EXCLUSIVE: Inside Chanel’s Largest U.S. Store Opening on Rodeo Drive With a Golden Lasso, Bedazzled Boots and Denim Nail Polish
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LOS ANGELES — Chanel is ready for its Hollywood close-up.
On Friday, the French luxury powerhouse opens its largest boutique in the U.S. in an entirely new building at 400 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
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The four-floor, 30,000-square-foot, gleaming white cube with an impressive rooftop terrace has multistory windows and a Brisbane Box tree and lily flower-filled courtyard letting the SoCal sun shine in.
In the six windows facing the famed shopping street, C-H-A-N-E-L is spelled out in white uppercase letters as an ode to the Hollywood sign, and to the town that has done so much to burnish the image of the French brand.
The history stretches from Coco Chanel being invited by studio mogul Samuel Goldwyn to design film costumes for his United Artists studio in 1931 to Lionel Richie’s youngest daughter, Sophia Richie, setting Gen Z social media on fire with her Chanel wedding trousseau last month.
The opening of the supersized store is being bookended by two major pop culture moments for Chanel in the U.S.: A galaxy of stars — including ambassadors Jennie from Blackpink, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz and Kristen Stewart — wore the brand to the Met Gala celebrating late designer Karl Lagerfeld in New York on Monday, and the upcoming cruise collection show promises more celebrity heat in L.A. on May 9.
Although the location has not been revealed, the runway spectacular is being promoted in movie-style posters all over L.A. that read “One Night Only” with Margot Robbie, G-Dragon, Marion Cotillard, Angèle, Nile Rodgers and more, suggesting a Hollywood theme. Indeed, Chanel creative director Virginie Viard, who worked alongside Lagerfeld for three decades before taking the helm in 2019, started her career as a costume designer.
Setting the stage is the new Peter Marino-designed flagship, which is a California cousin to the modernist white cube that opened last year in the Miami Design District.
The L.A. store’s main interior feature is the dramatic “Golden Lasso” sculpture of 215 hand-blown glass beads resembling one of Chanel’s iconic pearl necklaces.
“We cleaved the center to create a three-story glass atrium that brings light directly into the space. The outside is marked with scattered inset apertures,” said Marino of the building. “As soon as you enter the interior space you’ll see our commission from Jean-Michel Othoniel in a soaring atrium. The sculpture cascades from the ceiling and descends several stories. Straight through is a semi-open courtyard garden with a sculpture from François-Xavier Lalanne. The green space serves as a reference point of orientation for every floor.”
Light and space abound in the art-filled interior.
“This embrace of the sun and the landscape ties it tightly to the Los Angeles context and region,” Marino continued. “Overall, nearly 40 artworks were chosen for this location — photography from Vera Lutter of the L.A. County Museum of Art, abstract paintings from Suzanne McClelland, Vik Muniz, and Beatrice Caracciolo; on the VIP floor, artwork by California-based artist Mary Corse and graphic charcoal works by Lee Bae, just to name a few.”
Customers enter the front door into the high jewelry salon, where glass vitrines gleam with “Comete” necklaces, the exclusive Beverly Hills “Blazing Sun” brooch, “Pink Sunset” sapphire ring, “Lucky Star” double ring Haute Joaillerie capsule collection and Monsieur Beverly Hills watches.
Accessories aren’t far away, with classic 11.2 quilted bags in every color, star- and heart-shaped minaudieres, bow-trimmed lambskin fingerless gloves and collectable butterfly-shaped sunglasses designed for the store opening. Wander further back toward the elevators, and there are rooms featuring the full beauty and fragrance ranges, including an exclusive-to-L.A. set of Le Vernis nail polishes in “fast car” red and “denim” blue shades.
Viard’s ready-to-wear is front and center on the ground floor, with mannequins sporting the micro-mini checked tweed dresses and skirts, negligee-like lace shorts and tops, fishnet knee socks and bow-top shoes that have brought the younger generation into the Chanel fold.
