PARIS — Like his delicate silk cocktail dresses with heavy zippers, Alber Elbaz’s new retail concept for Lanvin blends elements of romantic French style and no-nonsense modernism.
“Industrial and emotional,” Elbaz said in describing the decor at the 1,500-square-foot Lanvin boutique in Marbella, Spain, which opened last month and was feted with a harborside party attended by the designer.
The store is the first unit to display Elbaz’s new boutique concept, developed with Jean-Christophe Poggioli and Pierre Beucler of the firm Architecture & Associés. The Lanvin flagship here on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré will be shuttered later this year for renovations, reopening with new decor in spring 2007.
In an interview on Monday, Elbaz said the store design sprang partly from an observation that a lot of women come shopping at Lanvin with their husbands or boyfriends. “It’s not really a store store,” Elbaz said. “It’s very cozy. It’s more like a living-room feeling. You have a living room, and also more intimate rooms.”
Elbaz said the new decor does not represent any dramatic departure from existing Lanvin shops, but rather an ongoing effort “to make the clothes look good and women look good in the space.”
Key elements include sanded oak floors, carved mirrors, floor-to-ceiling curtains and tall fixtures in aged metal, putting the accent on Elbaz’s apparel and accessories. Kooky displays, with mannequins cavorting playfully in the windows, are also a feature of the Marbella unit.
The company declined to give first-year sales projections. Worldwide, there are 23 Lanvin boutiques and 20 corners.