Artist impression of the Gucci Paragon Flagship Store

It is long due for upgrade and now it has finally arrived. Gucci in Paragon Orchard, Singapore took over the spot once Ferragamo and Aigner stood and the four floors above it, making it a five-storey flagship boutique to match the upgrades of the other luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada in ION Orchard. The first two storeys of the boutique have opened for business since about two weeks ago. Following its predecessors such as the stores in Rome, New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong among few, the Singapore store carries Frida Gianini’s vision of warm, open and luxurious feel with brown and gold tones. It is a depart from the Tom Ford’s cold black and silver concept we have accustomed to for the past one decade. I personally like Frida’s concept very much as it has a touch of the luxurious old Gucci feel.

The Paravanda Frida Boston Bag

To commemorate the opening of this store, the Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Botanic Garden named an orchid after Frida, Paravanda Frida. Apparently, Singapore has outdone their New York, Rome and Shanghai counterparts in welcoming the Italian giant to the city state and in return, like what she has done for the opening of the three flagship stores before this, Frida launched a highly limited edition Gucci Joy collection, called the Paravanda Friday collection, for an obvious reason.

The Paravanda Frida Collection

The collection will be launched in early March 2010, together with the store opening which Frida herself will attend. It comprises of 78-piece-only coated canvas Boston bag, 10-piece-only leather-appliqued Boston bag with croc trims and wrislets. The price for the coated canvas Boston is SGD1,280 and is available for pre-booking now (if not already fully booked).

The Paravanda Frida

100% sales of this collection’s Boston bags will be donated to Singapore’s Mainly I Love Kids (MILK) charity.

Images are courtesy of Gucci