Winter Retail Therapy: The 3 Best New Luxury Shops on Madison Avenue

Who doesn’t love a little upscale retail therapy to cure those wintery blues? Madison Avenue is one of the famed shopping meccas of the world.  This year some shiny new shopping gems emerged along the avenue that you don’t want to miss. Here are the three best new luxury shops on Madison Avenue.

LJ Cross
994 Madison Avenue

Designer Lisa Jackson showcases her signature minimalist style with the opening of her flagship store, LJ Cross, this winter. The luxurious boutique is lined with Jackson’s glittering creations: fashion-forward diamond encrusted cobblestone crosses along with selections of luxe fashion and home accessories.  Adorned crocodile clutches, fur stoles, hand-blown glassware, and a curation of unusual gifts are ripe for the taking.  To bring soft modernism to life, Jackson recruited New York architecture firm Taylor and Miller. The firm is renowned for creating innovative spaces that are highly conceptual while still functional and using natural materials in minimalist fashion, to invent a new immersive shopping experience at LJ Cross. It’s a first-stop shop for anyone who loves some sparkle.

Valextra
833 Madison Avenue

Valextra exudes a chic contemporary ambiance to display its equally sleek leather goods. Though this is the first U.S. store, this Italian fashion house has an esteemed history of being the choice of style icons: Jacqueline Onassis, Grace Kelly, Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham have all proudly worn Valextra. Architect Marco Costanzi employed popular Milanese materials like brass, leather and Ceppo di Grè (a marble-like stone found in many historic buildings in Milan) to create an air of Milanese modernism. As far as understated luxury goes, Valextra’s subtle elegance and bijoux-like surroundings perfectly capture the brand’s history and aesthetic.

Jaeger-LeCoultre
701 Madison Avenue

Since 1833, the Swiss manufacturer  based in the fabled Vallée de Joux has been at the precipice of watchmaking with its mark in every international luxury capital in the world. Following Beverly Hills, Palm Beach, Paris, London, Geneva, Moscow, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai, Jaeger-LeCoultre finally opened its first New York City flagship on Madison Avenue. Epitomizing the highest quality of craftsmanship and style, this boutique is more than a showcase for their iconic luxury watches. It’s also a haven for collectors and brand devotees, made possible by their swanky VIP lounge to give an experience of horological hospitality, refinement and intimacy.  As an added touch, the upper floor of the boutique is entirely reserved for a Jaeger-LeCoultre watchmaker who handles maintenance and repairs, sharing his passion for this exemplary brand.