Dior’s latest Milan boutique

Sao Paulo and Kazakstan become the newest luxury retail hotspots with the opening of luxury malls Cidade Jardim and Esentai, alongside Louis Vuitton, Rolls Royce & Valentino

Alexander McQueen, London

Alexander McQueen has opened its first stand-alone men’s wear store on Savile Row in London. The 200sqm space was designed David Collins in collaboration with creative director Sarah Burton and will offer a high-end ready-to-wear collection, as well the new in-house bespoke service. A glass-encased exhibition space will feature regularly changing artworks curated by the London gallerist Sadie Coles.

Website: alexandermcqueen.com
Source: WWD

Berluti, Osaka

LVMH’s Berluti has inaugurated a mono-brand flagship store in Osaka at Umeka Hankyu’s shopping centre. The store will house shoes and leather goods as well the clothing collection of the brand launched earlier this year, designed by Alessandro Sartori.

Website: berluti.com
Source: CPP Luxury

Brioni, Beijing, Dubai, Suzhou

Brioni has opened two stores in China, within the China World Mall in Beijing and Matro Shopping Mall in Suzhou, bringing the total number of mono-brand stores in the Republic to 14. The Suzhou store is the largest in China at 200sqm. Brioni has also opened in Dubai’s in Mall of the Emirate, as part of the brand’s focus on monobrand retail expansion, following its acquisition by PPR.

Website: brioni.com
Source: Gulf Business, CPP Luxury

Cartier, Lucerne, Milan

Cartier has launched an enlarged flagship store in Lucerne, Switzerland, within the heritage Schweizerhof Hotel. The 206sqm store will house Haute Horologerie watch collections, jewellery and accessories, designed by Bruno Moinard.

Cartier has also reimagined its four-floor Milan Boutique on Via Montenapoleone in collaboration with the designer.

Website: cartier.com
Source: FHH, CPP Luxury

Cerruti, Hong Kong

Cerruti 1881 has unveiled its new store concept with its most recent opening in Hong Kong, at Harbour City Mall. The move follows its 2011 acquisition by Trinity, a subsidiary of Li Fung Group, Cerruti’s long-time strategic licensing partner in China.

Website: cerruti.com
Source: CPP Luxury

Chlo, Paris

Paris’s Rue Saint-Honor has become home to the capital’s second Chlo boutique, realised by creative director Clare Waight Keller and architect Joseph Dirand. The flagship boutique will house the full ready to wear collection alongside the brands accessories, leather goods and fragrances.

Website: chloe.com
Source: Fashion Windows

Chopard, Milan

Chopard has unveiled a newly expanded 300sqm boutique in Milan, on Via della Spiga, in keeping with the new global design concept for the brand’s stores. Walls clad in ark oak and wooden parquet floors, with a crystal staircase created by American architect Thierry W. Despont, frame four display windows.

Website: chopard.com
Source: Luxos

Christian Louboutin, Rome

Designed by architect Eric Clough, Christian Louboutin has opened in Piazza San Lorenzo, Lucina, Rome. Taking design cues from ancient Rome, dimmed lights and travertine surround the woman’s area, with accessories and fur skins complimenting the signature red carpets.

Website: christianlouboutin.com
Source: CPP Luxury

Dior, Los Angeles, Milan

Dior has reinvigorated its 460sqm space on Rodeo Drive, which it has occupied since 1990, in collaboration with Peter Marino. The new design houses five individual salons, one featuring a film of Dior in various settings, a bench of interlocking ginko leaves made out of aluminium by French artist Claude Lalanne and a rotating chandelier by Lee Bul.

The brand has also worked with Marino to double the size of its Milan flagship, which now showcases all Dior’s ready-to-wear, accessories, Joaillerie and Horlogerie collections, in the theme of a French hotel particulier.

Source: WWD (Los Angeles), WWD (Milan)

Fratelli Rossetti, Hong Kong, Shanghai

Fratelli Rossetti has opened two stores in China, in Hong Kong’s IFC Mall and in Shanghai at Plaza 66. In celebration of the openings, the brand has transported its Historical Museum’s shoe collection to China, from the company’s headquarters in Parabiago, Italy.

Website: fratellirossetti.com
Source: WWD

Hublot, Xiamen

Hublot has opened its largest store in China, with 200sqm in Xiamen’s top luxury shopping area, China Town. A faade of black stone, leather furnishings, counters of glass and metal fixtures are integrated with high tech details, in keeping with the brand’s “Art of Fusion” concept. It marks the brand’s 55th boutique worldwide, seven of which are now in China.

Website & Source: hublot.com

Hugo Boss, Manhasset

Hugo Boss has debuted its new store concept in the United States, at the Americana Manhasset in Manhasset, N.Y. The 315sqm space features dark brown colour themes with contrasting beige matte fabric back walls, where interior elements include bronze brushed and high-gloss surfaces, stone flooring and leather accents. The store predominantly features ready-to-wear, accessories and shoes for men.

Website: hugoboss.com
Source: WWD

Isabel Marant, Paris

Isabel Marant has opened in Paris’s 16th arrondissement on Avenue Victor Hugo, in a historical mansion spanning 230sqm over three levels. Designed by Cige architects, the concept uses vegetation both indoors and outdoors, against minimalist white-wood-black decor, to house both the signature and contemporary collections.

Website: isabelmarant.tm.fr
Source: FashionMag

IWC, Hong Kong

IWC Schaffhausen has opened a new boutique in the Mall at Pacific Place in Hong Kong. The design concept of the new, 52-square-metre boutique unites the distinct architecture and styling of the six product families, where clients can experience the stories around the products through artefacts, pictures, books and media.

Website & Source: iwc.com

Jaeger LeCoultre, Paris

Jaeger-LeCoultre recently unveiled its revamped and expanded store on Paris’s Place Vendome. The 500sqm store is the brand’s largest worldwide, spread over three stories, encompassing several selling spaces, exhibition areas, a VIP room, mini museum and an after-sales service centre with an on-site master watchmaker.

Website: jaeger-lecoultre.com
Source: WWD

Level Shoe District, Dubai

Interior Architects Shed was commissioned by Chalhoub Group in Dubai to create an entire district for the world’s leading luxury shoe brands over 8,900sqm. Level shoe district features individual boutiques and four multi-brand pavilions, with male and female VIP areas, an atrium art installation by United Visual Artists and a traditional, high-end cobbler.

Website: levelshoedistrict.com
Design & Source: SHED

Louis Vuitton, Kazakstan, So Paulo

Louis Vuitton has opened its 455th store in Kazakhstan, with a 750sqm space designed by Peter Marino, showcasing ready-to-wear, leather accessories and shoes for men and women. The VIP area has been designed to resemble a yurt.

The brand has also unveiled its first global store in Latin America, with a near-1000sqm space within Sao Paulo’s Cidade Jardim mall. The design was inspired by Peter Marino’s Vuitton Maison on New Bond Street in London, with Italian sand-coloured marble, beige carpets, vintage Vuitton advertisements and Brazilian furniture.

Website: louisvuitton.com
Source: WWD (Kazakstan), WWD

MB+F, Beijing

Swiss watch manufacturer MB&F has opened its first boutique in Beijing through a collaboration with local retail partners Ray Union and Europe Watch Co. The store is located in the state-of-the-art ParkLife Beijing Yintai Centre and will house an exclusive, limited edition Horological Machine created especially for this first boutique.

Website: mbandf.com
Source: Luxuo

Moncler, Budapest, Turin

Moncler has opened in Budapest, Hungary, with a 150sqm space on Andrassy Ut, the leading luxury shopping street in Budapest. It has also opened its first mono-brand store in the Northern Italian city of Turin, with a 90sqm boutique that will offer complete range of Moncler collections, men’s, women’s and accessories, Moncler S and Moncler Grenoble.

Website: moncler.com
Source: CPP Luxury

Mulberry, Singapore

Mulberry has opened its first Asian flagship store in Singapore, at Mandarin Gallery on Orchard Road, where limestone-tiled floors, curved timber follies, brass accents and handcrafted furniture showcase the brands dedication to craftsmanship. The store will house the full collection of men’s and women’s core and seasonal accessories, as well as women’s shoes and ready-to-wear.

Website & Source: mulberry.com

Piaget, Hong Kong

Piaget has opened a flagship boutique in Hong Kong, with over 460 square metres on the ground and mezzanine floor of the Mandarin Oriental. Realised by Christin Querlioz from Atelier Sasha in Paris, the boutique is based on the concept of expressing the brand’s unique blend of Haute Horlogerie and Haute Joaillerie skills by presenting a journey through the Piaget world.

Website: piaget.com
Source: Luxos

Prada, Tokyo

Prada Group has opened both a Prada store and a Miu Miu store in Tokyo’s Daimaru Mall, designed by Roberto Baciocchi. It marks the 21st location for Prada in Tokyo, housing men and women’s accessories, shoes, bags and the luggage collections over 120sqm.

Website: prada.com
Source: CPP Luxury

Rolls Royce, So Paulo

Rolls Royce has opened its first showroom in Latin America, in So Paulo, Brazil. The new 500sqm space uses glass and space to provide optimum natural light, furnished with bespoke-designed furniture and cabinets, with leather, wood, surface finishes and carpet samples from the home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood in the UK.

Website: rolls-roycemotorcars.com
Source: Car News

Salvatore Ferragamo, Abu Dhabi, Brisbane

Salvatore Ferragamo has opened its newest flagship in luxury mall, the Avenue at Etihad Towers, in Abu Dhabi. The 180sqm space with house the brand’s full range of ready-to-wear, leather goods and accessories, as well as an exhibition of shoes from the Ferragamo Museum in Florence.

The Italian luxury house has also inaugurated its 12th mono-brand store in Australia, in the city of Brisbane in the Queen’s Plaza Mall. The 160sqm store features Ferragamo’s full range of products for both men and women.

Website: ferragamo.com
Source: Luxos, CPP Luxury

Sergio Rossi, Tokyo

PPR’s Sergio Rossi has refurbished its Tokyo store at Takashimaya Times Square. The 85sqm boutique has been updated in keeping with the brand’s current retail concept, featuring a black-and-white herringbone-pattern Italian marble floor and brass accents.

Website: sergiorossi.com
Source: WWD

Shang Xia, Beijing

Shang Xia, the Chinese brand established by French fashion house Herms International, has completed its first expansion with the opening of a second boutique in Beijing, in he China World Mall. The 135sqm space was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, featuring stone and stylised aluminium brickwork inspired by the Great Wall, along with natural wood and bricks of pu’er tea.

Website: shang-xia.com
Source: WWD

Valentino, Sao Paulo

Valentino joins Louis Vuitton and Rolls Royce this month, opening its first flagship store in South America, also in Sao Paulo. The 190sqm store – designed by David Chipperfield – is housed within the Citade Jardim luxury mall and features both women’s and men’s apparel and accessories, including bags and shoes.

Website: valentino.com
Source: Luxuo

Vertu, New Delhi

Luxury mobile phone maker Vertu has opened its first boutique store in India, with plans to expand to other cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. It marks the first company owned distribution point in India, which was previously available though 20 points of sale through luxury products distributors. (Prague boutique pictured)

Website: vertu.com
Source: TheTopTier

For more in the series of The Latest Boutiques, please see our most recent editions as follows:

- The Latest Boutiques: Berluti, Dior & Saint Laurent Paris
- The Latest Boutiques: Hublot, Breguet & Assouline
- The Latest Boutiques: Rolls Royce, Piaget & Louis Vuitton

Burberry trial Square’s mobile payment processing technology, Chanel re-launches its flagship website and Labelux moves into the blogosphere.

Though we have barely reached the end of January, much has already been said about the promise of mobile marketing in 2013. From QR codes to smartphone applications to m-commerce and mobile advertising, marketers are ready to spend as consumers increasingly rely on phones and tablets for purchasing and information.

As David Sadigh of Digital Luxury Group explained to Luxury Society, “Mobile consumption is growing at a very fast pace in both mature markets such as Europe and the US, but also in emerging markets like China and Brazil. It’s probably the first time since we entered into the digital era that a technology (mobile) is gaining such momentum, at such a huge scale.”

