Valentino, the Italian couture fashion brand, opened a flagship store, Friday, in New York City's Fifth Avenue - an elite street that is home to other upscale retailers like Tiffany's & Co.
Located between 54th and 55th streets, the Fifth Avenue store has been designed by British architect David Chipperfield and his team. The 20,000-square-foot store has a brilliant metal façade with high ceilings and sleek interiors, which echo Valentino's sophistication.
The store is Valentino's largest U.S. outlet where the brand is showing off its accessories collection. The building was originally developed by constructors John Burgee and Philip Johnson and was initially home to the Takashimaya Department Store.
In 2010, developer Joe Sitt purchased the building for $142 million and spent another $5 million on renovating the space, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"We pounded the pavement and spent months on the road in Europe visiting all the different upscale design houses," Sitt told the Journal in an interview. He added that Valentino was "worth the wait."
CEO Stefano Sassi told WWD that the store "means a lot" to the brand because it was a result of "so many years of activity, working with [creative directors] Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli to fix and modernize the perception of the brand, to grow our customer base, to revamp this unbelievable brand."
The building draws inspiration from the nearby Seagram Building that has the same aluminum and black steel on the upper tiers, while the lower half sports brass bars that incorporate a lantern, a clock and Valentino's logo.
A large glass door opens into an eight-meter-high atrium. There is a 39-shelf individual display area. There are no columns in the store, which give it a roomy "palazzo-like" atmosphere.
"Valentino has identified architecture as the idea for the interior whereby architecture is brought into the store in a process that reduces the superficial decoration by steering away from the use of panelling - an approach that privileges concreteness over shallowness," said Chipperfield in a statement, according to Dezeen.
A "sculptural staircase" connects the three stories of the store that each feature distinctive architecture.
"Every single floor is a box with very high ceilings, so from an architectural and retail point of view, it's perfect. We had the full opportunity to personalize it according to the vision of our architect David Chipperfield, and not have any constraints in terms of the space," Sassi told WWD.
The main floor features Valentino's huge accessory collection including the Zodiac Finger clutches and the Cambuterfly pieces. The second floor is home to the women's wear section and the top-most level is a "Menswear Mecca," as Esquire Magazine dubbed it.
