LOUIS VUITTON ÉTOILE MAISON [ROME]

When my family and I were organizing our trip to Rome, there was something I totally wanted to include in our tour: Louis Vuitton Étoile Maison. I´ve been looking forward to visiting this impressive store since it opened in 2012.

It is one of the brand's superflagships and therefore it was designed by one of the most famous and eccentric names in retail design: Peter Marino. 

The store is around 1200 sqm (just like any of our London apartments, innit?!) and it´s divided into three floors, each of them being a composition of different nooks. The 'wow factor' is definitely the central atrium where a beautiful staircase leads you to the different floors, receiving light from a skylight.

Apart from the overall space Peter Marino also designer the furniture, which was one of my favorite things. Each of the different sections has its own and they are all really beautiful and elegant. 

* Who would shop here?

Well, if it was a matter of "wanting to"... ME! 

* What would I shop here?

Mmmm... everything? I would say with LV we should stick to a classic. Although I saw these shoes in Selfridges the other day, and they were totes to die for!!

This store would always remind me of my friends from Cup of Couple, who were invited to its the opening party! So, a little throwback here, go check it out on their blog.

BENZOS DID ITALY

This past week my family and I took a little trip to Italy! It was my first time there and I absolutely loved it... We visited Rome and Venice, two very different cities but I found both of them incredibly interesting and charming in their own ways.

So, this is not what this blog is used to see, but I thought I'd shared some of the beautiful pics we took over there! (And since Facebook is a bit out of use nowadays... might as well do the job of showing all of this to my friends! Enjoys peeps!)

* ROME * 

Thirty years ago, my parents went to Italy for their honeymoon, so we thought it would be quite fun to recreate some of theirs pictures with both my mum and/or me!

Yep, we had a sixth member of the family for some days: The Selfie! 

* VENECIA *

Something many people may not do there, and it´s definitely worth doing, is visiting the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This little museum was PG's house in Venice for thirty years, one of the best art collections in Italy and a beautiful palace next to the grand canal.

Every trip just makes me wanna travel more... So I really hope the next one comes soon! 

xx

p.

SELFRIDGES ACCESSORIES HALL

Something I really like about Selfridges is its constant transformation. You could visit the store every three months and each time discover tons of new spaces, window decorations, visual merchandising strategies, and so on...

The Accessories Hall on the ground floor of the famous Oxford Street building is one of the most exquisite and luxurious areas in the whole place. It has experienced some changes for the past couple of months, and I though it was quite interesting to bring some of the best projects here. 

#Chanel

Chanel has created an enclosed space in the compartment, but at the same time it´s very inviting and connects the store with the outside through a big window-shelving&display unit.

#Dior

I think a good word to describe this space is definitely elegance. I particularly like the domestic scale introduced by the two big armchairs located next to the window; a window that I also find quite successful in this case (achieving one of Selfridges current goals, and very odd in retail, of introducing daylight into the store and connecting it with the outside world).

#Saint Laurent Paris

SLP is definitely my favorite one among these three new brands spaces, basically because it's edgier and more modern. I love the geometry in it, the perspectives it creates and the strong architectonical feel of the overall space. 

* * * * *

And if there´s something we should expect from Selfridges Accessories Hall for the next years is more and more change. It will all be part of a huge project David Chipperfield Architects are developing for the department store, which will end up creating the world's largest accessories retail department. 

This amazing project will take at least five years to complete, so we can just relax and wait until this happens, enjoying the smaller mutations Selfridges presents us along the way.