Adam Lippes Finds His Home on the Upper East Side
Adam Lippes has found his home on the Upper East Side, the first floor of a circa 1880 town house on Fifth Avenue that he turned into a private shopping salon where he hosted appointments for his spring 2025 collection.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Lippes, whose first fashion gig after leaving finance was working at the cashmere bar at Ralph Lauren’s Rhinelander Mansion.
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Walking into Adam’s new place is also a whole experience. There’s a kitchen so there’s always food on offer, a bar with Champagne and anything else, the most gorgeous pink silk walls, and a seating area with a sofa designed by Lippes in a Baroque-looking pink and gold floral (also for sale).
The environs — he’s also renovating the apartment next door, where Adolfo lived and died — are a fuller expression of what the 11-year-old brand is becoming, as Lippes ventures into other categories, including three furniture collections with U.K.-based Oka.
This summer, Lippes hired Marco Probst as chief executive officer, who brings experience from a long tenure at Delvaux, the luxury Belgian handbag-maker, as well as executive posts at Chloé and Hugo Boss.
The designer recently opened a store in Houston while one in Palm Beach, Fla., opens in October. The collection is also available in more than 100 retailers worldwide.
Next up will be handbags, made in France, launching next year.
“I’m really encouraging by-appointment to have that personal one-on-one shopping. Remember in the ’90s when all the stores, you’d ring the bell?” he said of his Fifth Avenue boutique’s service aspect, which includes two seamstresses on staff at all times.
“What’s been interesting is customers come in and sit down…there’s no rushing,” he said.
That moment of calm is what he channeled into his effortless and unfussy spring collection. In a soothing palette of sun bleached pale blue, lilac, butter yellow, cream and sand were all the pieces a woman needs for a summer wardrobe — tailoring in the au courant shades of lilac and butter yellow; striped cotton twill shorts suiting; a fabulous drapey wrap neck trenchcoat; khaki pants galore; hand twisted leather tanks, and snappy miniskirts “made at the same factory as The Row.”
Soft touch fabrics and loose silhouettes achieved an easy glamour, as on a super soft, super fine mulberry silk knit T-shirt dress, Taroni silk crepe dresses that skim the body and barely tie over a bare back, and a divine mother-of-pearl teardrop and crystal embroidered tank gown that could have emerged from the deep.
Lippes sells denim “like crazy,” and this season’s was washed using river stones (yes, really) into a pretty blue that held its structure on a short jacket with gold fencing buttons that looked like a wardrobe workhorse.
“It’s been 10 years, some ups and downs, so we’ve been quiet. But I think maybe we will have something here next year,” Lippes said. He’s looking forward to welcoming you.
For more New York spring 2025 reviews, click here.
Launch Gallery: Adam Lippes Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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