‘I by no means suppose folks die. They simply go to malls,’ Andy Warhol as soon as quipped.
If heaven is a division retailer, then Printemps’ lately opened New York outpost is one whose pearly gates we’d fortunately crash.
Solely this division retailer’s gates aren’t composed of pearls; as a substitute, guests to the brand new Monetary District satellite tv for pc of the storied Parisian retail mecca are greeted from its Wall Road entrance by towering bronze artwork deco doorways which open into the town’s most enchanting new retail area in latest reminiscence.
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
Barneys 2.0, this isn’t. As a substitute, its management describes Printemps not as a division retailer, however as an ever-evolving luxurious idea the place ‘we seamlessly combine retail, hospitality, eating, and modern programming with a curated strategy to vogue and way of life’, mentioned Jean-Marc Bellaiche, CEO of Printemps Group, in a press launch.
‘Our goal is to encourage and produce folks collectively,’ he added, ‘fostering a way of belonging whereas enriching the patron journey, setting a daring new normal for retail within the twenty first century.’
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
To make its mark in a metropolis with no scarcity of luxurious brick-and-mortar, the shop’s artistic workforce tapped French design supernova Laura Gonzalez to work her magic on nearly each inch of its 55,000 sq ft storefront.
‘We had been very impressed by the heritage of Printemps [Paris] – the mosaics, the stained glass, the patterns, the unique artwork,’ Gonzalez famous in a press release. ‘However that is in New York. It’s a brand new story.’
A part of that story was to unify two totally different segments of One Wall Road – a mixed-use skyscraper developed by Harry Macklowe, made up of a historic, artwork deco portion and a Sixties-era addition. Gonzalez’s resolution was to have fun what’s there whereas including wealthy layers of color, environment, and narrative.
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
The ensuing two-storey division retailer – which opens formally Friday 21 March – looks like a jewelry field, with every of its ten major areas revealing itself like a secret drawer. Take the ground-floor ‘playroom’, the place customers can get an espresso beneath a green-striped circus tent at Café Jalu; attempt on limited-edition Nikes in a grotto-like sneaker nook; or snag a present for a pal, housed in bookshelf-like shows.
Upstairs, by way of a set of escalators, the temper is decidedly extra refined, with timber shows, plush carpets, and inexperienced inlaid marble flooring. Lush, hand-painted frescoes that call to mind the layered jungle scenes of Henri Rousseau hint the ceilings together with millegrain-style mouldings. On this ground, you’ll be able to uncover clothes, housed beneath cloche-like plaster ‘chook cages’ (25 per cent of the shop’s labels can be found to buy solely at Printemps); store menswear in a pink moiré-swaddled nook; attempt on garments in boudoir-like altering rooms; or get a purse repaired at an in-store leathergoods restore kiosk. You’ll be able to even purchase a number of the retailer’s furnishings – upcycled by Gonzalez herself – straight from the showroom ground.
The trick to uniting the historic portion of the constructing with the brand new? A sinuous plaster-clad magnificence hall the place you’ll be able to uncover cult and storied French magnificence manufacturers alike. An adjoining spa provides manicures and Guerlain merchandise alongside a champagne bar and – additional past – a couture boudoir, which is at present displaying Jean Paul Gaultier confections.
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
The concept is {that a} buyer, between a couture becoming or a manicure, can freely wander the shop’s nooks and crannies, champagne in hand, simply as they might in a pal’s condominium. Even the loos – with their lustrous hand-painted tiles, flattering lighting, and vibrant stone flooring – really feel as thought of because the champagne bar. Within the coming months, all of those creature comforts will likely be joined by a Printemps wine retailer and Maison Passerelle, a brand new restaurant by Printemps’ culinary director, the James Beard Award-winning chef, Gregory Gourdet.
(Picture credit score: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York)
Printemps’ most pulse-quickening second, by far, is its dazzling Purple Room, a tiled, artwork deco vestibule off the Wall Road entrance that now incorporates a dream-like shoe salon. The room, designed by pioneering muralist Hildreth Meière in 1931 and clad in additional than 13,000 sq ft of intricate red-and-gold tile mosaics, remained inaccessible to the general public for years. No extra. Gonzalez designed monumental spindly steel flowers that operate as show racks and lighting and sprout all through the area. Amid the glow, the room – which was designated as an inside landmark final summer time – sparkles anew like Dorothy’s ruby-red slippers.
New York, says Gonzales, is ‘a metropolis the place the whole lot is feasible. I don’t suppose this undertaking may have been designed anyplace else, as a result of New York may be very particular. Right here, there are not any boundaries.’
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Supply: Wallpaper
