After Ivanka Trump opened a New York showplace for her fine jewelry collection in November 2011, her customers told her they wanted more. So she has transformed the SoHo space into a lifestyle store offering everything the stylish, cosmopolitan woman could want, from jewelry and handbags to shoes and apparel.
The result is “a boutique that houses all Ivanka products together, merchandise personally curated by Ivanka at a variety of accessible price points,” says Geoffrey Hess, president of the Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry Co. (New York).
The restructured 2400-square-foot space in the heart of SoHo reopened in September in conjunction with Fashion’s Night Out, welcoming visitors with a cast-iron façade and silver topiaries alongside the cobblestone pavement of Mercer Street.
An Adel Rootstein mannequin at the entry announces that this is much more than a jewelry store. Decked out in a completely accessorized outfit, the mannequin serves as a store directory, articulating the essence of the store and letting the customer know what’s inside.
Though small, the store is reminiscent of a department store layout, with clear, logical adjacencies. Jewelry is just inside the front door, followed by handbags and shoes. The biggest architectural challenge facing Trump and her design team was the store’s long and narrow footprint. So an off-white carpet runner with a black geometric pattern directs the traffic flow from the front entry to the back of the space. There, a grand wall is embellished with Ivanka’s signature coral color and distinctive logo. A mannequin dramatically perched on a white shelf compels visitors to the rear staircase and the new fashion boutique on the lower level.
The journey to this back wall maximizes merchandise exposure as it brings customers past clusters of inset showcases displaying groupings of accessories, including handbags, shoes and jewelry. Champagne-colored hourglass draperies add a warm, residential feel. With an inventive approach to visual merchandising, hand-drawn fashion sketches are hung with pearl-headed pins in the cases to demonstrate how the accessories can be used.
Opulence is everywhere. A grouping of showcases leading to the shoe area seems to float on strands of hanging Ivo Ivanov crystals. A mirrored nested table with a luxurious tufted couch sits in front of a newly installed handbag wall. A magnificent Schonbeck crystal chandelier hangs in the stairwell’s open vista.
Down in the fashion boutique area, merchandise is presented on simple straight racks made with high-gloss piping that’s more SoHo than Madison Avenue. Large-scale fashion illustrations are drawn directly on the walls.
Veteran visual merchandiser Tom Beebe, who worked with the retail team to present the collections in the boutique, says, “All the elements in the space are a projection of Ivanka Trump’s very focused vision. We dealt with only the best partners for mannequins, graphics and fixtures. Attention was paid to details, right down to the hangers and pearl- headed pins. We even restructured the shelves to present the mannequins as pieces of art.”
Perfectly integrated into its SoHo environs, this new Ivanka Trump boutique provides a true lifestyle shopping experience, smoothly transitioning from cobblestone streets to gleaming gemstones and so much more.