What is worth the trip in NYC?

[Allisonfaye]

Ok. PFer''s. I need your help. I have one day to shop in NYC. I don''t want to waste a minute. Where should I go? Balenciaga is first. I also want to go to Hermes and since my new favorite clothing store, Maxmara is right there, I will run in there. Neither of those should take long. We want to go to Bergdorf''s since I have never been. Can you believe I had a business meeting at the Plaza a few years ago and didn''t set foot in there? How stupid is that?

Harry Winston? Graff''s? Where else should I go? I don''t really want to go to Tiffany''s since we have them here. I want the most bang (or rather bling) for my viewing buck.

 

[widget]

Oooooh, I''m subscribing to your thread just to hear what people say...
Someday I''m going to make it to NYC...and I want to go prepared!

Is there a Fred Leighton in NYC? Their Las Vegas store knocked me out. I''d love to hear of antique jewelry places..

I don''t know, but I don''t think you could go wrong at HW or Graff for the bling thing...

AF...you''ll have to report back after you return.

Have fun!
widget

 

[Harriet]

There''s a Fred Leighton on Madison.

Widget,
Do come.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 4/6/2007 4:33:34 PM
Author: Harriet
There''s a Fred Leighton on Madison.

Widget,
Do come.

I didn''t know that!! AF sounds like you have a great list compiled. Have a great time!!

 

[katebar]

Date: 4/6/2007 3:57:00 PM
Author: widget
Oooooh, I''m subscribing to your thread just to hear what people say...
Someday I''m going to make it to NYC...and I want to go prepared!

Is there a Fred Leighton in NYC? Their Las Vegas store knocked me out. I''d love to hear of antique jewelry places..

I don''t know, but I don''t think you could go wrong at HW or Graff for the bling thing...

AF...you''ll have to report back after you return.

Have fun!
widget

I''m subscribing to widget. DH and I are going to New York next year for our combined 50th birthdays. He wants to see a Yankee''s game and I just want to see the whole shebang bells and whistles New York

.
By the time I get there I aim to have very large list of all the great places to eat shop and see.

 

[Harriet]

What do you want to shop, eat and see? I''m at your disposal.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Nah, this is all about shopping. We already have a dinner reservation at our favorite restaurant in the whole country, Veritas. I think I have pretty much mapped out the entire day already. One question. Is everything closed on Sunday since it is Easter?

 

[diamondfan]

HW and Van Cleefs are good and are right on 5th. I am not sure where Graff is located. Hermes is great but unless you want the Constance, the Bollide or one of the more common bags, it is unlikely you will see a Kelly or Birkin out in the cases. But fun to go. I just got a bunch of the Hermes H enamel bangles and I love them, and they have great scarves etc...I think you have some great choices...Bendels is fun too, but Bergdorf''s is my all around dream store, and the bags and jewels are great there too...

 

[Harriet]

Graff is on Madison, not far from Hermes.

 

[Beacon]

I recommend you go to the flagship Cartier store on Fifth. It's a magnificent building itself and they often have spectacular older pieces in the store. It's very beautiful and a NY classic.

 

[Harriet]

Definitely. The mansion was bought with a string of pearls!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

If you''ll be at 59th & 5th, A La Vielle Russie is worth a visit. You don''t even have to go inside - their windows have plenty of beautiful things.

http://www.alvr.com/

 

[katebar]

Date: 4/6/2007 8:58:37 PM
Author: Harriet
What do you want to shop, eat and see? I''m at your disposal.

I''ll let you know Harriet when I have a better idea on the dates and bank balance

 

[diamondfan]

Of course seeing a show (Jersey Boys and Chorus Line come to mind) is great, depending on how much in advance you can plan.

New York is one big treat in terms of shopping and restaurants, you do not even need to go to the "famous" places, there are so many great spots to eat and shop...have fun...full details please!

 

[Allisonfaye]

We''re back. You won''t believe this. We were only there for one night and EVERYTHING was closed today for Easter. So we did get to shop on Saturday but nothing on Sunday. We came back early. I will let you know the details tomorrow. I am beat.

 

[diamondfan]

I am shocked that NYC was that closed due to the holiday.. Sorry!

 

[Mara]

lol i was going to say Balenciaga but you already have it in there!

ummm other than that...i would say for me a MUST is Breakfast at Norma's at Le Parker Meridian. it's fantabulous.

ETA okay i'm too slow...i see you just got back. how random things were shut down today?!!?

