WWD: Valentino Unveils Mega Flagship in New York

MILAN - The building housing the new Valentino flagship on 654 Madison Avenue "is a perfect synthesis of the best architecture in New York," believes creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, and is "an experience in itself.'

The store in the storied building - it previously was home to Calvin Klein's iconic Manhattan flagship designed by John Pawson - opens to the public Wednesday and is based on Valentino's new global retail concept, established last year in­house, directly by Piccioli and his team. But the designer said that for the New York store, he let himself "be led and inspired by the Genius Loci, the spirit of the location," with its "permanent signs that allow you to recognize [it as]something already known to memory;' he contended. "There is a tangible familiarity that makes New York a bit of a special place for everyone, also for those who have not visited it yet."