Our Story

Freya was founded in 2021 by Madison Dowd and Gretta Bannister, the duo behind the Upper East Side store Ludivine. While curating for the boutique, they discovered a niche in the market for pieces that sit perfectly between daytime dressing and special occasion. The vision began on a Friday night spent dreaming up the ideal look for that evening, drawing inspiration from archival vintage and the designers’ unique understanding of retail and fit. The ideal style always revolved around fabrics with an element of interest like texture, beading, or print, designed in easeful shapes making it both special enough to feel novel, but casual enough to be worn for any occasion. A brand that focused on specialty fabrics, created in modern shapes that can take you from an uptown lunch to a downtown dinner, seamlessly, was missing from the marketplace. 

Freya, the origin for the modern word Friday, became that brand. Sourcing hand-beaded French lace, playful silk prints, and luxurious tweeds from designer mills, Freya crafts these fabrics into timeless shapes. It’s this juxtaposition of fabric and shape that creates the balance of novelty and wearability in Freya garments. Each piece is carefully designed with clients in mind, often producing one-of-a-kind styles allowing the brand to match the specialty pieces to clients who will cherish them season after season.