Red and gray anyone? Last fall, Christian Dior christened a 3,650-square-foot unit in Moscow’s GUM department store, facing the world-famous Red Square.
It was the latest step in what has been an aggressive retail rollout for the French brand, which had a global network of 215 boutiques at the end of 2006.
Most of the new stores have been added in the last decade, as Dior overhauled its business model from licensing and franchises to direct control of manufacturing and distribution. “We were not retailers,” said Sidney Toledano, Dior’s chief executive since 1994, when the brand had “only a handful” of directly operated units. Dior’s 50th anniversary, celebrated in 1997, marked the debut of its new retail age with the renovation of its historic Paris boutique and headquarters — spread across four buildings — at the corner of Avenue Montaigne and Rue François 1er. The overhaul of the flagship was entrusted to American architect Peter Marino, who mixed a smattering of Louis XV — the style favored by the founder — with such modern elements as video screens and white, high-gloss lacquered shelving.
In 1999, Dior’s modernization effort was driven home more dramatically with the opening of a New York flagship at 21 East 57th Street in the LVMH tower. The store was christened with a raucous and funky dance party in the tower’s “magic room,” featuring a conversation-starting mirrored floor and a live performance by Foxy Brown in a slipdress not much bigger than a scarf.
In recent years, Dior’s architectural statements have become ever grander, culminating in the inauguration of two new buildings in Tokyo. In 2003, the world’s largest Dior boutique bowed in Omotesando, a building whose double-layered white façade was inspired by the tulle layers of a John Galliano couture dress. Perched on the top of the building, designed by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the firm SANAA, stands a neon star, the French house’s good luck symbol, which is visible for blocks.
A year later, another, even bigger white Dior building, luminous as a block of ice, made its debut in the burgeoning Ginza district — complete with two levels devoted to men’s wear and a gallery and exhibition hall on the store’s fifth and sixth floors.
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Toledano said Dior planned to add “at least 10 to 15 stores a year”; in 2007, in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
Improvements also continue closer to home. Last December, Dior opened a Baby Dior store at 26 Avenue Montaigne, and Marino has been tapped to “refresh” the main women’s boutique in time for a fall unveiling.