This is not a shop to drop into after Target. Elephant’s Trunk works out of Suite 102 at 280 North Bedford Road, and its own website says the door is open by appointment only, scheduled by phone at (914) 666-7666. Older listings still show walk-ins welcome and a full six- or seven-day retail schedule, so the phone call comes first. Families used to flipping through two hundred hangers on a Saturday should plan for a different kind of visit: a booked slot, a stylist, a fitting room, and pulls brought to the room.
The shop has been in northern Westchester since 1971, when Robert Brache opened it with his brother Rafael as a collection of bohemian art wear. It turned into a designer evening-wear store over the following decades. Rafael retired in 2020 and Robert brought in his wife, Monica, as partner; the stylists working the floor are Gina and Marcie, and their daughter Tanya is also a business partner. The core customer is a mother of the bride or groom, a bar or bat mitzvah mother, someone with a black-tie invitation.
Prom sits inside that business rather than driving it, and it is worth knowing that before the drive. Jovani and Terani both list this store on their official retailer locators, which makes those the two prom labels that can be confirmed here. The rest of the store’s public attention goes to eveningwear and bridal trunk shows. Alterations are done in house, which matters more here than at a chain, because a gown ordered late in the season lives or dies on the fitting schedule.
The Route 117 side of the village, not Main Street
North Bedford Road is Route 117, the commercial spine running north out of the village center. The store has its own lot. Mount Kisco Commons, anchored by Target and Stop & Shop, is down the road at 195; the 74,000-square-foot ShopRite at 333 North Bedford opened in November 2024; Northern Westchester Hospital’s main campus is in the same corridor. For a teenager without a car, the store notes it is reachable by Metro-North to Mount Kisco station on the Harlem Line and by Bee-Line bus, which connects at that station.
Who this store is close to
Mount Kisco belongs to the Bedford Central School District, and the district sends every high schooler to one building: Fox Lane High School, on a 90-acre campus at 632 South Bedford Road in Bedford, roughly 1,240 students. Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, Pound Ridge and edges of New Castle and North Castle all funnel there too. South Bedford Road is Route 172, and it begins at Route 117 just south of downtown Mount Kisco — so the store and the high school sit on two ends of the same short village junction. One prom date, one district, and a shop a few minutes from campus.
Worth asking on the call
- Whether prom gowns are currently on the floor, and in what sizes — the store’s marketing leans toward evening and bridal, so confirm before booking a slot.
- How long in-house alterations are running at that point in the season.
- The tuxedo side. Robert handles suits and tuxedos with a measured European fit, and the shop operates as a Tuxedo by Sarno partner location, so a couple can be dressed in one stop.
- Closures. The shop posts vacation and family closings on its site and shuts for several days at a stretch.