New Yorkers, brace your selves! The borough of Manhattan is about to be bedecked with 5,295 square feet of sheer designer luxury. The esteemed address of 821 Madison Avenue is set to get an Italian occupant, none other than the glamorous Valentino. The label sets up its first-ever townhouse shop where its bevy of ready-to-wear beauties will pose alongside plush accessories and haute couture in a splendid space of four floors, the topmost being reserved (almost in a symbolic show) exclusively for VIPs.
Creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli beckoned British architect David Chipperfield to collaborate on the shop’s design concept. The opulent expanse is styled with curtains in molded gypsum and Venetian terrazzo framing. Elegant black-and-white windowpane flooring injects comfort and intimacy into its atmosphere. The coterie of commodities charmingly spreads over the four levels of the boutique.
The first houses handbags, with daywear and shoes settled on the second, and evening looks on the third while on the fourth-floor rests its crowning glory. Comprising of three lacquered rooms, the uppermost VIP level glows for the upper crest in the halo of custom Via Bizzuno lighting and Chipperfield’s exclusively crafted leather furnishings. A faux fireplace sits across glossy walls that will witness many precious private fittings, on an appointment, of course. The First of its kind by Valentino in the US, the elite salon will offer, besides its extravagant appeal, services like custom tailoring and cater to special orders along with giving glimpses into the luxury label’s traveling couture collections.
In the brand’s boutique-building streak, plans are underway for flagships in Aspen, Las Vegas, and San Francisco by year-end and internationally, a menswear store in Paris. Valentino also awaits a Fifth Avenue welcome at the former Takashimaya building in 2014. According to the CEO of Valentino Fashion Group SpA, Stefano Sassi, the Madison Avenue outpost will attract local and most affluent patrons, while the one at Fifth Avenue seeks to carry a more international appeal.
