Toteme’s Upper East Side Store Is a Temple to Scandinavian Design

On the last day of New York Fashion Week, Swedish label Toteme opened a new store on Madison Avenue. When I arrived just after noon, it was already packed. Upstairs, in a warm cream room, women seated on a red leather and walnut chaise by Mas Theselius tried on boots, their shoeboxes strewn on a hand-knotted pure wool rug. Behind them was an earthy vase arranged with branches. Heading back down the spiral staircase (wrapped in a theatrical scarlet lacquer), I noticed a man and women standing with their hands in their pockets, looking around. It could have been at the clothes—Toteme’s signature and beloved minimalist pieces hung on a rack nearby. But it also could have been at the art. On the floor was Half Girl, a polished bronze sculpture by the contemporary Swedish artist Anders Krisár. On the left was a floor-to-ceiling library shelf made of limestone, but instead of books it presented Toteme’s leather handbags, as well as an abstract oil painting by Rolf Hanson.

It’s the brand’s second store in New York. The first, in SoHo, is more traditional: all on one floor, its dressing rooms in the back shrouded with black curtains. The Upper East Side location, on the other hand, is more akin to a townhouse: there are corridors and plenty of comfortable places to sit (including on an El Rey armchair by Theselius and Stool 530 poufs by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn). Wander around, and you’ll find playful objects dotted throughout (a candle with a nude warrior on a table, for example, or a monkey miniature tucked behind some shoes). The fitting rooms are discreetly and seamlessly built into the wall. “We wanted to tap into the eccentric spirit of the Upper East Side woman. The design is bold and quite expressive,” Toteme co-founder Elin King tells Vogue of the store’s interiors.