Serena Uziyel Opens a New York Store, and More Locations Are on the Way
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Serena Uziyel has made its direct retail debut in the American market unveiling a store nestled in New York’s Broome Street.
The opening is a just the first step of a wider U.S. expansion of the accessories brand launched by the namesake Turkish designer in 2019. Another location on Madison Avenue and a unit in Boca Raton, Fla. are set to open in fall. Prior to these, over the summer the brand will cut the ribbon of two stores in Turkey, where it already has a flagship store in Istanbul and a boutique housed at The Mandarin Oriental in Bodrum.
The Broome location marks a return to the city for Uziyel, who studied at Parsons School of Design before landing jobs at the likes of Moschino, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. To be sure, the designer has zeroed in on that specific address for the brand’s retail debut as she once lived in the same neighborhood as a young student, she said.
“Opening my brand’s store in two different locations in the city where I studied and gained vital experience is incredibly thrilling,” said Uziyel, defining the move a dream coming true.
Conceived by architectural designer Esra Guray and interior designer Vivian Elvaşvili, the retail concept alternates natural oak elements with upholstered shelves in neutral tones, which contrast with the dark ceiling.
Overall, the space is dominated by pure lines, with the goal to focus the attention on the brand’s assortment of footwear and bags. These are crafted and woven by Uziyel and her collective team of 200 artisan women reprising traditional and nearly lost handicraft techniques of her native country. Key styles include mules and clutches marked by metallic threads worked into a chain motif, sandals embellished by appliques in twisted natural fibers such as raffia and flats with braided leather details.
Priced between $540 and $1,400 for shoes and between $520 and $2,400 for bags, the brand is also available at key retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Level Shoe District, Ounass, Beymen and Net-a-porter, among others. It is expected to debut soon at Printemps and Brenuinger, too.
Before launching her namesake line, in 2015 Uziyel co-founded the Sanayi 313 label, which already showed her penchant for artisanal techniques and crafty embellishments. Prior to that, she spent two years in Spain for Zara International, after living in Italy to study shoes and bags at the Arsutoria School, where she met her mentor Giuseppe Joseph Amolo, a master shoemaker with decades of experience at Salvatore Ferragamo and Prada.
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