Located along a familiar street of one-name designer easily duplicated in almost any global A-List city, Magistral stands alone on Mazaryk Avenue as one of the few fashion boutiques to offer national Mexican designers along such coveted house brands as Jason Wu, Comme de Garcons and Vivienne Westwood that are exclusive to the store in Mexico City. Inside the actual store, surrounded in glass with graffiti scribbling, designers are divided by mini-showrooms with glass cases and collectible objects by local designers and craftsman thrown-in to lend a more local effect. Factory shelves and industrial cabinets are the backdrop for oversize presentations of Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford and Dior Homme that come with staggering peso-converted price tags.
Tips
This uber fashion department store feels very similar to London’s Dover Street Market but with smaller rooms and abbreviated building showcasing more local designers and quirky houseware items.
Last Word
Its owners are two of the city’s true trend makers, who together navigate under the cultural radar for fear of being targeting by not-so-fashionable hoodlums and kidnappings. (no kidding). But these former Mexican Francophiles recently emerged from the store’s shadows and are now regularly fixtures in their Polanco showroom and in-house cafe.
