ANTEPRIMA opens boutique in Italy

ANTEPRIMA announces the opening of its first single-brand store in Rome, at 147 via del Babuino, in the heart of the city. This keenly awaited event is an important milestone for the Italo-Japanese brand.

The new boutique is to be opened on Wednesday 9^th November 2011 with an exclusive cocktails and dj set event (starting at 6.30 pm)that will also involve the neighbouring Museo Canova Tadolini (at 150, via del Babuino). The opening will be attended by the brand's Creative Director, the Japanese designer Izumi Ogino, numerous local celebrities and some of the most important Italian actresses of the moment, including Cristiana Capotondi, Nicole Grimaudo, Katy Saunders and Claudia Pandolfi.

Anteprima's Rome boutique is its third single-brand in Italy after its two stores in Milan, in Corso Como 9, one focusing on clothing and the other on Wirebag accessories. Like these Milan stores, the Rome boutique will show the sophisticatedly minimal taste that defines the brand, both in the choice of materials (steel, natural resins and ceramics) and its neutral colours, mainly white.

The boutique's interiors were designed by the architect Yuko Nagayama to provide an ideal setting for the brand's prêt-à-porter collection and accessories, both bags and shoes. Also available in the new store will be a collection based on the brand's icon bag, the Wirebag, which is entirely handmade and combines the traditional crafting of one-off pieces with the use of avant-garde materials.

To celebrate the opening of the boutique, Anteprima is also presenting the Piuma bag, an exclusive edition of the Wirebag that pays tribute to the Eternal City, in the midnight blue. Elegant and subtly retro, the Dolce Vita is hand crafted and enhanced by plume's detailing.

The maison's new point of sale joins another 134 Anteprima and Anteprima Wirebag single-brand stores around the world (including the Anteprima Misto boutiques operating exclusively in the Asia market).

For the future, Anteprima is aiming not only to consolidate in Asia but also to expand in Europe and start looking at the United States, where its only presence for the moment is a number of boutiques in Hawaii.