Azzedine Alaia will open a
flagship store in the heart of the French luxury retail world — ie Avenue
Montaigne — next spring, the designer revealed recently with a certain
amount of glee.
It’s a five-floor
hotel particulier with an interior courtyard/garden that will function
as store/showroom/some offices — and it’s not exactly on Avenue Montaigne.
The Maison will be Alaia’s first outpost since Jacqueline Schnabel
closed the New York boutique in 1992, and as such is a testament to the
growth of the brand over the last few years. Despite the fact Alaia
doesn’t advertise and has no on-line presence, Barneys more than doubled
its Alaia space last year, the designer is working on private orders at
capacity, and it’s one of the few labels that has the power to refuse
exclusivity to any store; they sell to both Harrod’s and Harvey Nichols, for
example.
Though M Alaia has
been close to many fellow designers, he has expressed well-publicised skepticism
about the corporate side of the business. The Maison, due to open in late March
of 2013, is in the process of being renovated.
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