During the 1970s and 1980s, Charivari was a buzz word in New York, with five stores peppering the Upper West Side. (A sixth opened across town, on Madison Avenue, in 1992.) Known for their mix of traditional and avant-garde fashions for both men and women, the stores became destinations for the shopping intelligentsia.
Among the designers Charivari introduced to the American shopper were Yohji Yamamoto, Ann Demeulemeester, Dolce & Gabbana and Marc Jacobs, who began his fashion career as a teenage stock boy at the Charivari on Columbus Avenue and 72nd Street. Long before many designers began to open their own boutiques, one of the developments that helped bring about the company’s demise, Charivari featured the lines of Armani, Versace, Prada and others.
