With a Cheerful Cocktail Celebration on the Upper East Side, Holiday on Madison Ushered In the Season

Photo: Martine Lavelle

For the last few weeks, Alexandra Mack’s neighbors have been able to peer in the window of 831 Madison Avenue day in, day out and catch a glimpse of the Upper East Side-based fashion exec preparing the treasure trove for its opening. Still in shopkeeper mode—albeit a very chic one in a De Castro Moda jacket and Rebecca de Ravenel earrings—she cut the proverbial ribbon on Wednesday evening with a festive fete.

Mack, who’s the co-founder of accessories line Rebecca de Ravenel, personally sourced some 68 designers, makers, and artisans to perfectly populate Holiday on Madison with giftable items in time for the season. For the last year, from the moment the 2023 iteration of the pop-up closed its doors, Mack went about curating an assortment of brands that has one major thing in common: you currently can’t really find them anywhere else in New York.

It’s something of a full-circle moment too. Five years ago, Mack and some fellow female-led brands split the rent on the exact same retail store for a temporary collective venture. This time around, they’re all back, joined by an international cohort that’s creating buzz. Word travels fast, too. Ahead of Holiday on Madison’s official opening on Friday, curious shoppers, who’d heard whispers that pieces from Venetian glassware mainstay Giberto Venezia had found their way to the neighborhood, were doing their best to get preview access to snap them up.

“This is my happy corner,” Mack agreed, pointing out the brand’s special, hard-to-find Murano glass creations, which are interspersed on the shelves with porcelain by Zoe de Givenchy, glass by Paul Arnhold, and intricately embroidered napkins by Elizabeth Lake.

At a cocktail celebration to officially show itself off, Holiday on Madison was packed with guests from all over—and not just from the outer boroughs—as various founders had flown in from around the world to see their pieces merchandised, displayed, and highlighted in person. Villea Vara s Giorgina Atkinson Reed, in town from London, was her own best advertisement in a velvet two-piece from her emerging line. Niccolo di Leonardis, of the tailoring label Le Tre Sarte, had made the pilgrimage from Rome, as had Giberto Venezia’s Alessandra Bonetto from Venice. In a family affair, Lola and Vera Arrivabene, the daughters of the Giberto Venezia owners, are also involved in Holiday on Madison via their chic and colorful Venetian slipper line, ViBi Venezia. Artist Emanuele Pantanella, whose wooden egg objet décoratif was the subject of much fascination on the night, was in the U.S. for the first time, while the ever-fashionable Jane Keltner de Valle was proud to see Paloroma, her clean and cruelty-free children s skincare products, standing out among the kids toys and decorations.

It was a festive taste of what’s to come in the next few weeks, with a whole host of programming, including trunk shows and no shortage of cocktail parties on the agenda until December 22.