Don’t be confused: the just opened New York uber-boutique Fivestory is actually on two levels of a classic Upper East Side townhouse. Created as Manhatten’s answer to Browns in London or 10 Corso Como in Milan, this is a fashion forward destination of cult names and new labels-for the latter see the pieces by Roberta Furlanetto, a former designer at Christian Lacroix couture.
For those with deep pockets and/or a penchant for townhouses-turned-boutiques,it is your day: The Upper East Side’s Fivestory has finally opened. For the past month or so, the store has been compared to everything from Colette in Paris, 10 Corso Como in Milan, and Browns in London, so naturally, expect to find brands like Balmain, Hussein Chalayan, Peter Pilotto, Thakoon, and more inside.
After trying the gallerista thing for a few years after college, now-26-year-old Claire Distenfeld realized her true calling was retail. But her freshman foray into that world won’t be working as a shopgirl. Last week, Distenfeld, with her father’s backing, opened a full-on department store on the Upper East Side called Fivestory – 18 E. 69th St., nr. Madison Ave.
Distenfeld’s inspiration for the project was Paris concept shop Colette, and it shows in the impressive international assortment from European runway darlings— Preen, Mark Fast,—to lesser-known labels like Russian-style blog bait Vika Gazinskaya and Chicago’s Creatures of the World. The so-called shoe garden in back stocks more than a dozen designers, including standout cap-toe heels from Tania Spinelli and classic men’s lace-ups by Mark McNairy, while the jewelry selection offers statement collars for pile-it-on types as well as vintage Cartier baubles for the neighborhood’s heirloom-wearing ladies. Fivestory is a store aptly created from a former townhouse.