great expectations

Retail World, Blogosphere Brace Themselves for Arrival of Raf Simons’s First Dior Collection

Photo: Imaxtree

Don’t move … can you feel that? It’s “a groundswell of excitement among buyers” for the debut of Raf Simons’s Dior ready-to-wear, according to WWD. For the next month, the fashion house is opening pop-up shops in a handful of stores, such as Jeffrey in Manhattan, Maxfield in Los Angeles, 10 Corso Como in Milan, Joyce in Hong Kong, Isetan in Tokyo, My Boon in Seoul, and I.T. in Beijing — the cream of the retail crop. Raf’s team will supply the window decor, furnishings (wall sconces?), and a playlist of electronic music put together by French D.J. Michel Gaubert, who looks like the vie of the fête.

Tied to Paris Fashion Week, Colette plans to hold Dior-conceived activities for eleven days, including an installation of Willy Vanderperre’s photos and a party celebrating the second issue of the house’s mag; however, Bergdorf Goodman seems most committed to the cause, setting aside a permanent, 800-square-foot space on its second level for Dior’s womenswear. The label carefully selected its partners, with CEO Sidney Toledano telling WWD: “We had a lot of demand, and we didn’t want to be everywhere.”

But they do want to be online. Last week, Dior launched its own Tumblr, and is also inviting fashion bloggers from the cities with pop-ups to type-type-type and spread the word. Representing New York: Leandra Medine; Italy: Chiara Ferragni; Hong Kong: Tina Leung. The Sartorialist must be devastated!

Retail World Ready for Raf’s Dior Collection