RETAIL
The Latest Boutiques, Lanvin, Vera Wang & Boucheron
This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit
An essential round-up of the latest boutique openings by luxury brands, including Hublot, Malmaison and Parfums de Marly in St Tropez, Chennai and Antalya Boston Consulting Group recently released a…
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
An essential round-up of the latest boutique openings by luxury brands, including Hublot, Malmaison and Parfums de Marly in St Tropez, Chennai and Antalya
Boston Consulting Group recently released a report, entitled ‘Navigating The New Consumer Realities’, forecasting that consumer spending is not likely to pick up in 2012 and that markets look bleak worldwide except in China and India. The report identified 90 percent of consumers in developed countries would maintain or reduce how much they spend in the coming year, with a definite shift in the US from spending on ‘wants’ to just spending on ‘basic and simple needs’.
The report also identified increased anxiety over the future, especially in Europe, where several national economies are facing serious financial hurdles and in some cases recession. Not great news for luxury brands, who recently identified the US and Europe, as surprising growth drivers in 2011 first quarter results. How they will manage these less-optimistic forecasts, particularly in light of such strong quarter one results, only time will tell. But for the moment, luxury boutiques worldwide are still spreading like wildfire.
Lanvin Pop Up, St Tropez
For the second consecutive year, Lanvin has opened a pop up store in Saint Tropez, on the French Rivera. The boutique will carry a selection of women’s ready to wear, swimwear and accessories and features sketches of caricatures drawn by Alber Elbaz on its walls.
Website & Source: www.lanvin.com
Boucheron, Monaco
After a period of renovation, Boucheron’s Monaco boutique re-opened its doors to welcome the European summer. The boutique is in keeping with the new design concept, launched at Boucheron Hôtel de Paris, designed to bring more light into the boutique and create a more sensual and inviting atmosphere for clients.
Website & Source: www.boucheron.com
Prada, Forte dei Marmi & Madrid
Prada launched another two boutiques in Europe, the first within Madrid’s ‘El Corte Inglés’ department store, one of the city’s shopping destinations for luxury goods. Secondly the brand opened a menswear store in Forte dei Marmi, on the West coast of Italy, launching a new contemporary design for their men’s boutiques. Designed by Roberto Baciocchi, red marble and lime plaster contrast with overhanging white marble frames for the windows, enriched by canopies with titanium finishes.
Website & Source: www.prada.com
Hublot, Japan, Paris & London
Hublot opened its first boutique in Japan, in Tokyo’s Ginza district, celebrating the occasion with a series of philanthropic initiatives, addressing May’s earthquake and tsunami. In Paris, the brand opened in Place Vendome, unveiling a new design concept by Peter Marino. Finally, Hublot inaugurated their 36th boutique worldwide, with an opening on London’s New Bond Street.
Website & Source: www.hublot.com
Malmaison by The Hour Glass, Singapore
Inspired by Château de Malmaison, the 19th century abode of Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte, The Hour Glass presents Malmaison, a 740sqm luxury emporium in Singapore’s Orchard Road. Malmaison is the largest in the luxury watch retailer’s network of stores, and will retail haute horology, objects d’art and jewellery, alongside bespoke services including gentlemanly attire, millinery, fragrances and exclusive collectible literature.
Website & Source: www.thehourglass.com
A. Lange & Söhne, Hong Kong
After the launch of A. Lange & Söhne shops in Dresden, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, the exclusive German watch brand has now opened its fifth boutique, in Hong Kong. Located in the heart of the luxury hub of Hong Kong on Canton Road, Kowloon, the store features display cabinets made from a light transmitting concrete, and light-coloured sandstone floors.
Website & Source: www.lange-soehne.com
Burberry, Chennai
Burberry have launched their sixth Indian store in Chennai, at the Express Avenue Mall. The design is in keeping with the global Burberry store design concept and will house Burberry London, Burberry Brit, Burberry Childrenswear and Burberry Accessories catering to the menswear, womenswear, non-apparel, fragrances, watches and eyewear categories.
Website: www.burberry.com
Source: Luxury Facts
Vera Wang, London
Teaming up with London designer retailer Browns, Vera Wang has launched a 165sqm ‘shop-in-shop concept’, housing bestsellers from past seasons, latest designs and a made-to-order service. The store features Wang’s latest shop design – charcoal walls and shades of grey.
Website: www.verawang.com
Source: WWD
Parfums de Marly, Dubai
Fragrance brand Parfums De Marly launched within the Dubai Mall branch of the Paris Gallery store, allegedly the first shop-in-shop of its kind in the Middle East. Interiors were inspired by the architecture and design of Louis XV’s castle, designed to invoke a sense of old world French charm.
Website: www.pmarly.com
Source: Luxury Opus
Façonnable, Turkey
Menswear brand Façonnable launched a boutique in Turkey’s Antalya, within the TerraCity shopping Centre. The 140sqm boutique offers a full range of the menswear collection – tailored clothing and sportswear – as well as the label’s line of accessories and Tailored Denim collection.
Website: www.faconnable.com
Source: Fashion Windows
Bell & Ross, Paris
Adding to an established retail network in Asia, Bell & Ross recently launched their first stand-alone European store, in hometown Paris. Located within Village Royal, in the heart of the Madeleine District, it is the 8th Bell & Ross boutique in the world. Collectors and enthusiasts will also be able to purchase timepieces exclusive to the Paris boutique.
Website: www.bellross.com
Source: World Tempus
Officine Panerai, Milan
Richemont Group brand, Panerai, recently launched their fourth Italian boutique, on via Montenapoleone in Milan. The brand currently has 25 boutiques worldwide and has expressed an intention double the number of standalone retail locations by the end of 2012.
Website: www.panerai.com
Source: CPP Luxury
For more in the series of The Latest Boutiques, please see our most recent editions as follows:
– The Latest Boutiques, Carven, Rolls Royce & Louis Vuitton
– The Latest Boutiques, Prada, Frederique Constantin & Vertu
– The Latest Boutiques, Maserati, Nicholas Kirkwood & Burberry Brit
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.
