Celebrities Fete New Tiffany Flagship in Tokyo
TOKYO — Tiffany unveiled its newest flagship with a star-studded event in the Japanese capital Tuesday. Actress Anya Taylor-Joy joined the brand’s president and chief executive officer Anthony Ledru to cut the ribbon of the store along the tree-lined Omotesando boulevard, while Florence Pugh and other local and international celebrities joined for the opening party.
Taylor-Joy was almost giddy with delight at being in Tokyo, saying she had wanted to visit Japan since she was a little girl, and that she was excited to finally have her dream come true.
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“It’s just the atmosphere — it feels really creative but peaceful at the same time. And there’s just a flow — it feels very welcoming. I didn’t land and think I was somewhere very far away, I felt very, very comfortable,” she said, adding that she hopes to live in Tokyo some time in the future.
“I think my first introduction to Japan was the arts. I grew up watching Studio Ghibli, and I just fell in love with it in that way. And then as the years have gone on I just have really been interested in Japanese cinema. Also, the fashion is amazing. I was vintage shopping today and it’s just great,” Taylor-Joy said.
It was Pugh’s first visit to Japan as well, and she made the trip together with her brother, actor and musician Toby Sebastian. The pair had been taking in as much of Tokyo as possible, walking around neighborhoods such as Harajuku and Nakano and eating foods like ramen and gyoza dumplings.
“It’s a pretty magnificent place to be, full stop, and then to come with a brand like Tiffany is a wonderful cherry on top. It’s been nice to know that we’ve had three wonderful days wandering around and then we’re going to bookend it with an elegant evening here. It’s truly a great gift, a great treat,” Pugh said, adding that next time she comes to Japan, she hopes to stay for at least three weeks so that she can visit places such as Kyoto as well.
Taylor-Joy said she was honored that her first visit to Tokyo was with Tiffany.
“I’ve never cut the ribbon to anything before, so that felt very exciting. And I just really, really love working with this team of people. I know that it’s overplayed, but it does feel like a family. And it’s a family that has very beautiful, shiny things that they place around my neck. You know what? It’s a nice family visit. I think sometimes family visits can be a bit intense, but my family decks me out in diamonds,” she said.
Other international celebrities in attendance at the event included Hailey Bieber and two members of the K-pop group Enhypen, Jake and Sunghoon.
The Omotesando store is the brand’s first Asian flagship to be completely inspired by Tiffany’s Landmark store in New York City, and it reflects its latest design concept. More than 8,200 square feet of retail space are spread across two floors, with vaulted ceilings inspired by the famed Tiffany stained glass lamps.
Ledru said the brand had been looking for a store location in Omotesando for a very long time, and that the space just happened to open up at the right time.
“We know that it’s a bit of a different clientele from the other freestanding stores that we have. We have two freestanding stores in Ginza. So it’s a bit more of a younger generation, lots of tourists, you have these small streets around where you can have access to the well-known, top luxury brands in the world and at the same time more confidential,” the executive said. “So you can see it’s a really unique place, and we were looking for the right building, and all of that was concluded last year, I think in April. So it’s been a long process to find the building, and a relatively quick process to open up the store.”
Ledru said he expects there to be a fairly “large plan” of renovations, relocations and new store openings for the brand over the next three years or so.
“I think that’s what the integration to LVMH will bring to the table. We have a way to invest that I think perhaps the brand didn’t have in the past. We were a bit more restricted, but today there is this possibility,” he said.
Tiffany has a history of more than half a century in Japan, having first opened in Mitsukoshi department store in November 1972. Ledru said that while sales fluctuate from year to year, the country is still among the brand’s top three markets worldwide. In addition to contributing to the company’s sales volume, Japan has been a source of inspiration for the brand, particularly for Elsa Peretti.
“I would say the relationship with Japan is a love relationship. It’s a lot more than just a large market for us,” Ledru said. “There is a demand for exceptional creations. I think what we’re seeing is that the market is moving upward, and if you look at the flagship that we’re opening today, I think the message is pretty clear.”
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