When ALLTOOHUMAN founder Jessica Knez was looking to open her own store, she wanted to move beyond the traditional retail boutique experience and create a space where great fashion could co-exist with contemporary art installations. How to blend her two passions of art and clothing became her first mission.
Knez partnered with former Riccardi Creative Director Joseph Morrissey, and the two felt strongly that there was a demand in Boston for brands that were nowhere to be found locally. Jessica and Joseph saw fashion-savvy shoppers traveling outside of Massachusetts to get their hands on exclusive men’s and women’s hard-to-find designers , so they bridged the gap, bringing brands like Raf Simons Delpozo, Gosha Rubchinskiy, and JW Anderson to Newbury Street.
This was part one of the equation for ALLTOOHUMAN. While making these brands more accessible to shoppers was a key part of the store’s vision, there was still a passion for Boston’s arts scene that Jessica wanted to weave into her endeavor.
To kick this initiative off, Knez formed a collaboration with local artist Elaine Buckholtz (icon image) who currently has four original pieces of art that are prominently displayed in the store and available for sale. The space is now a positive platform for Boston’s art community to thrive. ALLTOOHUMAN will rotate artists on a bimonthly basis, and will be featuring the works of Boston artists Jeff Perrot and Bill Thompson later this year.
ALLTOOHUMAN is located at 236 Clarendon Street, just of Newbury Street.
Knez & Morrissey have continued to look at ways to extend ALLTOOHUMAN beyond the walls of its store, collaborating with local university students on design projects, introducing more than 25 brands that were previously unavailable in Boston and garnering interest from local and international artists looking at ways they can work with the store to inject a passion for the arts in the heart of Boston’s shopping district.
This month, world renowned artist Daniel Arsham will be unveiling his first work in Boston, which will be showcased exclusively at ALLTOOHUMAN. This focus on arts and fashion brings back sentiments of Newbury Street of old, and the role that ALLTOOHUMAN is playing in bringing that essence of Newbury Street back through a renaissance of passionate, local businesses.
ALLTOOHUMAN blends art, fashion, and events in its space.
What Knez has found as part of the Newbury Collection is that the consumer has too many options to settle for the tired, old shopping model. They want something experiential, something that is different and something that they can get locally with a broad appeal; and that’s what they are finding at ALLTOOHUMAN.