FLAGSHIP FLASH: Valentino Joins Fifth Avenue's Brand Palace Parade Tomorrow

Friday is the day that Valentino's new flagship store opens as the permanent resident of the former home of Takashimaya at 693 Fifth Avenue. All reports point to a particularly lavish presentation, even for Fifth Avenue's cavalcade of luxury brands. The label seems to be showing off after surviving ownership changes and the transition of design direction from its revered namesake to current creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. This will be the largest Valentino boutique in the world, featuring the complete men's and women's ready-to-wear and accessory collections, each on its own floor. Exclusive offerings include a custom jeans service for men and new Camu-butterfly patterned accessory pieces and Zodiac finger clutches that won't be found in any other store.

Grazia Chiuri and Piccioli collaborated David Chipperfield Architects to redesign the Takashimaya space, and though they appear to have preserved the store's dramatic atrium, the building's owner made good on his promise to demolish the lower half of the distinctive Phillip Johnson and John Burgee designed façade and replace it with an incongruous slab of steel and glass. The 20,000 square foot space's new centerpiece is a dramatic palladina marble staircase that connects the three floors. The store's design will be the template for new expansion and renovations of Valentino's retail network, and like most of it's fellow international designer brand palaces up and down the street, it will serve as a billboard for the brand, reaching the throngs of tourists traversing Fifth Avenue on any given day. Also like its neighboring mega-flagships, Valentino still maintains a boutique on Madison Avenue. In fact, it opened a new one less than a year ago, joining Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, Bottega Veneta and several others in having a costly showplace on Fifth whose profits can be bolstered by a smaller, boutique on Madison, removed from the tourist bustle, where the major spenders, both local and traveling, can shop in a more exclusive environment.

Valentino Preparing to Unveil Fifth Ave. Flagship (WWD)