The Shophound

Cintra Wilson Goes Shopping: Retro-Future Edition

This week's Thursday Styles finds critical shopper Cintra Wilson skipping up Madison Avenue and landing at Lisa Perry's new boutique.
Having breezed past the store a few days ago we can only imagine the custodial efforts needed to keep the the spotless, white shop looking pristine. Wilson goes pretty easy on Perry whose design background appears to consist of a marriage to a "hedge fund bazillionaire".  This would seem to put her square in La Cintra's sights for a healthy skewering, but Perry seems to escape relatively unscathed by virtue of sheer enthusiasm and impressive execution of her Courrèges-inspired vision.
The sixties revival look, however, is clearly not Wilson's cup of tea,

I tried the Puff skirt, a black pleated tennis style with an ivory waistband ($495). I found it to be too puffy for my stick legs, as was the Lady dress ($995), which bubbled out at the hips in a way that made me wonder if Ms. Perry’s designs are built with a ’60s hourglass female body in mind.

Overall, our shopper is less focused on Perry's store this week than she is on other Madison Avenue goings on, ending on a scene in front of the new Diptyque boutique. It is perfumer Frédéric Malle who gets the zinger this week whose new shop is described as "a warm little place with a persimmon love seat and three 'scent chambers,' rather like interoffice personnel mailing tubes, or walk-in bongs, in which one can enjoy truly hard-core perfume huffing."
Doesn't sound so exclusive anymore, does it?
Critical Shopper: Lisa Perry Boutique Is Committed to Its Futuristic Mission by Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Lisa Perry 976 Madison Avenue between 76^th & 77^th Streets, Upper East Side

Domestic Superstars: Dolce & Gabbana Put Madonna In The Kitchen

Usually, we don't report on designer advertising campaigns that much because that would be a completely different blog, but we couldn't help our amusement at the upcoming Dolce & Gabbana campaign by Steven Klein featuring one of the pair's longtime muses, Madonna. These first images have been released by the designers from Vanity Fair Italia.
The superstar famously gave the designers a major boost in the early '90s when she asked them to design her "Girlie Show" tour, and has been an avid supporter ever since, but this is the first time she has appeared in their advertising in an official capacity. What tickles us is that, rather than portraying her as a waxen figure Photoshopped to a gleaming finish, as she has appeared in recent Louis Vuitton and Versace campaigns, Klein has put her in the kitchen on a set that looks like it may have been plucked from one of the "Godfather" films. 
The design duo tell their SWIDE magazine that they were inspired by Italian star Monica Vitti whom they claim is Madonna's favorite actress. It hardly seems possible that after all these years, the only way to show Madonna as you have never seen her before, is to show her doing the dishes and scarfing pasta, but there you are.
Madonna In The Dolce & Gabbana Campaign: The Images (SWIDE via Towleroad)

Two more shots after the jump

Dearly Departed:Has Lucien Pellat-Finet Vacated?

Last weekend, as we took a break from holiday shopping to ogle the latest shoes at Leffot, we noticed that its longstanding neighbor across the street, Lucien Pellat-Finet was looking suspiciously papered over and empty of its sumptuous cashmere sweaters.
We wouldn't be surprised that the market for $3,000 cashmere sweaters with witty intarsia patterns might be a little bit light lately, even though we know that M. Pellat-Finet makes the most perfectly cut cashmere sweaters we have encountered (and we have encountered a lot). Unfortunately, even his solid colored sweaters retail for just under a grand these days. Perhaps the humor of his cannabis leaf emblem has worn off.
Someone tell us this is a temporary situation, or perhaps he's just moving to a higher profile location (though the corner of Christopher & Gay Streets seems to be working out quite well for the folks at Leffot and their equally expensive shoes). The boutique is still listed on the designer's website, but behind that paper in the windows, there ain't nothing but floor and walls.

