© 2009 AFP - Printemps, one of Paris' biggest department stores, is opening a Maria Luisa concept store as it places its bets on high-end fashion despite the financial crisis, CEO Paolo de Cesare said Tuesday.
Due to open next September, the multi-brand store will be located within Printemps' new and also about-to-open three-storey luxury department.The move, de Cesare told reporters, came as the store repositioned to become "a symbol of luxury, fashion and beauty". "We want to make our fashion approach unique," he said. Asked whether the time was right to bank on luxury, he said: "A crisis is the right moment to change your image, there's less activity, you have more visibility...We will be one of the few big projects." Store owner Maria Luisa Poumaillou, who also becomes Printemps' fashion editor, is a well-known figure on the Parisian style scene. She opened her first boutique two decades ago featuring a host of designers who came to influence fashion over the following years -- John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, Anne Demeuleester, Issy Miyake or Helmut Lang.PARIS, Jan 27, 2009 (AFP) |
Printemps' flagship Paris department store says it is set to reap the benefit of a $105 million refurbishment and a new luxury strategy as it kicks off the Christmas season. 
Shoe-mania has well and truly invaded the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. Printemps has transformed its store windows into a gallery of shoes that have almost become items of jewellery rather than clothing. 
