Susan Alexandra Takes Her Signature Kitsch Uptown With New Madison Ave Boutique – Latest Fashion Trends & Style Tips February 13, 2026 at 11:40PM
📰 Susan Alexandra Takes Her Signature Kitsch Uptown With New Madison Ave Boutique
✨ Fashion Insights & Trends:
Susan Korn has a local butcher to thank for her Madison Avenue storefront. The accessories designer behind the viral indie brand Susan Alexandra manifested the Upper East Side boutique of her dreams in what she might call a "magic New York City moment."
"We put in a bid on this little jewel box space," Korn told Fashionista. "Instead, they went with a client that has a national footprint. It was devastating."
Months later, Korn realized the property was still on the market.
"We reached out to the landlord and he was like, 'This is kismet,'" she said.
The building's owner, whose family has managed businesses on the Upper East Side since the 1940s — including a local staple, Lobel's Prime Meats — had a change of heart.
"He said, 'I feel like it's the best thing for the neighborhood to keep it a small business,'" Korn continued. "So we jumped."
Photo: Courtesy of Susan Alexandra
It's this kind of community building that Korn seeks to foster with her own brand, which she launched out of her bedroom in 2016. Since opening the first Susan Alexandra boutique downtown in 2021, Korn has also used it as an event space, hosting craft nights and inviting fellow small businesses to stage their own pop-ups. She said she's even seen people fall in love at the Orchard Street store.
Korn intends to take this philosophy uptown, though she says the design of her new space is more "Neoclassical" and less "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." She reunited with Studio Galeón, the women-led firm behind her Orchard Street boutique, to reinterpret familiar motifs like handmade light fixtures and sunshine yellow walls for a slightly different demographic.
"Downtown, our best seller is a bag charm," Korn shared. "People on the Upper East Side are looking for very expensive menorahs, and little kids are buying extravagant bags."
Photos: Courtesy of Susan Alexandra
Tilework has been traded out for silk moiré, which trims the entire 400-square-foot space, and delicate seed-beaded sconces replace sturdier fruit-shaped lanterns. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, just one city block away, also influenced the UES shop's interior design.
"The way that the Met displays their jewelry collection was really inspiring," she said. "We also covered our walls in fabric as a nod to the Met," which includes ornate wallpaper in some of its period rooms.
"You go to the Met to look at art, and then you come to our store to interact with art. That's the dream," Korn added.
Photo: Courtesy of Susan Alexandra
This refined setting provides customers an ideal introduction to Susan Alexandra's fine jewelry line, something that will be prominently featured in the new store. While Korn built her business on more affordable brass pieces, she's now lending her talents to sterling silver, 14-karat gold and pearls, too.
Still, the UES boutique retains Korn's signature sense of playfulness — something that even the major luxury flagships on Madison can't compete with.
"I had no idea how many of our customers live up there who wanted something fun and lighthearted to shop," said Korn. "This is an antidote to a more serious shopping institution."
Susan Alexandra is now open at 1088 Madison Avenue.
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