YSL, D&G Close Stores

Women’s Wear Daily has reported that the flagship Saint Laurent boutique on Avenue Montaigne in Paris is closing for renovation in August, only three months after opening its doors.

According to sources, designer Hedi Slimane wants to change the black concrete floor, one of the signature design elements in the marble-heavy retail concept.

The store opening was moved forward in time for the men’s fashion week and couture week in Paris, in late June and early July, partly to call attention to the new architectural concept. Besides, said the company, “August’s typically calmer pace allowed for an opportunity to finalize and perfect the space for the beginning of the season.”

Dolce & Gabbana also announced the closing of its boutiques in Milan after being called “tax evaders” by a city official.

The designers were sentenced by an Italian court to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay 500,000 euros, or $660,000, in damages to the Italian tax agency, after a court ruled that the sale of their brands to a company in Luxembourg in 2004 was no more than a way to lower their tax bills – 4 percent in Luxembourg versus 37 percent in Italy.

The designers were also charged with a “criminal design” to defraud the state, but that allegation was thrown out by the Milan court.

Stefano Gabbano tweeted that the comments by the councilman were “revolting and pitiful,” and then Gabbana and Domenico Dolce closed their stores, with signs on the door saying the shops had been “closed out of indignation.” They also published full-page ads in Italy’s two leading national newspapers and The International Herald Tribune, objecting to “continuous slander and insults” by the media, prosecutors and Italian tax authorities.