Vintage clothing shop gets new look

“It felt like you were in-the-know to go there,’’ the Cambridge native recalled recently. “There was stuff that was way older and funkier than you’d be able to find at a church thrift store.’’ She remembers one of her early purchases: a hand-stitched Art Deco kimono that she hung in her closet as a prized possession.

On Aug. 1, Oona’s (which closed temporarily in June when longtime owner Kathleen White got out of the business) reopened, with Mueller, now 24, at the helm. A Vassar College grad with a degree in film, Mueller had worked part time at the store since last September, though buying it wasn’t something she would have imagined then. Yet, in a few short months, she has given the space a whole new look. It now has a sparer, more curated feel, the selection retooled to focus more on stylish, sexy vintage pieces that can be readily worn today. But don’t worry, you can still find your Halloween costume there.

Gone are the overflowing racks and cubbies that clued you in that perseverant rummaging was an integral part of the shopping experience. Near the entrance, you’ll now find a boudoir-ish space containing a vanity adorned with old perfume bottles and an armoire that holds some of the store’s more delicate pieces, like a Schiaparelli negligee and a 1960s wedding dress. Lush red wall fabric serves as a backdrop to a growing jewelry collection.

“I was talking about having an Oona’s cam, right about there,’’ said Mueller, gesturing toward a spot across from the entrance. “The expression on people’s faces when they walk in is priceless.’’

A room dedicated to men’s clothing is modeled on an English gentlemen’s club. There’s a cranberry velvet couch, an old croquet set acquired from Brimfield, taxidermied pheasants. In an Americana-themed costume room, Styrofoam heads from the store’s previous incarnation gaze across at old Halloween masks, with vintage suitcases and cowboy boots here and there. Neat rows of high-heeled shoes line the floor, while paperbacks by Jack Kerouac and other Beat Generation writers share shelf space with neatly folded bellbottoms.

“It’s my version of the spirit of the place,’’ Mueller said of the revamped store, located at 1210 Massachusetts Ave. To welcome students, Oona’s will host a $2 yard sale of clothing, shoes, bags, and jewelry tomorrow through Sunday.

Taking over a business, particularly one with a following that includes both debate team members shopping for pins and scarves and punk cabaret musician Amanda Palmer, would seem a tall order for anyone, never mind someone barely out of college. Mueller handled the challenge with lots of preparation. She observed customers, talked with White, and visited other vintage stores, methodically tackling challenges one at a time.

When White began talking about selling the business, Mueller was at a turning point. After working on a few small, indie films, she’d begun to question whether the movie business was a good fit. She toyed with going back to school for environmental studies. But given her love of vintage clothing, she decided to give running Oona’s a shot.

She bought the store and some of the initial inventory with her savings and rebalanced the store’s selection — cutting back on leather jackets, adding men’s ’70s polo shirts, lowering the price of some Ts from $8 to $5. She keeps a healthy supply of sought-after costumes, like flapper dresses, and stocks staples like Western and Hawaiian shirts.

She took out a loan to renovate the space, imagining each room as a sort of movie set. The men’s room was inspired in part by the mansion in the film “Citizen Kane’’ where Charles Foster Kane and his wife, Susan, lived.

“[The room] has some of that gloomy glamour, but is a little more comfy,’’ she said.

Mueller has five employees, including two who’d worked at the store before. One of her biggest tasks has been teaching the staff how to identify the era a piece came from — whether from the fonts used on the labels or some design detail in the clothing — in order to tag them. (Most of the clothes mention a decade of manufacture, even just a best guess.)

Opening the store “was a big undertaking, but I felt like I could do it,’’ Mueller said. “Each day, I had a huge to-do list, but somehow, shockingly, I would finish it. It wasn’t so daunting because there was a very clear sense of checking off boxes.’’

The new look seems to be going over well so far.

“It looks awesome,’’ gushed Louisa Kimble, who was visiting from California and used to shop at the store when she lived in Cambridge. “It looks like a boutique now. It has a great selection of vintage.’’

White, who opened Oona’s with a partner in 1972, also had praise for the new space.

“I thought [Mueller] did a great job,’’ White said. “It’s a total transformation.’’

Ami Albernaz can be reached at ami.albernaz@gmail.com.