MILAN – In its “Loro Piana way,” the Italian luxury company has been celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and the opening of the Los Angeles flagship on Rodeo Drive can be considered the cherry on top.
The store is a strong statement for Loro Piana, and one that has been envisioned by chief executive officer Damien Bertrand since Day One.
“Historically, Loro Piana has had a very strong business on the East Coast, and my second trip in my role at the company was to the U.S. because I knew that market had a big potential,” said Bertrand in an exclusive interview.
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The executive joined Loro Piana in November 2021 from Dior and he recalled how he visited Los Angeles in January 2022, “walking on Rodeo Drive with the team,” and identifying the space. “This was the one, and we found it by walking around, visiting the stores. This is what Mr. [Bernard] Arnault [chairman and CEO of Loro Piana parent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton] does all the time, and it’s something that, as a CEO, I think is very important to do, to be on the ground with the team, seeing your clients and how the market evolves. It’s not in the office that you see what’s happening.”
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Bertrand believes in the strength of Rodeo Drive and, while there was a smaller previous store on the street in a different location, the new flagship is almost four times bigger with a selling area of 7,776 square feet. It is also more centrally located on the same stretch as Dior and Gucci, with an inviting VIP floor and terrace to cater to locals including Zendaya, Sofia Richie, Jeff Bezos, and Leonardo DeCaprio, who have helped make the brand’s Extra Pocket bags, Rebecca flats, White Sole shoes and sustainable red carpet suits stealth wealth statements.
Loro Piana has 23 stores in the U.S. and, banking on the potential of California, it opened a unit in Palo Alto in March 2023 and one in Montecito at the end of August. The Rodeo Drive flagship was quietly unveiled at the end of July but its official opening will take place Thursday. It will be celebrated with a cocktail party and dinner with expected guests including “Succession” scion Jeremy Strong, Andrew Garfield, Will Arnett and Sarah Paulson.
“We mapped carefully where we wanted to be and where we felt we had a community,” explained Bertrand.
As per LVMH policy, Bertrand could not disclose the revenues generated in North America, but he said that, in the last three years, Loro Piana has doubled its business in the region.
The store’s facade is striking as it is features glazed ceramic tiles made by a Tuscan company, based in the Impruneta area near Florence, inspired by the soft, undulating texture of Loro Piana’s fabrics. The tiles in varying hues of the brand’s signature kummel color change depending on the light.
“I love this about the facade and its shimmering effect and we see a lot of people that walk by and touch the tiles, so even just through this, we achieved something that is important for us because Loro Piana is about the texture, about the touch and we want to offer the best experience for our clients,” remarked Bertrand, highlighting the craftsmanship required.
He explained that the glazed tiles were used for the first time in the Loro Piana store in the Dubai Mall two years ago, with a different effect. “That was in an enclosed space, here we are outside, so you have to make sure that it has to stay beautiful, and to be, of course, super safe.”
The interiors, designed by the Loro Piana in-house team in a warm color palette, feature lots of oak and the brand’s recurring Carabottino wood details, silk carpets, raffia, Venini chandeliers and silk wall coverings. Furniture is upholstered with Loro Piana Interiors fabrics.
The three stories are linked by an elevator and a staircase decorated with artworks by Sheila Hicks, her “soft stones,” tactile sculptures of three-dimensional discs woven with linen threads and other raw materials.
The women’s collections, including leather goods and footwear, are available on the ground floor. Menswear is carried on the second level, with a design loosely inspired by the closet of Sergio Loro Piana, who helped build the family business with his brother Pier Luigi. There is a “Pantalonaio” — a storied open display of pants used in the early Loro Piana boutiques — and a footwear room.
“We wanted to bring it back because the space looks like your own dressing room,” explained the executive of the “Pantalonaio,” adding that the leather goods category has been expanded “and it’s performing very well.” There is also a cabinet for bags in exotic hides.
An early Loro PIana advertisement framed on the wall connects the brand’s history in fine fabrics to Old Hollywood, picturing Fred Astaire leaping in a pair of Tasmanian fabric pants.
A VIP room on the third floor is reserved for clients who request a private appointment, where they “spend quite a lot of time, I am told,” said Bertrand with a smile. The brand also plans to do celebrity dressing out of the space.
Loro Piana first entered the U.S. in the ‘60s by exporting fabrics, but in 1994 the company opened a showroom and office space in a townhouse in New York on 61st Street between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue and it gradually started to sell clothes, becoming the brand’s first retail presence, recalled Bertrand. The first official store would only open four years later in Milan, on Via Montenapoleone, so “the link with the U.S. is very strong,” he said. A store on Madison Avenue opened in 2011.
“We believe we have a strong community of clients or potential clients in the U.S. so that’s the way we look at the market. We still have opportunities in California, for sure, and I think, in Arizona, for example. It’s a state where Loro Piana should be, but step by step, where it makes sense and when we are ready,” said Bertrand.
To further develop the North American market, Loro Piana will open units in Toronto in Bloor Street and at Yorkdale Mall in mid-October.
Also marking the anniversary, Loro Piana is presenting “Master of Fibres,” a book published by Assouline and written by Nicholas Foulkes sharing the most significant milestones of the brand. The book will be available in selected Loro Piana stores and Assouline stores worldwide and on the latter’s e-store from Nov. 21. The book will be pre-launched in the U.S. at the Rodeo Drive flagship event. In the U.K., it will be launched with Loro Piana’s takeover of Harrods starting on Nov. 7.
There are two versions of the book, which took nearly three years to complete. “We really wanted to do something very special, it tells the story of the Loro Piana family, its six generations and we have some exclusive pictures in it,” said Bertrand.
The volume of 196 pages features 150 illustrations and is housed in a luxury clamshell case and covered in the Loro Piana Tela Sergio fabric, crafted from cotton and linen. Retailing at 1,200 euros, it is part of Assouline’s Ultimate Collection, hand-bound using traditional techniques, with color plates hand-tipped on art-quality paper. There is also a limited edition covered in cashfur fabric for top customers.
“Obviously, to me, it’s much more than a book because it’s an object of desire, it’s an object of luxury, the ultimate luxury book. We did it in a very Loro Piana way,” said Bertrand, whose passion for the brand is palpable and who admits to being “obsessed by details.”
“It was a huge opportunity for me and for the team, to go back into the archive and to also talk about our excellences, and the journey of transformation. And I think that is very important. We wanted the book to be very, very tactile, because at Loro Piana it’s all about sensation and touch, and even some images are tactile,” he said, holding the bookmark with the brand’s coat of arms. “There are many details that are not visible but that are very important.”
– With contributions from Booth Moore, Los Angeles