Each week, Alexa is rounding up the buzziest fashion drops, hotel openings, restaurant debuts and celeb-studded cultural happenings in NYC. It’s our curated guide to the very best things to see, shop, taste and experience around the city.
What’s making our luxury list this week? The St. Regis reemerges after a renovation, a spectacular show of Japanese lacquer and Isaac Mizrahi is back on stage.
The St. Regis is looking quite glamorous and refreshed, especially for a soon-to-turn 120 bastion of Fifth Avenue. Several public spaces in the Beaux-Arts building went under the proverbial knife including the lobby, two dining locations, and the iconic King Cole Bar. It’s an old-meets-new-that-looks-timeless strategy, by Champalimaud design, that kept classic items like original Tiffany & Co. and Waterford chandeliers while adding custom de Gournay wallpaper and a plethora of velvet and fringe. The result, says Alexandra Champalimaud, “reinvigorates the hotel with magic.” StRegis.com
Tickets are now on sale for “Isaac Mizrahi — A Holiday Fruitcake,” at the Café Carlyle, in The Carlyle hotel, on November 26, 27, 29, and 30. What better way to entertain family at Thanksgiving than a gorgeous space in a classic New York Hotel, where the likes of Eartha Kitt and Bobby Short once performed? They’ll be entertained by the creative multi-hyphenate’s “eclectic mix of holiday classics, unexpected musical choices, and signature wit… blending humor, storytelling, and song.” Best yet, nobody has to cook. We suggest booking now, as his highly entertaining shows sell out quickly. Tickets are available through Tock (scroll down as the listings are in chronological order).
It’s been almost 20 years since Nana Onishi opened her first eponymous gallery, specializing in traditional Japanese Arts, in Chelsea. Earlier this week she inaugurated a new space in a historic building on East 79th Street (the Sidney Ripley mansion, to be exact) with two concurrent exhibitions of lacquer objects. The first, “The Spirit of Noto: Urushi Artists of Wajima” highlights three Living National Treasures — Yamagishi Kazuo, Komori Kunie, and Mae Fumio — and fourteen other artists all working with urushi, the sap of the Japanese lacquer tree. The second, “Waves of Resilience,” features tabletop designed by interior designer Melissa Bowers and made by Senshudo, a noted producer of lacquerware. On view through October 25 at OnishiGallery.com.
Uniqlo’s sister brand, Gu, has opened its first store in the U.S. on Broadway, just south of Houston. Established in 2006, the brand (whose name is derived from the Japanese word “jiyu” or “free and unconfined”) simultaneously launched a U.S. website and app. The store is massive – about 10,000 square feet — spread over two levels. It’s generously stocked with men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories, including a new 22-piece collaboration with UNDERCOVER. Called KOSMIK/NOISE, it includes track jackets and pants, convertible pieces with detachable sleeves and hems, and items purposely designed inside-out with exposed seams. GU-global.com
Alex Stupak, the chef/owner behind all the Empellón goodness, has opened a new restaurant in also new The Manner hotel on Thompson Street. The Otter, as it’s called, is billed as a “neighborhood seafood restaurant,” set in a streetside space designed by Milan-based Hannes Peer Architecture along with Standard International’s in-house design team (The Manner is a Standard International hotel). Its menu is heavily surf, with some turf. Meaning Fried Fish, a Lobster Roll and Salt-Roasted Head-On Prawns are balanced by offering a Double Cheeseburger and a New York Strip Steak, albeit with a Crawfish Béarnaise. TheOtter.nyc.
