Review: The Westside

THE WESTSIDE

Upper East Side | 1162 Madison Avenue | The Westside

The Westside provides a highly curated, immersive shopping experience to discover new designers or try on clothing from your favorite Instagram brands. Check out the full review below.

THE WESTSIDE :

PRODUCT

The Westside is a boutique made for the Instagram fashion-set. The edit is highly curated with a focus on up and coming designers and brands that you may have only seen online. This is the place you come to try on clothes and accessories from labels you may be familiar with from Instagram like Warm, Rhode Resort and Lele Sadoughi. You can also find a curated selection of wellness products and home accessories like coffee table books and candles. If you are someone who finds themselves constantly bored from traditional department store shopping but wants to touch and feel the clothes you may buy from net-a-porter or matchesfashion in person, The Westside is the perfect place to go.

PEOPLE

The staff in store are not particularly friendly, they are seemingly content to let you navigate the store on your own. They do seem to know their regulars well and are able to chat with them about everything from where they are taking their next vacation to where their son is going to college next year. This dynamic can make the store feel a bit cold from the perspective of an outsider. While the staff may not go out of their way to guide you through the store they are certainly on hand and knowledgeable should you have any questions about sizing or style.

PLACE

The store sets its aesthetic tone early with a beautiful storefront display of flowers surrounding the door. Inside you feel as though you are in your dream Malibu home and instantly want to buy everything in sight. You are immersed in the aesthetic from the moment you step inside from the art on the walls to the music on the speakers to the clothes and accessories themselves. Just as the clothes feel like an extension of your Instagram feed, so too does the physical space.

VIBES

The Westside is the truest embodiment of the Instagram fashion aesthetic IRL. In an age where much of the selection at traditional department stores looks the same, it’s great to be able to go to a store and actually discover new designers or try on clothing from your favorite Instagram brands. While it would be an added bonus if the staff was friendlier and more outgoing, they are almost beside the point at the store. You will want to keep coming back to see the latest selection and discover whatever new brands The Westside has in stock. And maybe after a while you will even become a regular.