Alaïa Returns To Soho And More In NYC This Month

From a chic new shop to an anticipated immersive experience, here’s what not to miss in NYC this month.

Alaïa’s New York space will be both a boutique and gallery, with furniture and artworks curated by the brand’s creative director, Pieter Mulier.

Return to the Roots

Luxe label Alaïa recently unveiled a new U.S. location in Soho—the same place where Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaïa first touched down in America. The boutique situated inside a reimagined brownstone is an exceptionally refined, minimal space that allows for intimate discovery of the brand’s creations alongside artworks by renowned American artists such as Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Mike Kelley and Jonathan Horowitz. “New York has always been one of the creative hearts intimately linked to the history of the house,” says Myriam Serrano, Alaïa’s CEO. “We are delighted to open this new and exciting chapter in a city that means so much to fashion, to creativity in general and to Alaïa.” 149 Mercer St.

A Glamorous Debut

A scene from the London production of The Great Gatsby.

A new interactive theater venue at the Park Central Hotel New York will open this spring as the Gatsby Mansion where guests are invited to one of Jay Gatsby’s infamous soirees. Olivier Award-winning producers Louis Hartshorn and Brian Hook launched Immersive Everywhere, dedicated to developing theater-led immersive experiences, in 2019, and the company’s Great Gatsby production became the U.K.’s longest-running and most-celebrated immersive experience. Now, it makes its U.S. debut this month. “The Great Gatsby is finally coming to its spiritual home in New York,” says Hartshorn. Hook adds, “Dark, hedonistic, literary and theatrical, this immersive telling of one of the world’s greatest novels brings audiences closer to Jay Gatsby’s opulent world than ever before.” 870 Seventh Ave.

A City for the Future

SWA/ Balsley and Weiss/ Manfredi with ARUP, “Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park” (2009-18), wetland walkway and overlook

Through MoMA’s forthcoming exhibit Architecture Now: New York, New Publics, viewers can explore some of NYC’s most cutting-edge architecture and design that are shaping the community. The exhibit will showcase 12 groundbreaking projects that inventively reimagine the uses of civic infrastructure, the sharing of private resources and the potential of new technologies to create new spaces for political engagement. Each project will be given an area in the exhibition, which will include a variety of materials ranging from 3D models to renderings, photography, drawings, videos and more. Feb. 19-July 29, 11 W. 53th St.

Fashion Forward

KZ_K Studio’s new Great Jones Street Studio.

Fashion designer and founder of KZ_K Studio Karolina Zmarlak recently launched a sophisticated, state-of-the-art studio offering new authentic experiences for clients. Great Jones Street Studio boasts a designer showroom, technical design room, library bar, a modern workspace and a rooftop designed by co-founder and architect Jesse Keyes. Inspired by the midcentury fashion and product development process, the new studio marks the brand’s shift from traditional retail partnerships to direct client relationships, offering styles and personalized attention unique to each client. “It became increasingly apparent that when we worked through major design retails, we lost connection with the clients,” says Zmarlak. “We decided to reduce the layers and maximize communication between our mills, factories and clients, all mediated through our clothing design.” 35 Great Jones St., 4th Floor