Former Saks Fifth Avenue personal shopper Tony Ferreira has unveiled The Swan House, a luxury women’s boutique in Beverly Hills.
While an official grand opening is still being planned, many of the store’s in-the-know shoppers have relied on Ferreira for fashion guidance for some time. For more than 31 years, he doled out style advice and sold designer merchandise in the Beverly Hills outposts of Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York.
The Swan House serves up designer labels like Phan Huy, Elie Saab, Viktor&Rolf, Celestina Agostino and Tony Ward, as well as glittery jewelry from Martin Katz, Wilfredo Rosado and Sharon Khazzam. Located at 350 North Canon Drive, next door to what was once Caffe Roma, the 2,000-square-foot store has been reeling in shoppers by word-of-mouth and without any advertising. Once the greatly anticipated Italian eatery Oltremare Beverly Hills bows next door this month, The Swan House plans to host designer luncheons there and other special events. “The main focus of our store is customer service and exclusive merchandise,” Ferreira said.
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Ferreira and his husband and business partner Gant Griffis named the stores as a nod to what Truman Capote called his high society, elegant friends — Babe Paley, Slim Keith, C.Z. Guest, Lee Radziwill, Gloria Guinness and Maria Agnelli. While Ferreira and Griffis had seen Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “Feud: Truman Capote vs. The Swans,” they were moire aligned with Capote’s version and envisioned that their clientele lean into elegance. With some customers in the billionaire realm, their customer base includes socialites, philanthropists, actors, musician, producers and other shoppers, who need one-of-a-kind dresses.
“The average purchase usually starts at $20,000 or $60,000, but can go as high up as to the millions sometimes, if we’re selling them couture and high-end jewelry,” Ferreira said. “Some of the couture dresses range from $300,000 to $1.5 million each.
“There are also shoppers, who just need a gown or outfit that ranges between $5,000 and $10,000,” Ferreira said.
The area has its share of affluent consumers. Last year, Los Angeles landed in fifth place on the “World’s Wealthiest Cities Report” from Henley & Partners. With 516 centimiillionaires — as in individuals with upward of $100 million — and 45 billionaires, Los Angeles’ millionaire population hiked up 35 percent between 2014 and 2024.
Ferreira, whose wrongful termination lawsuit against Saks is still pending, declined to discuss the case. His attorney Stephanie Kasiss did not respond to media requests, nor did a Saks spokesperson.
With an emphasis on elevated curation, The Swan House aims to deliver a high-end shopping experience, “because Beverly Hills should be one of the top shopping experiences in the world, and it has kind of fallen off,” Ferreira said. Not interested in “safe” buys, the retailer is trying to go after “edgier shoppers” with an assortment that includes underrepresented luxury brands. To that end, the duo discovered Phan Huy months before the house was invited to show during haute couture in January. The Swan House also hosted Phan Huy’s first trunk show and has the line exclusively in the U.S. Agostino’s collection is another nationwide exclusive, Griffis said.
Aiming to corner the market in high-end luxury, the space has three main areas — one for more casual options, another for red carpet-worthy styles and special events attire and a third section for high-end jewelry and accessories. Private offices on the second floor are used for pulls for bridal parties and celebrity clientele.
“Everyone wants exclusivity, great customer service and amazing curated high-end product that they can see themselves in, or something that is special or elevated,” Ferreira said.
Some shoppers are having a sense of deja-vu in the new store, part of which once housed a womenswear and menswear store from the designer George Cibaud. “He was best friends with Brigitte Bardot. He was from Saint-Tropez and he had this building built,” Ferreira said. “He took care of a lot of the celebrities and everybody here in Beverly Hills.
“A lot of our clients and walk-ins say, ‘Oh my God, George would be so happy that you are here.’”
The Swan House also occupies space that used to be the luxury linens store Versai, which has moved next door. The founders declined to comment about first-year projected volume. Ferreira said many women have walked in and said, “To put it this way, we’ve had so many women walk in and say, ‘This is what Beverly Hills needed.’”
