EUROFLASH
OPEN DOOR POLICY: Paris-based Celine is going retail crazy. Next month, a 1,150-square-foot Celine store is slated to open in Beverly Hills on Rodeo Drive, not far from the brand’s former boutique. Another shop will open in San Francisco this spring on Stockton Street. These stores, designed by in-house architect Eberhard Viala, will be the first worldwide to feature Celine’s new concept, French limestone flooring and cherry wood for a sleeker interior. Other recent retail ventures include Celine’s first freestanding stores in Italy, which opened in December in Rome on Via dei Condotti, and in Milan on Via Montenapoleone. These stores carry Celine’s women’s rtw and accessories. Also in December, Celine opened a huge 4,000-square-foot shop in Waikiki’s Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, featuring both men’s and women’s fashion and accessories. Celine’s former store there measured only 800 square feet and sold only women’s merchandise.
MILANESE IN MOSCOW: Italy’s Ente Moda Italia (EMI), the trade organization that promotes Italian fashion firms abroad, is taking a contingent to Russia for the Moda Moscow trade show slated for March 26-29. This will be the third season for the trade show, co-organized by Connecticut-based Comtex International, Germany’s Textil & Mode Marketing, and Moscow-based Crocus International. So far, at least 20 Italian firms are expected to participate, including Brunello Cucinelli Cashmere, Fabio Inghirami, Liola, Lubiam, Reporter and Roccobarocco. “This is a new market that is opening up, and it is an interesting opportunity for these firms,” said an EMI spokeswoman. According to trade statistics, Italian apparel and knitwear exports to Russia grew 19 percent in 1994 to about $53.6 million. Italy is the second largest European fashion exporter to Russia after Germany.