Dubliners will get their own taste of Ab Fab upmarket shopping when Harvey Nichols, one of Britain's best-known luxury department stores, opens its Irish venture in the Dundrum Town Centre today at noon.
At a cost of more than €10 million, the new 2973 sq m (32,000 sq ft) boutique store, spread out over three floors, will be dedicated to fashion, fragrance and food.
Hot international labels will be presented in a dramatically different interior decor by French architect Christian Biecher, inspired by "country gardens, the Sex Pistols, David Hicks motifs and luxury cars", according to Richard Gray, the store's spokesman.
Neither the prices, the loud floral carpets nor the psychedelic chequerboard walkways will be about minimalism, while the staircase - an elaborate showpiece steel feature based on an abstracted l9th-century English lace pattern - will also be a talking point.
"It will be like walking through the pages of Vogue," Mr Gray told The Irish Times. "In layman's terms, it is like opening up the perfect wardrobe. Our mantra is 'exclusivity for all', from the woman who wants to spend €7 on a lipstick to €7,000 on a dress.".
One of the shop's attractions will be its new demi-couture concept - limited-edition clothing commissioned from designers such as Lanvin, Martin Grant, Nina Ricci and Giambattista Valli, exclusive to Dublin and Knightsbridge in London.
A specially commissioned item for Ireland is the "Dublin" bag, a pink-leather, studded affair by British accessories designer Luella Bartley. A large jeans section will include the Libertine denims made famous by Kate Moss, and there will be menswear lines from Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Dries Van Noten.
Edina and Patsey in Ab Fab, the BBC television comedy series, brought the store international recognition as an "it" girl destination, a far cry from its humble beginnings as a small linen shop in Knightsbridge nearly 200 years ago.
Today, owned by Hong Kong billionaire Dickson Poon, it is associated with luxury and top-notch designer labels. It is the haunt of wealthy socialites and spenders not afraid to flaunt their wealth, a posher destination than Harrods.
Prices are not for the faint-hearted; in London this week, most of the designer room items started at about £750, but customers can always recover in the new wine bar boasting the country's largest list of cocktails and most expensive wines.
The fine dining restaurant, DJ booth with mix and decks, and dance floor may even encourage a new generation back to dinner dances.
The Knightsbridge store is still recovering from the incident on September 14th when a stalker and former security guard shot a cosmetics counter assistant and then shot himself, sending the store into the headlines.
