While most houses are still downsizing in this slow-motion economic recovery, Azzedine Alaïa is making bold expansion plans. Always one to buck a trend, the reclusive Paris designer who models can’t help but fawn over is planning to open a grand Paris flagship near the tony Avenue Montaigne in spring 2013.

We tell you this now because it’s a highly unexpected move, as Alaïa has not operated his own store since 1992. In fact, he’s renowned for eschewing the usual obligations of the fashion world: placing glossy ad campaigns, keeping an online presence, staging regular fashion shows. Instead, he’s chosen to carve out a creative path on his own terms.

It’s a strategy that’s paying off. Plans for the new boutique—which would replace his current Marais headquarters—hint at opulent luxury, with five stories, a showroom, office space and a courtyard garden. Nothing is too big for the diminutive dynamo.