Lost Boys owner Kelly Muccio dresses attorney Derek Shaffer at the members-only Black Room. Photograph by Ali Eaves
Regulars at Georgetown men’s boutique Lost Boys know it’s the place to head for pain-free shopping. Amid brown leather easy chairs and exposed brick walls, owner Kelly Muccio loosens up customers with bourbon or beer, then helps them sift through urban-cool brands such as Band of Outsiders and Rogan. Sounds nice, right?
Well, just wait until you see the Black Room.
Located directly above Lost Boys, Muccio’s latest venture is a members-only private styling studio, and the extra perks make themselves known right away.
As you enter, you’re greeted by a Lost Boys cocktail (a concoction of Scotch, honey, and chocolate and orange bitters developed by master mixologist Derek Brown) and invited to settle into a handmade Rogan Gregory leather chair. Then three corrugated-metal doors swing open to reveal looks selected just for you by Muccio and her team.
These three outfits are just the starting point for each hour-long appointment, in which Muccio and two assistants dress you head to toe in pieces preselected and special-ordered to fit you (the studio will only hold clothes in your size), your style, and your fashion comfort zone. While the inventory naturally includes pieces from Lost Boys downstairs, Black Room shoppers are also granted access to a few ultra-exclusive options. Muccio says Rogan and Band of Outsiders are onboard to create pieces just for members, and she’ll special-order pieces straight from the runways and shop other high-end men’s stores to ensure that you can find the best the country has to offer all under one roof.
Last Sunday, attorney Derek Shaffer visited to update his winter wardrobe. Muccio has been dressing Shaffer since his girlfriend first dragged him to Lost Boys a year ago, but this was his first experience in the Black Room. Over 90 minutes (his appointment ran long), Muccio showed Shaffer an Armani velvet blazer ordered specifically for him, Tom Ford sunglasses similar to those Daniel Craig wore in Casino Royale, and burgundy Salvatore Ferragamo boots—all things he would have never picked out for himself.
Shaffer wound up buying all three.
“Kelly is able to make me look like me, just much, much better,” Shaffer says. “She develops a sense of what I feel comfortable in but does a thoughtful, insightful job of pushing the boundaries and coming up with looks I wouldn’t have thought of.”
The Black Room will also serve as the US launching point for several brands not currently available stateside. Up first: Sweden’s The White Briefs collection of undershirts, briefs, and pajamas, which made its first appearance in the country during Shaffer’s appointment.
Like most members-only clubs, Black Room service is limited to a very select group. The styling studio’s clientele (men only) is composed mostly of lawyers, CEOs, and a few high-profile Washingtonians, Muccio explains—though she did just dress a London-bound George Washington University student who was in need of British style tips.
Membership is by invitation only. You can sign up to be on the waitlist through the Lost Boys Web site, but Muccio says that doesn’t guarantee you membership—apparently, there’s an interview involved. She won’t say how many memberships are available, nor how many members there are so far, but she does say that the number is limited. Appointments cost $600 to $800.
