Happy Isles Salon

TL;DR - Ambiance of a thrift store with the prices of an atelier. Google the dress before you buy; their pricing is predatory imo. __ As a lover and collector of vintage clothing, I was really excited for my appointment at HI. I arrived five minutes before my appointment time, and had to stand in the hallway and wait until they were ready for me. It's not really a hallway meant for waiting -- it's a narrow office hallway with no where to sit, so it was an awkward beginning. But no biggie, they did let me in promptly at my appointment time. It's a huge room that's surprisingly only about a third full of clothing, the rest of the footprint is a try-on area. There were two staff members there, and they sat me on the couch and sort of stood over me and asked what my price-point was. I already had my wedding dress and was just looking for a cocktail hour dress, and told them what I thought was a pretty generous $1200 cap. Their faces visibly fell. They were like "oh, okay, that's a little limiting but take a look around". Not exactly fabulous customer service when you're looking to drop a grand on a dress. Their website says they serve that price category, but honestly, I was limited to maybe a sixth of what they had on the floor. It was really middling in terms of selection, lots of no-name 80s skirt suits, things I wouldn't look twice at in a Goodwill. I ended up only wanting to try on four dresses. Even the dresses I looked at above my price range were mostly... just alright. More Mother of the Bride stuff. There were probably two dresses in the whole shop that I thought were *fabulous*. That leads me to my biggest issue with this place -- the prices are absolutely astronomical. This place is not for collectors who know how much pieces are worth. I appreciate that a brick and mortar presence in Manhattan is going to raise your prices, but we're talking about a 4x-5x markup. I tried on a Mugler dress they had priced at $4,200, and I googled it *during* my appointment and found the exact same dress for under a thousand on ebay. The other dress I liked was an aughts runway Versace (absolutely stunning) that was $7,500. More power to you if that's in your budget, but it's worth about half that. Overall, the experience was certainly not curated and luxurious enough to justify the prices. Buyer beware.

This is hands-down the best experience I had while shopping for my bridal outfits -- and it may be the best experience I've had shopping altogether. Courtney and Natalie were amazing! They welcomed us with drinks, were insanely kind in letting us all try on anything we wanted, suggested the most perfect outfit I've ever seen (which I purchased), and were just unbelievably wonderful. I cannot recommend this place enough. If you're on the fence about the initial cost, run (don't walk) to book. It's absolutely worth it, and the in-house selection is *stunning*. I will most certainly be back.

I walked out of the salon on air! Yesterday I went shopping for my reception dress at Happy Isles, it was my first bridal appointment and I was very nervous beforehand, but immediately upon entering the salon our two stylists, Leah and Chase, put me at ease with their warmth, kindness and professionalism. The salon is beautiful, a classic SOHO loft (but not cavernous), full of natural light and several racks of perfect dresses, gowns and sets, exquisitely curated. My mother, who is very frugal, said to me within the first few minutes of being there that she understood why I had chosen Happy Isles, referencing the meticulous curation of garments. I knew immediately that I was going to be able to find a dress, each item is stunning. Leah and Chase welcomed us with water and a giant sofa. They asked about my wedding and vision for the day and then urged all of us to start exploring the racks and to pull dresses regardless of size so that they could see my style. Then it became a collaboration: Leah and Chase started pulling dresses for me after asking me if I wanted to try on what they pulled. They were not pushy at all, they were very fun, funny and seemed to truly to enjoy their jobs and to want to help me have a wonderful experience and find what I was looking for. Leah and Chase helped me in and out of dresses at lightning speed, making sure that I was comfortable being touched and stripping down to my underwear. I would recommend wearing any shape wear you plan to wear at your event, and although you can keep you bra on (it's your choice of course) mine was quickly discarded so we could see the real shapes of the dresses. You can wear your own shoes only if they haven't been worn outside (so no dirt damages the dresses). The appointment was an hour and amazingly the first dress I tried on was the one I chose. They clipped me into it and I felt absolutely stunning, it was everything I wanted and how I wanted to feel. I tried on about ten pieces in total. A surprise twist was finding an outfit for my courthouse ceremony as well, which I thought I would have to find another day, but Leah pulled a stunning set that they had just gotten in, it fit like a glove and was too unique and special not to feel giddy in. Both the gown and the set together came in at under 6K, which for one-of-a-kind, vintage pieces, in silk, with tons of detailing, in fantastic condition, I felt was very fair. Leah and Chase made the day exceptional and I would truly recommend the salon to any friend. My sister and best friend came with me and I asked them afterwards if they would come back for themselves in the future, their answers were a unanimous "yes". Thank you Leah and Chase!

Amazing. Cannot rave enough about the experience I had during my bridal appointment! Stunning salon and wonderful sales associates that were helpful, warm, and extremely well-versed in vintage fashion/fashion history. The selection is beautifully curated and in pristine condition, and the prices reflect that. I loved seeing the selection of non-bridal gowns as well.

I was so excited for my bridal appointment at Happy Isles, but it turned out to be really disappointing. I never write negative reviews but really feel like this is important for customers to know. Their appointments are tough to get and cost $185 just to walk in the door. While expensive, I get that their inventory is designer and rare. I saw a gown on their IG that was at their LA shop, and asked if they could ship it to the NY location. They said they could for $150. Both the $150 and $185 don’t go towards any purchase. While I fully understood these policies, I think it’s obvious that $335 is an extraordinary amount to spend just to walk in the door and try on a dress. However, I happily paid as I was so excited about the dress. The in-store associates, Courtney and Leah, were lovely and I have nothing bad to say about the shop experience. I will note that there were only a handful of wedding gown options so don’t expect a super extensive collection. You can check most of them out beforehand on their IG. I adored the dress when I tried it on, and asked if they could put it on a hold while I went to another appointment next door immediately after, with intentions to purchase it within a few hours. Putting the dress on hold would be another $300, which does not get refunded. After already spending $335, I found it too difficult to put another $300 towards this and potentially spend $635 with nothing to show for it. When I contacted them a few hours later to purchase the gown, they told me they sold it to the person whose appointment was after mine. Of course, this was devastating as I spent months waiting for this appointment, felt like I finally found the one, and invested so much money which amounted to nothing. When I said this to them and asked at least for a refund on the $150 shipping I paid for another bride’s dress, they declined. I will absolutely admit that they communicated the risk in not buying the dress on the spot, but it feels very unfair to have one customer pay $150 for shipping just to have another customer buy it immediately. I paid for them to sell it to someone else. I expected better from a place with such a good reputation in the NY fashion and wedding world. I really hope they reconsider their policies and offer some sort of reimbursement for situations like this. It's really frustrating and surprising given their positive image, and exactly what’s so disheartening about the wedding industry. Picking a vintage gown should be such a cool opportunity, and they could at least take the “loss” for the sake of decent customer service.

Super friendly. Very cool selection of stuff. Very helpful and accommodating staff. You could spend a fortune here, but you don’t have to. We bought several pieces that we would have paid more for at Neimans.