into a dress and detailed with bunny applique on the bottom. She remains unbothered by the memory. One of her fashion mottos is, “Wear what you like. Wear what you feel good in.” She considers the practicality of clothing, its quality, and aesthetic. Not only does she understand that fashion is different for everyone, but she encourages people to dress according to what makes them comfortable and confident. For her, that has shown up in two style forms, which her best friend Morgan Thornhill has dubbed as her Jackie O and JFK Jr. looks. “Today, I have on like a short sleeve sweatshirt with a barrel jean, but then catch me on Sunday, and I’m gonna look like Jackie O,” she laughs. Her comfort clothes are a novelty tee, novelty sweatshirt, or funky pattern blouse from the brand Mother (which her stores carry) styled with a cool pair of jeans. Shockingly, she’s not a “dress girl,” so when she wants to feel like she’s that girl she reaches for a power outfit like a bodysuit, dress pants, or dressy romper with high-end shoes. “Gucci is my weakness.”

With or without pomp, one of the most important things Bonnette reminds her customers is to always dress to your body type. “Size doesn’t matter,” she declares. What people initially notice is how a piece of clothing looks on you. She’s particularly proud of Goldie’s Golden Curve collection, her number one online seller. She credits Thornhill for its conception. About four years ago, Thornhill was “hounding” her to expand her sizes, saying, “Big girls want cute clothes, too.” She listened to her friend who explained her usual shopping experience consisted of finding uniform tops she’d have to buy in about 10 different colors. So, they started searching for the best brands and fits, and now she proudly features those pieces on social media with Thornhill as model and captioned so everyone knows the clothing is in a “full size run.”

Bonnette asserts that all bodies are embraced at her stores and she has made sure that her employees embrace her ethos of building relationships and not merely selling items. “I pride myself on our customer service. That is my biggest heart with my girls,” she says. As far as she’s concerned, everything else can wait. No matter that 20 boxes were just delivered and everything needs to be priced and tagged. If you’re not helping the customer everything else loses its foundation. From the moment a customer walks into either of her stores, that’s when their experience begins. And regardless of age, they will feel safe enough, and receive guidance and instructions regarding beneficial fits and styles. Communication is key, and Bonnette considers her “girls” educated on the details that can make a difference to customers such as styles that run smaller or the varied tailoring on pants. The online shopping experience has shifted boutique shopping, so she has fostered a business that runs on relationships. “I don’t want to just sell you one top and then you’re done with Goldie forever. I want to build a relationship so that you’re buying this top, but then the next time you have an event to go to, you trust me enough to come back to buy another top.”

Finding clothing for life’s big events transcends cultural boundaries, and Bonnett doesn’t take lightly that often she is living life alongside her customers. “We’re celebrating birthdays with them. We’re celebrating weddings with them.” Sometimes the life experience is simple, a mother-daughter outing where Bonnett can step in and become a sort of mediator, guiding a young teen who may be in her awkward years embrace her body through fits that compliment her and styles that catch her eye. Whether they leave with clothes or not, Bonnet doesn’t care, as long as they can leave with smiles on their face having had a memorable shopping experience. Sometimes that’s all it takes to validate what she does. She thinks of her mother who has lost weight because of a previous cancer diagnosis. (She is in remission now!). Just two months ago, she visited Goldie and found an article of clothing that made her feel beautiful. After a year of her harrowing battle, landing on feeling beautiful is, without a doubt, another victory. 

Bonnette considers herself a very faithful person. “This is my ministry, and so I feel the force behind what I do,” she says, adding, “I know that this is what I was created to do. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt this is what I was made for.” She leads with kindness, humorously admitting that while she is not the shiniest crayon in the box or sharpest tool in the shed, she is fortunate enough to have built a business on showing kindness and respect to people. Which is to say, her attitude is her aptitude. She doesn’t stand alone in her success. She credits Kelly Hogan, former owner of The Fashion, for being an invaluable mentor, as well as Debbie Herrington and Cindy Stone from Herringstones who have been generous with their wisdom.

Between Goldie Boutique and The Fashion of Ruston, Bonnette has curated two spaces where you can leave your worries at the door. “Come, you don’t have to buy anything. I don’t care. Let us dress you up. We love it. Love our people.”