A Store Is Born: Saint Laurent Los Angeles
Hedi Slimane’s unlikely love affair with Los Angeles shows no signs of cooling off. Not only did he relocate Saint Laurent’s atelier to Tinseltown — a major move, to say the least — upon becoming creative director of the French house last year, now he’s opening the brand’s largest women’s store on Rodeo Drive, smack in the middle of Beverly Hills. This effectively snatches the title of global flagship from Paris.
The three-level, 10,000-square-foot space will launch in September, according to WSJ magazine, with the top floor dedicated to VIPs and, perhaps more importantly, their stylish progeny — this is Hollywood, after all. There’s going to be a secret back entrance and everything. The news comes on the heels of financial reports suggesting Saint Laurent has become very profitable for parent company Kering (formerly PPR), perhaps its most profitable label. It would seem Slimane’s reboot has found traction.