The Shophound

NOW OPEN: Is FIVESTORY New York's Next Great Luxury Store?

Something felt unfinished at the new boutique FIVESTORY when The Shophound stopped by on Friday, a day after it had opened to the public.
Maybe it was the paint smell.

We can't really blame the folks at Fivestory for straining to get their doors open on time even if there were still more than a few finishing touches yet to be applied to the store's interior. One room of the store was described to us as "where fine jewelry will be" by a sales associate who admitted that not all of the store's merchandise had arrived. Still, it is late April already, and there are goods that need to be sold before the selling season turns to clearance time and ridiculously early pre-Fall goods start rolling in.

We feel pretty confident that Fivestory will be fine. They certainly won't ignore a customer in there. We were greeted numerous times, sometimes one right after another in a slightly excessive display of hospitality that we will chalk up to the enthusiasm and high spirits that generally accompany a newly opened store. In fairness, nobody was overbearing in their attention either, and we could tell that an effort had been made to staff the store with professionals. It has an intimate layout that reflects the elegant 69th Street townhouse it once was, and the father/daughter team of Fred and Claire Distenfeld have clearly gone to lengths to include designers and brands you may not have seen or even heard of before. We didn't recognize many of the labels we saw, except in the tiny, surprisingly casual men's department which, reportedly outsourced to the folks behind Union in Los Angeles, featured Comme des Garçons, Bespoken and the Japanese cult label Visvim. Actually, the men's section was so small (half of a small room) that we wonder if it is even worth having in such an otherwise feminine store, but then you never know what's going to hit when you first open a store. Overall, the merchandised is presented with care, in a gallery-like way in places, highlighting the most adventurous styles meant for the most adventurous customers with a clear message that this is not the place to stop in for basics.

Fivestory is the kind of store that appears in New York only occasionally: The Ambitious, High Profile, Multi-Brand Luxury Boutique. Every season we will get a few new single designer stores planting their flags on the city's most popular shopping streets, and the multi-brand category has long been dominated by the rival contemporary chains Intermix and Scoop. In the luxury sector, however, it seems like only once in a while that a retailer has the nerve to take on the now well established likes of Jeffrey, Kirna Zabête and the towering obstacle course of fashion that is Opening Ceremony.  The Distenfelds have engineered an impressive publicity blitz including a glittery opening party and a covetable preview post in the New York Times written by Cathy Horyn. They also have have the sense to intuit a lack of just this sort of store on the Upper East Side. While all of its aforementioned potential competitors thrive below 14th Street, Fivestory finds itself in the middle of a renewed retail interest in Madison Avenue. "...I wanted to create something that had a really beautiful marriage between laid-back comfortable and downtown cool, but also embedded with this elegant, beautiful Upper East Side grandeur that has been around forever,” Claire Distdenfeld tells WWD. Will it become as influential as Colette in Paris, 10 Corso Como in Milan or the original Henri Bendel in its 1970s heyday? All three are stores that Ms. Distenfeld has claimed as inspiration. They set a very high bar indeed, but we may have to wait a little longer than the time it takes for the paint to fully dry to see if Fivestory reaches those lofty standards.

FIVESTORY 18 East 69th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, Upper East Side

Fivestory, a New Midtown Boutique, Chooses Carefully By Cathy Horyn (On The Runway/New York Times)
Madison Ave. Shift: Uptown, the New Downtown? by Jessica Iredale (WWD)

JON CARAMANICA GOES SHOPPING: Luxe No-Brainer edition

John Caramanica makes his way to the men's floors of the newly renovated Giorgio Armani boutique on Madison Avenue as this week's Critical Shopper in the Thursday Styles. Like many fashion-minded folk, he is accustomed to overlooking Armani's deeply codified signature look in favor of younger, more dynamic designers, calling the designer the "rich man's Gap" for men of means who want to look impressive but don't want or care to think too much about clothes. He describes them as "dashing, svelte playboys and toady, lumpy industry captains". Take that, Giorgio Armani, New York Times Advertiser.

