At its best, the shopping experience ought to be edifying, educational and a pleasure.
Strolling down the Champs Elysees in Paris, walking down the Via Condetti by the Spanish Steps in Rome or browsing at Harrods in London are all transcendent experiences.
Many years ago I remember being in Harrods and looking for something, anything, I might be able to afford.
As I walked from room to room I came across a scene I will never forget. A charming little five year old Chinese girl who was obviously some kind of prodigy walked up to a sparkling white grand piano on display and started playing a Bach sonata. By the time her parents realized what she was doing a crowd had gathered around her to listen.
When she finished playing, the crowd started to applaud, she was startled by this and she ran into her mother’s arms. This is the kind of experience you find when you do luxury shopping at the best places. These stores have a knack of combining art and shopping.
But you needn’t travel to Europe to find this.
Walking down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Worth Avenue in Palm Springs and you feel the same kind of excitement and pleasure.
And closer to home we have our own version of Rodeo Drive. It’s called Americana Manhasset and was developed by Frank Castagna way back in 1956.
His dream was to build a premier shopping destination and with the help of a world class architect he succeeded.
You will find all the high end stores including Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Loro Piana, Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Gucci, Cartier, Burberry, Coach and now a high end sports fashion store called Bandier.
I caught up with Andrea Sanders who is the Americana Senior vice president and its creative director and asked her to explain the Americana magic. She told me “We look to provide our customers with a sensory experience, from the beauty of the architecture to the smell of the flowers, to the warmth of the customer service….We have a wide breadth of international brands that all bring their unique aesthetic to Americana. “
The architect of the Americana is Peter Marino, who grew up in Queens, went to school at Cornell and is now considered to be the definitive post-modern architect for luxury stores throughout the world.
He dresses in leather and he may look like a biker but has the aesthetic sensibility of a fine artist.
Last weekend I wandered around the Americana to get a feel for the place.
I stopped into Cipollini Trattoria for brunch. I think this restaurant is a perfect example of the Americana Manhasset.
The outdoor seating reminds me of the Ville D’Este Hotel on Lake Como and its inside design encourages people watching. The clientele all look cool, all vary in age and the place has good energy. I don’t know how Peter Marino did it but its working.
After brunch I stopped in at Coach located right next door. Last year Coach was consigning work from the Los Angeles artist Gary Baseman and I asked about him.
His limited edition tee shirts are all sold out but what they are doing now is making fun and playful handbags with that Peewee Herman Funhouse dinosaur Rexy on them.
This is the brainstorm of Coach’s new creative director Stuart Vevers who knows something about branding. I can see that the idea of fun is penetrated high fashion.
It seems to me that Louis Vuitton started this trend twenty years ago when they hired Takashi Murakami the Japanese artist who started the flat art movement and cartooning.
My next stop was the Louis Vuitton store where I chatted with two customers, a father and son from Hewlett. The son had just returned from a year abroad in Paris and when I asked them why they drove up here to the Gold Coast from Hewlett they said “The shopping is just as good here as on Madison Avenue and it’s a lot closer to get to.”
I finished my shopping day with a quick stop at Bandier the high end sportswear shop and then had my glasses adjusted at Morganthal Frederic.
I was home within 10 minutes.
I started by saying that shopping ought to be educational and a pleasure. Anyone can appreciate the pleasure of Americana Manhasset with its architecture, its flowering landscape, its luxury items and its Manhattan style restaurants.
But how is all this high-end luxury shopping an education? Can shopping be considered adult education?
Here’s my answer. We are beginning to see a fashion trend in full swing where designers are using cute fun playful images on clothing and bags. Murakamis cartoons on Louis Vuitton bags. Rexy the dinosaur on Coach Bags. The Burberry bee on their stuff. Limited edition Jason Baseman cartoons on high end tee shirts. The list goes on and on.
All these creative directors in charge of branding watch trends and watch what sells. And what is selling is cartoon fun playful stuff fused to high-end luxury.
This is the perfect response to the American dilemma. Whether you happen to be a one percenter or a fifty percenter we are all in the same boat. And the name of that boat is overwork. Americans are by far the most industrious and hardworking people on earth. We take fewer vacation days than any other civilized country. What every American needs is some play time, some free time, some fun time.
So let me thank Frank Castagna and Frank Marino and all those fun artists like Gary Baseman and Takashi Murakami and even Peewee Herman for combining beauty and play together in such a luscious way.
Who knew that luxury fashion could carry hidden messages but it can. The message is that life is tough so it makes sense to smile a little and have a little fun every day. Hello Kitty gives big business a hug!
Who could have predicted that one?
