MiN New York

With the holidays fast approaching, now feels like the right time to start discussing gift giving and well … even just some new place to see and experience. The destination, experience and gift categories can be solved with a single visit to one of New York City’s rarest treasures. MiN is hiding in plain sight on Crosby Street and offers the visitor an experience which is exactly what proprietors Mindy Yang and Chad Murawczyk  pride themselves on. MiN is part apothecary, gift shop, gallery, olfactory agora, speak easy and remembrance of times gone by. Think Santa Maria Novella in Firenze as a possible frame of reference!

So let’s talk about gifts which can vary from the simplest of items such as bars of D.R. Harris almond oil soap or Trumper shaving cream. Please keep in mind we are NOT speaking of Sephora or Duane Reade varieties but a carefully curated selection of the world’s finest brands that offer a heritage and reputation known only to the very savvy. The offerings boggle the mind and range as said from a bar of soap to the wonderful scents which take the form of candles, eau de toilettes, perfumes, lotions, unguents and colognes. You might even find a scented water to use in your steam iron when pressing your fine linens. Simply said, this establishment has items you never knew you needed!

One of their most incredible items is their own private brand of candles which you might equate to Rigaud or a Dyptique on steroids; these candles far outshine their competition on so many levels. Aside from their custom scents these pillars of scent or bougies, if you will, release their fragrance even when unlit. When lit, these are the most incredible dispensers of scent as they permeate your space but never overpower the recipient’s olfactory senses. If all that is not enough then there are the custom designed translucent bone china lidded canisters that hold each candle. Each container has its own amazing traits including exclusive patterns and even platinum detailing.

For the more adventurous and financially blessed shopper, there is the Bespoke Fragrance Flight or BFF if you will, where a Wonder Pilot will steer you through the discovery of scents that are best suited for the “passenger.” My question is simply “can you verbalize and share your olfactory stimulants and memories?” Within approximately one hour the recipient will have arrived at possibly 5 “destinations” based on their responses ... think about it!! Not as easy as one might think!

One of the newest MiN innovations is Scent Stories which equates to an olfactory art experience or plainly stated a once in a lifetime experience for the most discerning of “noses!” A rather abbreviated explanation is that these perfumes are of limited edition that are signed and numbered. Your membership to this exclusive club takes place in MiN’s Members Vault where the entire process and selection occurs. Once again, the MiN experience is unlike any other!

From an educational point of view, allow Ms. Yang or one of her acolytes to inform you about the difference between truly bespoke scents and what it means to be a genuine perfumer as opposed to a potion maker! Here is a simple example to explain... think of a bartender mixing drinks as opposed to the distiller who actually creates the liquor! It’s an enlightening part of the MiN adventure.

My question to you … “what are you waiting for?”

www.MiN.com

SPRING /SUMMER reading....

With the advent of Spring comes a new crop of very fashionable reading material from all over the world.  The thread of commonality is of course fashion and all of its contiguous aspects.  Be it fashion in the purest sense … clothes, or the adjuncts of the subject, such as photography, scent, history of fabulous jewelry; the literary world has it covered!  So, here are my 10 recommendations for your enlightenment and for additions to your fashion library … learn something today, buy a book and read it!

Power and Style is not the usual photo heavy fashion volume but a serious study of what one can call an encyclopedia of “silent signals” that pertain to how a person presents themselves in matters of style.

Jewels from Imperial St. Petersburg reminded me that there is no greater pleasure than to hold and savor a volume of such high caliber… it is more than just a sumptuously and exquisitely illustrated book about “Russian jewelry.”

Cult Perfumes is an extraordinarily engaging treat about an aspect of fashion sensed but not seen “The creation of fragrance is one of the highest art forms . . . the equivalent of painting for sight and music for hearing . . . The art of perfume does indeed involve a love and appreciation of something higher than mere scent in a bottle.”.

The writers of Valentino Master of Couture: A Private View have bestowed upon us what can only be described as “a catwalk of history, stretching through the golden age of couture and continuing into the present.” These few words sum up the content and context of this mini treasure of a book.

Little Black Dress is described as an evolution of the little black dress, and yet the arrangement of the garments is nowhere near chronological, which makes it merely an inventory catalog.

Looking for a reason why books should still exist as printed matter? Here is an outstanding one: World Without Men is a prime example of a book that shines. Of course, this is all predicated on your being a Helmut Newton fan or having a great love of photography and fashion during a golden era.

Roger Vivier is a treasure trove of shoe design reminding us that in a time of Bally, Delman, Beth Levine, David Evins, and the Julianellis, the master of them all was Roger Vivier.

New Icons of Fashion Illustration exposes the reader to a new generation of those artists who might have at one time been considered the only true “artists” representing fashion. Boomers might recall that fashion illustration was once the primary method of advertising in magazines and newspapers.

C. Z. Guest: American Style Icon lives up to its name on every imaginable level and then goes on to deliver a genuinely endearing and personal portrait depicting a woman who is legendary and remains unforgettable. As one is reminded over and over in the book, “We’ll never see the likes of her again.” In the contemporary vernacular: True Dat!

Audrey in Rome is undoubtedly a love letter from an adoring son to his mother. This is a celebration of a woman who must have been a wonderful and loving mother as the book remembers her in the most endearing, iconic, and somewhat melancholy way, though the book never descends to the maudlin or schmaltzy.

There will be lots of rainy days and there might even be some space on your coffee table but most of all make some time to get lost in fashion and “take a trip” into some worlds that you never really knew much about… full reviews are available at http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/reviewer/jeffrey-felner...