Our shopper tours through the shop, noting the intentionally limited color range —describing a vast tie selection as going "from gray to still gray to more gray to light pink to light green to light yellow" (We can picture them in our mind without ever having to set foot into the store.)— but eventually appreciating the designer's subtle design tricks and innovative materials.  Still, nothing seems to fully please, and it's probably just as well. It turns out that Giorgio Armani knows his customers' tastes so well after 30 or so years that if you don't like it, you're probably not supposed to.

Critical Shopper: Ageless, Like Armani By Jon Caramanica (NYTimes)
Giorgio Armani 760 Madison Avenue at 65th Street, Upper East Side

THE THING THAT WOULDN'T LEAVE: UGG Australia To Open Madison Avenue Men's Store

We suppose that this was inevitable, but we weren't really looking forward to it. It turns out that UGGs are so popular with male customers, that as a part of the expansion of its store at the corner of Madison Avenue and 58th Street, the brand will open a separate men's store next door. This means that men will no longer have to wait in line to shop at Christmastime, or that there will be two, gender specific lines to get into the store. Either way, crazy.

While it always seems like Uggs are primarily popular among women, the company apparently began making its products in unisex men's sizes, and only began making a women's collection during the 1990s. Hiring The New England Patriots' Tom Brady for an ad campaign last year was a first step in promoting the brand's men's line along with giving critics of the quarterback yet another thing to give him crap for. The store is slated to open sometime this summer, which as all faithful Ugg wearers know, is high season for shealing boots and cutoff shorts. Yeeccch.

UGG Slates Men's-Only Retail Site (Wall Street Journal via Racked)

ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING: Rejected Retro Edition

Critical Shopper Alexandra Jacobs' pen is a little bit sharper than we usually expect in Today's Thursday Styles as she visits Madison Avenue's Milly boutique. Most pointedly, she questions the terminology for the popular brand's "Contemporary" market category,

The curious thing about these lines is how resolutely uncontemporary they are, constantly recycling visions of femininity that include ruffles, polka dots and lashings of hot pink.

Jacobs is not to be charmed by designer Michelle Smith's popular, ladylike line, unable to find anything in the store to cause any excitement or desire.

...I plowed through a pile of clothing that included an A-line boldly printed cobalt dress that would’ve been appropriate on a Braniff stewardess ($395) and a tie-neck sweater whose generous contours reminded me that Milly is, in the end, a bit mall-y.

Well, nobody want to be mistaken for a stewardess —not even flight attendants. In the end, she has praise for the fact that much of Milly's production is done in the U.S. and also for the pretty shopping bags, but the label's overly nostalgic look clearly leaves her cold and looking for something truly modern to wear.

Critical Shopper: Nonstop Flights of Fancy at Milly By Alexandra Jacobs
Milly 900 Madison Avenue at 73rd Street, Upper East Side

FLAGSHIP FLASH: More Expansion In Store For Giorgio Armani On Madison Avenue As His Boutique Re-Opens

Giorgio Armani unveils a revamped, updated Madison Avenue home this week (pictured at right), but the real news for New York shoppers will be the return of Emporio Armani to Madison as well as the first Armani Junior children's store in North America all the way up at 88th and Madison. It will be well out of the way of the shopping street's most glamorous boutiques, but perfectly placed closer to Carnegie Hill's cluster of luxury children's boutiques.

Emporio Armani will re-appear on Madison Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets in a former home that had been converted to a unique Armani Collezioni store when the huge Armani 5th Avenue brand palace opened couple of years ago. Most recently, it had served as a temporary store for the main collection during renovations on the original boutique at the corner of 65th Street. While the Collezioni line will presumably remain as a label aimed at wide distribution at department stores line Saks and Neiman Marcus, WWD reports that Giorgio Armani's newly aggressive expansion will focus on the main collection and Emporio. Twelve new stores are expected to open in North America this year including three stores for the main collection, eleven Emporio units and the aforementioned junior store. Reportedly, Armani volume dipped after the turn of the century, but is currently on the rebound.

