10 Corso Como Promises to Radically Reshape the Retail Landscape of New York
When you tell Carla Sozzani that fashion people, those elusive creatures, rarely find their way to Manhattan’s South Street Seaport neighborhood, where the latest edition of her landmark shop, 10 Corso Como, opens on September 6, she is undaunted. “They will come! It will be a destination! I love that this area is so historic and so near the water—I don’t think there is another place in New York I like better.”
The new store—a near-28,000-square-foot expanse one block from the East River—is housed in one of the former Fulton Fish Market buildings and was designed by Sozzani’s partner, artist Kris Ruhs. Mackerel have made way for Maison Margiela; instead of perch piled high on sopping counters, you’ll find Prada heels. A sleek restaurant is center stage—and, of course, Sozzani confirms with a laugh, fish will be prominent on the menu. But while this new location may be exotic, it isn’t as if Sozzani hasn’t conquered unexplored territory before: “Everyone thought when I opened in Milano, 28 years ago, that it was in a crazy neighborhood, too. My father said, ‘What are you going to do in a garage with no windows?’”
Soon, though, she added plants to the courtyard, and the birds came, not to mention curious passersby. “What is this place?” they asked, agog at the radical and stylish mash-up of merchandise that Sozzani pioneered. She was among the first to introduce the concept of a “concept” store, where humble candles and art books mingle with high fashion and avant-garde jewelry—where you can sip an espresso at the café, then try on a Comme des Garçons frock. On Saturday afternoons at the Milan store, patrons ranging from serious shoppers to nonchalant lookie-loos scrambled up its steps, taking in the photography gallery—the first ever of its kind in Milan, Sozzani says proudly—and gazing at the one-off merchandise. (One shopper—me—remembers how excited she was to find a velvet Roberta di Camerino/10 Corso Como tote.)
Today, Sozzani is sporting a nipped-waist chiaroscuro coat and a pair of pristine woven white trainers, both by her great friend the late Azzedine Alaïa. Her revolutionary approach to merchandising, she explains, has its roots in her former life as a fashion editor: “It’s all about choices. The point of view is what matters.” Her point of view, quirky and devastatingly chic, has been honed over decades—unbelievably, this year marks her 50th in fashion.
Though it is currently undergoing a sophisticated revitalization, Sozzani’s new neighborhood is still a tourist mecca where the smell of the sea mingles with the aroma of fast food. But this is fine with her. Everyone, she declares, is welcome to enjoy the café, poke around the gallery, and maybe buy something, even if only a pencil, and have it be exquisitely wrapped in the store’s trademark polka dot paper.
10 Corso Como already has branches in Seoul, Beijing, and Shanghai, but Sozzani swears she doesn’t tailor her merchandise for different cities. That said, there will a number of New York–only products to celebrate the new store, including a silvery MM6 Maison Margiela coat with seriously fringed sleeves, a snowy tee from Stella McCartney, and a decorated vintage bag from the cult brand History by Dylan. Still, Sozzani insists, “with instant communication now, it’s very hard to say, ‘This is American, this is Italian, this is Chinese.’” No matter how far-flung their hometowns, her customers speak the same aesthetic language. “If you like the same designers,” she says, “you probably also like the same kind of books, and maybe even the same food.”
Sozzani doesn’t appear a bit concerned that her highly individual brick-and-mortar empire will inevitably be vanquished by online shopping. “The Internet is about fast shopping, and 10 Corso Como has always been about slow shopping—enjoying life, taking your time.” After all, she says with a shrug, there is no substitute for the evidence of your senses: “You cannot smell through the screen.”
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