Englewood–A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held this Tuesday at 1 p.m. to inaugurate the newest MIRI Couture boutique in Englewood. Located at 37 North Dean Street, the store joins ten other MIRI locations in Cedarhurst, Brooklyn, Lakewood, London, Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.
“We opened in Englewood because we knew there was a large potential clientele that has an appreciation of quality garments, and are looking for designs that meet their more conservative needs,” said designer and proprietor Miri Urbach. “It’s always been a dream of mine to open stores all over the world. I knew there was a client base here in Englewood because my other locations in Cedarhurst and Brooklyn were getting customers who had traveled to shop at my stores. What we offer our clients, and what keeps them loyal, is the ability to merge high fashion with sensibility. It’s haute couture without the runway price tags.”
The MIRI label is widely recognized for its couture eveningwear made accessible with Pret-a-porter prices, including an acclaimed bridal line with a devoted international following. New at MIRI is the sportswear line, MIRI 2.0, featuring dresses, suits and separates. MIRI creations all have the designer’s personal touch. Miri produces beautiful, original creations fit for royalty. “I dress princesses,” she said, “senators’ wives, Miss America contestants and celebrities.”
Urbach started designing at age 3. “I always loved clothes. It was a true passion,” she said. “I was constantly scrutinizing and studying fashion magazines, and creating and sketching. I would get in trouble in school because instead of taking notes I’d be drawing pictures of dresses.” As a young girl, she would cut paper and try to make patterns, and she loved dressing up. Though she grew up in Brooklyn, her Belgian mother often took her to Europe, especially Paris, to see the designer collections, where she cultivated a particular interest in Chanel. At 17, Urbach apprenticed in Paris with a small couturier “whose gowns started at $10,000.”
Miri was also designing dresses for friends. People in the fashion world began to notice her work and kept asking, “Whose label is that?” When told it was Miri, they began to ask to see her line. “I couldn’t believe it,” Urbach recalled. “I asked: ‘My line? I can show you my closet.’”
And so it began. Miri hired a few seamstresses at the age of 22 and eventually moved into a showroom that takes up an entire floor on Seventh Avenue, with dozens of people working for her. “I know what makes a woman feel good,” she said. “She wants to make a statement when she walks into a room.”
MIRI stores feature signature styles that are only available through her design house, and which are made with the finest fabrics from Europe, such as pure silk, French lace, and Italian wool, Many are hand embroidered. Urbach personally designs everything, and the dresses are made in Europe in factories used by the top couturiers, and beaded by their own artisan beaders. Typically, Urbach makes five to six samples of a dress first, and the entire process of designing and constructing a dress can take three months. “We also have a ready-to-wear line, where customers are able to come in and see the dresses, but if they need a higher neck line, a lower neck line, or whatever, then we really can customize it,” Urbach said. “We have custom design service as well. If they want a bespoke bridal gown, we’re able to design something completely from scratch. We’re not just a dress boutique. We’re a brand. At this point, we’ve become a fashion house,” Urbach said. “And we’re excited by the chance to dress Bergen County.”
For more information about the stores, check out https://www.facebook.com/mirinewyork
By Lisa Matkowsky
