Gabriela Hearst opened an exclusive installation hosted by The Conservatory at Highland Park Village in Dallas Friday.
The new immersive 3,000-square-foot-space, located on the ground floor of The Conservatory’s Dallas flagship location, showcases Hearst’s latest collections, reflecting the house’s singular vision centered around craftsmanship, sustainability and long-term view, as well as a curation of women artists.
It will stay open through the end of May.
Hearst has done business with The Conservatory, a curated, high-end, experiential shopping concept owned by Brian Bolke, for the past five years. In the Dallas area, the collection is sold at The Conservatory and North Park Neiman Marcus.
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Overall, Hearst has three stores in the U.S. and two concessions.
“I wanted to do this because Texas is fun, and Dallas is fun, and because Brian is a legend in our industry. He has the best taste, and it’s always a pleasure to work with him. So, doing it with friends in a place I want to travel to makes a lot of sense,” Hearst told WWD.
The installation features pieces from Hearst’s women’s and men’s collections — ready-to-wear, fine merino wool and cashmere knitwear, footwear and small leather goods, as well as special pieces such as seamlessly bonded python sourced from Inversa leather and repurposed vintage mink fur coats.
The installation also offers a curation of Hearst’s fine jewelry collection and an assortment of the handbag collection, specifically the Nina, the Demi, the Diana and the Leonora, including one-of-a-kind exclusive handbag pieces.
In the main room, custom furniture and fixtures were commissioned by Hearst and created by Benji Gavron and Antoine Dumas of Gavron Dumas Studio, a design atelier born from these principles: the timber must be sourced sustainably and locally, and the furniture must be handmade by local artisans. Some of the furniture, such as the reclaimed local French oak display shelves and table, were repurposed from the house’s previous temporary space in Paris.
The adjacent gallery space features an installation of works by female artists curated especially for Hearst by Sarah Calodney Advisory and Associates. Artists in the opening exhibition include Louise Bourgeois, Luchita Hurtado, Constance Jaeggi, and Dorothea Tanning.
When discussing whether this is a test for a potential freestanding store, Hearst said, “It is a way that we always explore our markets, to understand and to be part of the local culture. We have a rule that it has to be a place we would like to travel to, and for sure Dallas has it.”
Asked what she feels will be bestsellers in Dallas, Hearst said, “The taste level in Dallas is very high, how the female client — and the clients in general — are dressing is very chic, elegant, and unique to many parts. I think that pointing out one thing will be difficult because I think everything is going to perform. Right now, we already started selling from the beginning of the day our one-of-a-kind pieces, the elevated leather and craftsmanship and more of the demi-couture pieces.”
On the topic of whether they design the space specifically for the Texas market, the designer explained, “We do everything reclaimed, so first we had to use all the furniture that we have in our inventory. We have to make it work with what we have, so this was the first challenge or premise. We made it local by curating the art in the gallery space, selecting only artworks by female artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Luchita Hurtado, Dorothea Tanning, as well as photographs by Texas-based photographer Constance Jaeggi whose work captures women practicing escaramuza, a traditional all-female equestrian sport from Mexico, in several parts of the U.S. — including Texas.
“The product we brought was extremely curated from Brian’s feedback, so everything was a labor of love that we did really fast,” said Hearst.
Discussing previous installations, Bolke said that in September 2024, “we did a similar residency with FoundRae in our previous ground floor small store that is now a permanent storefront (FoundRae in Residence at The Conservatory), and we did a 500-square-foot Bottega Veneta in Residence upstairs in fall 2024 as well, as an introduction to the brand.”
