If hard-to-find labels from emerging and cult favorite European designers sounds like a fine reason to spend all day in a dressing room, you’re going to want to carve out time to visit Jackson Square’s latest retail destination. Occupying an airy space with white walls and dark wood floors befitting an urban gallery, La Boutique, l’Art et la Mode delivers a handpicked selection of women’s apparel and accessories that reflects owner Carole Harari’s love for inventive, yet wearable fashion from France, Germany and Switzerland.

But the shop isn’t just about fashion.

“I wanted a store that is more than a store, a place where we can do events, where we can be more dynamic,” says Harari, a Swiss native who worked in merchandising for H&M and in marketing for the Olympics before relocating to San Francisco.  

Movable racks and displays give the space flexibility for hosting events and the rotating art exhibitions Harari curates, the first of which features Swiss artist Veronique Marmet’s moody, abstract paintings.

If you go purely for the shopping, you’ll be treated to coveted brands that are notoriously difficult to find in the United States outside of New York. There are delectably extravagant handmade crystal and sequin baubles by Shourouk, Jerome Dreyfuss leather bags, Avril Gau wedges, pretty day dresses by Collection 66, Maison Martin Margiela’s MM6 line and what Harari swears are “the perfect black pants” by German label Firma. You’ll also find a few more recognizable names, including Vanessa Bruno and Zadig & Voltaire, among the offerings, which typically fall into the $300-$500 price range.

“The brands I went to are the ones I’ve been wearing for years,” Harari says.

La Boutique, 414 Jackson St., www.laboutique-galerie.com.