While the big brand palace on Fifth Avenue seems to be meeting its mission of delighting tourists, Armani is now turning its focus back to where rich New Yorkers really shop: Madison Avenue. Expect the new Emporio and Junior stores to be open in late Spring or early Summer

Armani Plots Aggressive Expansion in North America (WWD)

FLAGSHIP WATCH: Big Belstaff Store To Boost Brand On Madison Avenue

Belstaff, the London based label best known for making pricey, nostalgic motorcycle hjackets and other outerwear is relaunching this fall as a luxury lifestyle brand thanks to its new owner, Switzerland's Labelux. Part of this relaunch will include two major flagship stores, one at 814 Madison Avenue here in New York, and another in London.

New Yorkers will find the new store at the corner of 68th Street where Malo has wound up its residency, and one of New York's first Gianni Versace boutiques once stood, and the 4,000 square foot space will be designed, like its much larger London cousin, by New York based William Sofield, who is best known for revamping the Tom Ford era Gucci store design concept. While he is associated with sleek, glamorous minimalism of that moment, the new store will take its cues from the 1876 London mansion that will soon become Belstaff House. "a modern version of an English country house," according to Harry Slatkin who is the brand's new CEO.

The new store will also launch ready-to-wear collections by new Belstaff chief creative officer Martin Cooper. Are New Yorkers ready for more than just outerwear from the English heritage brand? We will find out this October, when both stores are scheduled to be opened. Motorbike not required.

Belstaff to Open Flagships in London, New York (WWD)

FLAGSHIP FLASH: CÉLINE Set To Debut New Boutique By Month's End

Céline CEO Marco Gobbetti answered the "when is that store ever going to open?" question yesterday as he announced that the long awaited return of the resurgent luxury label to Madison Avenue would happen later this month. He was really announcing that the company would forgo its runway show for the Fall 2012 season in favor of less formal showroom presentations due to chief designer Phoebe Philo's pregnancy, but our concerns are more locally based. He offered no more details about the shop, though it will obviously play a major role in the protracted relaunching of the label after a revolving door of designers and, ultimately, Philo's arrival as creative director a couple of years ago to save the day. The label's previous location on Madison (now a Michael Kors lifestyle shop) was shuttered to give the new design team a fresh environment in which to sell the reconceived collection, but refashioning the former Gianfranco Ferré and temporary Dior store at Madison and 71st Street has taken a bit longer than eager shoppers had expected. Soon, however, there will be a new world of Céline to divert Madison Avenue's denizens.

Celine to Skip Runway Show for Fall (WWD)

LUXURY ALERT: Bottega Veneta Plans A Men's Store Off Madison

Well, it's just Bottega Veneta day over here at The Shophound. Today's WWD announces the not-terribly-surprising news that the Italian luxury brand is planning a men's boutique on 67th Street just off Madison Avenue which will serve as a counterpart to the recently opened women's shop a few blocks uptown. It will be the label's first men's shop in the U.S. Bottega Veneta creative director Tomas Maier promises a new interior design concept specifically tailored to the needs of the store's male clientele. “We don’t want to make men walk through women’s bags — it’s a little awkward for them,” he told the paper, just after presenting his Fall 2012 collection. He may be overstating his customer's distaste for the sight of handbags just a tiny bit, but the store will feature materials and colors different from the standard Bottega Veneta boutique design focusing on “what a man would like to find” in a store.

So far, we have no specific details as to when it will open, or the exact address, but at the very least, John Caramanica will eventually have his opportunity to take on the brand after today's out-of-sorts Critical Shopper review of the women's shop in the Times.

Bottega Veneta to Open Men’s Store in New York (WWD)

MORE MADISON RESHUFFLING: Michael Kors To Jump On Steuben Spot

Few designers had as busy of a year in Manhattan as Michael Kors who ended the year with three new stores. You would think he would take a little breather, but he is simply not one to stand around and let a good opportunity pass him by. Madison Avenue Spy (which has a pretty good track record on these things) tells us that Kors will be either expanding or moving his "lifestyle" (read "cheaper") store at 667 Madison Avenue into the former Steuben location right next door. So easy! He won't even have to change any address information!

