Thursday, December 21, 2006
Holiday shopping the Ladies’ Mile, on Fifth Ave
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
A message to Jack Taylor, zealous guardian of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, and of the beauties of its fin-de-siecle buildings on Fifth Avenue, designed by R. H. Robertson, McKim, Mead & White, but mostly by Robert Maynicke, where ladies shopped a hundred years ago; there is a rebirth, the fashion emporiums are back. No threat to his treasures, the Landmarks Preservation Commission protects the LMHD, 400 buildings on 28 blocks. Actually, today’s recastings of the storefronts on Fifth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets, the middle of Ladies’ Mile, are quite tastefully done.
Our Fifth Avenue Holiday shopping adventure starts at 22nd Street, going south along the west side, where Zale’s, the jewelry chain, has a neat outpost. BCBG Max Azria, next, has the modish goods, with a crowd, in contrast with Eileen Fisher, a block south, where long robes, skirts and pants with black and red and white knit tops create a sense of instant languid aristocracy, with the potential of princess-dom in a white gown, sans tiara, of course. An Ann Taylor’s, across the avenue, completes the theme.
Off 21st Street, at Club Monaco, the music is a jazzy version of Les Sylphides, and the short fuzzy jackets, rolled up sleeves and tiny slit skirts do convey the Med. You also see spaghetti string tops that would not be out of place with Gabrielle Anwar, the exotic archeologist in the TNT cable movie, The Librarian, which NYTimes dubbed hum-hum but the ordinary Dick Wolfe/Jerry Bruckheimer fans who crowd that channel found a welcome excursion in fantasy and humor. Next, Searle, wide belts and knits, a gamine herringbone jockey cap conveys an Audrey Hepburn vision.
South of 20th , eastside, we ogle Sisley’s all black windows. A/E, aka Armani/Exchange, has more black, on the backs of preternaturally thin mannequins, and we can admire the cut that made Armani famous and preternaturally rich. Now we are in the cosmetics reign, with L’Oreal, Essentials, the ever-present Sephora, with Aveda and Body Shop on nearby corners, and Origin further north. The shoe emporium, Nine West, has taken an east corner on 19th, with Victoria’s Secret next door. Victoria’s metal detector in the door buzzes me, and I raise my hands, but the guards wave me off, the woman asking if I can be helped. My “I don’t think anything will fit me,” evokes a big laugh. The store window offers red thong underwear, for Christmas, and large photographs of longhaired trophy women in scanties advertise Supermodel perfume. Catching the rear view, the trained observer notes that the string panties must be unbearably torturous. Maybe that’s why Britney gave up wearing them?
Dismissing such trivialities, I approach an H&M store, oriented towards economic goods with European style. On the west side, White House Black Market has the b&w theme engraved in the marquee, this must be a serious trend – although pastel tones appear on the interior goods. Express, a chain store with a mission of middle priced style, has a major space.
South of 18th,we are now in Barnes & Noble territory, at the big textbook dispensary, medical, legal and art books galore on several floors (the 17th Street/Union Square multi-story flagship has a lot less emphasis on texts, concentrating on the non-college buyers.) The neighbors of B&N are less serious, Zara swings a lot of black leather. That clinches it, black is the color this season – unless it is grey, as in Club Monaco, or red , as in the Italian party shoes on display at Aldo's, next door. On the west side, GAP, occupying the entire block, with four separate stores flying the flag, does not seem to favor any particular colors, as long as they are wintry.
South of 17th, Kenneth Cole has gone well beyond shoes. Its neighbor, J. Crew, has the biggest crowds of shoppers for their preppy styles. Could not find out whether the clients are paying more or less than the catalog prices, until a knowledgeable associate assured me that they were exactly the same, with store buyers saving on shipping. Anthropology, ethnic goods interspersed with mod, is also there, as is a branch of Banana Republic, with the main store across on the west side, next to the fashionable Esprit .
At 16th east, Coach purses. One gets the feel of outlet country, without the saving grace of outlet prices. At 16th west, Paul Smith, rich in accessories. The Fifth Avenue outlet nirvana more or less ends with Peer 1 Imports. Next stop is a long block east, on 14th Street and University, with DSW and Filene’s Basement above Whole Foods, and Forever 21, and a Diesel for the bike crowd on Union Square West.
My outlet sense was right. A day later, while visiting the dentist near Bloomingdales, I found nine of the above emporiums cluttered around the big department store. NYNY, please don’t turn into a mall city.
