Madelyne Strunsee and Sheila Teruty, individual owners of Studio Atamo and Slow Wave Vintage respectively, have merged their secondhand fashion expertise to bring a new brick-and-mortar vintage store to Milwaukee. Amara Studios, which opened on June 2, brings a “modern, wearable and approachable” aesthetic to the vintage scene, something Strunsee and Teruty believe can be hard to come by.
“Vintage can be intimidating, so we wanted to create a space that feels contemporary and shows that modern dressing can be achieved through this sustainable approach. We want people to invest in pieces here and have them for years to come,” Strunsee says.
The space in question is located in Hide House, a downtown Milwaukee building for artists and creatives to explore their crafts. While Strunsee and Teruty have collaborated in the past, their decision to start Amara Studios together was a risk.
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“It all happened super fast,” says Teruty. “We did an event together one day and thought we should do something bigger together. The space kind of manifested itself and was so beautiful. We just jumped into it blindly.”
Strunsee and Teruty come from major metropolitan areas with large vintage scenes, and they want Milwaukee to also become a hub for secondhand fashion. “Milwaukee is getting there, but right now I can probably count all the secondhand brick and mortars on my hand. Our curated type of vintage boutique is something we think Milwaukee needs and hasn’t been done here yet,” Strunsee says.
Part of this goal of expansion includes putting on community events that are intimate and focus on making connections. Recently, Amara Studios hosted a gallery night; and, the studio’s upcoming July 22 event Venetian Summer will be a laid-back collaboration of Milwaukee creatives and a European-inspired food and drink experience.
“It’s important to us that we grow our community outreach and counteract the ‘buy, buy, buy’ we are surrounded by. We want to show that quality vintage fashion is accessible and available to people of all sizes,” Strunsee says.
You can find Amara Studios at 2625 S. Greeley St. and on Instagram @amara.studios.
