In a nutshell
British architect Sophie Hick's minimalist take on Alaia's move from wholesale to D2C.
In their words
"A legendary Parisian fashion Maison with a Couture soul, Alaïa celebrates the power of femininity and the timelessness of beauty"
Visit Field notes
Part of the D2C push by the Richemont-owned brand, the store is a celebration of Soho with a minimal store behind fogged-out windows. Once inside the products are the heros, with an enviable array of ready to wear apparel and handbags. Decoration is from American luminaries like Robert Rauschenberge, Jonathan Horowitz, Donald Judd. This is a lesson in a compact brand showcase.
Other Reading
An alluring space that is obscured by the teasing frosted windows. Occasionally the roped queue will give away that something's happening. Inside the narrow, polished concrete front area gives way to a triple-height, bright area. The clothes are the focus against this stark, barely post-industrial background.
Others wrote:
Vogue - Alaia's return to New York - https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/alaia-store-opening-soho-2023
Conjuring the spirit of Alaia - https://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/alaia-new-york-store-mercer-nyc-1235469477/
LAST VISITED
2024
Added
2023
COMPARE WITH
Upscale doll store for specialty dolls, with hair salon, cafe and events. A cross between a pet store and a lego store, but for dolls. Owned by Matel. Dolls are highly characterised, with their own bl...
A sunlit, wood-and-wool flagship that drapes Buck Mason’s California minimalism over a SoHo cast-iron shell, turning a T‑shirt brand into a full lifestyle proposition where wardrobes, coffee and books...
Their third "Forward Store" concept that blends experience, craft, co-creation and sustainability - "repair, remake, resell, and recycle" - in a boutique flagship with quirky design and interaction.
O...
Started as a vintage store, with sustainability at heart, now a manufacturer and modern brand that also weaves digital and data into the store/changing room experience.
Similar shops
A hyper-controlled, tonal and body-conscious flagship that uses Fifth Avenue scale and theatre to legitimise Skims as a full lifestyle brand, translating social-media intimacy into a physical environm...
EMPREINTES—Paris’s leading artisan craft concept store. It is a destination concept store in the heart of the Haut Marais, devoted exclusively to showcasing French arts and crafts through more than 1,...
A richly branded coffee-and-vinyl lounge, rather than a capsule table, this SoHo takeover transforms a Nespresso boutique into an Ethiopian-inspired listening room, where limited-edition machines, cof...
A Meatpacking showcase for the electric-first, chunky 'Adventure vehicles" - experience, learning, configuration and test drives, with lots of lifestyle design queues in a generous location.
A compact, softly lit fragrance library on Scent Row that graduates Dossier from dupe‑brand discourse to whole perfume house, inviting Gen Z and millennial shoppers to build wardrobes, not one‑off dup...
Long-established store exemplifies the Patagonia mix of clothing, staff passion, activism and community activity, with sustainability credentials in a heritage, stripped-back store.










