Change, as the saying goes, is the only constant, and these days, The Westchester in White Plains – a Simon property with 140 stores and restaurants — seems to be in constant motion, adding new retail spaces and eateries periodically, while anchor stores upgrade. (Neiman Marcus, for instance, has moved its men’s department to Retail Level 3, consolidating women’s clothing on Retail Level 2. More on Neiman Marcus, now part of Saks Global, in an upcoming story. For now, two big names in fashion and accessories – Marc Jacobs and Kendra Scott respectively – opened boutiques at The Westchester in October.
Valued at more than $1 billion, Kendra Scott LLC, maker of fine and fashion jewelry, has some 1,000-plus specialty boutiques worldwide, along with wholesale partners like Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. Not bad for a business that the single-mom namesake started with $500 in 2002 in the spare bedroom of her Austin, Texas, home when the first of her three sons was three months old.
“I’ve always had a love of natural gemstones and noticed a white space in the jewelry market for quality styles and stones at an affordable price,” Scott said on her website. “So I decided to create them myself.”
There’s fashion jewelry; The Demi-Fine Collection of sterling silver pieces and fine jewelry that features gemstones and 14-karat gold, including lab and mined diamonds, said Jessica Wolfe, assistant manager of The Westchester store, which opened on Retail Level 3 Oct. 11. At the Color Bar, a concept that Wolfe said Scott created with friends, you can customize your pieces, selecting from more than 40 styles and 50-plus stones. It’s perfect for mother-daughter gatherings and parties, Wolfe said of the lounge area, which features beverages and treats on weekends. It’s all wrapped up in Scott’s signature “Yellow Rose of Texas” décor and packaging (not to be confused with her Yellow Rose of Texas collection, inspired by the American West).
But fashion is only one of the three pillars of Scott’s business model, Wolfe said. The others are family, which Scott’s website said “always comes first here, and it always will”; and philanthropy. To date, Kendra Scott has donated more than $50 million to local, national and international charities that affect youths and women in the areas of education, entrepreneurship and health and wellness.
“My stepfather once told me that the greatest thing I could do with my life was to use my talents to improve the lives of others,” Scott has said.
“What drove me to work here,” Wolfe added, “was the chance to do good every day.”
Down on Retail 1, Marc Jacobs brings its customary playfulness to a boutique featuring the brand’s various handbag lines, footwear, fragrances, jewelry, sunglasses and other accessories along with some ready-to- wear. The New York City-born, Teaneck, New Jersey-raised designer studied at the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan before winning the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent in 1987. A decade later, after designing for Perry Ellis and his own label, Jacobs became creative director of Louis Vuitton (LV), which acquired a majority interest in his then 13-year-old company. Jacobs, a former Rye resident, took LV beyond luggage and leather goods into ready-to-wear and viral pop iconography. LV in turn restructured Jacobs’ company, which helped the brand record $642 million in sales last year.
The LV-Jacobs synergy – he left LV in 2014 to work on his own eponymous line – can be seen in the blend of the classic and the modern at the Marc Jacobs store in The Westchester. Traditional handbag styles like the tote are given an ironic twist, being labeled what they are. “The Tote Bag” in various sizes, colors and prints and three materials (canvas, jacquard and leather) is, Jacobs has said, his utilitarian answer to Hermès’ Birkin and went viral on TikTok, added Westchester store sales associate Samantha Lawless, when it debuted in 2019.
Lawless demonstrated how The Clover Bag, with its interlocking “Js” logo, can be a shoulder, crossbody or hand bag, a clutch or a wristlet. The Snapshot Bag, made of Saffiano leather with the same logo and an interchangeable webbing strap, resembles a camera bag and is the preferred starter bag, Lawless said:
“Lots of young girls like it, because you can switch out the strap and it’s very durable and scratch-resistant.”
Meanwhile, Marc Jacobs’ large, dark, funky-framed sunglasses look like a cross between what Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Cyndi Lauper would wear. The appeal of the designs and thus the store is that they embrace many demographic groups, Lawless said. The Daisy fragrance, with its notes of strawberry, pink grapefruit and violets, was named for Daisy Buchanan, the anti-heroine of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby.” And unlike other retail brands capitalizing on the Nov. 22 film release of the musical “Wicked,” Marc Jacobs’ tie-ins do not play on the musical or the film but on the 1939 version of “The Wizard of Oz,” Jacobs’ favorite movie, Lawless said.
“My clothes are not hot. Never. Never,” Jacobs told New York magazine in 2011. But not being sexy may be precisely the thing that makes his designs so.
Purchase a leather item at Marc Jacobs on Nov. 30 or Dec. 1 from noon to 6 p.m. and get a complimentary portrait of your pet painted on it. Bring in a photograph or your pet as there will be treats for all.
Coming soon to The Westchester – Aroma 360, luxury scenting; Goat USA, a lifestyle and apparel company; Rivian electric vehicles; and Uniqlo, the casual-wear juggernaut. The Westchester is at 125 Westchester Ave. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. Sundays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
