Le Monde Béryl Opens First Boutique on Madison Avenue

A decade after its founding, luxury slipper brand Le Monde Béryl has opened its first permanent boutique at 23 East 67th Street in Manhattan. The store sits on Madison Avenue, a short walk from Central Park, the Frick and Sotheby's headquarters — a location founders Lily Atherton Hanbury and Katya Shyfrin say mirrors the brand's own influences.

'It just felt like a sign,' Shyfrin said of the address.

The founders hatched the business on a London park bench in 2016. Their debut product was a velvet Venetian slipper, a flat that originated in Northeast Italy in the 19th century and later found favour among gondoliers for its grippy rubber sole. The label has since expanded into dozens of silhouettes, from minimalist Mary Janes to low-heeled riding boots to shearling-lined après-ski slippers, building a cult global following, particularly in the US.

What does the design do with the space?

To build out the shop, the duo enlisted London-based art advisor Silka Rittson-Thomas together with Tutto Bene, a design firm with offices in London and Milan. The 67th Street storefront was long and deep — a proportion the design team chose to accentuate rather than hide.

'I wanted it to feel like a collector's home, where everything is purposefully selected for its own individuality and beauty,' Atherton Hanbury told Wallpaper*. 'We wanted the space to feel dreamlike and to offer a sense of discovery.'

Rittson-Thomas introduced theatricality drawn from the founders' shared love of dance and antiquity. The moodboard ranged from Pina Bausch's dance studio to The Hunger, starring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve, to Club Silencio in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

'The idea of obscuring and revealing became the main thread of the design,' Rittson-Thomas explained.

How does 'concealment and reveal' work in practice?

Visitors descend concrete stairs into the deep space. A dark chocolate-coloured carpet guides them along the L-shaped floor plan. Wood cabinetry lines the main corridor-like space, showcasing snake-effect pumps and supple leather ballet flats.

The cabinet doors open and shut like theatre scenery, allowing different spatial configurations and peekaboo moments. A blush-coloured curtain and matching roller shades do the same. 'The entire concept grew from Silka's initial idea of concealment and reveal, and there are small moments throughout the store that play with what is shown and what is withheld,' said Tutto Bene's Felizia Berchtold.

Mirrored surfaces sharpen the seen-and-unseen effect. Some trace the lower level of the cabinets, showing shoppers' feet as they move through the showroom. The designers count it among their favourite moments.

'At certain angles, what emerges most clearly is the reflection of your feet and the shoes you are trying on, while the rest of you almost disappears,' Berchtold explained. 'There is something intimate about seeing only fragments of yourself – the idea that luxury can also be about privacy, rather than constant exposure.'

What's next for the store?

Objects from Rittson-Thomas's personal collection anchor the interior: metal-frame chairs by Mats Theselius, Murano sconces and an antique repoussé mirror that nods to the brand's original Italian inspiration. The founders plan to rotate vitrines with artworks and other 'curatorial moments' over time.

'Shoes are about tactility and a physical reaction, the second you put them on, you have a response,' Shyfrin said — a reaction the co-founders want customers to feel inside the boutique itself.

Adds Atherton Hanbury: 'It feels like a space, not a store.'