The Dressing Room: Drinks and Dresses, Day and Night!

Shopping, cocktails, live music and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, what more could you want?  Located on 75a Orchard Street in the Lower East Side ‘The Dressing Room’ is a hybrid boutique and cocktail bar with a twist!

The atmosphere was relaxed with a gentle buzz of chat with seeming regulars bantering with the barman, while candles flickered and cocktails were sipped as customers perused the racks of original New York designers’ wears.  Choosing the shop’s signature ‘Dressing Room Cocktail’ and ‘Orange County’, our experience was only further enhanced by the unique experience of watching ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ play out on the back wall to a completely new soundtrack of the live band who had come for the Tuesday night session.

The concept is novel: It was created by co-owners Alexandra Adame and local designer Nikki Fontanella to promote Fontanella’s and other local designers’ works while also being a place where they could all come and relax, creating a lively atmosphere buzzing with creativity and allowing people to indulge in a little bit of late night retail therapy (and it’s true, how many other shops are open until midnight?

Yes, the shop brings together two of the best things (shopping and cocktails!), but it is much more than that. It doesn’t just stop at drinks and dresses, but also hosts weekly events such as live music on Tuesday nights, movies on Sunday nights, as well as DJs, trunk shows and parties. The owners (Adame, Fontanella and Paul Frazier) have succeeded in creating a venue that is the perfect place to go after work and have a great time.

The Upstairs Bar and Boutique:

The space is used effectively, divided into three sections, each visible from the change of décor. The ground floor is divided between the ‘old world’ bar area on one side, and the ‘clean and contemporary’ area dedicated to ‘New York’s up-and-coming and underground designers’ on the other. The designers are rotated every four months giving them time to display and sell their work. The downstairs on the other hand is the ‘clothing exchange’ where buyers can choose from a selection of vintage and second hand men’s and women’s apparel which have either been bought from or traded with the public.

Shoes Galore in the ‘Downstairs Clothing Exchange’;

Located in the Lower East Side, as the owners explain, the shop brings back a little bit of history to the former garment district of the city

The shop is open until the wee hours (Tuesdays to Thursdays until midnight, and 2am on the weekends), so if late night shopping and champagne tickles your fancy ‘The Dressing Room’ at 75a Orchard Street is definitely a must.

The Dressing Room Boutique & Bar [Map]
75a Orchard Street