New York from a designer’s perspective – Catharina Eden
11-04-2008
Directional Shopping in New York
My name is Catharine Eden and I have not been to New York for years. I went there full of in trepidation and excitement and thought it might be useful to fellow designers to have an understanding of what worked for me in Manhattan when I did the comparative and directional shopping. It’s a big place and it’s easy to get lost and miss the right hot spots. Below are the stores that I found right for me and my collection.
Henry Bendel
Like Liberty in the UK, only trendier, funkier, fresher and more exciting. There is a feeling of excitement and passion for everything to do with style from make-up to clothing.
There are trend -led areas where the store has collaborated with Elle magazine and done a “straight-from-the-pages-to-your-closet” -sections, which looked incredibly tempting. All items were displayed according to colour and they looked like desserts on platters.
There were many labels in the store, which cannot be found in the UK. One of which was Norma Kamal, whom the Fashion- Enter designers met through Kerry Bannigan from Nolcha. Most of the labels though did not have a big presence in the store, which makes me think that they most likely buy their clothing in, instead of selling concessions to big brands. This is possibly what gives the store its niche feel, since it’s not dominated by brand -themed areas like so many other department stores are.
The layout of the store is also worth mentioning as it was possibly the best I’ve ever seen. The rooms were relatively small, but dressed in a way that you felt almost transported into a new frenzy of excitement whenever you entered another room. For instance, I could walk from a lacy women’s lingerie section (through a glass corridor) thru to a room full of fashion books, and from this room I could see across the opening in the middle of the store to a tiny smoothie bar. I could have spent ages in the store all thanks to the layout.
Takashimaya
Very upmarket Japanese inspired life style store for the luxury -led consumer in their late thirties and up.
This six storey fragrant heaven was so extremely calming in every way that I felt like having a nap in their bed linen department… The lights were dimmed, calming music playing in the background and there was a whiff of something with cinnamon and vanilla in the air. It was lovely.
If you are into very expensive interiors and pampering yourself with lovely little items then this is the place for you. This is also the best place to find clothing for a woman in her mature age, which wants beautiful, design led clothing in luxurious fabrics.
Saks 5th Avenue
Everything that you could possibly want in terms of brand representation is found here. Just have a look at the designer index in their website http://www.saksfithavenue.com/ if you don’t believe me.
It is actually quite amazing how big this place is. It seems to expand as I walk along and new labels keep popping up. It’s a bit overwhelming and I have to be very focused on what, or who’s collection to be more truthful, I want to see. Unless you have many hours to spend, that is.
Like Henry Bendel, this store has got areas just for the trends. In this case it is in the form of dummies at the bottom of each escalator, which are dressed according to trend along with a mood board. These trends do correspond with the others I have seen here in NYC and match the predictions in the UK as well.
www.saksfithavenue.com/
– Catharina Eden –
