Forget everything you think you know about personal shopping.
Imagine attending an exclusive shopping event featuring your favorite label where a coterie of New York’s most stylish women — and often the designer themselves — dress you in just-off-the-runway frocks.
And then you’ll have a sense of Suite 1521.
Launched a year ago this month by fashion powerhouses Kim Kassel, 47, formerly of Calvin Klein, and Lizzie Tisch, 42, a philanthropist and member of Vanity Fair’s International Best Dressed List, the Upper East Side salon hosts envy-inducing events for members with sought-after designers like Mary Katrantzou, Juan Carlos Obando and Sophie Theallet.
Here’s how it works: Members enroll at suite1521.com and, for a $500 annual fee, they can sign up for a three-hour time slot at semiprivate weekly shopping events where a featured designer or a senior representative, plus the Suite 1521 staff, grant exclusive attention.
Guests can preorder pieces from the upcoming collection being shown and purchase some items from the designer’s current season.
And semiprivate means semiprivate.
Kassel and Tisch cap the number of guests at around 30 per session. “If we hit too many people we’ll close the doors and wait-list the slot,” Kassel says. “Everyone gets attention. No rush, no pressure.”
Named for Tisch’s husband Jonathan’s childhood suite at the Regency Hotel, Suite 1521 presents a bespoke experience even if the clothes themselves aren’t necessarily so, a point the co-founders are quick to point out.
“Bespoke isn’t a requirement,” Tisch says. “However, as the relationships we develop grow, the more bespoke it becomes.”
The one-on-one involvement reaps revelations.
A favorite story is about Johnson Hartig of Libertine, who sells at several tony outlets but is not widely distributed.
“He did a colorful fur coat that was not for a shy customer,” Tisch says. “The woman who bought it was a bit conservative, a bit unexpected. Johnson looked a little shell-shocked that this was who gravitated to the piece.”
This fall’s lineup, which begins this week with an Azzaro event, includes Rodarte, Prabal Gurung and Paco Rabanne along with a dozen others slated to run through Dec. 16. Ready-to-wear is often ingeniously paired with accessories, like Peter Pilotto with Nicholas Kirkwood in October.
“We’ve learned that when you get it right, the event can be amazing and so different than you imagined,” Tisch says.
Inaugural member Caryn Seidman- Becker, 41, who seeks efficiency in everything she does while balancing motherhood with her role as chairman and CEO of CLEAR, appreciates the personalized — and time-saving — attention.
“To have an intimate experience is fantastic,” she says. “Lizzie puts her edit capabilities to work. The trust is there because the results are there. My entire closet is black, except for the things I’ve bought from them.”
Kassel and Tisch are mum on membership numbers but say they are satisfied with their growth. Makes sense, given their evangelical current clientele.
Seidman-Becker says, “I send everyone and anyone. When you say you love my dress, I say, ‘Go see Lizzie.’ ”