French luxury fashion house Givenchy permanently planted its flag, quite literally, in Beverly Hills on Aug. 1. The brand’s first Los Angeles area outpost and newly crowned West Coast flagship now occupies the entire historic complex at 332 N. Rodeo Drive.
The revamped building has been transformed into a gleaming white structure with floating rectangular boxes, punctuated by high-contrast black architectural elements. Jasmine blooms from an undulating ribbon of hidden stairs. A crisp black flag emblazoned with the white House of Givenchy logo is hoisted above the rehabilitated geometric spire on the rooftop.
Formerly Anderton Court Shops, the nearly 8,000-square-foot multistore, mini-mall complex was designed by American master architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Built in 1954, it is one of just two commercial buildings on the West Coast designed by Wright. On May 14, 2004, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. While many businesses have set up shop in its various storefronts over the decades, House of Givenchy is the first single-occupancy tenant in the building’s history.
“For Givenchy’s first permanent store in Los Angeles, it was important to select a space that would resonate with our brand,” Valerie Leon, President of the Americas at Givenchy, told the Courier. “Given Hubert de Givenchy’s love of art and architecture, the Frank Lloyd Wright building felt like the right choice, and the opportunity to bring Givenchy to life there was amazing.”
Photo courtesy House of Givenchy
According to Leon, the brand unearthed another connection between the building and the label’s late founder, designer Hubert de Givenchy. Wright was commissioned to build Anderton Court Shops by a local heiress in 1952 and began initial sketches that same year. Givenchy, a continent and an ocean away in Paris, opened his first boutique in 1952.
For its Beverly Hills flagship, retaining the building’s historic character and integrity was the top priority for Givenchy, who collaborated with Victor Fuentes, principal architect at Lochte Architecture Group, and Flora Chou, associate principal and cultural resources planner at Page & Turnbull, in preserving and rehabilitating the rare architectural gem.
With the goal of creating a one-of-a-kind space where shoppers could appreciate a full-sensory Givenchy experience, the original multistore concept was preserved but reimagined as completely separate shops and storefronts for the men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections. Each has its own street-level entrance.
The brand’s Fall 2024 Pre-Collection along with a variety of items from its very latest high summer collection “Givenchy Plage” are currently available in both shops. Limited edition pieces designed specifically for the opening of the Beverly Hills flagship are also available. These include the brand’s most popular best-sellers, the “Shark Lock” cowboy boot and “Antigona” handbag, reprised in studded white leather with turquoise stitching in homage to Givenchy’s new West Coast locale.
Next year, the fashion brand plans to begin phase two of its Rodeo Drive complex. “We have more work to do, but we didn’t want to wait forever,” Leon told the Courier. “We wanted to open as quickly as we could to start being able to have a new conversation with clients.” Leon wouldn’t reveal specific details, but said the plans included “a very special client experience opening next year,” adding, “Stay tuned, we have many more treats to come.”
