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Fashion & Design Newsletter - February 1996
Store Openings
BULGARI, the famed Italian jeweller, opened its fourth Italian shop in Florence last December in the former Céline space. This branch, conveniently located on the Via Tornabuoni 61-63, is probably not as palatial as the Roman flagship, but its set back entrance allows you to browse the small, chest-like windows showing extraordinary jewels, watches and perfumes.
PRADA has recently opened its first boutique totally dedicated to menswear on the luxurious Via Montenapoleone, Milan's primary location. Here the most demanding fashion insiders will find the company's cult items at adequate prices. The Milanese firm, headed by Miuccia Prada, will soon open a big store in New York of approx. 12,000 sq.ft. on 70th Street just off Madison Avenue.
GIANNI VERSACE updated its Bologna branch last summer: it is located in Galleria Cavour, a deluxe shopping arcade jammed with Guccis and Armanis. The new store, a piece of marble, gold and money spent lavishly, features a wide selection of baroque home furnishings and tableware as well as clothes.
LAURA BIAGIOTTI inaugurated an important boutique on Berlin's most famous shopping street Kurfürstendamm. The setting, conceived by Italian architect Piero Pinto, reproduces the image of the others Biagiotti boutiques worldwide. The store displays white cashmere knitwear, Biagiotti's trademark, and stylish ready-to-wear. The Italian designer is very well-known in Germany mainly thanks to her successful "Roma" perfume.
ETRO, another well established Milan house, is building a big flagship store on Madison between 63rd and 64th streets. The company is also expanding its presence in Paris: already present at 66, Faubourg Saint-Honoré, a new 350 square metres store is being constructed on Boulevard Saint-Germain corner of Rue des Saints-Péres: the heart of cultural Paris.
GIORGIO ARMANI is opening a huge store on Madison Avenue between 63rd and 64th street. The Milan designer is constructing a 1,000 square metres EMPORIO on Paris' Left Bank, currently the hottest destination for international big names. It will be one of Armani's biggest stores. The address is Place Saint-Germain where once was the Drugstore Publicis.
GENNY moved from Via Montenapoleone to a wider space on Via Spiga 4 in the former Versace boutique. This modern boutique offers the complete Genny line, designed by Donatella Girombelli. An intimate room downstairs is provided for special clients.
DOLCE & GABBANA opened their second U.S. one-brand boutique. After Houston's Galleria they chose Atlanta's Peachtree Road.
ROMEO GIGLI collections are now available in Zürich at the new "Spazio Romeo Gigli", Waldmannstrasse 8. The décor is very original: several paper balloons hanging in the air and montgolfier-motif screens used as fitting rooms.
GUCCI has big expansion plans worldwide: the Florence-based company opened an outlet in Mendrisio, Switzerland while a directly-run shop is due to open next June in Hamburg, Germany. Münich's Maximilianstrasse, one of the world's most beautiful shopping streets is also in the pipeline: the company plans to open a store next to the Four Seasons (or Vier Jahreszeiten) Hotel. Gucci is also betting heavily on Paris' Left Bank area: a 260 sqare metres boutique will open in September in front of Prada on 72, Rue des Saints-Péres at the intersection with Rue de Grenelle.
EMILIO PUCCI, the famed Florentine brand now run by Emilio's daughter Laudomia, is now available in a new boutique in town (the first one is on Via della Vigna Nuova and is tiny as a closet). This new bigger outlet on via Ricasoli 36 carries an extensive selection of merchandise from silk shirts to velvet cushions in vivid colours. Very Pucci!
LES COPAINS, the Bologna-based company which manufactures quality knitwear but also licenses a wide selection of accessories, is due to open a five-story shop in New York at 801, Madison Avenue. New shops are scheduled in Beirut, Düsseldorf, Nice and Lisbon.
ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA recently opened many boutiques all over the world: from Vienna's Rahuensteingasse, just off K„rtnerstrasse to Hong Kong where the company is also reported to open a second boutique in the upscale Landmark shopping centre. In every store clients will find the sartorial line for the business man, the "Soft" collection (formal but comfortable menswear) and the successful sporty-line named "Yachting".
ISTANTE, an important brand by Gianni Versace, opened its first London boutique last autumn. A two-story space of approx. 300 square metres carrying also the Versace Sport and Versatile lines. The ambience is very modern with chess-pattern marble floors which identify the various connecting rooms.
PIERO GUIDI, an Italian accessory maker known for its "Bold" and "Circus" lines, opened its first outlet in South Africa. The shop is located in the posh shopping complex named Sandton Square in Johannesburg and has a good selection of luggage and travel items.
DE VECCHI, a Modena-based leather goods company available in the U.S. at major departments stores, its first one-brand shop in Japan. A tiny space (30 square metres only) but an important location: the shopping arcade of Tokyo's New Ohtani Hotel where all international brands cluster. The company is said to open 13 boutiques by the end of 1998.
Gian Marco Ansaloni