Alaïa is positioning itself in the art of living segment. As it did in Paris, the Richemont-owned couture label has opened a café and bookshop above its wonderful store at 139 New Bond Street, London. The store was inaugurated in 2018 and extends over two levels, the ground floor and first floor. Alaïa has decided to use the second floor, at the top of the building, to add a new dimension to its presence in the UK capital.

 
Alaïa has partnered with London bookshop Claire de Rouen, which was tasked with choosing, in collaboration with Alaïa’s creative director Pieter Mulier, the beautiful books available within the store, for sale or for reading.

“A selection of rare books on art, fashion and photography, reflecting the label’s deep appreciation for the arts,” said Alaïa in a press release, adding that it remains “true to its commitment to foster cultural exchange and a convivial spirit.”

The space has been designed as a living room with large dark sofas and plush carpeting, while steel is the dominant material in the adjacent café, equipped with a counter at the end of the room and a large central table.

“A welcoming space, conducive to conversation and discovery, embodying the warmth and family spirit that define the Alaïa heritage,” said the label, which has partnered for this project with Violet Cakes, an independent pastry shop-café founded by Californian pastry chef Claire Ptak.
 
Alaïa opened its first café-restaurant in 2021, inside its Parisian flagship at 5 Rue de Marignan. Initially, the café was run by local delicatessen-wine bar Da Rosa. Alaïa later decided to manage the café directly, and is now looking for a partner. The idea behind the café-restaurant was to perpetuate the label’s heritage by paying tribute to its founder, Franco-Tunisian couturier Azzedine Alaïa, who died in 2017 and was renowned for his hospitality and his love of cuisine. Many high-flying Parisians, including models, celebrities, artists and intellectuals, have dined with the couturier and his staff over the years in his rue de Moussy studio. The Alaïa store at 7 rue de Moussy now also has a café.
 
The label is planning to include a restaurant also inside the new Parisian store that is set to open in January, together with its new headquarters at 15 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. In France, Alaïa is also commercialised at Le Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette department stores. The label operates a total of 14 retail outlets worldwide, between stores (also in New York, Dubai, and elsewhere) and shop-in-shops, especially in Japan and the Middle East. Plus the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré address, a store that will open at the end of December in Costa Mesa, California, and a corner at the Daimaru department store in Tokyo.

  
Expanding a brand’s scope, notably through the restaurant business, is another way to broaden its clientèle and attract new customers via a diversified experiential offering. Leading luxury labels have understood this, and in recent years many of them have deployed initiatives of this kind. Among them Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, which opened its first restaurant, overseen by chef Jean Imbert, at its iconic Parisian address on Avenue Montaigne in 2022.
 
In 2023, LVMH-owned Dior tapped celebrity chef Anne-Sophie Pic to devise the menu of the Café Dior at the Kansai international airport in Osaka, Japan. Under Pic’s aegis, Dior has recently announced it will open new cafés in two of its stores in Asia. One in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, and the other in Chengdu, China.