::CONCEPT™ Magazine New York:: LIFESTYLE

Jay Ahr's Touch of French Grandeur

By Jessica Iredale

Jonathan Riss loves

New York. “I’m crazy

about this city,” says

the Paris-based

Belgian designer of

Jay Ahr, and he’s

working hard to make

the feeling mutual.

Bergdorf Goodman

introduced Jay Ahr’s

easy cocktail dresses

to the American public

last spring, and, while

Riss was pleased to

have such a prestigious

New York address, he

felt “it was important to

have a place here to

show more than one

dress on a rack.” So he

opened a private salon

at 801 Madison Avenue

last month. Done up

with crown moldings

imported from

Versailles, marble

furniture and Baccarat

crystal, the salon, which Riss believes offers the complete Jay Ahr experience, brings a touch of traditional French grandeur — not to mention the firm’s full ready-to-wear, jewelry and accessories collections — to New York.

Manhattan is more than just a new home to Riss. It has sentimental value. According to Riss, Jay Ahr, launched in 2005 and named for the phonetic spelling of Riss’ initials, was inspired by American style. “In New York, I saw all of these girls wearing dresses all the time,” says Riss. “I said, ‘Let’s

do something more

dressy for women in

Paris, so they can

take their jeans and

put them somewhere

else.’ Just wear a

dress, like that line

from Diane von

Furstenberg, ‘Feel like

a woman, wear a

dress.’” He started

with jersey T-shirt

dresses and eventually

added eveningwear to

the mix. Within a year,

Riss, who got into fashion by working in textile factories in the Ukraine and India before privately designing wedding dresses, opened a boutique on Paris’ Rue du 29 Juillet. The Jay Ahr collection, which retails for $1,500 to $6,000 for clothing and up to $8,500 for jewelry, is in more than 40 stores, including Bergdorf Goodman, Hirshleifer’s and Harrods and is also available on Net-a-Porter.com. Of course, Riss considers his Madison Avenue outpost to be the most exclusive venue of all.

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