A retail shop that specializes in clothing and accessories made with African fabric is opening soon at 300 Beach Drive NE, Suite 111 in downtown St. Petersburg. The space was formerly home to Rob Bowen Design Studio.

EnnYe is the brainchild of Matipa Mutsemi and her sister Mercy Nyamangwanda. Mutsemi is an entrepreneur who was born in Zimbabwe and, in addition to her clothing line, created a brand of makeup called EnnYeEthnic Cosmetics. 

“Fashion is something I’ve always liked,” she said in an interview with St. Pete Rising. “Being African, I really enjoyed seeing color in prints. But post-colonization, at least when I was growing up, nobody wanted to wear African prints. It was more jeans … baggy shirts … everything that was happening in the United States in the 1990s. I’m a ‘90s kid. Watching American television and music videos influenced how we wanted to dress.”

Saltwash Boutique, a fashion boutique that describes its offerings as “a curated collection of lovely clothing and gifts,” debuted last Friday, at 1000 Central Avenue in the EDGE District.

Owner Rebecca Margarites moved to Gulfport from Seaside, Florida, about a year ago.

Originally from Chicago, where she founded Jolie Boutique and Sugarplum, she became enchanted by the white-sand beaches of North Florida and eventually settled in Seaside, a small master-planned community in Walton County that was built using the principles of New Urbanism, an urban-design movement. The town is also notable for being the location where the 1998 Jim Carrey film The Truman Show was shot.