Step inside Dior’s enchanting New York flagship

Before Dior’s newly-expanded Madison Avenue flagship opened its doors in New York earlier this week, it was already generating buzz: consultations with Very Important Clients were well underway and tourists snapped photos in front of the facade. Get closer, though, and you’d realise the buzz is literal, too: a whimsical forest scene unfolds in the store’s large bay windows, a tableau that includes animatronic squirrels, birds and – yes – bees, all made from upcycled Dior materials.

The elaborate display hints at an enchanting world beyond, a universe designed by Dior stalwart Peter Marino. Like its Parisian cousin at 30 Avenue Montaigne, House of Dior New York is rife with the house’s savoir-faire, not to mention men’s and women’s collections, bags, homewares and even a dedicated spa. But this greatly expanded uptown location is perfectly catered to clientele in the City that Never Sleeps.

Inside House of Dior New York

You can find House of Dior New York at the corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue, exactly a block away from Christian Dior’s very first Manhattan store, established in 1948, on Fifth Avenue. While a Dior boutique had long stood there, Marino and his team greatly expanded its footprint, by taking over the first four floors of a building next door.

Though you enter into a dazzling double-height entry – where mannequins, in addition to more fabric animals, gaze down at you from a second-level mezzanine – it’s hard to fully grasp the size of the store. That was intentional, according to a Dior spokesperson, as to lend the feeling of entering a private Upper East Side townhouse. Indeed, each part of the store reveals itself like a surprise, from the staircase, which features a glowing Dior ‘Colorama’ of 3D-printed shoes, handbags, hats and gowns in a rainbow swirl, to more private salons, where mannequins dressed in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s final collection hold court.

Like other Dior stores, this one’s filled with house mythology. Look down, and you’ll spy the house’s signature cannage pattern in the pale wood parquet. There are references to Monsieur Dior’s beloved gardens everywhere, from a plant-covered column designed by landscape artist Peter Wirtz and a ginkgo-shaped bench by Claude Lalanne in the entry, to abstract flower paintings by artists like Jean-Michel Othoniel and Nir Hod in the softly-gleaming salons. Dior’s beloved dog Bobby even gets a reference, from a limited-edition perfume bottle to an upcycled pooch in the window display.

But unlike other Dior boutiques, the New York boutique features some very special firsts, like limited-edition J’Adior slingbacks, Lady Dior bags, and B27 men’s sneakers, of which only 47 were made, in reference to the year that Monsieur Dior initially visited New York.

The opening also marks the stateside launch of a Dior Spa, where patrons can indulge in results-focused ‘made-to-measure’ beauty and wellness experiences (as this is high-octane New York, clients receive a wellness elixir that includes a dash of magnesium, to foster relaxation). In a separate storefront next door, visitors will also encounter the only dedicated Dior Maison store in the US, where more exclusives abound, from ceramic vessels to delicate woven baskets decorated with even more bees.

‘Fashion defends the rights of imagination,’ Monsieur Dior once wrote – and House of Dior New York certainly dares you to dream.

House of Dior New York, 23 E 57th St, New York, NY 10022, United States.

dior.com