How Gaëlle Drevet Built Fashion's Favorite Brand: The Frankie Shop

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

There’s no denying that The Frankie Shop has become an editor-approved, It-girl brand over the years through its effortlessly cool yet sophisticated silhouettes with a minimalistic flair. Taking the fashion industry by storm, it’s truly no surprise that the woman behind the brand, French native turned New Yorker Gaëlle Drevet, innately possesses that same je ne sais quoi that The Frankie Shop radiates. She founded the brand with the intention of making women feel good through the art of dressing, and over the years, she has done just that.

Drevet has had her finger on the pulse of how thousands of women from all over the globe want to shop, stocking her inventory with classic yet elevated wardrobe staples and a finely curated selection of under-the-radar designers that embody both Parisian and New Yorker styles. Continuing to blend the two fashion capitals, The Frankie Shop now has brick-and-mortar stores in both Paris and New York. The Frankie Shop has amassed a loyal following of customers, including women and men, as she just added an assortment for men last year that contributed to a total of $40 million in sales in 2022 alone, with some of the best-selling items garnering extensive waiting lists. Drevet saw a massive gap in the market and the desire to dress with Parisian sophistication without breaking the bank and continues to be at the forefront of the contemporary market. 

The Frankie Shop—unsurprisingly—is not Drevet’s first go in the industry. In fact, the Manhattan flagship location in the Lower East Side was once home to her first fashion venture, Pixie Market, where she curated an assortment of reasonably priced items for a slightly younger demographic in 2006. So, yes, Drevet has always had a keen eye. However, before she stepped into the fashion world, she actually had a completely different career as a producer for ABC News, and her early career was spent in journalism between New York and London. 

Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Drevet’s past career inspired her to explore her entrepreneurial side and how she continues to evolve The Frankie Shop in a rapidly changing industry. And keep scrolling to shop some of The Frankie Shop's latest arrivals.