Dolce Vita

The shoe store at 1400 Wisconsin Avenue NW carries the Dolce Vita brand, which was founded in New York in 2001 on the Lower East Side and named for the founders’ favorite bar from their time studying in Italy. The name, which in Italian means the sweet life, has traveled from a bar in Rome to a Lower East Side boutique to a Steve Madden-owned brand whose Georgetown store on Wisconsin Avenue now carries the footwear range under the Dolce Vita identity.

Dolce Vita is positioned as Steve Madden’s elevated label, which places it above the Steve Madden core price point and in the range where the construction quality and design are intended to hold up at a price the customer can justify. The Steve Madden portfolio includes several brands at different price and quality tiers, and Dolce Vita represents the tier that takes the footwear more seriously in terms of materials and silhouette without moving into the luxury price range that would limit the brand’s accessibility.

The product range covers the full women’s shoe category across seasons. The boot selection in fall and winter is the category where Dolce Vita has historically attracted the most customer attention: ankle boots in suede and leather, knee-high and over-the-knee formats in the silhouettes that the season’s fashion direction produces. The spring and summer range shifts to sandals, mules, and the casual sneakers that the brand has expanded into as the athleisure category has grown to influence footwear across the market.

The Georgetown Wisconsin Avenue location at 1400 is on the block above N Street, in a section of upper Wisconsin that has the neighborhood retail character of boutiques and service businesses serving the residential population rather than the tourist-volume commercial density of M Street. The Wisconsin Avenue foot traffic in this stretch consists primarily of Georgetown residents and the deliberate visitor who has come to the upper Wisconsin boutique corridor specifically.

The price range across the Dolce Vita selection is consistent with the brand’s mid-premium positioning: boots in the $150-$350 range, sandals and casual shoes from $80-$180, which places the brand above the mall fashion shoe retailers and below the European luxury footwear brands that occupy the Wisconsin Avenue boutique corridor at higher price points.

Hours run Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm. The phone is (202) 506-5414. The website at dolcevita.com carries the full seasonal range. The Wisconsin Avenue address at 1400 is on the block that connects lower Wisconsin near the canal with the upper Wisconsin boutique corridor above N Street. The surrounding businesses include a mix of service and retail that makes the block a transitional zone between the waterfront commercial cluster and the residential retail of upper Wisconsin. Online ordering at dolcevita.com provides access to the full boot and shoe range beyond what the Georgetown floor carries in any given season. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm. The phone is (202) 506-5414.