About Us

For as long as she can remember, blackbird + lou owner Patty Mekhail has had a love of all things fashion. By the time she was three years old, she loved going to her grandmother's retail store to spend time in the clothing racks, admiring the colors and feel of the fabrics. Later she would travel to trade shows with her grandparents, where they sold her grandmother's own line of women's linen clothing. 

Owning a retail company was something she always aspired to do, like her grandmother, her aunt who has participated in trade shows every month for almost 20 years, and her own mother, Cecilia, who owns a women's boutique in her Texas hometown. 

After high school, Patty began college as a Fashion Design major at the University of Texas at Austin. Later, she realized she really wanted to study merchandising and open her own boutique one day, so she ended up transferring to Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. It was there that she earned her Bachelor's degree in Fashion Merchandising with a Minor in Business. Afterward, she worked for her aunt at her monthly trade show, and eventually, started selling a small clothing line herself within her aunt's space. After a couple of years, her aunt let her use half of the booth space for her growing clothing lines, and that was when her company officially became blackbird + lou.

Patty later moved on to doing pop-up markets and shows on her own. In 2018, she was asked to be a vendor in a beautiful store in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas, called Flea Style. In 2019, they opened a second location in Frisco, Texas and Patty jumped at the chance to be part of it. She currently continues her partnership with the stores, and participates in several pop-up markets throughout the year with the help of her loving husband, Chris.

Here at blackbird + lou, we love curating clothing and jewelry collections for every type of woman. We are inclusive and pride ourselves on offering something for everyone, including sizing and style preferences. Patty loves finding unique, bohemian inspired, on-trend items for her customers. Quality products across all categories are of the upmost importance. We hope you enjoy your shopping experience with us and love that you chose to shop small.

From Austin, with love,

patty lou