Michael Kors didn’t even consider SoHo as a place for his two new stores – as far as he was concerned, Madison Avenue the only choice.
“This is the most luxurious shopping area in the world,” says the New York-based designer. “I mean, who’s not here? There was never a question that this was the best possible place to put my two babies.”
The first to open – last Wednesday, in fact – was a new, more glamorous home for Celine, the tres chic French fashion house with Kors as chief designer. The shop now at Madison between 60th and 61st streets was until recently housed in a tiny space on East 57th Street.
The second is Kors’ first namesake store, which will open at Madison and 76th Street on Sept. 20, during New York Fashion Week.
While others would balk at launching two outposts at once, the Long Island-bred designer has opened or redesigned many of the 92 Celine boutiques worldwide. The new Celine store has no trouble fitting in with its elegant, modern neighbors, including Calvin Klein and DKNY.
“At first glance it looks like a clean light space and then you look and realize there’s a lot of intense work in here,” says Kors, a favored designer of both conservatively chic Hollywood stars and Upper East Side socialites alike.
The 2,400-foot space has 22-foot ceilings allow in lots of light – a trademark of Kors’ redesigned Celine stores.
“There’s something about wasting space in New York that’s kind of fabulous,” Kors says. “So we kept the mezzanine small, allowing all this open space at the front.”
There’s even a special VIP area for customers too fabulous for the ample two-room fitting rooms. “For some customers, we’ll turn the mezzanine into one big shopping room,” he says. “We want to offer some sense of privacy to someone who’s really, seriously shopping.”
Celebs, for instance.
Says Kors: “They all have posses these days. So we’ve made sure there’s plenty of room up here for everyone.”
This will come as good news to devoted Celine customers Rene Russo, Sigourney Weaver, Claire Danes and Chloe Sevigny, whose innate fashion sense is acknowledged by Kors to be among his current inspirations.
Uptown is a perfect setting for Kors’ fall line – he takes Celine back to the ’80s with looks that would be right at home on “Dynasty” – had it been set in Paris.
Gold brocade pants and blouson jersey dresses studded with a crystal leopard-print pattern hang beside preppy pieces such as gray cashmere flannel walking shorts.
Accessories include Celine’s famous logoed bags, as well as a striking pair of camel and chocolate leather open-toed pumps.
The designer says he has amassed a waiting list of 120 people ever since Sevigny wore them during Oscar week this spring.
The rest of the line is selling so well that when it arrived at the old 57th street Celine location, the staff was forced to pull the stock after three days to have enough clothes to fill the new store.
Kors says he sees shopping as a sport. Creating stores is apparently more of an art.