 

[Allisonfaye]

It was due to Easter. It didn''t occur to me. I figured at least Bergdorf''s would be open Sunday but we checked on Saturday and they said nope. But I think a lot of the boutique type stores are probably closed on Sundays anyway. I definately will find out before we go back. I wish we could go up on a Saturday and come back on Monday afternoon but my sitter has another job on weekdays.

(Warning: LOng)Well, we got into the city around 12 noon and dropped off our bags. We had requested early check in and since our room (which was supposed to be 360 sf) wasn''t ready, they upgraded us to a 900 sf suite. I think this room goes for over $1600! Beautiful place. (The Pierre) The only negative was that the water pressure in the shower was so strong it practically burned your skin off.

We cabbed it straight to Balenciaga because I wasn''t sure what time they closed and I wasn''t taking ANY chances. We got there and it was exactly as I had heard it described. Very spartan. I am glad I knew what to expect. There was one salesperson in sight who was standing there staring into space looking like a statue. I knew before I asked I knew immediately who it was --the person I have spoken to on the phone and could never tell if it was a guy or a girl. She wasn''t exactly rushing over to help us. I asked for the SA they always recommend on TPF. I waited two or three minutes for her and got down to business. I wanted to see Sandstone and they had NONE on display so I was a bit worried. But she did have them in the back. First I had to decide on style. I was choosing between the Day ( I had never seen one IRL), First, Twiggy and City. Hubby didn''t like day and I thought maybe it was too big for me at 5''2". I think the Twiggy is too long and the first felt too small so I went to the City again. She brought two to look at and I asked if she had more. She brought me out about 5 and she preferrred one that was really wrinkly but I just wasn''t liking it. I preferred one with a little shine and smoother. I lamented and lamented and she seemed a bit impatient and she really hovered over me a lot, which I kind of hated. It is like they think you will steal the bag or something. I decided to walk up a short flight of stairs to the window to get a look in better light. They have this cement curved staircase with rocks on the side. As I was walking up, I tripped and scraped my hand. I was ok...more embarrassed than anything else. But I could have really injured myself so thankfully I didn''t. I hemmed and hawed and finally picked one. That''s when I asked my hubby if I could get one. I figured asking him ahead of time could backfire. I figured if he was in the excitement of it all, how could he say no? I was right. He said ok. She wrapped it up for me and it ocurred to me that I didn''t want to carry it around and on the plane, they ship for free and I was probably paying tax too this way. So I asked and she said yes, I was correct so I had her ship it to me. Phew. That mistake would have cost me $100.

So from there, we went back to Bergdorf''s. I wanted to see it and I wanted to find out if they were going to be open Sunday. My plan was to spend Sunday there and go to all the other places on Saturday but when they told me they were going to be closed, I had to stay and shop...for shoes. OMG!! I have never seen so many cute shoes. I am really picky about shoes and I don''t really have a ton of pairs. (which is good for the bank account). But I do love the Manolos. My lifestyle is so casual though, I don''t have a lot of need for them. But I LOVE to look at them. They had so many more styles than Neiman Marcus. I found the ones I had been looking for and another pair that was similar and ended up picking those instead. They are a very classic style of white thong sandals and I didn''t know they came in white so I was glad I found them.

AFter that, we went to the men''s store. My husband had been soooo great that I wanted him to get a chance to look. He likes to buy a nice new work shirt once in a while and so we went and found one. Then we had to go to our dinner because we had a fairly early reservation. We went to a lovely place we had been before called Veritas. Now let me just say I have been to a fair number of really nice restaurants. They had the tables really close together and a young couple was seated at the next table. The woman was smacking her food and licking her fingers! I was thinking OMG! I have never experienced anything like it. Then the guy started doing the same thing.

AFter that, we went back to our room. Sunday we walked on Madison Avenue so I could see for the next time. Of course there was no jewelry to look at since they always put it in the vault but Graffs, Kaufmann de Suisse and some others were up there. NEXT TIME....

I did get to go to Harry Winston''s and it didn''t strike me as the kind of place where they want you to try on a bunch of stuff if you are not buying. But I wanted to try on my dream ring and I did! I tried on a 3.74 tcw rb , D, IF ( I didn''t care about the D, IF part) set with a baguette on either side. They had to go in back to get the ring. We were discussing price and the IF part. The ring was $400k. I said I would go as low as SI1 and she snottilly replied that
"We don''t SELL SI1 because you can SEE flaws in them". Right. Thanks. lol

Anyway, I really did have a good time in spite of the limited time. Just whetted my appetite for Palm Beach next month where they are much friendlier.