Out of Office: MM.LaFleur’s NYC Showroom Is a Shopping Haven for Busy Professionals
July 23, 2016
Earlier this year, Fast Company dubbed us “the clothing brand for professional women who hate to shop,” and that was just fine with us. We’ve always known there was a large number of women who have good taste and want to cultivate great work style, but have #BetterThingsToDo than shop—and we don’t blame them. Fluorescent lights, long lines, pushy salespeople, and racks of uninspired pantsuits? No thank you.
Here at MM, we specialize in helping women build their work wardrobes without any of the usual hassle. First, we did it with the Bento Box; now, we’re expanding our thoughtful styling services to include in-person appointments. With our new NYC showroom (“Out of Office”), we’re on a mission to change the way women shop for work.
Our hypothesis: This will be the most productive, personalized, and stress-free shopping experience of your life. Here’s why.
1. You’ll be styled by someone who gets you.
At your Out of Office appointment, you won’t simply shop—you’ll work with a dedicated personal stylist to zero in on the pieces that work best for your body shape and lifestyle. And if the term “personal styling” sends a shiver down your spine, don’t worry; this won’t involve baring your soul in front of a stylist who silently judges you from behind her oversized Chanel shades. MM stylists are incredibly warm, empathetic people who understand the codes of dressing for a corporate environment. And honestly, we think you’re great just the way you are. We’re not out to overhaul your look (unless you want us to, of course); our mission is just to help you find the pieces that will serve you best and make you feel like a trillion bucks.
2. You’ll cut to the chase.
As a busy professional, your most precious commodity is time. We get it. Your stylist will pre-pull a number of looks (usually 10 pieces) that will be waiting in a private dressing room when you arrive. No fruitless browsing, no decision paralysis. From there, your stylist will help you create outfits and offer tips on how to style your pieces in multiple ways. “My stylist had a ton of tall-friendly options waiting for me when I arrived,” said one customer. “And she didn’t even blink when I threw in the ‘I am also pregnant’ curveball. I found a ton of things I love.”
3. One hour of styling can save you dozens of hours of “shopping.”
The problem with typical shopping is that you can sink a whole day at the mall without really accomplishing much. At Out of Office, you’ll be shocked by what we’ll manage in just one hour. Imagine: If you made one Out of Office visit a quarter, you could build your entire work wardrobe for the year in just four hours. Four hours! Now imagine what you could do with all the extra time you don’t spend clicking around on the Internet or poking through racks.
4. It’s more than stress-free. It’s delightful.
Airy dressing rooms. Natural light. Billie Holiday in the background. Champagne at the ready. Comfy chairs and a library full of carefully chosen books (think Joan Didion, Zadie Smith, Virginia Woolf). Sound like a place you want to hang out? Yes, us too. (We regularly have to shoo our own employees out of the showroom and back to their desks.) “MM clothes are wonderful, but it’s the ladies at the showroom that make the experience so special,” said one customer. “It was a no-pressure environment, and it just felt like you were hanging out with a bunch of your friends.”
This is a place where purposeful women can come to shop and go into full relaxation mode. When was the last time those two things coincided?
Book your Out of Office appointment here. Not in NYC? We often take the experience on the road at pop-ups around the country. We’re now taking appointments for San Francisco (Aug. 2-14) and D.C. (Sept. 7-18).
