After decades representing iconic fashion houses and discovering global artisans, Jenny Chase created BOHEME as a space where craftsmanship, storytelling, and human connection come to life. Blending retail with brand advocacy, she curates designers with intention — championing both legacy names and emerging voices through a deeply personal lens. At the same time, her journey through meditation and writing has shaped a creative voice rooted in honesty and duality, bridging fashion with spirituality. As she steps into a more visible phase, Jenny is building more than a boutique — she’s cultivating a community where beauty, meaning, and self-expression converge.
Jenny, you’ve had a long career representing major fashion houses and independent designers. What inspired you to open BOHEME and create your own curated retail space?
After three decades of traveling the world, discovering extraordinary artisans and introducing their work to the luxury market, I realized I wanted a place where people could actually walk in and feel that world, not just see it in a lookbook or a trade show. In January 2023, I opened BOHEME at 1817 Lincoln Boulevard in Venice Beach as a living expression of all the brands I distribute across the country and the world. Venice felt right — it has that rare combination of creative freedom, beauty, and a community that genuinely values authenticity. In a world of fast fashion and AI-driven production, I wanted to champion the human touch, clothing that tells a story, that carries the fingerprints of the person who made it. BOHEME is that space.
@bohemeveniceshop
Your shop blends retail with brand representation. How does that dual role shape the way you select and promote the designers you work with?
It’s completely intertwined, and honestly it’s what makes BOHEME different from any other boutique. I’ve always worked with a tightly curated selection of talented designers, artists, and artisans, people who are invested in quality and, increasingly, in giving back to their communities. When a brand is in my showroom, I’m not just selling it to retailers. I’m an advocate for it, a storyteller for it. Having the physical shop means I can observe firsthand how real customers respond to a piece, what questions they ask, what moves them. That feedback loop makes me a better representative. And it means every designer in BOHEME has passed a very personal test: I have to believe in them completely before they touch my shelves. Over the years I’ve worked with labels like Brunello Cucinelli, Versace, Fendi, and D&G, but also with smaller designers who have grown into something remarkable over time. That range, from the iconic to the emerging, is the thread running through everything I do.
jennychaseshowroom.com/
@jennychaseshowroom on Instagram
You’ve also written Dancing with Shiva and are working on The Blessed Book. How has your journey with meditation influenced your writing and creative voice?
Meditation cracked me open in a way that nothing else ever had, not fashion, not travel, not success. When I felt that overwhelming surge of love, clarity, and divine connection, I believed I had finally reached the spiritual purpose I had been seeking. What I didn’t expect was the shadow that arrived with it. Dancing with Shiva is my attempt to tell that story honestly, the light and the darkness together. It explores the duality of the spiritual path, the light that awakens us and the shadows that test us. Writing it required the same quality of attention that meditation asks of you: to sit with discomfort, to not look away, to find the truth underneath the story you’ve been telling yourself. My creative voice in everything, fashion, writing, curation, comes from that same place now. Stillness, then clarity, then action.
Dancing with Shiva on Amazon
You mentioned not doing much marketing yet. What has held you back, and what direction are you hoping to take now in sharing your books and shop more widely?
Honestly, I’ve been in the work, deep in it. Opening BOHEME, finishing the book, continuing to run the showroom and trade show. There’s only so much one person can hold at once, and I’ve always trusted that the right moment would come. I think there’s also something in me that wanted to be ready, not just to promote, but to have a clear, cohesive message that connected all the threads: the fashion, the spirituality, the writing. I feel like those pieces are finally coming together. The Blessed Book is nearly complete, and it carries a message I want to share widely. So yes, now is the moment to step forward, to be more visible, to trust that the story is worth telling and that the right people will receive it. Maybe podcasts?
Looking ahead, how do you see your work in fashion and spirituality intersecting as you continue to build both your brand and your message?
I don’t actually see them as two separate things anymore, that’s the honest answer. I’ve always believed that clothing is a form of self-expression and storytelling that reflects who we are. And spirituality, at its core, is about the same thing: knowing who you are, and having the courage to live from that truth. The artisans I work with in Italy and in India bring a kind of sacred attention to their craft that I find deeply spiritual. I’ve always been drawn to brands that are invested in giving back to their communities, and that impulse comes from the same source as everything I write about. Going forward, I want BOHEME to be more than a boutique. I want it to be a gathering place, a community where beauty and consciousness meet. And I want my books to reach people who are on their own path, navigating the light and the shadow, looking for a voice that doesn’t pretend it’s simple.
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