So how do you take such a refreshing interpretation of a retail store and translate it to the web? In an equally refreshing way, of course.

Colette the website (which we visited in 2005) is fun and irreverent the moment your mouse meets the bunny robot character appearing not only as a cheeky web mascot but a useful interface as well. From the simple splash page, the user can choose the French or English language site not from the typical "language" link but from the screen (which is the "face" of the bunny robot). Once this decision is made, users are taken immediately to a set of staggered bunnies of various designs (including a green Lacoste one) that serve as thematic links to information ranging from useful to esoteric.

To visually and emotionally connect users more to the experience of the actual store, the animated interfaces are set in front of a large image of the actual store, and music from the store's CD selection plays in the background. (The user can change tracks or turn off the player.) The audio function thematically links to the wall of headphones provided in the brick-and-mortar store. And there is yet another (headphone-wearing) mini-bunny that grooves to the music nearby. Too many bunnies for your taste? Just click an "x" button to hide the entire player.

Using the conventional text-navigation bar sends users though the "floors" of the site and store to reveal Colette history, photographic series galleries, lists of featured designers such as Alexander McQueen and Comme des Garçons, and (of course) e-shopping.

Products offered via the website are as pleasantly unexpected and surprising as shopping in the store itself. A limited-edition, lock-shaped, Philips-made USB drive studded with ice-blue Swarovski crystals—a pendant worthy of Tiffany's—is alongside Kiehl's lip gloss and design books from Japan. While accessories are available online, clothing—with the exception of a couple of sweaters—is conspicuously absent. The seasonal "best of NYC–London–Milan–Paris," including edgy emerging and well-known designers, is left exclusively for the first floor of the real store in Paris.

Now in its tenth year, Colette is still run by Sarah Lerfel (the store is named for her mother, Colette Roussaux). The store is hailed as the first of its kind as a concept retail location, enjoys positive press, and has inspired competition such as Moss in New York City. On the web front, Colette is still light years ahead its peers, thanks to the creative and technical harnessing of Spill (site design) and Add A Dog (illustrations and animation).

The site took home a Webby Award for best fashion site in 2004. Three years later, it still has that trendy je ne sais quoi element that translates to pure fashion fun.