Big names set up shop with trendy stores

Twenty years ago, Las Vegas' share of designer boutiques was about as plentiful as its high-rise condominiums. Today, shopping venues have to create waiting lists for elite stores eager to share their piece of the profit pie. Although the crop of high fashion names waving a flag on the Strip has expanded well beyond the early days, we still have a ways to go.

It all started in 1992 when Versace, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Escada all sprouted boutiques at the Forum Shops at Caesars. For a mall directory to boast such powerhouse luxury names marked a significant change in shopping on the Strip. Each designer house took a bit of a risk, considering none of their fashion peers were here already. But, according to Forum Shops spokeswoman Maureen Crampton, the high-income tourist traffic ensured a happy ending.

"It was the perfect marriage and the perfect time for Las Vegas," she says. "Within the first year the buzz started (with other designer boutiques). Those who didn't take a chance looked at the others' activity and wanted in."

But they would have to wait; thus, the waiting list. It was five years before the Forum Shops saw its first expansion, which brought a handful of patient designers: Emporio Armani; Hugo Boss; Max Mara and Salvatore Ferragamo.

Bellagio opened in 1998, and the logos that decorate the hotel-casino's exterior go to show it didn't take long for the designer trend to catch on. Prada, Hermes, Chanel, Fendi and Dior all moved into town. And they brought a friend, Tiffany & Co., showing the first proof that the luxury apparel world likes to keep company with its own. (Luxury lingerie stores such as La Perla and Agent Provocateur weren't far behind.)

As fashion designers continued to descend on Las Vegas, the demand for a higher standard of shopping soared.

"Shopping (in Las Vegas) is a higher spend rate per visitor than shows and sightseeing combined," says Brig Lawson, sales executive for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's Shop Las Vegas program. "It has given Las Vegas the permission to do something in destination travel that you wouldn't do somewhere else."

Both Shop Las Vegas and the convention authority's Your Vegas is Showing campaigns utilize the city's healthy shopping scene as a tool to attract tourism.

The Forum Shops' second expansion certainly contributes to the lure. Marc Jacobs, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade, Carolina Herrera, Christian Lacroix and a slew of others joined the pack in 2004.

The next year, the Esplanade at Wynn Las Vegas broke even more ground.

The shopping venue diversified the shopping landscape for the better. Stores such as Oscar de la Renta, Manolo Blahnik, Jean Paul Gaultier (who since has been replaced with Alexander McQueen) and a flagship Louis Vuitton plugged in a missing element.

"Wynn was more haute couture, edgier fashion. ... It started to tell a different kind of story there," says Tom Julian, senior vice president of McCann Erickson, a trend forecasting company, and former men's fashion director for the MAGIC convention.

Just as Wynn Las Vegas spoke to the designer shopper with discriminating taste, so did the recent opening of the Shoppes at the Palazzo. This time around, however, the focus is on the seasoned shopper who seeks both lower profile designers and household names (much like the anchor department store, Barneys New York). Stores such as Tory Burch, Catherine Malandrino, Bottega Veneta and Chloe merge with showstoppers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Kors and coveted shoe designer Christian Louboutin.

As the roster grows in length and fame, so does the speculation of who's next. Vera Wang, Stella McCartney and Monique Lhuillier, to name a few, have yet to join the party.

According to Crampton at the Forum Shops, we can count on Calvin Klein to open a store and Boss to launch a flagship there in May.

The way Julian sees it, Las Vegas will have to concentrate on adding prestigious designer boutiques such as Balenciaga as well as menswear designers such as Thom Browne, Paul Smith and Tom Ford to the array to count itself among the heavy hitting fashion cities.

As it stands, Las Vegas is more of a tourist shopping mecca, but that could change.

"You still have CityCenter and a new tower at Wynn," he says. "There's still definitive growth opportunities and there's still a prestige to the development of the (Strip) address."

Contact fashion reporter Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0477.