Dior opens a Peter Marino-designed flagship on Milan's Via Montenapoleone

Dior unveiled a new House of Dior on Milan's Via Montenapoleone, a three-level flagship designed by architect Peter Marino that doubles the space of the brand's original store on the street. That first unit opened in 2001 and was renovated in 2012. The new building was previously held by a Burberry store.

Delphine Arnault, chairman and chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, called it a project the house had worked on for over two years, describing these flagships as few and far between. Dior, the maison that rebuilt Paris couture in 1947, remains one of the leading names in our ranking of the most popular luxury brands online.

The building itself is a neoclassical structure dating to the late 17th century, with seven windows and two entrances on Via Montenapoleone plus a third opening onto an inner courtyard. Marino has designed the street's other flagships too, including the Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Bulgari stores nearby, all under parent group LVMH.

Marino and Arnault have worked together for over 30 years, and nature runs through the new store as a recurring theme, spilling into terraces, inner courtyards and vertical gardens designed by landscape architect Peter Wirtz. Marino said the project continues a philosophy begun at the Avenue Montaigne flagship in Paris, now extended to New York, Los Angeles and Milan.

Window displays show animated scenes referencing Milan's gardens, with lemon trees, wisteria and a flamingo crafted from fabric remnants sourced from Dior's own ateliers. The ground floor holds women's and men's bags, accessories, and men's ready-to-wear and shoes, alongside a Michelangelo Pistoletto portrait of Christian Dior that Marino predicts will draw over 1 million selfies.

What is on the upper floors

The first floor carries womenswear designed by Jonathan Anderson, footwear, signature bags including Lady Dior editions in precious hides, and Victoire de Castellane's high jewelry. Two grand staircases connect the floors, one in stone with wrought-iron arabesques and works by artist Lee Bul, the other lined with Dior's white toile fabric on the men's side.

Our guide to the best Dior bags worth investing in has tracked pieces like the Lady Dior as lasting value rather than passing trend, a case the new small and mini formats, shown here in black, chalk and honey, continue to make. Commissioned art fills the store, including watercolors by Georg Baselitz in a VIP salon.

The second floor holds private lounges with mouldings evoking Parisian apartments and a beauty room that Marino says has no equivalent on Via Montenapoleone. Furniture spans Claude Lalanne's Ginkgo Bench, Vittorio Introini's shelving, Paul Kingma's coffee table and B.G. Robinson's metal chairs, mixed with antiques throughout the space.

Exclusive pieces made for the opening

To mark the launch, Dior created several store-exclusive items, including the Dior Bow pumps and Dior Ribbon sneakers in leopard print. The house's handbag heritage runs deep enough that we have separately ranked the category's enduring icons in our roundup of the best designer bags of all time.

What is on the restaurant menu

Monsieur Dior Milan is run by chef Enrico Bartolini, described in the source reporting as Italy's most decorated Michelin-starred chef with 14 stars, and the room is anchored by a 30-foot mural commissioned from artist Francesco Clemente. Arnault said the house sought a local chef whose work carries meaning for Dior specifically.

Bartolini built the menu around Dior's history, colors and iconic motifs, with dishes including knife-cut Piedmontese beef arranged like a flower, scallop risotto, and pan-seared sea bass with Thai-inflected aubergine. Tender veal arrives with Swiss chard, raspberries and a chocolate emulsion, and his signature Grand Soir Chocolat depicts 30 Montaigne under a starry sky.

The restaurant seats 12 tables and serves lunch, dinner, afternoon snacks and tasting menus. Bartolini said he studied Dior's archives to capture the house's identity in each dish, and noted a personal connection to founder Christian Dior, who died in Montecatini Terme near the chef's own training ground.

Marino, asked about designing for multiple LVMH-owned houses at once, said he approaches each brief as if furnishing an individual client's home, drawing on Christian Dior's own archives, houses and clothing rather than repeating a formula. He cited his 1980s work on designer Giorgio Armani's Milan apartment as a career highlight.

Arnault pointed to Milan's Salone del Mobile design week as her favorite time to see the city, calling it a mix of elegance and design novelty. The Milan opening extends Dior's pattern of flagship investment across major cities, following our coverage of the brand's two-year fashion and film partnership with A24 at the Cherry Lane Theatre.