A new generation of unique — House of Skye opens on Central

During the night of Whitefish’s Christmas Stroll, Dec. 9, a new store opened on Central Avenue and it experienced a steady stream of visitors. Skye Drynan, daughter of Crystal Winter’s founder Craig Drynan, has opened a boutique called House of Skye.

“I would have never guessed in a million years I'd be back in the store and have my office be my dad’s office where I worked with my grandpa,” Drynan said. “It feels good. It feels great to be home.”

Drynan says her goal for the store is similar to that of Crystal Winters in that anyone who comes in should be able to find something unique for themselves or as a gift for someone else. A wide range of price points make the items in the store accessible to everyone.

“It’s Crystal Winters, the next generation, father to daughter,” Drynan said of her business, located in the same space as the recently closed, popular gift shop. “People don’t realize it started with art for my dad and now I'm selling my original artistic vision for clothing. It's really come full circle.”

The store still has the old signage out front but inside it is worlds away from the funky gift shop it once was. House of Skye is a high-end yet accessible clothing store that features three of Drynan’s original lines.

Dulce Bestia is her line of couture clothing. It features custom clothing, wedding dresses and tuxedos, as well as special occasion dresses. Drynan is currently working on a custom dress for a client to wear on New Year’s Eve and has received several other custom orders.

“That’s how I became known, doing celebrity custom, from Gwen Steffani to Lady Gaga to

Carrie Underwood to Kevin Jonas,” she said.

The Snow Beast line is her take on outdoor gear and wear with price points comparable to Patagonia, Arcteryx and The North Face. She expects to launch this line more fully in the spring and summer.

The third collection is Bareback, men’s and women’s intimates, including Drynan’s globally patented Sexy Back Bra, a piece she calls “a super bra” and one for which she holds a patent in 100 countries.

It could be argued that Drynan started designing clothes as a child, making things for her father. Professionally, she stepped into the world of fashion design in 2016. Before that, she worked for 22 years in biotech finance.

“I used to be one of the largest investors of biotechnology in the world,” Drynan said. “I started off in a call center and was the first person in the history of Putnam Investment to go from operations to the investment division.”

She succeeded on Wall Street without a business degree and is finding success in the fashion industry as a self-taught artist, without formal fashion training. Drynan says she worked in the student aid office in college, waitressed, tended bar and worked in retail to save enough money for college so she could make a better life for herself.

“No rich parents or ex-husband,” she said. “I built everything on my own.”

Her hardworking and industrious nature coupled with her creative eye have made her an inspiration to the young people who visit her store and see her work. She enjoys talking to them about her work and about following their dreams.

“Hey, I’m a local kid, too,” Drynan tells the young visitors. “You can do anything you want. You can be anything you want. You just have to work hard for it.

“It was cool to see how inspired the kids were by the creativity,” she said. “It felt so good and energizing. It was like a magic moment.”

DRYNAN RETURNED to Whitefish several years ago to find a place to live and decided to live here full-time during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Whitefish is a magical place,” she said. “I love the fact there’s such a strong sense of community and I think that strong sense of community really has been reflected in the outpouring of love that I've gotten from the community just in terms of the store in that location passing generation from generation.”

Drynan’s father, Craig, called her a couple days before she opened the store to let her know he was excited for her and he thought the store was beautiful. She credits her dad with giving her the tools to become a self-made woman.

“My dad empowered me to be independent and never take a back seat to anyone,” she said. “He always wanted me to have equal opportunities and work hard for those opportunities.”

The love and support she received from friends, both old and new, helped her to renovate the retail space in just two and a half weeks. Everyone brought a “how can we help” attitude.

“Everyone just really came together and I feel so grateful,” she said. “You don’t have that sense of community when you’re in a large metropolis.”

She said everyone involved made the transformation from Crystal Winters to House of Skye a priority. Jimmy Deet and his crew started work at 4 a.m. so the store could be ready in time. People brought her food, ran errands and helped price items. She is thankful to a long list of people including Mike Ordway, Dave Mutton and Nikki Schriver.

“I love Montana and although I am passionate about science, I really wanted to take the opportunity to pursue creativity and just really reinvent and nurture that part of my soul,” she said. “So I think coming back to Montana is a big part about coming home and pursuing my dreams. And this is my dream, to be home and making beautiful things to share with the world.”