This is the one-hundredth anniversary of Italian luxury brand, Ermenegildo Zegna.  And while the celebration began during Fashion Week in Milan, in June, the party continued this week in Las Vegas, when Anna Zegna (the family-owned company’s Image Director) came to town for the opening of the brand’s new Global Store at CityCenter.

A benefit for Keep Memory Alive, the philanthropic arm of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the event was co-hosted by Mrs. Zegna (herself the Director of the Fondazione Zegna) and Tom Kaplan, Senior Managing Partner of Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, who has been integral to the continued success of Keep Memory Alive, since its informal inception in 1996, at a memorial dinner for Lou Ruvo held in one of Spago’s private dining rooms.

Rendering of the Zegna Global Store at Crystals at CityCenter

Designed by renowned architect, Peter Marino – who also designed the Zegna flagship on Fifth Avenue, as well as stores in Chengdu, Dubai, Hong Kong, Milan, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Tokyo – the Global Store at CityCenter (located inside Crystals) is a two-store luxury oasis measuring 7,500 square feet of leather, wool, metal, chrome, mirrors (and that doesn’t take into account the merchandise the store showcases!).

Anna Zegna and Terri Monsour

Now, in its fourth generation (Anna works alongside her brother Ermenegildo, CEO of Ermenegildo Zegna Holditalia S.p.A., and their cousin Paulo, the company’s Chairman), the family Zegna continues to lead the fashion-pack.  They maintain their position as a leading multinational purveyor of luxury-goods, not simply by designing tailored menswear of the highest quality, but by continuing to manufacture some of the world’s finest textiles (used in suits by designers including Tom Ford, Gucci, and Yves Saint Laurent) – as they have done in Trivero, Italy at Lanificio Ermenegildo Zegna, since 1910.

Suits made from Fabric Nº 1 – a re-edition of the Zegna original from 1910

According to Anna’s brother, Gildo Zegna, “This latest strategic investment in our retail business reinforces… a positive signal of recovery in the American market.”  The company’s CEO continued by saying “Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing and most dynamic cities in the US, internationally renowned for luxury tourism, entertainment and shopping…an ideal location for our latest Global Store concept.”

A snazzy vignette

The new Global Store at CityCenter is the second Las Vegas retail outlet for the luxury menswear juggernaut.  Ermenegildo Zegna opened at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, in 2005, and underwent an expansion earlier this year, that more than doubled the size of the store.

The shoe with laces began the day like its mate

Custom tie-maker

The party was fab, and in addition to some fantastic hors d’oeuvres from the friendly folks at Wolfgang Puck, guests sipped on Bellinis concocted with fresh peach puree, Prosecco and raspberry juice, just like those at Harry’s Bar in Venice!  On the main floor, I observed one of Zegna’s cobblers demonstrate the process of treating the leather once a shoe has been constructed (check-out the photo). 

The Main Floor as seen from one-third of the way up the staircase to the Second Floor

Later, after listening to a bunch of people tell me about the cute-as-a-button Italian tie-maker (who spoke not a lick of English) plying her craft on the second floor, I decided to check it out.   When I got there, all of these people were huddled around her table, clucking about how her work is a labor-of-love.  I’ll tell you about a labor-of-love…  Climbing up that staircase!  Sure, “it’s just up the stairs” – but what they don’t tell you is (a) the store’s ceilings are roughly 250% as high as those in a normal building, so it seems like you've found the inspiration for Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and (b) there’s a freakin' elevator!

Anna Zegna, Larry Ruvo, and Tom Kaplan

In addressing the assembled shoppers, supporters, and stylistas who turned-out for the affair, Keep Memory Alive founder, Larry Ruvo told of how he’d learned from Anna about how quality wools depend on good water, and compared that (in a poignant metaphor to his line of work as Senior Managing Partner of Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada) to how a quality wine is dependent on good grapes.

I don’t know much about wool or wine, but I do know this; as a dyed-in-the-wool klutz (pun intended), if I’m wearing something nice made from wool, I steer-clear of wine; because by night’s end, I’m usually wearing that, too!

Ermenegildo Zegna Global Store
Crystals at City Center
10am-11pm (Monday-Thursday)
10am-midnight (Friday and Saturday)

Get into it!