PARIS — Empty, you could imagine Alaïa’s new Paris flagship as an ideal set for a sci-fi movie — albeit one with a romantic and female-led storyline.
The four monumental glass tubes that dominate the main floor are subtly tinted rose, and the cement floor ultimately yields to pale pink carpeting reminiscent of a blush compact, upon which are placed sensuously swollen armchairs and sofas.
Curbed shapes in gleaming steel and mirror repeat everywhere, and a white, spiral staircase unfurls like a giant silk ribbon, leading visitors up to a vast ready-to-wear salon set up like some futuristic living room.
“It’s all about an experience beyond retail,” Alaïa chief executive officer Myriam Serrano said as she guided a visitor through the 5,400-square-foot unit, which includes a reading area and a café operated by Italian hospitality group Sant Ambroeus.
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The French brand’s largest store in the world also telegraphs how much it has transformed and developed in the three-and-a-half years since it picked Belgian designer Pieter Mulier as its new creative director. He has brought buzz and fresh currency, along with hit accessories including the Le Teckel bag and mesh ballerina flats.
“I think it’s the first time we have such a visible store in such an iconic destination,” Serrano said, referring to its placement catty-corner to the iconic Hermès flagship on Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, and bang across the street from Lanvin’s historic boutique.
“I think a lot of clients will discover Alaïa through this building,” she said, calling it “a new home” for the fashion house that includes the two-level boutique, and five floors of office space for top management, commercial teams and its image and communications department. “It’s bringing Alaïa to the next level of status and visibility.”
Formerly Lanvin’s historic headquarters, the stately stone building — which retains the original metal window casings — was purchased by Alaïa parent Compagnie Financière Richemont in 2017.
The complete renovation of the building took almost three years, with Mulier swooping in to parade his spring 2023 collection in the raw, gutted-out space before it shuttered for more works.
“We took the time to really work on every single detail and make it very, very special,” Serrano stressed. “Everything is quite pure and and looks simple, but everything has been studied and developed, and you can feel it.”
Mulier conscripted Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the Japanese architecture Saana for the interiors, and it may be challenging to keep them clean, given all the white walls, pale carpeting, mirrored surfaces, and bulbous off-white furniture by Philippe Malouin.
Carefully calibrated lighting, and a circuit of intimate spaces — each of the glass tubes houses a product category — blunts the starkness of the steel shelves, the minimal clothing rails and a Ron Arad table curved like a scythe blade.
“Always this contrast between softness and something very sharp and very clean,” Serrano remarked.
Mulier said the new store marks “a new chapter and a significant step forward for both Alaïa and myself.”
“That said, I think it’s easy to lose sight of our human aspect and scale when expanding, so it was crucial for me that this new address stays true to Alaïa’s core values and spirit — to be warm, raw, pure, intimate and human — as Alaïa has always been,” he explained. “In this sense, the real challenge was to move forward, to grow, while never losing the essence and soul of the maison. This is why the project was conceived as a collaborative one, where all the teams involved came together and were given full creative freedom. This embodies the familial, almost artisanal spirit that lies at the heart of everything we do at Alaïa.”
More than a retail space, he called the boutique “a place where fashion, art, design, and architecture engage in a dialogue; a world where one steps in and feels as though time has stopped. It’s, in my opinion, a reflection of Alaïa’s unique point of view — one that transcends fashion in its most conventional sense,” he said. “What makes this moment even more special is that Azzedine Alaïa, throughout his life, always dreamed of opening a boutique on this iconic street. Today, it’s incredibly meaningful to see that dream come true. I believe that Alaïa, and every brand for that matter, needs dreams to move forward and evolve.”
To be sure, the store slyly pays homage to the legacy of the late Tunisian couturier, prized for his clinging, curve-enhancing and exotic brand of sexy. It’s there in the round shapes of mirrors, lamps and little tables; in the staircase reminiscent of his body-sculpting black gown constructed with a coiling silver zipper, and in the communal dining table dominating the mezzanine-level café.
“Everybody around the table,” Serrano said, alluding to the founding designer’s famous dinner parties, where he hosted an eclectic mix of artists, designers, actresses and singers in his brightly lit kitchen on the Rue de Moussy.
Although the Sant Ambroeus café will serve only beverages and baked goods, not full meals, it reinforces the “family spirit” long associated with the house.
“Even if we have this big boutique, we want to keep this spirit that makes Alaïa different. I think it will always stay human, personal, authentic and warm,” Serrano said.
The unit is the brand’s third freestanding location in Paris, a key market for the brand with its mix of stylish locals and a steady flow of tourists and professionals from various creative industries, from art and design to fashion.
For Faubourg Saint Honoré, Mulier commissioned American artist Diamond Stingily to creative five original sculptures composed of dangling chains intertwined with synthetic black hair that is braided here, tufted there.
Serrano noted the chains add an element of strength and intellectual contemplation to the atmosphere of the store, which boasts an expansive VIP fitting cabin that can double as a display area when a mirrored wall is swung away.
The opening coincides with the delivery of the runway looks Mulier paraded at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City last September: springy coiled furs, ruched balloon pants with caged architectural waists, and sexy dresses that clamp on the body like a cuff bracelet.
Serrano noted the new boutique will also showcase the brand’s pre-spring collection, dubbed Archetypes chez Alaïa, along with some exceptional and exclusive ready-to-wear pieces and accessories.