Rogues Gallery/John Bartlett Collaboration Is A Hit As The Designer Bounces Back

You never know what's going to sell out first.
Since we missed John Bartlett's launch party last week for his collaboration with Rogues Gallery, we stopped by his boutique yesterday to check it out just in time to catch John selling the next-to-last union suit from the collection to a customer who was so pleased that he wore it right out of the store (under his clothes, of course).
Don't worry, there are still plenty of great t-shirts and accessories from the line left at the shop, including the "log carrier" that raised a few eyebrows and turns out to make a particularly luxurious zippered leather tote for those with less need for firewood. John told us that the collection has been such a success that he's planning to increase its frequency from a seasonal project to a new group appearing every couple of months.
Always up for a friendly chat, the designer put a good spin on the ending of his Claiborne men's collection, calling it a great learning experience. He admitted that even before he was involved, the line's prospects were dampened by a nervous, contracting retail market and ongoing friction between Liz Claiborne Inc. and retailers like Macy's whose support was crucial to success. There are still lots of great, extremely well priced items from the fall Claiborne line mixed in with his main collection at Bartlett's West Village boutique where he has had a busy season and can still be regularly found personally helping weekend customers. We have to say that having the designer himself choose one of his signature cable-knit scarves to match our outfit was a rare treat that you definitely won't find anywhere else.
Rogues Gallery for John Bartlett 143 Seventh Avenue South at Charles Street, West Village
Previously:
Collaboration Du Jour: John Bartlett Rebounds With Rogues Gallery: A First Look

Madison Avenue Additions: Burberry Launches A Midtown Double Header

Today at 9 AM Burberry will double its retail presence in New York with not one but two shiny new stores on the ground floor of its newly christened American headquarters on Madison Avenue between 49^th and 50^th Streets.
You would think that two well placed boutiques in Manhattan would be enough for an international luxury brand like Burberry, but a pair of 1,500 square foot shops open and available in the building that houses its home base (coupled, no doubt, with favorably slumping retail rents in the neighborhood) proved too appealing of an opportunity to pass up. While neither shop is a flagship, each one will showcase a facet of the brand. One is devoted solely to the most popular and commercial Burberry London label, but it's the other that may attract more interest. It will feature Burberry Brit, a younger sportier label (once known in Europe as "Thomas Burberry") that has been mostly unavailable at retail in the U.S. until now, and possibly serve as a beachhead for a more expansive rollout of the collection.
We haven't been inside yet, but for the first few days, we are counting on there being lots of anxious Burberry executives on hand —mainly because their offices are right upstairs. At the very least, everyone should be on their best behavior.
Burberry Brit & Burberry London 444 Madison Avenue between 49^th and 50^th Streets, Midtown

Collaboration Du Jour: John Bartlett Rebounds With Rogues Gallery: A First Look

After the unfortunate repositioning of Liz Claiborne's labels, John Bartlett has wasted no time in finding new projects. The latest is a collaboration with Rogues Gallery's Alex Carleton for a collection that will be sold exclusively at Bartlett's West Village boutique starting this December.
For starters, the collection, to be called Rogues Gallery/John Bartlett, will include the sweet handcrafted leather gym bag pictured above, as well as Carleton's signature t-shirts in exclusive patterns (see Rooster & Berlin below), pique polo shirts and a black over-dyed union suit for frosty Winter nights. The extensive accessory collection will include, aside from the aforementioned bag (an excellent stocking stuffer for, perhaps, The Shophound), a leather log carrier, and bankers’ envelopes made from leather, silk screened canvas and vintage, recycled wools.
Carleton, who is also developing the L.L.Bean's Signature premium collection, has a New England vintage aesthetic that seems to be blending nicely with Bartlett's current rugged classic mode, so if we're lucky, this team-up could be an ongoing program. Thanks to John for these preview images. We're looking forward to seeing more soon.
 

Click images to enlarge

New Additions: Zilli's Luxe Lands In Midtown

If The Shophound wasn't on our way to Los Angeles, we would scrambling over to East 57^th Street to check out Zilli's first U.S. boutique in the Four Seasons Hotel. The opulent French brand sells in only two other U.S. stores, Battaglia Shop in Beverly Hills, and Da Vinci in Scottsdale, Arizona, so it hasn't been seen in New York for quite a few years.WWD 's report suggests a glitzy store which is no surprise since dress shirts start at about $600, and leather jackets, the label's signature item, average around $11,000. Don't leave your wallet at home! We look forward to visiting next week when we get back because we need some socks and we can never think of anything to do with that extra gazillion bucks we always have lying around.
French Men's Wear Brand Zilli Opens N.Y. Flagship (WWD)
Zilli (Official Site)
Previously:
Recession? What Recession? Zilli's French Luxury To Hit Midtown ...Whether You're Ready Or Not

