BALLY Celebrates Beverly Hills Store Opening with VIP Dinner

Photo Credit: Donato Sardella/Getty Images for Bally

BALLY celebrated its Beverly Hills boutique opening in a big way: with a very, very VIP dinner.

The brand’s CEO, Frédéric de Narp, and Design Director, Pablo Coppola hosted an event on Thursday night in celebration of the brand’s new flagship store with a charitable component: the evening cocktail and dinner at Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood was organized in support of the charity Communities in Schools.

Just 55 guests attended the intimate soiree, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Alan Cumming, Rachel Zoe, Joy Bryant, Freida Pinto, Elizabeth Debicki, Austin Stowell, Robbie Rogers, and Brad Falchuk, wearing Bally.

The Bally store, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, marks the start of a new  chapter for the Swiss luxury brand in the United States.

Here you’ll find a red-marble façade that nicely correlates with the Swiss brand’s signature red and white trainspotting stripe, seeping into the interior with bronze-framed windows at the Beverly Hills boutique.

Photo Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Bally

Set over two floors, the store is topped by a private rooftop area. The first floor is devoted to the women’s accessories and ready to wear collections, while the second floor houses the men’s collections as well as a gentleman’s corner and VIP room. The store has been designed to offer a unique experience to customers, with made to order and shoe care services (shoe shine, repairs etc).

There is a display wall, formed of a three-dimensional wooden wall, where a series of display elements in American walnut and Aluminum can be attached in order to display, hang and illuminate products. The frame wall has frame-like structure allowing display from both sides.

The ceiling is a continuous white horizontal surface in resin and stucco, working in contrast with the flooring which is a continuous grey horizontal surface with a wool and hemp carpet.

Display furnishing is very light and formed of a continuous tubular metal structure that curves and inclines on itself to generate a light base on which lacquered shelves, drawers and dressers sit together with glass product displays. Decorative furnishing on the other hand, such as sofas, arm chairs and ottomans are mostly upholstered in leather. Redesigned lighting consists of a horizontal glass tube suspended from the ceiling and connected by a structure inspired by a bicycle handle bar. Lighting is also integrated into the ceiling, appearing hidden with no wiring on display throughout the shop floor.

The store features original chairs from Modernist architect and furniture designer Pierre Jeanneret from the Bally archive – four ”Committee Chairs” created in 1953 are on the main floor, and two wicker chairs in the VIP room.

“Haute” elements include the gentleman’s corner—an area dedicated to Bally’s expertise in shoemaking and shoe care which allows customers to create personalized shoes and belts, using multiple colors and material combinations. In this area Bally also offers shoe care services to both women and men’s shoes. These services include shoe shine, colour rejuvenation or weather proofing treatments and repairs. Maintenance can be performed while customers wait or be collected later at a more convenient time—and a VIP room. The latter is a  private room where customers can enjoy an intimate and exclusive shopping experience including a private fitting room, service area and views of Rodeo Drive.