Victoria Beckham and other celebrity interviewees often crow about Chicago’s world-class shopping.
We always nod vigorously in agreement.
Still, there’s nothing like an escape from one’s own city limits to loosen the purse strings.
So when In Style magazine national correspondent Katrina Szish invited me for a guided tour of some of her favorite shops in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District in late July (during my husband’s business trip, no less), it took only two more nudges — no sales tax on clothing items under $110 in New York City and the promise of end-of-season sales, which are approaching once more — to justify the journey.
After meeting me for breakfast at sunny Pastis, Szish led me out onto the wide streets, congratulating me for wearing flats to avoid the “cobble wobble,” a condition brought on by negotiating cobblestone surfaces in high heels. (She wore a sidewalk-sweeping dress by Diane von Furstenburg, also with flats, a rarity for her.)
My one request had been that we’d stop at spots that did not have a Chicago presence. The Meatpacking District, Szish said, offers better odds of that than, say, Soho.
“More and more, wherever you go, everything becomes like a mall,” Szish said. “You find the same stores — Club Monaco, Banana Republic. There are things you can find pretty much wherever you go, not just in New York City but also around the country. It’s so hard to find something unique.”
That mission was promptly accomplished at the part art/part fashion Destination (32-36 Little W. 12th St.), stocking an unusual assortment of clothing, home decor, jewelry and handbags from the likes of Jamin Puech.
On the 60 percent off rack, a Future Classics reversible gold/silver/black brocade skirt — one side exposes the zipper in that au courant way that Lanvin started last fall — caught my eye. But the two sizes that remained were too big. Or so I thought, until the sales associate pointed out that these were British sizes. Humbly, I found that the larger one fit.
“Run, don’t walk!” Szish urged in support of the purchase. Sale completed, for $167. Even adding the 4.375 percent sales tax, it was a bargain for a marquee piece that will take me through fall and winter.
Next, a shoe mecca patronized by French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld made me a plus-size Cinderella for a day. At Iris (827 Washington St.), the 50 and 75 percent off shelf held my size (a 39) in a Viktor & Rolf beige patent ballet-flat style (perched atop an embossed rubber platform) with a removable ankle strap, for $164. The friendly French sales associate sealed the deal by offering to ship my purchase home for a nominal fee, sparing me the need to check baggage (worth $15 and 15 minutes at the airport).
Officially on a spree, I scored again at Dernier Cri (869 Washington St.), whose designer assortment skews to the new and less-known. An Etoile Isabel Marant red silk/cotton zip-front dress was 75 percent off — $84.50. Szish pointed out that I could pair it with leggings in cool weather.
Providing time to consider my original budget projections, we crossed over to the famous Meatpacking District pioneer, Jeffrey (449 W. 14th St.) Like a more tightly edited Barneys New York, Jeffrey Kalinsky set up shop in this district when it was a no-man’s-land in 1999, but Kalinsky is humble about his visionary move. His New York and Atlanta stores, now owned by Nordstrom, stock the lace Prada of fall, Brian Atwood heels, Jeffrey private label sweaters and more, for women and men. (Chicagoans can get a sense of his eye at Nordstrom, for which he now also serves as executive vice president of designer merchandising.)
We stumbled out and onto an Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot for its Ruehl collection, involving a vintage bus and legendary white-bearded fashion photographer Bruce Weber, whose stooges warned us not to snap photos of the scene.
A final stop: Adam Lippes (678 Hudson St.), which deserved a closer inspection than I could give. “He has a great sense of style,” Szish told me; indeed, he was part of Chicago’s recent Gold Coast Fashion Award show.
“It’s a very affordable way to be incredibly chic and his things aren’t everywhere,” Szish said. “I know people who say, if I go anywhere here, I go to Adam.”
Unfortunately, I was spent. Satisfied. But spent.
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Off the meaty path
3 top stops beyond the Meatpacking District:
The Hudson Hotel, 356 W. 58th St. (hudsonhotel.com), was the perfect spot for lively after-dinner drinks, with its Philippe Starck interior decor, including Louis XIV Lucite chairs, and an enchanting enclosed private park with 45-foot trees and ivy-colored walls.
The Calypso Outlet store at 424 Broome St., where I scored a lemonade-colored cashmere cardigan for $38, turquoise silk party pants for $39 and a saffron-colored scarf for $50 — all free of sales tax because each was under $110.
The Petrossian Boutique & Cafe, 911 7th Ave. (between 57th and 58th Streets; petrossian.com), for the best almond croissants ($3.25) I’ve ever tasted (twice — I went back the next day to be sure). A Martha Stewart magazine clipping, hanging in the window, gives Petrossian’s croissants top honors too.
