Je t’aime Christian Dior!
Read all about and see the grand reopening of the Christian Dior store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills! Raf Simons, the creative director for the brand gave way for a new look at a new location this past summer. Also look out for a new DIOR store just for men which is also supposed to reveal itself later this year in Miami.
Dior decided to move up the street to a larger location and boy did they do it in style.
DIOR branded their construction zone to cover up the remodeling.
Of course they designed an intricate prop while the construction took place. It looked like one of their quilted leather purses. The detail was impeccable, they even included the handle and the Dior bauble that hangs off their bags.
Dior’s newest store is designed by architect Peter Marino. His creations are created in unison with the Paris store on Avenue Montaigne.
This store includes 5 different rooms, and you will find that the DIOR shoes and bags hold their own areas of the store. The highest-volume products—watches and handbags—occupy the front gallery. Shoppers who venture deeper will find four rooms of ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, and jewelry. This location also holds a kitchen which allows them to offer champagne and hors d’oeuvres. There is also an area that holds a custom fireplace and a chic seating area which extends into a separate room featuring fine jewelry. The mezzanine holds a luxurious area for exclusive guests and private visits. If you are looking for cosmetics though, you must take that request to a sales associate because beauty products won’t be on displayed on the floor, but will be stored in the basement. The U.S President of the company said there was simply no room for it out on the floor.
This store opening made an extra special splash by offering limited-edition pieces and a storefront filled with six looks from Raf Simons’ haute couture collection that normally must be purchased in Paris or New York.
Dior hired several contemporary artists to design works of art for this modern and glamorous boutique. These pieces include a circular Claude Lalanne ginkgo bench in the entrance room, featuring cascading flowers, a Rob Wynne mirror glass installation on the ceiling of the handbag area, a Joel Morrison sculpture depicting a Medusa-like figure with meat tenderizers for hair, a Johnny Swing couch made of welded half dollars and stainless steel in the ready-to-wear room and two sculptures by glass artist Jeff Zimmerman alongside a Pae White custom tapestry that mimics crumpled foil in the shoe salon. Connoisseurs of contemporary art will notice a number of up-to-the-minute art works at this Rodeo Drive venue!
Raf Simons’s task as the newly named designer is to make Dior a pace-setting fashion leader for 21st-century while maintaining the essence of the fashion that Mr. Dior est. back in 1946. His first Dior collections have been well received by critics and retailers. Mr. Simons’s black cigarette pants worn under a brightly hued silk dress, shown during the Paris haute couture shows in July, are seen as a new mode for chic evening wear.
The Dior name is still very relevant and has been ever since WWII when the designer introduced pinched-waist dresses and bar suits and was said to have brought fashion back to Paris during those rough times. However, in the last few years, designer John Galliano was said to be out of touch with the brands shoppers. Galliano was let go in April ’11, following a drunken anti-semitic diatribes that led to charges—and later a conviction—by authorities in France, where such remarks are illegal.
Before the new designer Simons’s, the previous design staff (managed by Bill Gaytten) carried the brand temporarily. Dior’s revenue surprisingly increased by 21% to $1.3 billion, this was not taking in to account beauty products.
It took Dior a year to name this new designer. Let’s all hope this designer is able to create the much needed momentum for the brand!
Je t’aime Christian Dior!
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