The King Of Curated Couture

Written by Helen Siwak

To many in creative circles, wearing your influences on your sleeve is just not good for business. For luxury fashion empire-builder Howard Colton, designing opulent fashion boutiques heavily influenced by
St. Laurent and Dior is great for business given the upscale clientele that spends time at Colton’s Couture.

Luxury designer goods can be emotionally broken down into three moods – the timeless classics that make a body swoon like Vivier, Valentino, and YSL; the trendy heart-tuggers like Gucci, Kenzo, and Moschino; and the exciting uncertainty of the future as defined by the ever-changing Off-White and MSGM. Colton’s Couture curates each store’s offering based on these moods and feedback from clientele. Eschewing the seasonal collection model, in-house buyers place orders for the product from the company’s office in Italy on a weekly basis, and given the intensity of client demand, will request overnight delivery by air.

While it sounds unbelievable that founder and CEO Howard Colton has managed to create such an experience in the midst of the biggest shopping centres in Vancouver, it is true. In Richmond Centre, next to incredibly popular make-up and mid-range jewelry stores, the interior screams modern St. Laurent retail with ceiling high slabs of Italian marble in grey and black, and low display tables of chrome and mirrors. The creation of the boutique took many months of intensive design and installation. “If I had known how difficult and expensive installing the marble would be, I would have used synthetic marble like St. Laurent!” says Howard with a broad smile and a wink.

 

Howard has created, developed, and sold 100’s of millions of dollars of online ventures, all with an underlying theme of luxury.

Howard Colton is originally from Montreal and grew up in a blended family headed by socialite Phyllis Colton and Russell Goldberg, one of Canada’s remaining men’s bespoke suiting purveyors who is now at 92 years of age is celebrating his 68th year in business. As an early adopter of the internet as a sales vehicle, Howard has created, developed, and sold 100’s of millions of dollars of online ventures, all with an underlying theme of luxury.

In 2012, in a risky yet visionary move, Howard created a private shopping club, Colton’s Personal Couture, with a $25,000 membership price-tag based in a 15th-floor penthouse in central Richmond. After transforming the space into a dreamy cream and gold Dior homage, he stocked it to the fullest with $500,000 of designer goods and jewelry that the cities 1% could not live without. Membership included many perks including limousine service, ‘fashion confidantes,’ customized shopping rooms, and a leisurely shopping pace.

At Colton’s, you are not sold to, but listened to.

An extremely ambitious undertaking, Colton’s Personal Couture was the first bricks and mortar location for a businessman with a history of only selling luxury online. After a ‘nudge’ from his daughter Emanda to consider retail, ‘Colton’s Couture’ was launched as a pop-up in 2016 within an underwhelming storefront in the upscale Oakridge Centre. Sales were impressive, and soon the location became permanent. Richmond Centre followed in October 2017, and the largest edition Colton’s Couture opened this past June at Metropolis at Metrotown. Acknowledging that “every retailer cannot possibly sell everything in their stores,” and with three locations operating by the end of 2018, Howard was pleased to share that a McArthurGlen Outlet store is in the works for 2019.

While Colton’s Personal Couture was furloughed in 2016, plans to improve the private member’s concept and re-launch in time for the 2018 winter holiday season are already underway.

An extremely ambitious undertaking, Colton’s Personal Couture was the first bricks and mortar location for a businessman with a history of only selling luxury online. After a ‘nudge’ from his daughter Emanda to consider retail, ‘Colton’s Couture’ was launched as a pop-up in 2016 within an underwhelming storefront in the upscale Oakridge Centre. Sales were impressive though, and soon the location became permanent with a lavish upgrade completed this past July. The YSL-inspired Richmond Centre followed in October 2017, and the largest edition Colton’s Couture opens this month at Metropolis at Metrotown. Acknowledging that “every retailer cannot possibly sell everything in their stores,” and with three luxury locations operating by the end of 2018, Howard will continue the brands expansion with a McArthurGlen Outlet store in 2019.