After a year-long renovation, Louis Vuitton's flagship store at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way in Beverly Hills has finished unpacking its signature monogrammed steamer trunks – both literally and figuratively – and is set to officially open its doors to the public on Saturday.
The French luxury brand has its roots in the luggage-making trade and there are ample reminders of that heritage throughout the Peter Marino designed space. Chief among them the feeling that, thanks to the blond wood floors, brown, geometric-patterned carpets and fitting room walls lined in honest-to-goodness woven leather, one was inside a three-story version of one of its sturdy pieces of luggage.
While the interior is a nod to the past, the exterior of the store feels firmly rooted in the future; the three-layer facade consists of louver-like stainless steel ribbons over glass over squares of white fabric, which manages to both create an indoor/outdoor feeling and evoke the aesthetic of the brand's new creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere.