Christian Dior Opens First Pop-Up Store, at Art Basel in Miami

Here it comes. You can’t avoid it. It’s “the most prestigious art show in the Americas.” It’s Art Basel, the annual art festival that takes over Miami Beach as soon as it turns nippy in New York and other climes. This year it's running from Dec. 1-4, pulling in “more than 260 leading galleries” from around the world, according to its site.

When you put that kind of art into that kind of location, a whole lot of money is likely to change hands. And where there is money, there is opportunity. At least, that’s what the folks at Christian Dior seem to think. So they set up the company’s very first pop-up shop in order to take advantage of the number of moneyed folks who will all be in one small geographical area.

Don’t think the space is going to be little, though. This pop-up is 3,100 square feet, “an explosion of fluorescent color and visual stimuli, a meld of Plexiglas and endless video screens” with “mannequins (that) sport black wigs dip-dyed in party pinks and purples,” according to Women’s Wear Daily. There’s a nail salon in the back and a food truck out front that serves French pastries and coffee. There’s a photo booth and rotating DJs and a game night that will feature “pinball and foosball tables” that have “designs inspired by the various necklaces, rings and bangles in the collection.” Naturally.

The pop-up isn’t the only ground broken by the iconic design house. The featured line is the first to be a partnership between Dior and an outside artist, German Anselm Reyle, WWD reports.

When Dior initially asked, Reyle didn’t exactly jump at the chance, WWD reports: “I waited a bit at first because it’s not the usual thing for artists to do such a collaboration,” he says, according to the site. “I had to think about it.” Three days later, he agreed.

Prices on the fluorescent-camouflage items in the Dior x Reyle collection, by the way, “range from $310 for a resin bangle to $4,500 for a metallic lambskin Lady Dior,” Women’s Wear Daily reports. Naturally.

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