Planning a pop up shop event in the heart of the Garment district in 10 days is plain crazy, right? Welcome to the world of Another Garde. We did it. And it was insane, exciting, scary and humbling.
Thursday last week was our first meet, show and having a laugh event at the swanky boutique hotel The Refinery. The spontaneous move came out of a team conversation: ‘what do you think women who come onto our site think and feel?’, ‘should we do a survey?’, ‘should we hashtag a question on Instagram?’ Nah. Let’s do it the old and fun way: get to them and drink Champagne together.
Womenswear designer Enda and jewelry designer Sarah Magid came to celebrate and individually chatted with everyone about their creative process and what inspires them. We also debuted timeless and quietly bold pieces from Suk Chai’s label, Schai and exclusive Cloud Mutton pouches designed by Moses Nadel.
All across the room, we could hear the ‘awww, it is so soft…’ whispers.
It was a blast to catch up with the many women who stopped by to say ‘hello’ or ‘bonjour’ and tried on the styles we curated in their own ways. Who knew that H.Fredriksson’s dresses looked so sexy with a belt on? Women came straight from work, scrambled for babysitters at the last minute, brought their girlfriends, and came out for a day/night of fun. They discussed their own ideas of beauty, style, fit and why they wear the clothes they wear. They also challenged us: ’where is your evening cocktail dress?’, ‘where are your Plus sizes?’, ‘can you explain the price?’ etc.
We did not expect it any other way. It was inspiring to see intelligent, creative, and assertive women discover, review, touch and (hopefully) fall in love with our designers.
We loved it so much that we are back for an extended holiday pop-up boutique, December 2nd - 6th December at the Refinery hotel. Save the date and hope to see you there!