Top of the Market

Stellar news for Southwest Florida fashionistas accustomed to hunting haute brands on Worth Avenue or Rodeo Drive: Ultra-luxury labels are arriving this season at Waterside Shops in Naples. Let the traveling end and the shopping begin.

Some of the nation's most exclusive retailers have figured out what local residents have long known: Our region attracts top shoppers from all over the world, people with the leisure and the lucre to seek out the best of everything. Downtown Naples has long supported top-drawer boutiques and galleries, often operated by entrepreneurs who achieved business success up North but realized the kinder, gentler Gulfshore has sophisticated shoppers as well as sunshine. But the national chains, which usually look for a critical mass of population to support their stores, have been slower to come here.

Now the Gulfshore's growing wealth, especially in Naples, where the average single-family home costs a cool half-million and the per-capita income is second-highest in the state, has finally grabbed the attention of some of the leading luxury brands; and this year a number of them-including Tiffany & Co., Gucci and Hermès-are opening stores in Waterside Shops.

"The names 'Naples' and 'Waterside' are now known with the international retail community," says Susan Canipelle, who owns or has an interest in several of the shops opening in Waterside.

Retail experts say the Forbes Company, which develops and manages upscale regional shopping centers, including several others in Florida, has played a critical role in reinventing the 13-year-old shopping center, which is having a total facelift, from new walkways and lighting to lavish new water features.

"We're creating a much more vibrant, synergistic environment, but in an intimate setting," says Nathan Forbes, managing partner of Forbes.

Here's a look at the pedigree-and products-shoppers will soon find right at home.

THAT LITTLE BLUE BOX

Signature blue boxes have punctuated New York City's finest drawing rooms since 1837, when Charles Lewis Tiffany and a partner established their "stationery and fancy goods" store. On its first day, the store rang up $4.98 in business. The famous box was born that same year, and the catalogue came nine years later. (Tiffany must have inspired a love of beauty in his son, Louis Comfort Tiffany, of stained-glass fame.)

Mary Todd Lincoln wore Tiffany diamonds, and Lady Bird Johnson chose White House china at the store. That china featured 90 different American flowers; making America more beautiful by planting wildflowers and shrubs was a cause close to the First Lady's heart.

The blue box has certainly made America more beautiful; and when women imagine themselves untying the white ribbon (no knot, ever) and opening a Tiffany box for the first time, it's often the famous Tiffany engagement ring that comes into focus. The jewelers at the New York City store first fashioned the six-prong diamond solitaire engagement ring in 1886. Demand has never wavered.

At the Waterside Tiffany & Co. store, manager Itay Shimoy (who comes to Naples from the Bal Harbour Tiffany's), expects the engagement ring to be one of the most popular purchases. This classic ring starts at under $1,000 and escalates to more than a million dollars, depending on the size and quality of the diamond. All ring settings at Tiffany are either platinum or 18-karat yellow gold.

As for sterling flatware, the No. 1 seller is the Audubon pattern created in 1871 and inspired by Japanese nature paintings. It sells for about $600 for a five-piece

place setting.

Jewelry captures everyone's fancy at Tiffany's. For everyday wear, you can't surpass the simple gold mesh necklace for $4,600 and the matching bracelet for $1,050. The ensemble even looks right with workout togs. But decidedly more glam would be the Etoile five-row pavé diamond band ring set in platinum at $11,500. Looks great with jeans or at a cocktail party. And the Tiffany lace three-row diamond bracelet at $26,000 always makes a nice anniversary present. Then there's the emerald-and-diamonds pendant set in platinum for when you want to make a dramatic entrance. At $215,000, this could be the ultimate straying-spouse repentance package.

Naples is the seventh Florida store for Tiffany & Co. The Waterside store has the same fresh attitude toward décor that the company started with its Orlando store. The windows are big, and the woodworking inside is lovely. The place is light, airy and sophisticated, but not at all intimidating. But please, don't go in and ask to buy just a blue box. It's hardcore company policy that no blue box ever leaves a Tiffany & Co. store without a Tiffany item inside.

