Luxury Handbags Take Center Stage in Newly Renovated Saks Fifth Avenue Flagship
02/23/2019
DVS Project
Here it is: the highly anticipated, masterfully reimagined Saks Fifth Avenue flagship in New York City—including 53,000 square feet of experiential retail design tripling the retailer’s luxury handbag department on the main floor.
“…The entire ground floor is now a sprawling handbag emporium featuring 50 brands that run the gamut from a $45 Saks tote to an exotic $49,500 alligator top handle bag from The Row,” one Forbes contributor wrote. “There are also 14 brands new to Saks, including bags from Celine and Bottega Veneta. … Exclusive products, a very important draw for department stores, are also included in the selection, with 100 bags being offered only at Saks.”
As the Saks Fifth Avenue in-store design team prepared for the grand unveiling of the main floor, they invited leading brands (Louis Vuitton, Dior, The Row, Fendi and the like) to each design their own pedestal for a product spotlight. Duggal partnered with Saks to execute the 24 one-off concepts using various materials including solid oak, veneer, mahogany, Corian and laminates—completing the entire collection in just a few weeks’ time. Traditional carpentry and craftsmanship are seen throughout the desks, benches and risers, with specified finishes such as Venetian plaster, marble, Italian painted glass, metallics and more. We were also given free rein to design and engineer the “Wow Wall” to achieve Saks’ vision for a mirrored, abstract display that would “reflect” the new showcase as a whole.
“None of this is done alone, and I am so grateful that we found a way to collaborate on a project as high profile as this,” Lucy Bouwman, Visual Director, Saks Fifth Avenue, kindly wrote to us in an email. “Thank you to you all, to your team and to your artisans who have brought all of this together so beautifully! You all went above and beyond for this project. I look forward to our next collaboration soon.”
Read more on Saks Fifth Avenue’s new handbag emporium in PR Newswire, MediaPost, Patch and the Wall Street Journal, to name just a few of the many outlets that are buzzing about the renovation.