Saint Laurent

A monument to creative director Anthony Vaccarello’s rigorous, monumental approach to design, the new Saint Laurent store on Champs-Élysées in Paris celebrates not only the designer’s vision for the label but also its beginnings.

For it is in Paris that the design house opened its very first store in September 1966 at 21 Rue de Tournon, in the 6th arrondissement.

“I’d had enough of making dresses for jaded billionaires,” said the designer of the store opening at the time – the first boutique to sell ready-to-wear clothing by a haute couture designer.

The new store, a full-scale showcase of Vaccarello’s reimagined store concept, takes the fashion house full circle – returning to its origin – in location and concept, not to mention a renaissance of high fashion.

“I wanted to realise one of Yves Saint Laurent’s wishes when he arrived in Paris and said he wanted his name to be written in fiery letters on the Champs-Élysées,” says Vaccarello of the store.

Seen by many as a continuation of the runway of Vaccarello’s S/S 2024 womenswear show, the store, like the fashion show, is characterised by stark silhouettes and “a set of kaleidoscopic, mineral surfaces, affording views of the Eiffel Tower while highlighting its soft elegance”.

The decidedly modern and sophisticated space features works by American sculptor Donald Judd, custom-made marble display tables, a VIP suite and a private garden, which the designer hopes makes people “forget about their phones, [and just] enjoy the experience of the space”.