On the corner of Madison Avenue and Seventy-Second Street is one of the pearls of New York City. The Ralph Lauren Women’s And Home Flagship Store, recently constructed in the last few years. I have spent a lot of time on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and sometimes, when I wanted to relax, I would just go into the store and walk around. The store is scented with candles, and most of the rooms are themed, designed to be an ultra-specific room – sometimes things like the 1800’s chateau bedroom of a Frenchwoman aristocrat, sometimes the 1960’s apartment living room of a New York City advertising executive. The other spaces are exquisite retail spaces, unlike anything else I have ever seen in Manhattan. Walking through these rooms, one has the sense of an ideal world, as it was envisioned by Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren himself used the word I am using a lot now, to describe it in 2010: ‘romantic’.
I love this mansion, and I encourage you to look at as many of the photos in the first link below as possible, and of course stopping into the actual store, should you be in New York City. The staff has always been so nice, so pleasant whenever I went in, and it is store practice to offer free refreshments to people in the store, whether you want a glass of water or a glass of orange juice or a glass of champagne. The store maintains a liquor license just to be able to offer such things. That simply does not happen in stores. anywhere. else.
It is an experience like no other the city can afford.
In movies, one often sees New York City depicted as a place of elegant apartment houses with doormen wearing white kid gloves; exquisite boutique stores, well-dressed, well-groomed, elegant people, and a beautiful lifestyle. In fact, most of New York City is nothing like that at all. But the Upper East Side is, it is part of the best of what New York can be, and the Ralph Lauren Women’s And Home Flagship Store at Madison Avenue and Seventy-Second Street is a crown jewel in that crowning achievement.
{What achievement? Over two hundred and twenty years of hard, industrial level, industrialists’ work. For the Upper East Side came into existence with the work and the building of homes there of such hard-working people as shipping industrialist Archibald Gracie, who built Gracie Mansion, now the NYC Mayor’s official residence, and all the other big names of American history like Andrew Carnegie, steel manufacturer and the builder of Carnegie Hall. Building the UES took a lot of hard work – and it continues to grow with industrialists like Ralph Lauren working hard and building such an exquisite thing as this store.}
Long may the Upper East Side be a beacon of beauty in an often tough world; I hope.
Across the street is the other mansion, which houses the Men’s Store, and is also glorious.
But the level of lightness and elegance, a particular sublimity and exquisiteness in the women’s store makes it a refreshing experience that is special, for men and women alike. It is just beautiful!
Photos:
Please let me know what you think of it:
a_beautifulthing@yahoo.com
All my best,
Paul Bakacs
Can you think of a reason for not sharing this? Neither could I.
The blog for The Beautiful Project is The Blog About Beautiful Things at:
<|> The gold crystal background to the blog and attachment to the emails is the logo of The Beautiful Project. It is a pure gold crystal that occurs very rarely in nature. <|>
Hello everyone, 
🔥 The Blog About Beautiful Things 🔥 
You must be logged in to post a comment.