Just before Christmas, in the familial Manhattan neighborhood of Kips Bay, fashion emporium Dover Street Market (160 Lexington Ave.) opened its prodigious wooden doors. A concept department store created by designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, DSM’s other locations in London and Tokyo have been venerated by not just the fashion set but also by international aesthetes of all breeds. And this stylish, seven-story souk may just be the batch’s magnum opus. As its locale suggests, every detail of the store is captivatingly unorthodox, not unlike the garments Kawakubo has designed since the early ’70s. A ménage of architects and avant-garde artists transformed the landmarked building’s white interior piecemeal into discrete spaces, environments carefully attuned to the rotating roster of high-end designers. A wooden hive encapsulates a Louis Vuitton pop-up shop; a quilted wall buffers Supreme’s streetwear, right next to a cube of dark murals housing a Prada outlet. Helpful staff and the sweet-earth scent of one of Kawa-kubo’s unisex perfumes make lingering easy, as does the subtle soundtrack and the coy eyes of Comme des Garçon’s heart logos gazing from various nooks throughout. As at its sister stores, there’s an outlet of Paris’s favorite cafés, Rose Bakery, here residing on the ground floor. It’s the perfect place to pause for a tart and flat white before ascending back up to look more Garçons in the eye. –Gabrielle Lipton

 This article originally appeared in the February/March 2014 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Dover’s Debut”)