How Antora Selection Boutique In Germany’s Baden-Baden Spa Town Carries Europe’s Top Runway Trends

Sitting front row at Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks is Andrea Wontorra, a boutique owner from one of southwest Germany’s most luxurious spa towns. Having the distinct eye for fashion, Wontorra’s roster of clients range from the women that live in Baden-Baden where her boutique is located, to international customers, and often a celebrity can be seen perusing through her shop.

Originally from Austria, Wontorra’s early path didn’t look anything like becoming a luxury boutique owner. “My studies are French, English, and hotel business management. I managed a small hotel in the Austrian Alps where I also came in contact with fashion. The owners of the hotel also owned a sportswear and fashion shop, where I sometimes had the chance to get experience in buying.”

Fashion wasn’t the focus. “I like everything that is beautiful, special, and unique,” she shares. With interests in art, architecture, interior design, and cooking, Wontorra’s connection to what she’s doing today is the synergy that she has for beautiful things and her interest in them. So, in 1995 she started Antora Selection, her boutique that sits in the center Baden-Baden.

The eye-catching town of Baden-Baden kisses the Black Forest and is the ideal place for all four seasons. With its notable casino and health and spa wellness retreat facilities, it has drawn the likes of Presidents Clinton and Obama, David and Victoria Beckham, and actor George Clooney. It has a global flair about it due to its 5-star hotels, spas, casino and opera house- the largest in Germany that attracts people from all over the world. And with the level of affluent people visiting Baden-Baden, luxury fashion shops like Antora Selection are appreciated.

Antora Selection is set in a cozy pocket of the city. Off a main street its black slanted awning dons the boutique’s name in gray. With two spaces beside each other the large storefront windows are eye-catching. And as you enter either space, one is edgy with dark interiors filled with shoes, while the other is warm and cozy in color with the latest fashion week designs and handbags.

Selling quality and uniqueness, it doesn’t fall lightly on Wontorra that there are other boutiques in Baden Baden. “My boutique brings an international flair to the city. My customers find the best brands, not just a mass of products but a special range of products, which are selected by heart and with the highest care.”

Respecting the competition around her Wontorra believes what sets Antora Selection apart are the luxury brands that she carries, and for her, “you will only find one top luxury boutique in the city,” and that’s hers. “You’re entering a special world when you come to Antora Selection,” she shares. For clothing the brands, she carries are Balenciaga, Chloé, Etro, Alaia, Golden Goose, Tory Burch, Raquel Diniz, Saverio Palatella, and Anjuna Collection, just to name a few. And when it comes to shoes you can find Aquazzura, Gianvito Rossi, Jimmy Choo, Jil Sander, Cutler and Gross, Dianora Salviati, and Berry Kiselstein Cord.

“We give our clients respect and tend to their needs and wishes. More than just selling products, we try to guide, inspire, and strengthen our clients, giving them a sense of wellbeing. Making them feel good and happy, my staff and I know that they are spending what they love most – their money.”

But what enables Wontorra to tend to the needs of her customers is the quality of clothing coming from Paris, and her distinct process for choosing which brands she buys and sells in her boutique.

“First of all, we try to see as many shows as possible, designers we already know and new ones. Getting a feeling of what the designers will tell us and learning their news and inspirations guides me and my team. Second, there’s finding a concept from all the varieties for the shop. And third, there is preparing a list of the most important clients, trying to find the reason why they should buy from these new collections. Any buyer has to find answers and connections between the designers, their new ideas, and the customers. After all this brainstorming we place an order and hope that the brands and agencies will accept it, as well as deliver it correctly and on time.”

In the midst of Covid with infection numbers increasing Wontorra has been treading lightly on attending fashion week shows but when the pandemic dies down she will get back to attending shows in person. “We buy and sell emotions, and you need to touch and feel fashion. The brainstorming and exchanging of ideas with sellers in the showrooms is very important. Even a nice dinner after a long day in the showrooms can bring inspiration and energy, and I miss this.

We do not buy mass products or items that are out of stock. We always head for the new and exceptional. I’m looking forward to travel again! Zoom meetings are good for a first get together or reorders. But they will never replace in person meetings. Antora Selection is a fantasy, dreams, and fulfilling wishes and desires.”

You can find Antora Selection in the heart of Baden-Baden at Lichtentaler Strasse 7, 76530 Baden-Baden.