AGENT PROVOCATEUR HEADS TO L.A.
Byline: Kristin Young
LOS ANGELES — It seems that the City of Angels is not weighed down by Puritan values.
At
least not according to the proprietors of Agent Provocateur, the
British purveyor of upscale undies, who said that’s one of the reasons
they chose Los Angeles for its first U.S. store, which is set to open in
August.
Los Angeles is the first step in an international expansion
plan that could eventually add 10 more stores in several major cities
around the world, according to Serena Rees and Joseph Corre, owners and
designers of the London-based lingerie maker.
“To be perfectly honest
with you, we did look at New York first,” said Rees, who is married to
Corre, the son of designer Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.
“New
York was quite uptight in a sense,” she said, noting she visited Los
Angeles for the first time in February. “It was really refreshing. The
sun shines here, people feel good about themselves, and they want to
show a little bit of cleavage.”
Rees and Corre were in town recently
to sign the lease on an 1,800-square-foot-space at 7961 Melrose Avenue
in West Hollywood, which will put the boutique alongside other upscale
European outlets that have come to the area recently. Costume National,
Miu Miu and British swimwear designer Liza Bruce have all flocked to the
section west of Fairfax Avenue.
“We had a sense about the
neighborhood,” said Rees. “It had a European feel about it, this sense
that something was about to happen.”
Indeed, two neighboring stores,
Xin and Resurrection, held opening parties during the week that Rees and
Corre were here. Rees said she had even been approached by other
neighboring retailers about joining an association that, among other
things, will vote on a name.
Rees and Corre projected the store’s
first-year sales to be in line with the London stores, which each
generate in excess of $1,500 a square foot annually, they said.
Rees
said the store will carry a full range of Agent Provocateur offerings,
including colored fishnet stockings priced at $16 to $40, bras (regular
and peephole) at $55 to $230, full or mini briefs and thongs from $30 to
$195, wispy little half corsets and waist cinches at $140 to $600 and a
jewelry line called Precieux priced from $46 to $700. The store will
also carry mules and strappy sandals for $100.
Agent Provocateur is
also about to experiment with a small line of swimwear, said Rees. She
said the swim line will be inspired by an image of people drinking
cocktails at glamorous pool parties and will likely be comprised of
mainly two-piece styles in colorful, shiny, stretch fabrics.
Corre
and Rees opened the first Agent Provocateur shop on Broadwick Street in
London’s Soho section in December 1994. A second store opened in
December 1997 at 16 Pont Street in Knightsbridge.
The two started out
buying lingerie from other manufacturers for the stores, but quickly
found out that designing and producing bras, panties and corsets
themselves was the better option.
“There wasn’t anything that was exciting,” said Rees.
The
five-year-old lingerie label — named for a spy who coerces people to
act illegally — claims appeal to housewives, transvestites and
businessmen alike.
Rees said the Melrose boutique will be small,
intimate and discreet enough for celebrities to shop there without
feeling like they’re being watched. She said Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow,
Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss have all
shopped the London stores.
“I always imagined a place where I could
find perfectly exquisite sexy quality lingerie in a boutique like a
special jewelry box where you keep all your best things,” Rees
explained.
As for where Agent Provocateur plans to open other stores, Rees and Corre are keeping mum.
“We
have a few ideas, but nothing that we should talk about,” she said. “It
would be unfair to keep Agent Provocateur only in L.A. and the U.K.”
Agent
Provocateur products are also available in a mail order catalog, with
pages in the form of oversized playing cards, and through the Internet
at agentprovocateur.com.