Cintra Wilson Goes Shopping: Quick On The Job Edition

In this week's Thursday Styles, Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson wastes not a moment getting herself to Isaac Mizrahi's brand spanking new boutique off Madison Avenue. You have to admire La Cintra's diligence, as the boutique has been open for barely a week. Much of her report concerns a brief recap of Mizrahi's career triumphs, trials and tribulations before landing at the happy ending of his career rejuvenation by way of an unlikely showbiz path.
We weren't sure what our extra-critical shopper would make of the designer's signature mixture of camp and quirk, but she treats his loopier creations with gentler skepticism than usual, and just when you think his aesthetic might be a bit too mature for her —"Mr. Mizrahi dubbed this season’s look, Smile. I dubbed it, Barbara Walters Turns 30 Again."—she she strikes gold in the made-to-order room...or maybe silver:

Then the kicker: gowns and a shaggy coat made entirely out of aluminum Christmas trees. They are actually tinsel, hand-sewn onto mesh, something Bob Mackie might have designed for the hood ornament of a 1966 Buick Electra, or a radioactive gorilla.
I tried the silver gown ($9,400), T-backed and plunging in front, with a white mink mini-jacket of the Miss America variety ($21,208).
“Oh!” cried an older lady, squinting from the far end of the store. “You look gorgeous!”
“It’s the dress!” I hollered back. I was Carole Lombard for a thrilling micro-moment, until the straps came tumbling down and I revealed things a lady oughtn’t, in mixed company

That puts her one micro-moment ahead of most people.
Critical Shopper | Isaac Mizrahi: One-Man Show, or His Latest Act? by Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Isaac Mizrahi 23 East 67th Street between Fifth & Madison Avenues, Upper East Side

Location Speculation: Is This Isabel Marant's New Maison In New York?

Last Friday, Style.com broke the news that Isabel Marant, the Parisian designer with the sleeper cult-following, was opening a boutique in SoHo in just a few months. The location was described as near the corner of Broome and Greene Streets. Could this empty parcel at that very corner be the spot? The former Waterworks showroom is the only unoccupied shop on the corner, and it looks like something's going on behind that craft paper over the windows. It puts Marant just a block away from fellow French lady Catherine Malandrino's shop on Broome, which otherwise feels somewhat less exploited by fashion retailers compared to the rest of SoHo.
Marant is famously internet-phobic, having asked all her retail accounts to pull her goods from online selling, and her website consists only of a small video of her Fall '09 runway show, so there's little info coming from that front. Feel free to correct us if we're wrong —as if you need to be encouraged.

Mike Albo Goes Shopping: At The Center Of The Trend Edition

This week, Critical Shopper Mike Albo wastes no time in getting himself to Odin's brand new branch in the West Village for the Thursday Styles. From his report we can basically deduce that this new Odin is much like the other two: slightly cramped, but full of appealing stuff.
By running the leading men's boutique in the city, at the moment, and one of the country's most influential stores, the folks at Odin bear some responsibility for the trends that are currently cresting in the world of men's fashion, and in his way, Mike crystallizes exactly what they are:

Steeped as we are in decades of postmodern self-referential artifice, we don’t just want to look like backwoodsmen; we want to look like actors from the 1950s playing backwoodsmen of the 1890s, but in a totally fresh, laid-back 2009 kind of way.

It's all rugged authenticity these days for a guy out shopping, and in some quarters, that leaves you a choice of looking like a lumberjack or a longshoreman. While Odin does a very good job of keeping things fresh, flaws in the formula are starting to appear.

A Richard Chai short-sleeve striped T-shirt, for $95, felt soft and had interesting vertical seams, but if I see one more hipster horizontal-stripe shirt, I will scream.

So will we.
Critical Shopper | Odin: Neighborhood Preservation By Mike Albo (NYTimes)
Odin 750 Greenwich Street at West 11th Street, West Village