Opening night pics here.
A Christian Bérard Dream
We had a HUGE space to transform in a very short amount of time (less than three weeks) on a non-VC-funded-start-up budget – which posed a slight creative challenge lol. My husband, Sean, had the brilliant idea of finding an artist to help turn the space into a Christian Bérard inspired wonderland. Back in 1939, the Institut Guerlain in Paris hired the painter to design trompe-l'oeil paneling in their store. The results were whimsical and chic (see below photo):
Sean created something similar for my 30th birthday party years ago, which was in the construction zone that would one day become the dining space of the yet to be opened Marlton Hotel. The sheet rock was painted by our friend Michael Staats:
Cut to just a handful of weeks ago, we just had to find the right artist to execute this vision in our new space. One morning, while scrolling through Instagram, an image from an artist, Pauline de Roussy de Sales, who I'd been following for some time with the vague dream of collaboration, came up. I felt an excited jolt in my stomach. Pauline did these amazing sketches, some inspired by LF, and I knew her vibe was fun and fashion-y and exactly what I wanted:
Pauline had never done a project like this (a giant mural-sized piece in a huge space), but she was totally into the idea and I was completely confident she could do it. The results were better than I had ever imagined. She worked tirelessly over a week and blew us away:
We were constantly texting each other back and forth, sending ideas and inspiration for posters to paint. You may recognize this one, "la beaute est dans la rue" (The beauty is in the street) from the 1968 Paris uprisings. It's the same one hanging in the entrance of our Bleecker Street store:
We had a lot of fun going through posters. (Here's a small sampling)...
Which then turned into paintings by Pauline. Here's another small sampling of what's in the store:
Pauline left no corner untouched. There are surprises literally everywhere! Look at what she did to the elevator, the front wall and our back hanging racks:
The upstairs is our take on an atelier. We are moving our embroiders uptown to do all of their stitching, and inviting the public (you!) to come and hang with them. We even made this customization work station. Here you can check out our inspiration wall of past LF enthusiasts to help decide what you want to put on your sweater. Then, guests can pick their sweater and thread colors and chat with an embroider who will get started on the most magical item you will ever own! Mens, womens, kids, beanies, and travel sets are all available to customize!
Our embroiders were on hand opening night testing out the workstations:
