Judith Leiber’s new, full-accessory Las Vegas store in The Forum Shops at Caesars was designed to set the precedent for the retailer’s expansion, both invigorating the luxury brand and targeting a new audience. The design won an Award of Merit in the ISP/VM+SD International Store Design Competition, in the category of Specialty Store, Sales Area Under 1500 Square Feet.
The store’s new contemporary edge is aimed at a younger audience. Luxe materials and treatments echo the elegance of new, chic, exotic leather goods, furs and footwear, while the store more playfully showcases the brand’s legacy jeweled handbags, in dramatic dioramas.
The design, from Callison (Seattle), paces the customer experience with distinct merchandise zones and multiple ceiling heights. The store opens like a flower, revealing spaces of greater texture, color and symbolic significance for the brand. The entrance features a laser-cut alligator pattern at the shop’s façade. Inside, open merchandise techniques depart from the brand’s previous store designs.
A runway display presents the brand’s bejeweled footwear. Customers then proceed to an inner room featuring more footwear, furs and leather goods, delineated by an oval-shaped ceiling, fluid drapery and shagreen-inlaid tables.
The store’s third area unfolds to reveal silver-leaf walls punctuated by the pink, museum-like dioramas that connote the Judith Leiber history of minaudieres and purses.
Client: Judith Leiber, New York
Design: Callison, Seattle – Norman Roberts, designer; Christine Nakaoka, designer; Tom Pulk, project architect; Se Hwa Yoo, project architect; Andy Thaemert, designer
Outside Design Consultants: Cooley Monato, New York (lighting)
Henderson, Kansas City, Mo. (mechanical/electrical/plumbing)
Interior Millwork, Fixtures: Salzburg Interiors, Brampton, Ont.
Photography: Chris Eden, Callison, Seattle