“To illustrate this we need not look farther than Facebook, which is receiving more than 500 million monthly users from mobile, more than 7 times the size of the entire French population. And this is just the beginning. 2013 will see a major increase in mobile penetration for several reasons. Smartphone and tablet penetration will continue to grow globally, but even stronger in emerging countries.”

“ Facebook is receiving more than 500 million monthly users from mobile, which is 7 times the population of France ”

Indeed, more than 20% of Facebook ad revenue now comes from mobile, which they only launched for advertisers in March 2012. Mobile ad rates on Facebook represent a 70% price premium over desktop ads, according to BizReport.

A recent survey by the Association of National Advertisers and MediaVest revealed that a significant number plan to increase their mobile marketing budgets. Though the sample was relatively small, almost all (96%) of those surveyed currently use mobile marketing, or at least plan to use it. Furthermore, those using mobile intend to put more money mobile’s way with 85% planning to up their spending in “the near future”.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the online marketing mix for luxury brands. 2012 was the year that digital launches became less frequent and less flashy, as brands scrambled to consolidate campaigns and focus on functionality.

Burberry, Square

Burberry Brit is conducting a payment trial in collaboration with Square in its Westfield location in San Francisco. Square offers a free accessory that attaches to an iPhone or iPad and processes payments. The start-up recently announced that it is now handling $10 billion in transactions annually.

Website: burberry.com
Source: The Next Web

Chanel, Website

French fashion house Chanel re-imagined its website to better integrate product browsing with content and imagery. The new look navigation directs visitors to various product families, with a focus on video content, mobile compatibility and new social functions exclusive to its ecommerce-enabled fragrance, makeup and skincare sections.

Website: chanel.com
Source: Luxury Daily

Goyard – Le Rendez-Vous from Sam & Raph on Vimeo.

Goyard, Film

For the first time in the brand’s history, Parisian Trunkmaker Goyard has released a video, showcasing its rue Saint-Honor boutique and longstanding craftsmanship. Directed by Samuel Rixon & Raphal Hache, the short film tells the story of a young woman having a meeting on Rue Saint Honor, at the Goyard flagship store to pick up her latest custom trunk piece.

Website: goyard.com
Source: Luxuo

Labelux, Blog

Labelux, the home of Bally, Jimmy Choo, Belstaff and Zagliani, has launched The LiP blog, which stands for Luxury in Progress. The blog will showcase international creatives and their design processes, philosophy and techniques.

“Luxury in Progress is a concept that has defined the Labelux process since our inception. We thrive on discovering and learning from emerging perspectives,” explained CEO Reinhard Mieck to WWD. “The LiP will contain a collection of progressive voices from thought-leaders, creatives and sustainability visionaries sharing the latest inspirations from their worlds.”

Website: luxuryinprogress.com
Source: WWD

Shoescribe, App

Yoox has debuted a new App for its shoescribe.com site, the online destination for women dedicated entirely to shoes. Launched for both iPhone and Android, the app is available in English and Italian, and offers users the opportunity to electronically catalogue their entire shoe collection, as well as shop anywhere, anytime.

Website & Source: shoescribe.com
Download: Shoescribe

Starwood, Android App

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has debuted its Starwood Preferred Guest app on the Android platform, allowing users to book stays at Starwood’s nine hotel brands, access SPG benefits, manage SPG accounts and connect through integrated social media. The app also provides travel information such as weather, directions and information on hotel amenities.

Download: SPG
Source: Luxury Daily

Swarovski, Instagram

Swarovski celebrated its recent holiday collection with the “Multiface(t)s: Style Yourself with Jewelry” mobile application, where users could enter to win prizes by uploading their augmented reality images to Instagram. After downloading the app, users were invited to virtually try-on pieces of jewellery and upload the results to Instagram using the hashtag #swarovskistyle.

Download: Swarovski
Source: Luxury Daily

For more in the series of The Latest Digital, please see our most recent editions as follows:

- The Latest Digital: Cartier, Prada & Tod’s
- The Latest Digital: Balmain, Yoox & Mandarin Oriental
- The Latest Digital: Versace, Balenciaga & Ritz-Carlton