Fashion-Forward Art & Design at Seaport Studios

The newly opened Seaport Studios at the South Street Seaport is bringing the latest fashion trends to the Financial District. The 5,000 square foot open-plan, nautically themed space that merges the area’s sea-trading past with downtown Manhattan’s luxury renaissance began to showcase emerging designers this fall. With featured designers rotating every couple of months as well as its upscale art gallery and coffee bar, Seaport Studios promises to become a favorite destination for the fashion-forward residents of the new downtown condos and Wall Street homes located nearby.

Part of the Howard Hughes Corporation’s reimagining of the South Street Seaport as an entertainment, shopping, dining, and cultural hub, Seaport Studios merges locally sourced design, beauty, and luxury products with international brands, art installations, and event space. While the bulk of the space is dominated by fashion and beauty retail, the inclusion of artistic and cultural popups adds an environment of inspiration and emerging ideas to the area. This fall’s occupants have included HarperCollins BookLab, which hosts popular author signings; an installation by New York-based artist Shantell Martin; and a gallery popup by new “slow fashion” magazine Sumzine.

As for shopping, Seaport Studios has already presented a wealth of contemporary fashion for men and women alike. Recently featured New York-based designers have included Study, which provides clothing and fabric homewares made of sustainable materials and produced in New York’s garment district; A Peace Treaty, which works with artisan workshops worldwide to produce its NY-designed scarves, capes, caftans, and jewelry; menswear designer Rochambeau; Brooklyn Cloth, which creates casual wear inspired by the East Coast skate and surf scene; and OneGround, maker of NY-designed leather casual shoes. Featured designers from outside New York have included Sweden-based Stutterheim Raincoats and Mexican-based men’s clothing and accessories designer Hecho.

Retail options on offer at Seaport Studios have also included handmade, high-quality beauty and skincare products from brands such as San Francisco soap studio The Greater Goods (formerly based in Brooklyn), which offers naturally sourced, cold-process soaps. Olio E Osso, out of Portland, Oregon, hand makes tinted balms for lips and cheeks from natural bases of olive oil, shea butter, and beeswax. Onomie, headquartered in New York, commits 1% of profits from sales of its award-winning beauty and skincare products to sponsor first-generation female high school graduates in developing countries.

Other recent Seaport Studios occupants have included Begin Again, a designer and manufacturer of wood- and rubber-based toys out of Fort Collins, Colorado; and the Sydney-based design team Stylestalker, which recently set up its first US boutique for women’s fashion in Los Angeles.

With ongoing plans to add retail space at Pier 17, restaurants, and a food hall in the Fulton Market building, the Howard Hughes Corporation’s plan for South Street Seaport promises to add even more unique shopping opportunities within easy walking distance of new Financial District condos, such as those at 101 Wall.