We Met at a Shoe Store in Capri Long Ago and Now I Get To Call This Fashion Mogul One of My Best Friends
Alina sits down with her close friend Beth Buccini, owner of Kirna Zabête, which is about to open three more stores!
Full disclosure.
You’re about to read a story about one of my best friends.
Beth Buccini and Alina Cho, The 25th Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit, July 28, 2018, Source: BFA
Here’s the thing.
My bestie, Beth Buccini, is doing something pretty incredible and I want all of you to know about it.
Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
The truth is, if you follow fashion, you’re probably already aware that Beth is the owner of Kirna Zabête.
Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
The multi-brand luxury retail store with four locations:
New York’s SoHo…
Kirna Zabête SoHo, Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
East Hampton…
Kirna Zabête East Hampton, Photo Courtesy: Beth Buccini
Kirna Zabête East Hampton, Photo Courtesy: Beth Buccini
Palm Beach…
Kirna Zabête Palm Beach, Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
Kirna Zabête Palm Beach, Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Kirna Zabête Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
Here’s the news flash:
Kirna Zabête is about to open three more locations — uptown on Madison Avenue, Nashville, and Miami.
You heard me.
So, when you can buy everything on your iPhone, why open more physical stores?
In a word: service.
NASHVILLE IS BOOMING, EVERYONE WANTS UPTOWN, MIAMI NEEDS MULTI-BRAND
ALINA CHO: During COVID, we were all shopping for slippers and pajamas and sweats online. Now, you're doubling down on the retail experience because... why?
BETH BUCCINI: Because people really love being known and having an exceptional customer service experience and a great edit in their hometown or a place where they're traveling, where it's really joyous to go in and have someone take care of you.
ALINA CHO: It's also something as simple as, you just want to go and try it on, right?
BETH BUCCINI: Absolutely. And you want an opinion, rather than being alone in your closet at 11 o'clock at night.
ALINA CHO: You want some guidance.
BETH BUCCINI: You need an expert.
ALINA CHO: Good point.
BETH BUCCINI: And so, I thought about the places where I wanted to be, and the first place that I'm opening is on Madison Avenue.
Kirna Zabête Madison Avenue, Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
ALINA CHO: I've been begging you to open uptown, admit it.
BETH BUCCINI: You've been begging me. As have many other people.
ALINA CHO: Because I feel like many of your girls, and by girls, I mean your shoppers, are there.
BETH BUCCINI: And listen, we're hearing this in Palm Beach all the time, "Would you please open uptown?" And we're hearing it in East Hampton all the time. And we know that we have a lot of customers who live in both of those places and many people on Madison Avenue or Upper East Siders will not cross...
ALINA CHO: 14th Street.
BETH BUCCINI: 57th. Let's be real.
ALINA CHO: And when does that store open?
BETH BUCCINI: That will open at the end of this year.
ALINA CHO: On Madison and…
BETH BUCCINI: Between 74th and 75th.
ALINA CHO: Could not be better.
BETH BUCCINI: Directly across the street from the Apple store.
ALINA CHO: Get your iPhone 14 and then shop for Loewe.
BETH BUCCINI: Exactly, and then the next place I'm opening, in probably March of next year, is Nashville.
Rendering of Kirna Zabête Nashville, Sketch courtesy: Beth Buccini
ALINA CHO: Yeah, so why Nashville? It's an interesting choice.
BETH BUCCINI: My husband is an owner of the Virgin Hotel in Nashville...
ALINA CHO: … and many hotels.
BETH BUCCINI: And many hotels. And he was going to the city and kept coming home and saying, "This place is insane. You can't believe... "
ALINA CHO: It's booming.
BETH BUCCINI: "It's absolutely booming. I've never seen construction like this in an American city. It's really powerful."
ALINA CHO: He saw that money was coming in, obviously.
BETH BUCCINI: Correct. So, I went to visit the city, and it is positively electric. I just fell in love with it.
ALINA CHO: Let’s talk about your third location, which is Miami, and this is super exciting, too.