Happy Holidays!
A message to Jack Taylor, zealous guardian of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, and of the beauties of its fin-de-siecle buildings on Fifth Avenue, designed by R. H. Robertson, McKim, Mead & White, but mostly by Robert Maynicke, where ladies shopped a hundred years ago; there is a rebirth, the fashion emporiums are back. No threat to his treasures, the Landmarks Preservation Commission protects the LMHD, 400 buildings on 28 blocks. Actually, today’s recastings of the storefronts on Fifth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets, the middle of Ladies’ Mile, are quite tastefully done.
Our Fifth Avenue Holiday shopping adventure starts at 22nd Street, going south along the west side, where Zale’s, the jewelry chain, has a neat outpost. BCBG Max Azria, next, has the modish goods, with a crowd, in contrast with Eileen Fisher, a block south, where long robes, skirts and pants with black and red and white knit tops create a sense of instant languid aristocracy, with the potential of princess-dom in a white gown, sans tiara, of course. An Ann Taylor’s, across the avenue, completes the theme.
Off 21st Street, at Club Monaco, the music is a jazzy version of Les Sylphides, and the short fuzzy jackets, rolled up sleeves and tiny slit skirts do convey the Med. You also see spaghetti string tops that would not be out of place with Gabrielle Anwar, the exotic archeologist in the TNT cable movie, The Librarian, which NYTimes dubbed hum-hum but the ordinary Dick Wolfe/Jerry Bruckheimer fans who crowd that channel found a welcome excursion in fantasy and humor. Next, Searle, wide belts and knits, a gamine herringbone jockey cap conveys an Audrey Hepburn vision.
South of 20th , eastside, we ogle Sisley’s all black windows. A/E, aka Armani/Exchange, has more black, on the backs of preternaturally thin mannequins, and we can admire the cut that made Armani famous and preternaturally rich. Now we are in the cosmetics reign, with L’Oreal, Essentials, the ever-present Sephora, with Aveda and Body Shop on nearby corners, and Origin further north. The shoe emporium, Nine West, has taken an east corner on 19th, with Victoria’s Secret next door. Victoria’s metal detector in the door buzzes me, and I raise my hands, but the guards wave me off, the woman asking if I can be helped. My “I don’t think anything will fit me,” evokes a big laugh. The store window offers red thong underwear, for Christmas, and large photographs of longhaired trophy women in scanties advertise Supermodel perfume. Catching the rear view, the trained observer notes that the string panties must be unbearably torturous. Maybe that’s why Britney gave up wearing them?
Dismissing such trivialities, I approach an H&M store, oriented towards economic goods with European style. On the west side, White House Black Market has the b&w theme engraved in the marquee, this must be a serious trend – although pastel tones appear on the interior goods. Express, a chain store with a mission of middle priced style, has a major space.
South of 18th,we are now in Barnes & Noble territory, at the big textbook dispensary, medical, legal and art books galore on several floors (the 17th Street/Union Square multi-story flagship has a lot less emphasis on texts, concentrating on the non-college buyers.) The neighbors of B&N are less serious, Zara swings a lot of black leather. That clinches it, black is the color this season – unless it is grey, as in Club Monaco, or red , as in the Italian party shoes on display at Aldo's, next door. On the west side, GAP, occupying the entire block, with four separate stores flying the flag, does not seem to favor any particular colors, as long as they are wintry.
South of 17th, Kenneth Cole has gone well beyond shoes. Its neighbor, J. Crew, has the biggest crowds of shoppers for their preppy styles. Could not find out whether the clients are paying more or less than the catalog prices, until a knowledgeable associate assured me that they were exactly the same, with store buyers saving on shipping. Anthropology, ethnic goods interspersed with mod, is also there, as is a branch of Banana Republic, with the main store across on the west side, next to the fashionable Esprit .
At 16th east, Coach purses. One gets the feel of outlet country, without the saving grace of outlet prices. At 16th west, Paul Smith, rich in accessories. The Fifth Avenue outlet nirvana more or less ends with Peer 1 Imports. Next stop is a long block east, on 14th Street and University, with DSW and Filene’s Basement above Whole Foods, and Forever 21, and a Diesel for the bike crowd on Union Square West.
My outlet sense was right. A day later, while visiting the dentist near Bloomingdales, I found nine of the above emporiums cluttered around the big department store. NYNY, please don’t turn into a mall city.
Happy Holidays!
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 4:06 PM 
