Opening Ceremony has reopened its Tokyo flagship, decamping from its Shibuya location—which opened in 2009—to Omotesando. Giving Yayoi Kusama a run for her money, Ben-Day dots abound, in bright blue, green, pink, and lavender on the walls and floors. The store, with its painted wooden horses, ostriches and llamas, turns up the kawaii quotient, charming and coaxing shoppers into snapping up exclusive merch (Kenzo, Rodarte, John Derian, Toga, Peter Jensen, Tripp, Pamela Love, House of Hackney) and OC's seemingly endless collaborations (Kiko Mizuhara, Chloë Sevigny, Yoko Ono, adidas Originals, DKNY).
Opening Ceremony, 6-7-1-B Jingumae on Cat Street, Omotesando, Tokyo
Living up to its name, Poler Outdoor Stuff makes pretty great outdoor stuff intended for nature freaks and couch potatoes alike, as anyone who watches Girls will know (Lena's Dunham's Hannah had on a Poler wearable sleeping bag, the "Napsack," in one episode). Their backpacks, tees, tents, jackets, and beanies—not to mention sporting gear for skaters and snowboarders—have a nice demure, aw-shucks quality about them that makes Portland the ideal spot for their first store. Situated near the Ace Hotel and Stumpton Coffee, the shack of a shop carries a range of their own merch, in addition to a collaboration with a "friendly brand" each month, the first of which is BAGGU bags. So go ahead and make all the Portlandia jokes you want because nothing is more ironically hilarious than saying your new Napsack is "by Poler."
Poler Outdoor Stuff, 1300 SW Burnside, Portland
In the loony world of Comme des Garçons, retail is taken quite seriously. And so when its Guerrilla Store in Berlin closed at the end of last year, rather than actually close, the owner, Lil Schlichting-Stegemann, opened Lil*Shop Atelier one door down. The new space offers vintage and archive designer pieces by the likes of Antipast, Faliero Sarti, Francesca Zunino, Labo Art, Peachoo & Krejberg, and Tsumori Chisato, as well as current collections by Studio Ito, Physicalnovel, Les Moutons Noirs, and of course plenty of Comme des Garçons and Junya Watanabe.
Lil*Shop Atelier, Brunnenstraße 185, Berlin
Dirk Van Saene may be among the quieter of the Antwerp Six, but he's hardly sitting still. The bashful Belgian has just opened DVS, a bungalow of a boutique smack in the middle of Antwerp's fashion district. And once again he's not hogging the spotlight; the modest shop carries the likes of Walter Van Beirendonck (a fellow Sixer), Veronique Branquinho, Frieda Degeyter, Sofie d'Hoore, Monsieur Maison, as well as his own wares.
DVS, Schuttershofstraat 9, 2000 Antwerpen
Apparently the French like to cure hangovers with open floor plans and plush seating. Following its massive 60th-anniversary bash and exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Chloé has just opened a new Paris flagship as airy, translucent, and soft-focused as the house's image. In partnership with Clare Waight Keller, Chloé's creative director, architect Joseph Dirand looked to an iconic time in the label's past—the pre-gauche seventies, the time of Karl Lagerfeld's reign—to outfit the store, Chloe's 50th worldwide and second in Paris.
Dirand, while better-known for his partiality to hard surfaces à la concrete (Rick Owens, London) and marble (Alexander Wang, Beijing), stayed true to Chloé's bougie-breezy vibe, assembling a gentle-hued and smooth-edged space lit by bay windows and skylights. He even designed the furniture, its natural lines and rounded corners an homage to Maria Pergay, Gabriella Crespi, and other greats of interior design.
Chloé, 253 rue Saint-Honoré, 75001
Rei Kawakubo and her urban nomads in New York now have a place to go—and it's NoMad, literally. Her plans to open a Dover Street Market in New York have long been known—following DSM in London and Tokyo—as are her plans to open it in an unconventional neighborhood. That would exclude Comme des Garçons' neighborhood of Chelsea, where the label helped launch, with its own move in 1999, a mass migration of art-minded retailers from Soho.
Today came word that Murray Hill, a formerly humdrum hood, would be the location for the new Dover, opening about a year from now. Lexington and 30th, to be exact, an area that's affectionately come to be known as NoMad, or north of Madison Park, where Ace Hotel and Kitsuné have their digs and steps away from Marc Jacobs' favored venue, the Lexington Avenue Armory. Built a century ago with funding from John D. Rockefeller, the seven-story forgotten temple of a building is the ideal spot to consecrate the latest Church of Comme.
As usual, architectural precision and luxe finishes define Dior Homme's shiny new store in Miami's Design District (161 NE 40th Street). Less usual: creative director Kris Van Assche has commissioned Bruce Weber to create a short film incorporating ballet and classical music. Titled "Can I Make the Music Fly," it features Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin, English violinist Charlie Siem, pianist Mason Buccheri, and 12-year-old violin prodigy Claudius Agrippa. (The film will go on view December 6 on Diormag.com and remain on view in a permanent installation in the store.)
Here's a trailer...
You didn't think another Art Basel Miami would launch without a Prada presence, did you? The arts-loving Italian house is apparently forgoing its usual sponsorship of an arty something and cutting to the chase with a new store in the Design District. Miuccia Prada once again worked with the architect Roberto Baciocchi on the greenish hued space opening December 6, the brand's 33rd store in the U.S.
You already knew Donatella Versace harbors a secret fetish for New York, where she spends an inordinate amount of time. Now she's making it official, opening her first store in lower Manhattan. Soho, to be exact, smack in the middle of the chic-again block of Mercer where Balenciaga and Saint Laurent will also hang out a shingle soon, as promised by those ominous facade boards.
And the store isn't what you might think. Conceived by Versace herself with English architect Jamie Fobert, who previously designed Givenchy's Paris boutique, the new downtown outlet is a slip of a shop whose flashiest feature is a beige-y floor mosaic. The complete lines for women and men are carried, as well as capsule collaborations with various artists and designers, starting with Christopher Kane, who already designs the Versus second line.
Perhaps owing to the snug space, the mood at last night's launch party was cozy and intimate. Leather rubbed against leather, chain mail against chain mail, as celebu-guests including Lady Gaga, Linda Evangelista and Melissa George schmoozed and shuffled. Then it was back uptown for a late supper at the Waldorf Towers—the Royal suite, obvsies—where the likes of Sting, Gerard Butler and Russell Simmons were waiting. No biggie.
Versace, 160 Mercer Street, NYC
