Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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CONTINUED ON PAGE 110 The Shops at Crystals hosts one of Vegas's six Dior boutiques. // exclusive // ONLY IN VEGAS Some of fashion's top design houses are creating one-of-a-kind pieces and capsule collections specifi cally with the Vegas market in mind. This summer's much-anticipated opening of a boutique from the British lifestyle label Mulberry at The Forum Shops at Caesars (702-382-0496; mulberry.com) coincided with the launch of an all-new eveningwear capsule collection, available only at the brand's Vegas location and decorated in a variety of flashy embellishments, like gunmetal rivets, complicated beading, and glass crystals. A few months earlier, the luxury footwear and accessories brand Jimmy Choo debuted a collection of four destination-themed iterations of its popular Candy clutch. The printed Vegas bag, which S everal years ago, officials at McCarran A i r por t obser ved a pu z z l i ng develop - ment: Planes leaving Las Vegas for Brazil weighed substantially more than planes arriving. The disparity was later revealed to be retail-related, as shopping-obsessed Brazilians had beg un f ly ing into McCa r ra n a r med w it h empt y suitcases for a ll t he luxur y goods t hey would buy. The mystery was solved—its answer just happened to be buried beneath a few boxes of Louboutins. I n fact , t he ret a i l obses - sion ha s reached a fever pitch. Statistics compiled by t he L a s Vega s Convent ion and Visitors Authority show t hat i n 2 013, just shy of 4 0 m i l l ion t ravelers touched dow n i n Vega s. Fi f t y-n i ne percent of those visitors (and an astounding 91 percent of all international visitors) went shopping wh i le t hey were staying in town. Accordingly, t he cit y has worked overtime to meet the demand for high- end good s. S ome of Veg a s's most heav i ly t raff icked lifest yle centers beca me even more exclusive, a s Givenchy by pa ssed New York Cit y for it s f i rst US bout ique, on t he Wy n n E spla na de, a nd Mu lber r y opened i n T he For u m Shops a t C a esa r s. Giorg io A r ma n i , Cél i ne, a nd Sisley bout iques a l l entered t he Strip's tangle of luxury stores. Maureen Crampton, director of marketing for The Forum Shops, pinpoints its 1992 opening as the catalyst for the retail explosion. She recalls wor r y i ng t hat t he door way wou ld be empt y when the partitions were removed on opening day, only to find the opposite to be true. "The people came in droves," she says, "but there were a lot of skept ics. Caesa rs wasn't really sure how it was goi ng to i n f luence ca si no spending habits, but it really played an important role in br i ng i ng t hat f i rst lu x u r y customer to Las Vegas." The Forum Shops paved t he way for a succession of other shopping centers over t he next t wo decades, i nclud i ng T he Shops at Crystals in 2009. Under the guidance of Farid Matraki, Cr yst a ls' sen ior v ice presi- dent and general manager, the massive trove of upscale goods has grown into a luxury phenom- enon, with 50 high-fashion boutiques clustered around a bilevel ode to Louis Vuitton (the largest of t he bra nd's Nor t h A mer ica n stores). "T he ret a i l t rend is goi ng more a nd more towa rd This Mulberry sleeveless shift and Clemmie clutch are available exclusively in Las Vegas. PHOTOGRAPHY BY TORY KOOYMAN (DIOR); OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY MELISSA VALLADARES 108 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM