Charivari (store)
{{Short description|Chain of clothing stores in New York City}}
{{About|the New York clothing store|other uses of the term|Charivari (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Charivari
| logo =
| type = Private
| industry = Clothes shop
| fate = Bankrupt
| predecessor =
| successor =
| founded = {{Start date and age|1967|04|01}} in New York City, New York, U.S.
| defunct = {{End date|1998}}
| hq_location_city = New York City, New York
| hq_location_country = U.S.
| area_served =
| key_people = Selma Weiser (Founder)
Barbara Weiser
Jon Weiser
| products =
| owner =
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| parent =
| website =
}}
Charivari was a chain of clothing stores in New York City. Its first store opened in 1967 and had grown to six stores before finally closing in 1998. It is known for championing avant-garde fashion designers in the 1980s. The name translates to "uproar" in French.{{Cite web |last=Benjamin |first=Claudie |date=June 9, 2020 |title=An Interview with Barbara Weiser, A Founder of Charivari |url=https://ilovetheupperwestside.com/barbara-weiser-founder-of-charivari-interview/ |access-date=November 30, 2023 |website=i love the upper west side}} Its rise to prominence in fashion coincided with the gentrification of its neighborhood, Manhattan's Upper West Side.{{cite news|last1=Sischy|first1=Ingrid|author-link = Ingrid Sischy|title=The Rise and Fall of Charivari, the Cult Boutique of Fashion's Cutting Edge|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/08/the-rise-and-fall-of-charivari-the-cult-boutique-of-fashion|accessdate=3 March 2018|work=Vanity Fair|date=4 August 2016}}
History
The Charivari stores were founded by Jon Weiser, his mother Selma and his sister Barbara Weiser in 1967.{{cite web |author=Kahn, Anna |date=16 July 2017 |title=Charivari: A fashionable upper west side story |url=https://www.westsiderag.com/2017/07/16/charivari-a-fashionable-upper-west-side-story |accessdate=7 April 2020 |work=West Side Rag}}
In 1976, the men's department relocated to its own store across the street. That year, Esquire magazine included Charivari in a feature on America's eight top stores. During the 1970s and 1980s the store grew from one to five locations (four on the Upper West Side and one on West 57th street).{{cite news|last1=Duka|first1=John|title=A Charivari in Midtown|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/17/style/a-charivari-in-midtown.html|accessdate=3 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=17 June 1984}}{{cite news|last1=Schiro|first1=Anne-Marie|title=Fashion; A Kickier, Bigger Charivari|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/07/style/fashion-a-kickier-bigger-charivari.html|accessdate=3 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=7 October 1990}} A sixth location on the Upper East Side was added in 1992.{{cite news|last1=Weber|first1=Bruce|author-link = Bruce Weber (photographer)|title=Selma Weiser, Boutique Innovator, Dies at 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/business/17weiser.html|accessdate=3 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=16 June 2009}} The Upper West Side locations were designed by Alan J. Buchsbaum.{{cite news|last1=Giovannini|first1=Joseph|title=Alan Buchsbaum, High Tech Architect, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/11/obituaries/alan-buchsbaum-high-tech-architect-dies.html|accessdate=3 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=11 April 1987}}
Writing about the closing of the chain in The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead noted: "If, during the nineteen-eighties, you wanted your clothes to indicate that you were a) in the know, fashion wise; b) a bit of an intellectual; and c) not afraid of wearing unfinished seams or jackets turned inside out, or other things that might, if not worn with sufficient élan, look like fashion disasters, then you shopped at Charivari."{{cite magazine |last1=Mead |first1=Rebecca |author-link=Rebecca Mead |date=1 February 1999 |title=Rag Trade |pages=24 |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/01/rag-trade-16 |accessdate=3 March 2018}}
The founders attributed the company's decline and eventual failure to poor financial planning, the recession in the 1990s and its own success: the availability of the avant-garde designers championed by Charivari in both the designers' own stores and at larger department stores made a store like Charivari unnecessary.{{cite news |last1=Foderar |first1=Lisa W. |date=6 November 1997 |title=Charivari: Boutique Blues on West 57th Street |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/06/nyregion/charivari-boutique-blues-on-west-57th-street.html |accessdate=3 March 2018}}
The Charivari Detroit Musical Festival was named in tribute to the brand.{{cite magazine |last1=Walters |first1=Wendy S. |title=How a Legendary Fashion Brand Inspired a Musical Revolution |url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a44507854/charivari-detroit-tech/ |access-date=8 November 2024 |magazine=Harper's Bazaar |date=11 July 2023}}
Activities
The Charivari stores featured Japanese and European designer wear, including Azzedine Alaïa, Giorgio Armani, Ann Demeulemeester, Dolce & Gabbana, Perry Ellis, Jean Paul Gaultier, Katharine Hamnett, Marc Jacobs (who, as a teenager, worked at Charivari), Helmut Lang, Issey Miyake, Thierry Mugler, Dries van Noten, Prada, Gianni Versace, and Yohji Yamamoto.
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:Clothing brands of the United States
Category:Clothing retailers of the United States
Category:American companies established in 1967
Category:Clothing companies established in 1967
Category:Retail companies established in 1967
Category:Defunct companies based in New York City