Pop-ups are popular in Dubai. FOUR SEASONS JUMEIRAH BEACH’s two 3-d-printed Dior boutiques, on the beach of course, proved a financial hit from Day One. Leading private aviation operator Jetex, headquartered in its own terminal at Dubai International Airport, found a Louis Vuitton exhibition worked wonders (many of the items for sale were exclusive, not available anywhere else). This last week a pop-up of vintage Hermès handbags was not merely a success but a buy-out. Every item was snapped up before they could put out labels. What will Jetex do next? Watch this space.
PARK HYATT DUBAI has a pop-up on right now. Its Twiggy by La Cantine beach restaurant is completely Ralph Laurenised 4th March through to 23rd April and this, says a Dubai influencer, has made the destination hip again – well, who would not be enchanted by the space’s look, above, and the fact that even the beach club’s concept store is completely full of RL?
What an interesting story this is. Parisien Rizwan Kassim came to Dubai in 2013 and two years later, thanks to then-F&B Gert Kopera, opened, in JUMEIRAH EMIRATES TOWERS, a branch of La Cantine du Faubourg. He founded Rikas Group – using the first letters of his name – and expanded, to Japanese and Portuguese and other cuisines, and beach club. La Cantine at Park Hyatt is named for the eternally-youthful English influencer, Dame Lesley Lawson, still modelling at 73. First, every female putting on a bikini wishes she has a twig-like figure. Next, she’s a legend, just like Ralph Lauren. As has been shown above, pop-ups with legends do better than pop-ups with wannabes. Just a thought.