Michael Kors Takes Steuben (Madison Avenue Spy)

MUSICAL STORES: Looking Ahead On Madison Avenue, Lots Of Relocations And Expansion -Not So Many Newcomers

So Madison Avenue is getting a new FABERGÈ jewelry store. That should be exciting, even though the model pictured on the upcoming store's plywood covering looks like she's about to throw up. Maybe you can wear too much jewelry (she sure has on a lot), or maybe it's the tons of makeup.

Anyway, Fabergé is one of several new stores coming to Madison this Spring, but it's one of only a few that we haven't seen before. The Shophound took a walk down the luxury laden street yesterday, and noticed all sorts of activity, most of which was relocation, renovation or an additional branch of a boutique thriving elsewhere in the city. There are a few new names in the mix, but, the developments are on the small side. Heer's an overview of what we stumbled across:

ZADIG&VOLTAIRE will be moving uptown at the corner shop at The Mark Hotel at 77th Street. We were not all that impressed with this French sportswear brand when it arrived in the Meatpacking district a few years ago, but after two more downtown stores, a new logo and a profile raising collaboration with model/stylist/fledgling designer and all-around cool person Erin Wasson, the brand is finally ready to take on the Madison Avenue crowd.

CÈLINE was supposed to have its new boutique open by now at Madison and 71st Street, but we would rather they take their time and do things right. Across the street, EMILIO PUCCI is relocating its longtime East 64th Street shop to what was left of the original YSL Rive Gauche boutique that Asprey doesn't now inhabit.

The absurdly extravagant handbag maker Ambrosi Abrianna didn't last too long in the next block wedged between Gucci and Chloé. That spot has seen a succession of ambitious tenants come and go, but when CHRISTOFLE moves in later this year from its 62nd street corner, we expect it to stay a good long time. Like Christofle, JOHN LOBB was also expelled from the Carlton House whose extensive renovations seem to have emptied most of its retail spaces. The revered English shoemaker's new shop on the block between 67th and 68th streets looks like it will be ready to open any day now. We have never heard of ZAGLIANI, but from what we can gather, they make presumably expensive handbags from exotic skins. They are also coming to the same block, and, hopefully, they will fare better than the aforementioned Ambrosi Abrianna. Italy seems to be the main country providing Madison Avenue's few newcomers including CESARE ATTOLINI, the venerated Neapolitan tailor which will be opening its first New York boutique right next door to Lobb. LUIGI BORRELLI, is another label from Naples beloved by the sartorially savvy which has bounced around the city on and off for the past few years. Its last shop was across 60th street from Barneys, but its latest incarnation will appear soon on Madison between 66th and 67th streets. Expect lots of their sumptuous handmade shirts along with an expanded collection of classic Italian menswear, making this block a serious destination for spiffy gentleman with deep pockets.

VALENTINO is currently in a temporary store across from its previous home (which is currently, temporarily housing Escada —stay with us, now) but it will ultimately wind up what appears to be a very tall boutique flanked by Donna Karan and Dolce & Gabbana between 68th and 69th streets. In a weird coincidence, it will wind up exactly next door to where its boutique lived during the 1980s and early 90s.

Finally, though GIORGIO ARMANI has been heavily promoting its lavish Fifth Avenue brand palace lately, the designer is now refocusing attention towards the luxe Collection flagship at Madison and 65th, where the serious Armani customers shop. That refurbished store is promised for February (think Fashion Week unveiling).

So though there's lots of construction and movement on Madison, there's not actually a whole lot of newcomers adding to the scene. That doesn't mean there is nothing to look forward to, however. The folks at Proenza Schouler have promised that a new investment will mean their first boutique, and while Marc Jacobs Chief Robert Duffy promised months ago that the company would take over Madison Avenue's Chase Bank Building for a new shop. So far, we have seen no action on that front either. There is plenty of room for new stores. Sadly, both longtime Madison Avenue stalwart JACKIE ROGERS and relative newcomer LISA PERRY have quietly shuttered their stores in recent weeks, along with elegant Italian shoemaker TANINO CRISCI leaving some prime spaces available, so there is definitely more news to come.