The boutique opens with the spring 2023 collection, which was inspired by house muse Stewart, as well as the 1961 French New Wave film “Last Year at Marienbad,” for which Gabrielle Chanel designed most of the costumes.
On floor two, shoe shelves are stocked with bedazzled booties and the Classic ballet flats that are on-trend once again — sequin-dusted, in rainbow confetti tweed, quilted denim and more.
Ready-to-wear rooms offer plenty for Hollywood nights, including sparkly slipdresses, sequin “Chanel Club 5” T-shirts, Barbie pink tweeds and more, while ostrich feather-trimmed suits, long tweed vests and pleated skirts speak to the Ladies Who Lunch.
On floor three, there are two VIP suites with fitting rooms, and on four are a celebrity VVIP penthouse and 2,690-square-foot rooftop terrace that may be the biggest on the street. It has views all the way to the Hollywood sign, and a black framed aluminum outline referencing the Case Study houses that made L.A. a modernist architecture capital.
Throughout, contemporary artworks and objets — including a new work by Michal Rovner depicting blurred poppies (the California state flower), a glazed stoneware sculpture inspired by camellias by Johan Creten, chic tweed lamps by Delos & Ubiedo and lacquered Japanese Edo period cabinets — reference design codes of the house, and of Coco Chanel’s Rue Cambon apartment in Paris.
Chanel first opened on Rodeo Drive in 1985, when it hosted a replay of its fall 1985 haute couture show at the Los Angeles Music Center. The last time the brand hosted a runway show here was cruise 2007 at the Santa Monica Airport. This L.A. moment and the new boutique have been years in the making, following Chanel’s 2015 purchase for a record $152 million of the 10,000-square-foot building it had been leasing, and the purchase for $100 million of the 16,000-square-foot Lladro property next door.
“For me, it’s more a question of image than return on investment,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, when asked about the staggering sums. “Chanel is strong enough to have a big business on Rodeo Drive in L.A., but for me, it’s more about the impact. There are few cities and streets in the world where we need to have the best image of the brand. For us, Rodeo Drive is one of them and we had the opportunity to start from scratch.”
Luxury brands have been engaged in a retail space race on Rodeo Drive in recent years, paying massive sums to own a permanent stake in the street. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton bought four parcels to construct a Cheval Blanc hotel, which will also be designed by Marino. Dior is set to break ground soon on its new boutique, terrace and restaurant, and Richemont-owned Cartier is planning construction next year on a new store.
“It’s not about competition, it was about opportunity. We are not trying to be bigger or wider, we are trying to offer the best of the brand. And here, with the architecture, the windows, the experiences we can offer inside, we have something unique,” said Pavlovsky, who solely spoke on behalf of the brand following the announcement on April 24 that John Galantic, U.S. president and chief operating officer, would be stepping down. “For sure, we have a lot of VIP customers and celebrities, but such a boutique is for everyone. We have to create this impact to keep the dream. And that’s the reason why we want to come for the cruise collection; it’s an acceleration of the relaunch of Chanel in Los Angeles.”
While L.A. may be bracing for the impact of the Hollywood writers’ strike, U.S. business overall is quite good, said the executive, who will be traveling to the city for the first time since 2007 for the opening. “After COVID[-19], we had an impressive rebound in the States and we are still benefitting from that rebound. We want to be cautious because when you look at the economy in the coming months and year, there are a lot of question marks. At the moment, everything is very good, but we are preparing ourselves for the next step, which could be tougher than what we’ve seen until now.”
Ready-to-wear is leading fashion categories in performance, he said. “It is at the heart of what we are doing, it’s part of the DNA of the brand…At the moment, thanks to the job done by Virginie, ready-to-wear is doing very well. We have a growing number of customers, younger customers, and for every collection we have unique and key pieces which demonstrate the power and creativity of the brand.
