EXCLUSIVE: Gigi Hadid’s Cashmere Brand, Guest in Residence, Opens Holiday Pop-ups and Activations
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To kick off the holiday shopping season, Gigi Hadid on Tuesday opened the doors to her interactive Feel Shop pop-up in New York City for her cashmere brand Guest in Residence.
“Feel Shop was one of our original concepts for the store and was something that really worked for us,” Hadid told WWD of the brand’s second pop-up, and first holiday iteration, adding the positive response to her brand’s launch and September pop-up was both wild and gratifying.
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“With the first pop-up, I was calling every day saying, ‘So you’re saying there are people who don’t know me walking into the store and buying sweaters!’ Every day it felt so surreal… I’m honored and blown away anytime anyone’s wearing it. It’s just insane and wild.”
Located at 146 Greene Street in SoHo, the New York Feel Shop features blue lime-washed walls, aged black wood floors, handmade furniture à la vintage French and Italian design and alluring floral installations from PopUpFlorist alongside Guest in Residence’s product displays. The space, designed by Yaoska Interiors, evokes the feeling of a cozy living room and warm, colorful brand ethos.
“I just would always rather have somewhere to sit,” Hadid joked. “People say, ‘Oh, that’s for the partner. That’s like not shopping.’ Oh no, no. I would fully rather try on all the clothes sitting down.”
The Manhattan pop-up will be open for the month of December and feature a schedule of interactive events and activations, ranging from a pottery class with Guest in Residence’s design director, Sijeo Kim, and shop-and-sip events to hand-embroidery services (which Hadid noted learning at the brand’s latest trunk show) on the brand’s products, gift wrapping and specialty floral arrangements through a month-long partnership with PopUpFlorist.
“I wanted it to feel like these spaces bring together like-minded people. You don’t have to go in and buy something to be part of one of the wreath or ceramic classes, or meet our team. I have these weird interests in miniature pottery and felt art, and I’ve always followed a bunch of small businesses and small creatives. Over the years I’ve tried to figure out how to bring that into my world and make it my work,” Hadid said, adding, “Being able to partner up with small businesses — a lot of the businesses that I’ve loved for a long time — and being able to kind of have them on this journey, in a small way, has been really fun. I think that brings people into the world of Guest in Residence.”
“PopUpFlorist — I started following Kelsie [Hayes] years ago because I love her take on florals, she has so much fun with it. I was over these stuffy, fancy flower places and when I wanted to send someone a bouquet, I wanted to send something that’s a bit crazy and wacky — I liked the idea of Anna Wintour walking into her office and being like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of weird.’ Kelsie is like one of those florists that will really go there with me and have a lot of fun. A couple years ago, we started a tradition before COVID-19 to create wreaths. It felt like something I wanted to start as a tradition at our stores because if we’re going to do it anyway, we might as well invite our community.”
For the partnership, PopUpFlorist will host a shop-in-shop with a daily florist offering both grab-and-go and customizable floral bouquets and wreaths, as well as a selection of vintage hand-blown glass and ceramics from Hayes’ personal collection, gift tags and customizable ornaments with PopUpFlorist x Guest in Residence co-branded packaging.
In addition to the monthlong New York pop-up, the model, mother, founder and creative director will continue the cozy brand’s holiday festivities with a coinciding Feel Shop pop-up in Aspen, Colorado — her first foray into the market — opening Saturday.
“I grew up in Aspen; my dad is a developer and worked there when I was young. I learned to ski there, and when I go back to Aspen, there’s the fancy, cool Ajax [Aspen] Mountain but I always go back to Buttermilk [Mountain], where I learned to ski, know all the tree trails there and it feels really nostalgic for me. I think that Aspen of the ‘90s is so different to what it is now; I feel it’s a little bit more of a social scene. But it had a lot of really quirky, fun things back in the day, and there’s little nods to that within this Ski Lodge collection. People will see that it can really fit in any ski lodge or winter, cozy situation, even California’s cold months with the T-shirts,” Hadid said, noting the graphics and colors on the cashmere T-shirts within her latest Ski Lodge collection were inspired by Aspen’s former Boogie’s Diner.
“Aspen, for me, is a full circle place to bring it back. Of course it’s for the Aspen community and for everyone visiting, and that’ll be great, but also for my friends growing up – we used to go there together, and it’s emotional for us. We’re going to go back and ski for the opening.”
Located in downtown Aspen at 413 E Hyman Avenue, the pop-up, like the New York location, was designed by Yaoska Interiors and made to resemble a mountain lodge getaway with yellow lime-washed walls, aged wood floors and furniture and upcycled rugs and textiles. The Colorado location with also host exclusive events, including a meet-and-greet with Hadid on Dec. 17, and be open through Feb. 28.
To round out the holiday activations, specialty Guest in Residence holiday windows will be unveiled with the brand’s first international wholesale account, Antonia Boutique Milano, on Dec. 6.
“When I think of holidays, especially the big fashion cities, one of my favorite things is the windows. I’m not really a shopper like in terms of being a big consumer all the time, but I love anything that’s visual arts, 3-D models, windows and set design. I think that the windows really captured me, and it’s always been a dream to design like that,” Hadid said, adding the windows will riff off the idea of a vintage ski postcard and feature mountain-esque vignettes of a cabin’s boot room, featuring Guest in Residence products, and a ski lift.
“Antonia’s is a store that has supported me so much through a lot of my different design journeys, and I was so honored that they would give us this space for the season. We had so much fun designing it – it’s a window that would make me really happy to see if I was walking by, so I hope that I can bring that to Milan, and know that it was made and sent with love.”
Like the New York and Aspen Feel Shop pop-ups, Antonia’s will offer a selection of Guest in Residence luxe cashmere ready-to-wear and winter accessories from the brand’s Ski Lodge and core collections.
Across each space, Hadid hopes customers will experience a sense of warmth and community.
“I always go by: the more that you surround yourself, in terms of people creating or random objects, the more many different things can spark inspiration or bring a little bit of joy and change your day. I love the feeling that like someone could drag someone into the store because they want to buy a sweater, but being able to make a little bouquet or just see someone hand-sewing initials into a sweater – little kind of interactions like that I hope can put a smile on people’s face and make them feel cozy, even if you’re not trying on and buying a sweater.”
But for those looking to purchase the perfect holiday gift, Hadid has your bases covered.
When asked which three items from Guest in Residence’s lines are her go-to holiday gifts for 2022, Hadid responded, “Well, I’m doing a lot of this right now and thank gosh I have the shops to go into, because it’s making me do it faster. I’m trying to start everyone out with a basic — I think the oversized crew just looks good on everyone, so before I move on to other things, I’m making sure that all my friends and family have the basic crewneck first. Obviously there’s the core colors — black, gray, almond, navy — but if it’s someone you think would take the chance, I would go for a pop color because they’re so fun, and seasonal. Remember, you can always get a black version later on.”
Additionally, Guest in Residence’s beanies, socks and scarves were noted as holiday present go-tos.
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