This Wednesday, on May 29th 2013 in Kuwait, Louis Vuitton officially opened its final phase of its newest store in the country, a lavish two-level boutique in Prestige, the luxury shopping area of the Avenues Mall.
The beautiful new store, designed by acclaimed architect Peter Marino, was designed to look and feel like the interior of a chic and luxuriously furnished home. The boutique includes various sections for ready-to-wear and shoes and accessories for men and women, leather goods, the first Haute Maroquinerie salon in the region.
The ground floor of the boutique offers customers a wide array of accessories and leather goods for men and women, as well as The Travel Room, an ode to the brand's love for travel as well as its iconic monogrammed trunks. The classically decorated area displays a number of vintage classic trunks and luggage, alongside leather goods for travel.
The first floor houses the women's and men's ready-to-wear collections, as well as the shoe and bag collections for both. The women's area is furnished in light woods and pale shades with gold hardware.
On the other side of the floor is the men’s area, which offers male customers a selection of leather goods and shoes, as well as the ready-to-wear collection, available in Kuwait for the first time. The interior is furnished in darker woods and leather chairs.
Established for the first time in the Middle East is the Haute Maroquinerie salon on the first floor of the new boutique. An elegant and intimate room, the Haute Maroquinerie salon offers clients the ultimate luxury service, customizing and personalizing their one-of-a-kind handmade Louis Vuitton bag. Customers can select from one of the label's classic shapes, choose from a number of leathers and colors, pick their choice in hardware, and select colors for the personalized lettering.
Although an elevator is available to take customers to the second floor, climbing up the stone staircase is a different experience altogether. An artwork commissioned by Louis Vuitton titled “Writing in Waterfalls” by renowned Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri decorates the wall on the landing between the two staircases.
Commenting about his artwork, Moshiri said, "The first time I saw a Louis Vuitton bag with graffiti on it, I thought how great it would be if someday I could do my own Louis Vuitton bag with Farsi and Arabic numbers and letters and black and white paintings. Naturally, when the opportunity to show new work in Louis Vuitton stores presented itself, I jumped at the chance to do one of those paintings. However, I decided to take it another step further so I added my signature crystal curtain on top of the calligraphy. I felt strongly about the combination but it was only a gut instinct. Once I thought of that surprise title, Writing in Waterfalls, everything started to make sense."
"Writing in Waterfalls as it turns out, is a very suggestive title. It’s extremely poetic and I feel lucky to have thought of it. Actually I was just explaining the painting literally: bold Arabic and Farsi letters and numbers that exist behind a wall of hanging crystals I recycled from many old chandeliers. With a stretch of imagination, it looks like a waterfall,” added Moshiri.
The new boutique could not have opened at a better time. This year marks 30 years since the first Louis Vuitton boutique in Kuwait was opened back in 1983 by luxury retailers Habchi and Chalhoub. The second LV boutique to open in the Gulf was in 1997, in Dubai, UAE, expanding in the coming years in other Gulf and Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, and Jordan.
“The Kuwait opening is the new high point on what has been an exponential development of Louis Vuitton in the Middle East for the past 30 years. We are thrilled to be celebrating this store opening in the same city where we first planted our roots in the region. This is an especially notable moment as we are able to offer the fashionable people of Kuwait our ready to wear menswear collections for the first time” says Francois Pedrol, General Manager of Louis Vuitton Middle East.
Louis Vuitton boutiques in Kuwait are located in Salhiya Complex (Ground Floor), Salhiya and in The Avenues Mall, Prestige (Ground Floor), Al Rai.
– Staff Writer
Images courtesy of Louis Vuitton
