Casablanca to open first Los Angeles store after Paris
The Casablanca brand, founded in 2018 by Charaf Tajer, will open its first boutique in Los Angeles in July, two months after the planned opening of its Paris boutique on rue Saint-Honoré in May.
Located at 469 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, the giant 5,000-square-fo0t space formerly occupied by Jimmy Choo, hair salon chain Vidal Sassoon and yogurt specialist Pinkburry, will welcome the Casablanca brand in a sumptuous architectural setting, with Ionic-style columns, arched display cases and a magisterial wrought-iron staircase.
A second store for the designer, a regular at Paris Fashion Week, who will nevertheless have to make his mark in Beverly Hills, in an area off Rodeo Drive. Located at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and North Canon Drive, the boutique is on a less-trafficked stretch of Beverly Hills, occupied by offices and banks, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Beverly Hills Welcome Center and the Bank of America, and by a number of famous cultural venues, including the Wallis Annenberg Center and the Brainwash Museum.
Just five minutes from the major Beverly Hills hotels and numerous restaurants, including the popular Wally's and Funke, the store could nonetheless benefit from the new retail momentum on Canon Drive and the refreshment taking place there.
Deserted by the luxury brands all clustered on Rodeo Drive, the neighborhood has seen the opening of the cashmere brand Guest in Residence, founded by Gigi Hadid, on the nearby N Beverly Drive. More recently, the fashionable golf brand G/Fore opened its first boutique near Alo Yoga at 401 N Canon Drive, to offer 'its young, modern golfwear collections."
The opening of a store in Los Angeles also resonates perfectly with Tajer's love for the West Coast. A long-time Los Angeles enthusiast, Tajer's Spring/Summer 2025 show entitled 'Can't Get Enough' was set against a backdrop of lowriders - a movement launched by Chicanos, Mexican-Americans in the early '40s, taken up by hip-hop and customizing cars into works of art, metallic paint, chrome and lights - and flamboyantly recounted his inspirations for LA, skate and surf culture.
Long known in the Parisian nightlife scene - he was notably artistic director of the Pompon parties - the Moroccan-born Frenchman was also co-founder of the Pigalle label alongside designer Stéphane Ashpool. Twenty years of experience, parties, travel and networking led him to launch his own brand in 2018.
A gradual but serious success, which led the brand to show at Paris Fashion Week a year later. Its second show, which transformed the gardens of the Musée de Montmartre into the 'Café de Casablanca', attracted a huge turnout of celebrities and guests from New York and California.
In recent years, the brand has also forged numerous collaborations. In 2022, Tajer added his tropical graphic signature to a collection of Bulgari bags. In 2023, he teamed up with Caviar Kaspia for a capsule ready-to-wear collection and a limited-edition caviar tin. The brand has also collaborated with S.T. Dupont and Nordstrom, organized memorable parties during Art Basel Miami, and opened its Casablanca Tennis Club in Abu Dhabi last February.
The Los Angeles boutique, like the one in Paris, will house the brand's entire wardrobe, from outerwear to tailoring in the West Coast or Miami style, to swimwear, Beach Club, eyewear and sport sneakers.
Seven years after its launch, the brand has generated over 50 million euros, according to an interview with Tajer in Forbes Afrique magazine.
Last year, the London-based brand announced the appointment of Txampi Diz as chief marketing officer, who had previously held the same position at Balmain. A year earlier, it appointed Frederick Lukoff, former CEO of the Stella McCartney and Scotch & Soda brands, as its new CEO, replacing Nadia Khan.
Launched with men's collection, the brand followed with a women's collection in 2020, before a full reorganization in 2023. Its original company, Casablanca Clothing Ltd, founded by Tajer, had been acquired by a new company, Casablanca Paris Ltd. The new anonymous owner was already the brand's main investor.
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