Seven New York

We are but a vessel for their creations

The number seven is regarded as a sacred, perfect, or complete number in science, religion, biology, mythology, numerology, and now fashion. Descending a set of stairs off Mercer St. in New York, one enters Seven, a boutique which comes close to (if not achieves) retail perfection.

The boutique promotes all things we consider perfect at AVANT: uniqueness, innovation, and personal expression. With equally strong mens and womens collections, the unassuming store, with a lovely staff of self-proclaimed fashion victims, offers an amazing array of brilliant designers, including Bernhard Willhelm, Raf Simons, Hood by Air, Moon Spoon Saloon, Preen, Gareth Pugh, House of Holland, and Skyward, just to name a few.

Cofounder Joseph Quartana graciously gave AVANT a peek into the retail perfection of Seven.

AVANT: We personally think Seven is one of the best stores in New York. How have you gotten to the level of carrying such great and unique pieces?

Joseph Quartana: That’s very kind of you to say. Well, in the beginning, I chock it up to youthful naiveté. I started Seven when I was 23. Not having any retail or fashion background whatsoever, I had no predefined notions of what style ‘should’ have been, and simply an ambition to group the most cutting-edge designers I could get my hands on into one coherent space. Since then it’s just been about soaking up as much as possible around the world and from fashion magazines I
respect, talking to lots of stylists, my key clients, editors, fellow buyers I admire, and learning from mistakes.

AVANT: How do you select not only the labels but the specific pieces?

JQ: I’m always watching what’s going on out there, so I begin to watch designers who catch my attention. Once they reach a certain level of maturity, buzz, and production capabilities, I’ll swoop in and take a chance on them. The criteria is mainly that the designer owns their own aesthetic, the whole collection has to be strong (not just a few pieces) and cohesive, the line needs to evolve from season to season and not revolve, and the quality and prices have to make sense. From there I select pieces that my gut tells me are good displaying ideas that I haven’t seen or that I think are right and fresh for the next season, and finally I edit that group down whilst still maintaining the designers’ original vision with the selection.

AVANT: Many designers you feature are quite unknown in mainstream culture. Where do you find the designers?

JQ: Predominantly London, Paris, Antwerp/Brussels, Tokyo, Seoul, Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm but I’m not averse to fishing in other cities. And I’ll usually have read about them somewhere first.

AVANT: And when you find a label you like, what relationship do you have with the actual designers?

JQ: I try to have a personal relationship with all my designers, not only because I am myself a fan and I truly admire them, their creative processes, and their final results, but also because we do a lot of special events for them, and knowing them and how they think is important in fine tuning the right event. We’ve done events for everyone from Raf Simons, Bernhard Willhelm, Jeremy Scott, to Pleasure Principle, Henrik Vibskov, and many more. We recently organized an event for the women’s shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood who has just been on fire lately, and in the Spring a tee brand from London called Passarella Death Squad.

AVANT: Any items exclusive to Seven?

JQ: Within our buy for any given designer we have items that can only be bought here, as a lot of the other boutiques around the world are too afraid to try them out.

AVANT: What image does Seven project and how is that image maintained?

JQ: We try to project an image of our boutique as a machine designed to inform our client and sell cutting edge apparel. My business partner Steve and I don’t try to cram our faces into the spotlight; we prefer the designer’s collections speak for themselves as after all we are but a vessel for their creations. *

Seven New York
110 Mercer St.
New York, NY
10012

www.sevennewyork.com

-bradley smith