New York – Fashion insiders Vanessa Traina and Morgan Wendelborn has launched retail website The Line, which also has an offline store in the guise of a SoHo loft.
The Apartment, in Manhattan, looks lived in, with a slightly rumpled bed and a fur throw on the couch. In reality, it is the showroom for The Line, a website of highly curated luxury products. Traina wanted to focus on what she calls ‘the quintessentials – refined, versatile and honest goods’.
On the website, each object is presented with the story of its provenance, while in The Apartment, the objects are displayed in situ. Everything, from the art hanging on the walls to the bathroom towels, is shoppable. The space also hosts dinners, workshops and discussions.
The merging of the online and offline worlds is a trend we have been tracking for a while and was explored in our Dawn of the Mega-systems macrotrend. Traina’s version shows how a brand’s online identity can be enhanced and completed by an offline, tangible presence.