After 17 years in its New York flagship, Roger Vivier is relocating to a new space.
The French accessories house is opening the doors to its new flagship this week located at 650 Madison Avenue. The new storefront pays homage to the designer’s original Paris boutique and puts a larger emphasis on the label’s accessories categories beyond its footwear collections.
“We thought a lot about how to renew this concept,” said Roger Vivier’s creative director, Gherardo Felloni, on relocating the store. “Due to the strong personality that the old concept had, we were like we don’t want to change all of the things in a new concept or think about Roger Vivier in another way. It was a little bit of a pity to throw away this kind of heritage and strong identity that the store had, so there are a lot of elements that moved here in the new concept.”
The Madison Avenue store is designed to resemble Roger Vivier’s Paris boutique. Designed in-house, the store features Versailles-inspired parquet floors, French moldings and ceiling and square-tiled mirror walls. The store’s furthest room is designed in a silver metallic on the walls and ceiling to mimic the Paris boutique’s “Salle d’Argent.”
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Felloni explained the store has more of an emphasis on Roger Vivier’s accessories beyond footwear, spotlighting its handbags, belts, hats, costume jewelry and gillets. The creative director stated these categories have been a big area of growth for the accessories label.
“I always had this idea that Roger Vivier deserved to be a total silhouette in a way,” he said. “Of course, I try to do it with accessories because [the designer] worked with these amazing maisons of couture in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and really helped change the silhouette of women and fashion, so it’s not just a matter of shoes. It’s a matter of the whole silhouette.”
Exclusive to the store will be six one-of-a-kind versions of Roger Vivier’s bestselling Flower Strass Jewel bags, which are designed with Roger Vivier’s signature crystal buckle and come in colors like neon pink, orange, purple taupe, Ceylon blue and Bordeaux red.
Felloni explained Roger Vivier is looking to grow its retail fleet in the U.S. in a slow, opportunity-driven way. In addition to the Madison Avenue store, Roger Vivier also has U.S. stores at the Bal Harbour Shops in Miami and at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif.
“We are small, so we have to grow here — that’s the next step,” he said. “We want to continue to stay special and not to be mainstream because it’s not in the DNA of the maison. It’s more healthy to be like this — to be special, open a boutique when it’s needed, when we want to and when we have a good location. Of course, there’s an eye on the U.S. because it’s a market for us that’s a great opportunity.”
