Meet Mae
MEET MAE CALLOWAY
Mae's Fort Lauderdale is Closing — And This Is How I Want to Say Goodbye
There's a moment every woman knows. She reaches for something — a soft linen dress, a colour she doesn't usually wear — and for just a second she wonders: is this me? Is this really me? It always was. It just needed the right light to show her. That belief is the reason Mae's Fort Lauderdale has existed for the past eight years on this sun-drenched coast. It's the reason a botanical garden designer who spent twenty-one years shaping beautiful spaces in Boston decided to trade her drafting table for a boutique — in the city that had been quietly stealing her heart every single winter for years.
How It Started
It started with eight years of January escapes.
Every winter, when the Boston grey became too heavy to carry, Tom and I would board a flight south. And every time that warm Fort Lauderdale air hit us at the gate, something in me unclenched completely. The bougainvillea. The light on the Intracoastal. The women here — dressed in soft linens and easy silhouettes, moving like they had somewhere lovely to be and absolutely no reason to rush.
I noticed all of it. I always noticed all of it.
One January, sitting in a café near the marina — I was sketching, Tom was reading — I looked up and saw my heavy winter coat slung over the back of my chair. Dark. Stiff. Wrong. I looked at Tom. He took my sketchbook, drew a small sun in the corner of the page, and closed it.
He didn't say a word. He didn't have to.
We never bought the return tickets to Boston.
What Fort Lauderdale Taught Me
You showed up for Mae's in ways I never anticipated.
You came in for one piece and stayed for the afternoon. You brought your sisters, your mothers, your friends visiting from up north. You trusted me — with your time, your money, and the way you wanted to feel when you walked back out into that sunshine.
I never took that lightly. Not for a single day in eight years.
Everything I had spent twenty-one years learning about colour, texture, and how a beautiful space makes a person feel — I poured it into clothes instead of gardens. Because a wardrobe and a garden are not so different. Both are about how something makes you feel the moment you step into them. Both, done well, can make a woman stand a little straighter and breathe a little easier.
Fort Lauderdale made me better at what I do. And now, after eight of the most beautiful years of my life, it is time to rest.
Why I'm Closing
I am sixty-three years old. I have been a garden designer, a wife, a dreamer, and a boutique owner in my favourite place on earth.
And I have decided — with a full heart, not a heavy one — that it is time to close. Not because the dream faded. It never faded, not for a single day. But I am wise enough to know when a story has been told beautifully, and wise enough to know when it is time to simply live, unhurried, under the palms.
This is my final sale. Everything must go — because I want every last piece to find the woman it was meant for before I close this door for the very last time.
What the Final Sale Looks Like
Everything you see here was chosen with the same eye, the same care, the same standard as always.
Pieces for the woman who wants to feel effortless without trying. Pieces for the woman who has decided — rightly — that comfort and beauty are not a compromise. Pieces in the colours of this coast: warm sand, soft coral, the particular blue-green of the Intracoastal at midday.
Every single one chosen by a woman, for women, with an eye for what actually flatters rather than what simply photographs well.
Free shipping on every order. Easy 30-day returns. No questions asked.
For the Women Who Have Been Here From the Beginning
You believed in Mae's before most people knew it existed. You kept coming back. You sent the women you loved through this door.
This final sale is yours as much as it is mine. Eight years of thank you. I mean every single word.
For the Women Just Finding This
Welcome. I'm so glad you're here. I only wish we'd had more time.
Browse slowly. Find the things that make you stop. Trust that feeling — I built this entire place around exactly that moment.
One Dream. One City. One Perfect Chapter.
What started as a sketchbook and a one-way flight became eight years of mornings I will never forget.
Every woman deserves to feel at home in what she's wearing. Every woman deserves to look in the mirror and feel exactly like herself — just on a really, really good day.
That's what I built here. And I'm not done until every last piece finds the woman it was meant for.
Browse the final collection — everything must go. Free shipping on every order. Easy 30-day returns. ☀️
With all my love,
Mae Calloway
Mae's Fort Lauderdale · Est. 2018 ☀️