A Guided Tour of Printemps, New York’s Latest Shopping Hotspot
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For people everywhere, the start of spring signals a time of rebirth and a breath of fresh air. For New Yorkers, the vernal equinox also issued a call to shop. On March 20, the storied Parisian department store Printemps (that’s French for spring) debuted its new Manhattan flagship, a 55,000-square-foot stunner spread across two Financial District buildings—one a historic Art Deco bank, the other a 1960s glass office tower. Like its predecessor, which revolutionized retail when it debuted on Boulevard Haussmann in 1865, the goal at Printemps New York was to create not simply a shop but a multisensory world of delight.
To do so, Printemps CEO Jean-Marc Ballaiche enlisted Laura Gonzalez, a Paris-based designer known for her Midas maximalist touch. “We didn’t want to make a replica or pastiche of what had been done in Paris 160 years ago,” reflects the AD100 talent, ever mindful of both the Right Bank location and the obvious seasonal symbolism. “It’s both a blessing and a curse to have something so classic as a jumping-off point. You don’t want it to just be flowers for spring.”
Floral allusions now bud and blossom across the department store’s two levels, though there’s nothing garden-variety about Gonzalez’s interventions. Graphic tiles, carpeting, curtains, and upholstery all riff on Art Nouveau motifs at Printemps’s original location. Frescoes summon idyllic landscapes. And recycled materials genuflect to the earth. In the landmark Red Room lobby, freestanding flowerlike pedestals, with petals as displays for shoes, create a botanical tour de force without impacting Hildreth Meière’s restored 1920s mosaics on the walls and ceiling.
“Our idea here was to do our own forest,” recalls Gonzalez, who conceived new tile work underfoot, its rippling outline guiding shoppers to the neighboring bar. (“It’s like a river,” she says.) There, a winding pink marble staircase leads to the so-called Boudoir—home to evening wear— and other retail wonders beyond. It’s one of several ways you might wind your way through Printemps New York, a circuitous warren of 10 distinct shopping environments and five dining and beverage concepts, the latter helmed by culinary director Gregory Gourdet.
Shoppers can also enter through the Playroom, stepping across its polka-dotted floors to peruse the casualwear and gifts before ascending the escalators. Or else begin your Printemps experience at the main restaurant, Maison Passerelle, where Gonzalez and Gourdet collaborated with Atelier Roma to realize a fresco based on an AI image compiled from pictures of sunsets in former French colonies. “We really wanted to create something unexpected,” says Gonzalez. “Yeah, we were very inspired, of course, by the building, by the city—but also by the journey.” Other artist commissions include stained glass by Pierre Marie, a countertop by William Coggin, and flocks of gold origami birds by Charles Kaisin. “We don’t want people to know what they’re going to see at each step,” adds Gonzalez. That extends down to the bathrooms, each one in a different style, and the dressing areas, which range from crimson boudoirs to tented cabanas.
“It’s ambitious, but in a way, it’s less crazy,” she says of the many environments. “Some people will love this space, some people will love that one.” Everybody, after all, has their season. us.printemps.com
Printemps New York is featured in AD’s May issue. Never miss a story when you subscribe to AD.
