MIAMI — Silvia Tcherassi, who splits her time between Miami and her native Colombia, chose the former for a 1,900-square-foot location devoted to eveningwear and bridal. She said the categories generate 30 percent of sales. Differentiated from her ready-to-wear stores, including one across the street in Shops at Merrick Park, Silvia Tcherassi Atelier also carries her signature mochilas embellished with Swarovski crystals and refurbished midcentury modern furniture from Italy.
“You can buy a lamp, a chair and a dress,” said Tcherassi, who prefers to work from an office here, though her headquarters sit around the corner. “We needed a separate space for these collections, especially since bridal parties bring all the friends and relatives.”
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Rather than traditional one-off couture, her runway concept produces about five of each design tailored to clients’ measurements. Macondo, the fictional town in Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” inspired the latest collection in silk organza and silk Neoprene. Scenes from the book — the train pulling into the station, a flurry of postcards and avian residents from flamingos to roosters — come to life through ornate digital prints.
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“It’s a tribute to the author who was also a friend of my father’s,” she said.
Her brand is growing through several other channels. Along with remodeling her rtw stores in Colombia and Madrid, her son, Mauricio Espinosa, is launching e-commerce with white blouses. Her small, namesake boutique hotel and spa in Cartagena, Colombia, added a 42-room annex designed in a blue-and-white palette by Richard Mishaan. Aside from its own pool and spa, the more minimal setting features two casual restaurants for Colombian coastal cuisine, Tuc-Tuc and Matilda, and a Tcherassi rtw boutique stocked year-round with resort clothing and accessories.
“My first hotel feels like a mansion, which was full all the time, so we needed a real hotel,” she said.