“Marino stresses that he absolutely had a budget to stick to, but, honestly, I can’t see where any money was spared ... ‘The carpets did cost the earth,’ he confesses.” Cate Blanchett, Will and Jaden Smith, Michelle Williams, Jennifer Connelly, Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Léa Seydoux, Ruth Negga, Riley Keough and Catherine Deneuve. Not your usual rollcall for a store opening, but then this isn’t your average store. It’s superstar architect Peter Marino’s long-awaited reveal: the new Louis Vuitton Maison flagship on Place Vendôme in Paris.
It’s not often that I’m starstruck, but when I meet with Marino at 2 Place Vendôme for a private tour, I’m nervous as all hell. Marino’s dressed head-to-toe in his signature black biker leathers, his fingers adorned with heavy-looking silver skull rings. The 68-year-old…