FRENCH BLISS

Hermès and Cartier are French companies through and through, but they allow United States franchising; and in Naples, Susan Canipelle and two silent partners hold the franchises for a mighty triumvirate: Hermès, Cartier and Christofle. That last wonderful silver and crystal store has relocated from Third Street South in Old Naples to the Waterside Shops complex this year. Luxury loves company.

Hermès is the Parisian company known for superior leather goods, sublime silk scarves and fashion-forward neckties. When Thierry Hermès started out in 1837, his firm made saddles, and they established his reputation. But in recent years, it's all been about the bags, especially the handbags called Kelly and Birkin. As a status symbol, these accessories reign supreme. At a Doyle New York's auction this past April, a black pre-owned crocodile Birkin bag sold for $64,000. Granted, it did have a custom clasp set with 14 carats of pavé diamonds, but that's still a pretty penny for a used purse. Hermès scarves (they start at about $350) and the bags played prominent roles in the recent comedy film Le Divorce, which stars Kate Hudson and French legend Leslie Caron. In that movie, the suave older cad always ends a relationship by sending the terminated lady a Hermès handbag.

The Kelly bag has actually been available since the 1930s (the same decade the scarves first appeared), but it rocketed to fame and received the Kelly name in 1956 when Grace Kelly carried it all over the world. She liked the bag because its generous size concealed the early stages of her pregnancy. A chocolate-brown gently worn Kelly bag came up for Internet sale recently, and at $4,000 it was considered a great buy.

The more relaxed-looking Birkin bag is named for British actress and singer Jane Birkin. And it's that bag that store manager Susan Canipelle expects to wow the Naples market. "It's a sportier bag," she says, "and that's more in keeping with the Naples lifestyle."

The Naples stores will stock Birkin and other Hermès bags and will get shipments in throughout the year. "The company discourages waiting lists because it just frustrates clients," Canipelle explains. The entry price level for a Birkin is about $4,000 and can escalate to $100,000 or more depending on the leather that's used and the quantity

of diamonds included.

She also envisions great things for the Jean Paul Gaultier ready-to-wear clothing collection, which is exclusive to Hermès stores. "His clothes are clean, simple, elegant and made of the finest of fabrics," says Canipelle. "They're appropriate for this climate and for the Naples shopper." And, of course, every purchase comes in the Hermès signature orange box with the logo ribbon. No one ever gets rid of the Hermès box.

Thoughts of Cartier conjure up watches both useful and gorgeous. There's an endless parade of varieties and prices. How does one choose? A lady's Panther in 18-karat yellow gold can be had for about $19,000, while the Pasha with a diamond grid and gold Arabic numbers is closer to $23,000. Then there's the ever-popular and classic Tank with a simple strap band. Thin, understated and elegant, a Tank wristwatch for a man or a woman always looks right. It's a necessity if you're building a quality jewelry wardrobe. Tank watches range from $3,000 to $30,000 or more depending on diamond quotient.

But Cartier has other less functional jewelry, too. Cartier artists have been supplying royalty and European aristocrats as well as Americans such as the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers since Louis-Francois Cartier started the family business in 1847 in Paris.

A Cartier branch opened in New York in 1909, and eight years later the company moved to Morton Plant's opulent six-story mansion on Fifth Avenue. Pierre Cartier traded a $1 million double-strand pearl necklace for the building. Nellie Plant had really wanted that necklace. And you'll find a lot to want in the Naples Cartier store, too.

Glenn Guiler, the manager at the Naples Cartier (he comes to us from San Francisco), says the watches are often what bring customers in. "Then they realize the depth of our collection in diamonds," he says.

Diamonds are the top gem seller at Cartier, followed by colored stones. Famous Cartier pearls occupy the price stratosphere, where creations start at about $50,000. Guiler notes that women shoppers usually spend up to $10,000. Anything over that, and you'll see a man doing the buying, or perhaps a couple coming in together to select a gift item for him to present to her.

The witty and glamorous Zsa Zsa Gabor remarked that she never hated any of her nine ex-husbands enough to give back the jewelry. Anger management is such a practical virtue. In the meantime, you need to go shopping