L.A. Designer Eva Franco Opens Store in Virginia
For Los Angeles–based designer Eva Franco, one strategy for surviving the recession means opening a boutique—across the country.
On May 9, an Eva Franco boutique will open in the East Coast resort town of Irvington, Va. The small Chesapeake Bay town is the home to palatial resort The Tides Inn. Franco’s retail partner is Irvington boutique owner Andy Smith. He pitched her on the idea of debuting an Eva Franco boutique after a commercial space became available adjacent to his boutique, Khakis of Irvington, which sells menswear and contemporary womenswear.
The Eva Franco boutique will be designed like a gracious Chesapeake Bay cottage with hardwood floors and a white picket fence outside. It will sell Resort, Spring and Summer collections for Franco’s self-named label. Franco also will design exclusive pieces for the store. The boutique will sell some gifts, too.
Franco and Smith are 50/50 partners in this venture, according to Franco, who said she has no current plans to open other Eva Franco stores.
In other Eva Franco news, the designer said she will be debuting test pieces for her new men’s line on May 2. The line will be called Megalomaniac—a moniker that I, for one, hope is not a reference to the men of Los Angeles.
VIRGINIA BOUTIQUE: Los Angeles–designer Eva Franco opens a self-named boutique in the resort town of Irvington, Va.
