Gushing Over The Break
A conversation with Hannah Richtman on kindness and community in the fashion world.
Photo: Courtesy of Hannah Richtman
Hannah Richtman is the mastermind behind New York’s beloved showroom, The Break, and the Founder and Designer of Gush, a little black thong brand for the decisive, the indulgent, and the unafraid. Just before The Break closed its doors (for now) I had the privilege of talking to Hannah about her journey and her plans for the future. After talking to her, I had no doubt her success has to do with her talent as much as with her unmatched kindness and incredible sense of community.
Originally from Wisconsin, Hannah moved to New York when she was 18 to pursue a career in fashion. Everyone involved in the industry at some point has realized that fashion can be elitist, especially when you are young and starting out. After meeting incredible people in the industry who were so full of life, charismatic, friendly, and generous, Hannah realized there was space to create a place where all of these people could come together and still be chic, cool, and innovative but with a focus on kindness and generosity.
For the past few years, The Break has been the retail destination for people looking to shop curated vintage pieces while drinking rosé and meeting like-minded individuals. When Hannah wrote the original business plan for The Break, just after graduating from college in 2013, she had the intention of creating a space where people who are interested in fashion, art, culture, hospitality, and music could come together to create a vibrant, welcoming community. The Break was always meant to be a place where you could shop, eat, drink, dance, fuck, and sleep all under one very safe, inclusive, fun, and unpretentious roof.
The Break has transformed side-by-side with Hannah; it has never been cohesive or perfect but it’s always been fun. Since closing the retail space at the end of September, The Break has pivoted from a store to a hospitality company that focuses on experiential retail and event production.
But every business plan has to start somewhere. For The Break, that included Hannah hosting parties at her NYC apartment. While she was working in retail and as a stylist in New York City, she gathered a collection of vintage pieces. Then, she would have friends over and they’d blast Rihanna, drink wine, style the pieces to create editorial looks, and upload them to a website to create completely shoppable looks that changed the perception of what second-hand clothing should look like. When people from Instagram started showing up in her apartment, Hannah realized there was a market for what she was doing. She moved to a small studio in Bushwick where she was able to keep building her platform and expanding the community. Eventually, she opened her first retail place in Greenpoint. “Selling a product gave me the ability to keep hosting events and parties for people who had a shared interest and wanted to come together,” Hannah explains.
Photo: Courtesy of Hannah Richtman
The Break has never been about the clothes. Rather, it’s been about the people and about breaking away from traditions that happen in many creative industries that no longer serve us. With that idea in mind, an alternative Fashion Week was born: Break New York Fashion Week. A place where they would put together collections made up of 700 pieces of curated vintage clothing on models that were incredibly diverse; it was was open to the public, there was no hierarchy, and after-parties were thrown for hundreds of people.
During the pandemic, the space had to close, which was hard on Hannah but ended up working in her favor as it made her reset and realize she had been focusing too much on the retail aspect of The Break, pulling away from the original intention. She eventually found a new space on the Lower East Side and completely transformed it into what felt like a real apartment (one where the clothes were for sale, of course!), complete with a full kitchen for events and brand parties.
“I wanted everyone to be able to feel like they were coming into my place to hang out and, if they fell in love with a top, they could take it and, if not, they just had a fucking great time and we were able to create amazing memories together,” Hannah said. “ Of course, I’m obsessed with fashion and design but I’ve never felt like anything was too precious not to part with; if you spill wine on a Margiela top and you had the best night of your life, who cares?”
Although it’s been many years and The Break has been on a constant evolution, the one thing that has stayed the same is the most amazing team that has come together as a family to make people feel comfortable and safe in spaces where they sometimes don’t, especially when they feel like they don’t know enough about certain topics, like wine or fashion or music.
“That's the other thing about The Break and about me; I do not take myself too seriously and I don’t think we need to,” said Hannah. “I never want anyone to feel like they don’t know enough or they are not a part of it, because we are all just fucking learning, let’s drink wine and learn about it together. If you don’t know the designer of that couch, I’ll tell you who it is or someone else will, maybe I don’t even know. It’s less about what you know or who you know and more about what kind of energy you are bringing into the space and that’s really what I always wanted to offer: a judgment-free zone. The most important part is that I hope people leave feeling better than they did when they came in.”
Photo: Courtesy of Hannah Richtman
This is the first time in almost 10 years that The Break won’t have a physical space and it’s also a very transitional period for Hannah. Not only is she focusing on hosting The Break parties as a production company but she has also just launched an underwear brand called Gush.
“I’m a big thong girl. I literally only wear thongs and I wear a lot of sheer clothing and I love being naked. I’m a big nipple girl, big butt crack girl,” Hannah said. “I had never really found the thong that feels the most flattering to me. I wanted something clean but cute in a very dramatic way, that naturally sits higher on your hips and dips low.”
After sourcing the internet and being unable to find it, she posted on her Instagram story to ask if anyone knew where to find it and was flooded with responses from women who were also looking for that kind of thong. “That same night a mutual friend slid into my DMs and put me in touch with Ayaka, a pattern maker who used to work for a big lingerie brand. She told me it was totally possible to do it, but people didn’t because it was a risky shape,” Hannah explained. “She put me in touch with David, who does production for a lot of internet companies, and we started making samples. We made 50 and sent them to different women with diverse body types.” Gush launched on October 6th with a name that matched the identity of the brand; something that felt sassy and a little naughty, something you are gushing about but also something that feels sexy and wet and juicy.
“The Break has always been my baby so it was really exciting to jump from that and do something new with everything that I had learned from The Break,” said Hannah.