Inside the store, you can find high-end merchandise for every lifestyle. This season, that means plenty from Kalinsky favorites Balenciaga, Gucci, Dior, and Dries Van Noten.“I don’t like anything to distract from the merchandise,” begins Jeffrey Kalinsky, the founder of Jeffrey stores and designer fashion director of Nordstrom. Kalinsky is describing his new Palo Alto, California, store, opening today, and its modernist, minimalist aesthetic, with Saarinen Tulip chairs and long, low white banquettes. “It’s a Jeffrey store,” he demurs. “We are very much a white store where the merchandise becomes the art.” What makes this new store notable is that it’s the retailer’s first in 19 years and his first on the West Coast. Set inside the Stanford Shopping Center, it’s an enormous space with two entrances, skylights, and enough square footage to park an army of Teslas inside. The burning question: Can Kalinsky’s mix of relatable, incredibly posh items turn that Tesla driver into a fashion plate? Can he make Silicon Valley chic? Kalinsky, a T-shirt and jeans devotee, would argue it already is. “To me, there was something very fashionable about Mark Zuckerberg’s T-shirt and hoodie. I mean that was a very modern way to say, ‘I’m a young person, I go to work, I’m great at what I do, and this is how I dress,’ ” he says. “That doesn’t mean a hoodie and T-shirt can’t be the best hoodie and T-shirt.” Inside the store, you can find high-end merchandise for every lifestyle. “We’ve got clothes to go to the grocery store; we have clothes to take a trip to New York or Paris; we have clothes for a bar mitzvah or a wedding; we have clothes for a resort vacation; we have clothes to wear to work. Our buy is pretty practical. I always have to envision where is he or she going in it,” Kalinsky says. “I want to see people wear the clothes. We’re not buying these creations that are more interesting to look at than to wear.” This season, that means plenty from Kalinsky favorites Balenciaga, Gucci, Dior, and Dries Van Noten. The proof of success will be in—what else?—the sales. If you see Tim Cook delivering a keynote in Prada, you’ll know Kalinsky’s messaging worked.
POST: 2023-06-04