The unstoppable cool of The Frankie Shop

Heaven is a shiny beige box,” declares Gaëlle Drevet, the 48-year-old founder of New York’s The Frankie Shop (simply “Frankie” to those in the know, including Gigi Hadid, Rihanna and seemingly every millennial gallerist in Soho). The box in question is the fashion label’s flagship boutique on Stanton Street on NYC’s Lower East Side, which has recently been revamped to double the floor space but keep its “super-calm energy and clean lines”. “We want it to be very chill and welcoming,” says the Paris native, “because to be cool is not to be, what is the word? Intimidating. This store is homey, cosy, comfortable. That is cool.”

What you wear and your private space at home are very much connected

Drevet launched Frankie in 2014, cultivating a brand DNA built upon a masculin-féminin aesthetic and choosing beige as the brand’s official shade. As a fledgling TV news producer in the early 2000s, Drevet had wandered flea markets searching for vintage men’s jackets before realising she’d have better luck making her own. It was these creations that inspired the store’s name – “in between a boy’s and girl’s” – and that brought the brand cult status. (In part thanks to the continued rise of “French Girl chic”, The Frankie Shop has gathered more than a million Instagram followers.)

Today, the label’s signature slouchy suiting (trousers from $99, blazers from $165) and cinched trenches ($360) still account for the bulk of sales – but be prepared to join a long waiting list: Drevet produces a very limited number of pieces each season. Elsewhere, jackets by JW Anderson ($356) and cut-out Coperni knits ($380) hang on ivory racks, while dark lacquered shelves showcase geometric handbags by Proenza Schouler ($375) and Ganni (€179). 

Gelso oversized blazer, €399

TFS x Duvelleroy Take Away fan, €79

Frankie now has two Paris boutiques and two in New York, with a London location on the way – but the Lower East Side flagship will remain the HQ, says Drevet, and the place where collaborations, such as the recent graphic tees created with activist Jeanne Friot to support reproductive rights ($70), will debut.

There will also be an expanded offering of lifestyle products, including warped mugs and vases by London’s Completedworks ($98 to $441), and a Frankie-branded Larq water bottle ($105). “What you wear and your private space at home are very much connected,” says Drevet. “It’s all in alignment.”

That ethos extends to the boutique’s furniture, including carved onyx tables and Swiss design studio De Sede’s pillowy DS-600 sofa. “I saw it at the Ludlow Hotel [in downtown Manhattan] and I just fell in love with it,” Drevet says. “It looks like slices of bread [stuck] together.” A little tranche of Paris in New York.