“We could sell a bit more bags, but we’re trying to focus,” Pavlovsky continued. “The boutiques in Miami and L.A. are very clear about the weight, the visibility, the impact of the ready-to-wear…Most of our customers come because they have seen the ready-to-wear and they are adding accessories. What’s working for us now is the look or silhouette, and Virginie is renewing it every season. Most of the visual merchandising will highlight this silhouette in the boutique and the experience in tech. So we can sell many more bags and shoes, but the most important is to offer a consistent, signature silhouette we have at Chanel.”
Hollywood has been a key part of selling the dream.
Chanel ushered in the modern era of celebrity luxury advertising in 2004, signing Nicole Kidman to be the face of Chanel No. 5, and hiring director Baz Luhrmann to direct her in a three-minute film. Since then, it has signed celebrity ambassadors from all over the globe, most recently 18-year-old Minji of South Korean girl group NewJeans, and financially supported film projects, including Stewart’s “Spencer.”
“We need them to talk about the brand, what they feel about the brand, their perception of the brand and their contribution is key for the image of the brand,” Pavlovsky said of the ambassadors.
Stewart has embraced every facet of Viard’s designs, and even influenced some of them.
“She really represents for me what Chanel is today, but Coco Chanel,” Viard told WWD in October. “On top of that, she looks very French.”
One result of the decade-long collaboration has been the return of short shorts as a fashion item, after Stewart wore them on the Oscars red carpet in 2022. Stewart and her stylist Tara Swennen worked with Chanel to create the custom look, inspired by the spring 2022 Chanel collection’s short hemlines and ’90s spirit.
“We have the celebrity of today, yesterday, we always have to work on the celebrity of tomorrow…We try to have celebrities who want to contribute to the brand and talk about the brand,” Pavlovsky said.
While celebrity messaging is key to wide-ranging appeal, exclusivity is also paramount. To that end, Chanel is one of the last holdouts in selling fashion and accessories online, and Pavlovsky has no plans to change that. Instead, he’s using clienteling and special events to get customers into the store IRL.
The global launch of the Coco Beach capsule collection will be in L.A. on Monday, and there is a client book signing planned with Marino as well.
“We create a relationship with the customer through the boutique. Chanel is more than just a product, it’s an assortment, and it’s important to be able to prepare the best assortment for the customer who is visiting the boutique, to be connected to them so when they come they can go straight to what they want to see. That’s part of the experience we want to protect,” Pavlovsky said.
“We don’t need e-commerce, we have developed digital tools to be connected with our customers, to offer the best of the brand, with key moments in the boutique discovering the collections and benefitting from the interactions. We want to be able to continue to offer this unique and specific experience. We continue to be active on all digital networks, but at the end of the day the experience in the boutique is more than ever a key moment for Chanel. Most of our customers are quite positive about that. It’s forced us to create very unique moments to present the best of the brand for them.”
While many brands, including Hermès and Louis Vuitton down the block, have entered the lifestyle and home design categories, Chanel isn’t doing that either, though the Marino-designed tweed upholstery and pearl-studded pillows would probably find many homes.
“What Peter is doing is to create the best environment for the collection. In this boutique, we’re not trying to sell the decoration, we’re developing it to sell the product. Our objective is not to sell the furniture, it’s to sell the collection, and the furnishings are here to maximize the visibility of the collection and offer something unique,” Pavlovsky said.
He sees the boutique appealing to both locals and tourists, though the Chinese are not yet back to traveling to the U.S., he said. “But in Europe and Paris, for sure. And that will continue to accelerate in the coming weeks and months.
“I was in China last month, in Chengdu and Hong Kong, and in Korea. I will be in Tokyo after L.A. Life is back in the sense that when you are a global brand…you have to find and continue to create the best expression of the brand in every country, and be sure each boutique is contributing to the image of the brand. That’s something we have to accelerate again.”
Launch Gallery: Inside Chanel’s LA Boutique
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