Star-quality lighting

Star-quality lighting
llumination of Alberta Ferretti’s new L.A. branch plays a leading role in its flexibility

By Vilma Barr, New York Editor
November 24, 2009

Jimmy Cohrssen

Alberta Ferretti’s new sleek Los Angeles flagship enhances the designer’s distinctive and typically feminine creations. The Milan-based designer’s red-carpet ensembles have gained a notable personal following among Hollywood’s high-profile actresses and stylists, and her new store environment aims to encapsulate the essence of high-style women’s fashion.

Located in West Hollywood at 8626 Melrose Ave., at the corner of Huntley Drive, the new Ferretti flagship shop joins the list of freestanding designer boutiques that have upped the glam quotient of a formerly sleepy stretch of Melrose Avenue, near the Pacific Design Center.

Ferretti produces three apparel collections—the original couture line, Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti and the Alberta Ferretti Girl line—as well as handbags, eyewear and shoes. The Ferretti organization currently operates 28 Alberta Ferretti and 27 Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti stores around the world. An Alberta Ferretti store in Dubai opened in June, with branches in Beirut and Qatar scheduled for later this year.

Interiors, custom fittings and lighting for the 4,300-sq.-ft. L.A. store were created by London-based Sybarite UK Ltd., whose approach was to apply a slightly futuristic overtone to the store. Sightlines are open to encourage customers to explore and flow through the displays. “We were given a plain white box,” says Craig Hoverman, project architect with Sybarite. “The goal was to give Ferretti a store that attracts its core customers in a highly competitive market, and make it orderly so they could find their way around.”

Lighting, designed by Sybarite, is integrated with the interior architecture and display options. Overhead troughs are angled in a circular pattern to lead the shopper to the center of the store. Each trough contains five torpedo fixtures fitted with 75-watt metal halide recessed track spotlights, which add a dimensional reflective background to mannequins and displays. These adjustable fixtures have a 60-degree reflector and provide both ambient and accent lighting.

Floor-to-ceiling clear Perspex screens enclose waves of mirrored steel that function as subtle dividers in the column-free space. Upward-beaming illumination from fixtures implanted in the floor creates soft shadow patterns against the reflections from the wavy steel inserts. Positioned approximately 2 ft. from where the bottom of the screens are secured to the floor, the lighting fixtures have clear covers that are strong enough to support a person’s weight. Above, the polished plaster ceiling adds emphasis to the angled lighting troughs.

Two sculptural, freestanding, elliptical-shape display units have outwardly curving structural supports forming a “V” at the base. Measuring 15 ft. long by 10 ft. wide, they help to visually direct customers through the store. Integral LED lights in the steel rails direct attention to the garments on the hanging mannequins fashioned from gloss-lacquered fiberglass.

Sophisticated finishes and a detailed lighting scheme work to create an elegant, avant-garde store environment that speaks to the Ferretti customer.