BETH BUCCINI: Super exciting. I'm opening in the Miami Design District probably at the end of next year.
Miami Design District, Source: Forbes
ALINA CHO: What's the argument for Miami? Because Miami actually does have strong retail.
BETH BUCCINI: Miami has a lot of mono-brand retail.
Source: Dezeen
There's no multi-brand that exists in the Design District.
ALINA CHO: Ah. Smart.
BETH BUCCINI: So, the Design District, to me, really felt like a shrine to all the incredible mono brands that are out there, but there's no discovery there. There are no emerging upcoming designers…
ALINA CHO: That element of discovery is not something to be discounted, it's actually very important, right?
BETH BUCCINI: We've always had the same mantra since we opened in 1999, which was to have the best edit of the most important designers of today and tomorrow.
Kirna Zabête SoHo, Photo courtesy: Beth Buccini
So yes, we have the big guys, the big names, you know, Loewe, Bottega [Veneta], Alaïa, but the discovery is really one of my most favorite parts of the job.
ALINA CHO: I get it.
BETH BUCCINI: I love seeing new designers and I love being able to grow them into big businesses for us.
KIRNA ZABÊTE, THE BRAND
ALINA CHO: Let’s talk about [Kirna Zabête] private label, [your own brand of clothing].
BETH BUCCINI: I had dabbled in some design projects before; I did a collaboration with Target...
Kirna Zabête x Target, Source: Teen Vogue
ALINA CHO: I remember.
BETH BUCCINI: I did a collaboration with Nine West, I did a group of summer dresses with Gilt, I did a Birkenstock collaboration.
Kirna Zabête x Birkenstock, Source: Birkenstock
ALINA CHO: That's right. Gosh, you have done a lot.
BETH BUCCINI: And COVID was really in many ways such an uncreative time because there were a lot of business problems you had to resolve very quickly. And I thought, "God, I'm wearing these T-shirts over and over and over again. This T-shirt's too big, this is too loose, this is too sheer, this is too tight.” So, I really thought about all the problems with T-shirts in my life.
https://www.kirnazabete.com/collections/kirna-zabete/products/ribbed-short-sleeve-crewneck-tee
ALINA CHO: And what you need.
BETH BUCCINI: And then I thought, I want to put on a cute dress but I'm not putting on an $800 dress for my one big outing to the grocery store this week, I want a dress [that won't break the bank] to look cute at the grocery store because that's where I get to go this week and that's going to be really exciting.
https://www.kirnazabete.com/collections/kirna-zabete/products/the-virginia-dress-3
And so that's how it started.
https://www.kirnazabete.com/collections/kirna-zabete/products/the-elsie-dress
And so, we now think of the line as your basics, your essentials that you need for every day, the random thing you want to throw on on a Tuesday or just the no-brainers that you want to reach for over and over that aren't too precious, but you still feel chic and polished when you put it on.
BFFS FOREVER
ALINA CHO: One last thing, unless there's anything else is, a lot of people always want to know how we met.
BETH BUCCINI: [You] and I met in a shoe store in Capri.
Beth Buccini and Alina Cho, Capri, Italy, July 4, 2022, Source: Foto Flash Capri
I couldn't turn off the retail. [You were] belaboring over a purchase of a pair of Capri jeweled sandals.
Source: Luxury Travel's Guide
And, finally, I just had to jump in.
ALINA CHO: You told me exactly what to buy and how many.
BETH BUCCINI: I was like, "Listen, is this your first pair?" And you said, "Yes." And I said, "How many are you going to buy here?" And you were like, "I don't know." And I said, "If you're buying one, you're only going to get this one. If you're going to buy two, you're going to get these two, and if it's three, it's these three." And [you] got it, and then we saw each other at dinner every single night and then we were on a plane to Paris together.
ALINA CHO: And that's when I realized you owned Kirna Zabête, and I was like, "Oh wait, hold on. She's going to be my BFF."
BETH BUCCINI: And it's true, that happened.