At home, with society room

“There’s no question that e-commerce is the future,” said Yvan Benbanaste, the gregarious 46-year-old founder and creative director of Society Room, “but ultimately I wanted to give my friends a good reason to get out of the house and shop.”

Located in a 19th-century brick maisonette tucked in a courtyard near the Madeleine, the store, for want of a better word, initially appears to be just an enviably appointed Parisian home, with a 1980s Italian gold and glass console in the foyer, custom-made alabaster light fixtures by Ruben Glustin in the stairwell and, in the living room, a black-and-white portrait of Naomi Campbell by photographer Albert Watson.

Except everything is for sale. And along with the flea market finds, the art dealer loaners and the Pierre Frey curtains, there are the tailored suits, little black dresses and cocktail jumpsuits designed by Benbanaste.

And it all is refreshed about every six months.

Opened quietly last October, this is not the kind of shop where you can just drop by on a whim and browse. As its name implies, Society Room is for friends and friends-of-friends by a degree or two of separation. You can’t make a reservation the way you do at a restaurant, either. Shopping is by invitation only.

That invitation often includes cocktails, maybe dinner, served on the oval table that seats 12 in a mallard blue dining room tucked between a tiny design studio and the kitchen

The business plan (such as it is) is to “throw people together and see what happens,” Benbanaste said. And at any gathering, you might meet professionals from the film industry, publishing, art, fashion, management, finance or law.

Had Benbanaste lived in another era, he would have been the host of a literary salon. As it is, when he hit a professional crossroads a year ago, the self-described textile geek decided to funnel his experience at the Italian luxury menswear brands A. Testoni and Pal Zileri into what he called “real life dressing” for women and men, “at a reasonable price, in a place where people feel at home.”

The details didn’t come into focus until Fabrice Pinchart-Deny, his business partner, came up with the concept of an actual home.

A friend of Benbanaste’s from high school, Pinchart-Deny had been an equity trader in London and then briefly worked in real estate in Paris before joining the business full time. (It was his wife’s reaction to the clothes that convinced him of the project’s commercial potential.)

“As someone who loves Parisian style, I had to admit that I no longer recognized it in what I was seeing in shop windows, particularly abroad,” Benbanaste said. What really got to him was what he called the “Las Vegas aspect” of fashion, as seen on social media.

Yet Benbanaste enjoys the kind of lifestyle seemingly made for Instagram. His feed is filled with glamorous gatherings in Paris and exotic locales, be it a birthday weekend on Mykonos, a bash in London or a winter break in Tulum, Mexico, which may help explain his womenswear aesthetic: “Jane Birkin steals Serge Gainsbourg’s wardrobe.”

That translates into a tightly edited collection of chic workhorse basics including crisp poplin shirts (starting at 140 euros, or $174) and silk blouses, jackets in stretch cotton micro-jacquard, wool and mohair tuxedos (suits range from 500 to 2,500 euros), and coats in chocolate suede and shearling.

There are pajama-style separates in Indian silk and cotton jumpsuits that offer a poolside alternative to the sarong. Delivery for tailored pieces, produced in Europe, takes three to four weeks.

Jewelry by friends such as Marie Gas of Gas Bijoux and Franco-Mexican designer Sophie Simone Cortina, and flat sandals by Lorine Driot, the founder of the sandal brand Nupié, rounded out the shop’s mix last month. Their wares will continue to be showcased, and Benbanaste will add other brands as he sees fit.

On the men’s side, Christmas gift certificates for 150 euros bespoke shirts proved a hit, he said, as did the wrinkle-resistant travel jackets. They’ve also logged numerous orders for tuxedos for the Cannes Film Festival in May.

“My friends look at fashion in a classical way, but with a touch of whimsy,” Benbanaste said. They have a kind of uniform, and they’re looking for something beautiful and sober that will let them stand out. And they’re done with having to find the time, then standing in line to try clothes on or pay for them.”

Ad hoc as it sounds, he and Pinchart-Deny are already fielding inquiries: A pop-up space is to appear in September in Lisbon, and trunk shows are being planned in London and New York.

At home in France, Society Room has begun building out its concept: On Thursday, it will host an exhibition by photographer Stéphane Bisseuil at the restaurant Alcazar on the Left Bank.

And a fabric discovery/wine tasting event is planned for April at the headquarters of the Chateau de Ladoucette wine group, in the 16th Arrondissement.

So, how does a stranger join the party?

For events, prospective guests will be able to register on the Society Room’s website. As for the “home” shopping experience, after a moment’s thought, Benbanaste suggested: “They could always email and ask to drop by for tea.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.