Amiri is betting even bigger on Rodeo Drive.
The Los Angeles luxury brand has opened an expanded, renovated flagship in Beverly Hills. Now 4,300 square feet, the store has a more gallery-like format with an additional floor and room for categories to breathe.
“Our original store we opened during COVID-19 and it was like, all right, let’s try out Rodeo Drive to see if we can really make this happen,” said Mike Amiri. “It worked out so well, we realized we might have been thinking too small.”
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After being in a temporary space next door for a year, the new and improved flagship opens Friday.
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“In the last couple years, the brand has expanded categorically, footwear has almost doubled, womenswear and kids have grown, so we really needed an environment where you could go through the whole world,” he said. “Now tailoring is big and we’ve been doing a lot of stage wear. So there are sections for those.”
(In recent months, Amiri has dressed 21 Savage, Regé-Jean Page, Nicholas Hoult, Usher and more.)
“The aesthetic has evolved. We’ve maintained our base, but also welcomed in a whole new client, even some traditional luxury clients. So it was important for us to make a space that reflected that. I’m really big on showcasing tailoring on the runway, and telling our story through construction rather than through graphics. Our suits fit like T-shirts; they feel really comfortable and the proportions are very baggy but still look and feel great. So there’s a new wave of customers that are coming to us for tailoring.”
Amiri also wanted the store to be more experiential. “So there’s going to be a lot of art installations and it’s a great collaboration space,” he said.
In the store now is “A Brand New World #1” by artist Wes Lang, whom Amiri collaborated with on his fall 2022 runway collection. There’s also “Instrument Frame Drag,” a sculpture by California-born artist Jason Revok. “He connects 12 spray cans that spray at the same time, so there’s a sense anything can happen. It celebrates organic creativity, which is reflective of how we started, too.”
Next up Amiri will bring in a capsule collaboration with The Great China Wall, the L.A. brand founded in 2000 by Alfredo Settimio that was early to the upscale, upcycled customization fashion game.
“It’s an homage to L.A. craft. Putting that on Rodeo Drive with some vintage elements feels really great because it helps further distinguish us from the rest of the brands on the street.,” Amiri said. “There’s going to be some personalization stations and things like that throughout the year, and we’ve added a window through the ground floor that shows through to the lower level. So as you walk in, you can look down and see some of the activation spaces through the floor.”
Bringing in L.A. culture is a brand priority.
“As we’re growing we’re really defining what is us,” said Amiri, who will show his next collection during Paris Fashion Week on June 22. “When we showcase our work in Paris on the runway, there’s a bit of that California feel, and this is something that also helps separate us from the traditional European luxury brands. So we’re really embracing that and wanting to share the spirit of California with the world.”
Amiri celebrates 10 years in 2024. In March, the brand appointed Adrian Ward-Rees, formerly of Burberry, its new chief executive officer. In 2019, Renzo Rosso’s OTB acquired a stake in the brand.
Amiri has stores in Dubai, Shanghai and Tokyo and opened its sixth U.S. location in Chicago in February. Its other U.S. outposts are in Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, the Design District in Miami, in SoHo in New York, at the Wynn Las Vegas and in Beverly Hills.
“I really wanted it to feel full of light and sun. So we have two skylights…and the whole facade is all open windows. The last thing I wanted it to feel was pretentious,” he said of the renovated space. “It’s really welcoming and you’re really feeling sun-kissed throughout the full experience within the store.”