The Fashion Plate Magazine

Retailers eclectic interiors in Europe, Canada and the US.

Paris, France: A stone’s throw from the Tuileries and the Louvre Tory Burch opens her latest flagship and first-ever boutique in France.  The 19th century building, designed by architect Daniel Romualdez, is a 4,200-square-foot space at 412, rue Saint-Honoré.  The interiors model a residential retreat similar to other Tory Burch outposts while nodding to the Parisian locale.   The new location features Madeleine Castaing rugs, fretwork étagères, French oak chairs and white-washed oak floors. A roomy terrace on The second floor holds a special jewelry and shoe salons and outdoor terrace.  And the fourth floor offers a private shopping suite for VIP shopping.

Vancouver, Canada:  Christian Dior opens its first Canadian flagship store, in Vancouver. The store, which was designed by architect Peter Marino, features a ceiling installation by Rob Wynne in the accessories room that looks like little puddles of mercury.  Vancouver’s Dior is the first of at least two Canadian flagships, with a second opening planned for Toronto.

The store, located within the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver at 900 West Georgia Street (corner of Burrard Street), spreads over 7,000 square feet on two floors Vancouver’s Dior features a ground-level with accessories, fine jewelry and watches, as well as a Dior Homme shop which can be accessed from a separate hotel entrance as well as from within the Dior store itself. The second level features women’s ready-to-wear, evening wear, footwear, and a dedicated ‘VIP’ fitting room.

Paris, France:  Inès de la Fressange’s charming new eponymous boutique on Paris’s Left Bank is organized like a chic bazaar. Vintage-inspired frocks in florals and checks hang from a copper rack in the center, and her prim shoes and smart sunglasses line the wall.  Long farm tables and dark wood shelves are filled with blue-and-white textiles, straw baskets, ceramics, and other odds and ends you might find at a stylish hardware store. In the back corner, a cozy room with raw, unfinished walls looks like someone’s beach house haven, with a straw light fixture, bamboo seating, and plaster accessories.

Chelsea, New York City, USA:   Rei Kawakubo opens his first free standing Pocket in the United States.  There are now 30 Pocket shops worldwide in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, as well as Singapore, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris and Melbourne.  Set against a graphic polka-dotted backdrop, affordable items from the brand’s Play line, accessories and toiletries, are stacked floor to ceiling in Plexiglas cubes.

Comme des Garçons said it likens the Pocket concept, which launched in Tokyo department stores in 2007, to a modern-day convenience store for “pocket-sized items that you don’t have to think about too much and can buy on a whim.”

Adrian Joffe, president of Comme des Garçons International, said the concept “celebrates the ease, efficiency and affordability of a convenience store.”