What’s Happening: The Comme des Garçons–owned retailer’s newly opened Paris outpost is putting major stock in independent labels at a tricky economic time for fashion upstarts, but Rei Kawakubo’s idiosyncratic approach shows early signs of paying off.

The Download: It hasn’t been a fruitful past few months for indie fashion labels. The Vampire’s Wife and Mara Hoffman announced their brands would shutter, online distributor MatchesFashion went into administration, and Farfetch narrowly avoided collapse by selling to South Korean e-commerce mainstay Coupang. When making it in fashion feels impossible given increasingly precarious economic conditions that are causing even celebrity-favorite designers like Elena Velez to narrowly escape the red, it may seem counterintuitive that Dover Street Market would open a Paris emporium chock full of indie brands. The Comme des Garçons–owned retailer is betting on the city’s stylish Marais district—and founder Rei Kawakubo’s idiosyncratic approach that has created a growing fleet of successful outposts in New York City, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Los Angeles, and Beijing.

Browsing through Dover Street Market is meant to elicit feelings of mystery and discovery. That’s no different in Paris, where Kawakubo eschewed window displays and branded spaces altogether in favor of placing all products behind glossy white curved alcoves that seem straight out of Arrival. Merchandise is mixed together regardless of price—hand-distressed Comme des Garçons blazers neighbor stacks of reasonably priced T-shirts and an array of indie brands like runway upstarts Weinsanto and Vaquera. “My ideal is that people search for, discover, and then choose the clothes they want to wear,” Kawakubo once said, “having thought about it and felt something by themselves, on their own.” That may also explain why luxury mainstays Prada, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga, which usually shun wholesale, are all in stock, further reinforcing Dover Street’s cool factor.

The store’s opening day may have seen heavy interest, but it followed years of delays. Comme des Garçons secured the historic manor’s lease in late 2019, but pushed the opening back due to the pandemic halting tourism and foot traffic. Instead, the company converted the space into a cultural nonprofit called 3537 that hosted temporary exhibitions, fashion shows, and dance performances to build excitement for the soon-to-open store. That strategy seems to be working so far. According to Business of Fashion, a mob of 2,500 visitors attended the grand opening, yielding €75,000 ($81,000) in sales. The emporium is targeting €12 million ($13 million) in first-year revenue and aims to reach profitability by year two, though previous locations took three to five years. Betting on indie labels during turbulent economic times is a gamble, but perhaps it will pay off.

In Their Own Words: “I’d love it to be like a destination for tourists. And a place where Parisians can hang out and be happy,” Adrian Joffe, Dover Street Market’s president and Kawakubo’s husband, tells WWD. “Our ambition is more to keep on providing something stimulating, something exciting. If it becomes more popular than the Eiffel Tower, we’re gonna have to hire some more security.”

Surface Says: Another reason to visit: the giant Paolo Roversi photographs that Kawakubo mounted in the courtyard.

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What better season than summer to dip a toe into yacht design and outdoor furniture? Together, Ethimo and furniture designer Christophe Pillet have gone all in with Costiera and Baia, two elegant seating solutions suited to life on the high seas. The collections include chaise lounges, daybeds, armchairs, and numerous possibilities for custom-arranged sectionals thanks to the entire range’s modular design philosophy.

As fashion’s favorite Parisian palace hotel, the legacy of Plaza Athénée and Christian Dior are famously intertwined—legend has it that he even chose his 30 Rue Montaigne atelier for its proximity to the impossibly elegant hotel favored by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. Today, the Plaza Athénee and the designer’s namesake are still closely linked, thanks to the Dior Spa’s 15-year presence at the five-star property. Recently, the two spaces unveiled a total redesign of the flagship spa, cementing this pocket of Rue Montaigne as a wellness and fashion destination.

For starters, a palette of ivory, ecru, bouclé, and Dior’s signature toile transports guests far from the cacophony of the nearby Champs-Élysées. Plus, the lobby has more to offer than just spa water: instead, peruse Dior sunglasses, silk scarves, and fine jewelry, as well as the house’s beauty and fine fragrance line. Serenity abounds in each of the five individual treatment rooms, along with a couple’s treatment room, sauna, and hammam. Plus, the Dior Light Suite makes the Plaza Athénée the first of Paris’s palace properties to offer LED light wellness treatments to address woes relating to jet-lag, energy, and sleep.

Earlier this month, the Whitney Museum of American Art celebrated the defining forces of its future-facing focus at its annual gala. The night’s honorees included trustees Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Brooke Garber Neidich, raising more than $5.2 million in the process. Guests arrived to cocktails and the chance to explore “Harold Cohen: AARON,” one of the museum’s current exhibitions, which documents the foundational stages of AI technology. Afterward, guests sat down to a dinner catered by swanky downtown supper club The Nines.

When was it? May 15

Where was it? The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Who was there? Paul Arnhold, Wes Gordon, Dawoud Bey, Jeffrey Gibson, Sheree Hovsepian, Rashid Johnson, KAWS, Christine Sun Kim, Ashley Olsen, Scott Rothkopf, and more.

When: Until Aug. 25

Where: The Modern, Fort Worth

What: Mounds of individually crafted ceramic leaves, flowers, a barbecue grill, and assorted detritus forge a path through the museum’s elliptical gallery, forging a fantastically chaotic autumnal scene. But apprehension lingers beneath the surface—the realization creeps in that even the smallest spark from the grill can set the seemingly dry leaves ablaze.

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Experience 27 is a cutting-edge boutique and online shop curating exclusive fashion collections by independent designers such as Rochas Paris, Altuzarra, Thebe Magugu, Plan C, Roksanda, and Bibi van der Velden. Embracing fashion as an art form, their designers create enduring collections with meticulous attention to detail and quality materials.

Surface Says: Inspired by Gertrude Stein’s Paris apartment and salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus, and just steps away from some of Madrid’s top museums, parks, and botanical gardens, Experience 27 carries an enviable assortment of wares from the top independent designers across fashion, furniture, and fine jewelry.

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