Bal Harbour Shops

Theater of Shopping tells the story of retail visionary Stanley Whitman and the creation of Bal Harbour Shops, the most successful luxury fashion shopping center in the world, and one of the last family-owned shopping centers in America. Written by critically acclaimed author Alastair Gordon, Theater of Shopping is a cultural history of both a place and a personal legacy. The open-air luxury shopping center opened in 1965 as a pedestrian-friendly environment that turned shopping into a kind of theatrical event, while featuring the work of young design talents like Valentino, Versace, Mugler, Oscar de La Renta, and other foreign designers who were unknown in America before first showcasing their collections at Bal Harbour Shops. The text weaves together fashion, luxury commerce, architecture, landscape design, urban development, and family history, to create a highly readable narrative illustrated with more than 300 images including never-before-published drawings, and photographs by renowned photographers including Richard Avedon and Ezra Stoller.

In celebration of Bal Harbour Shops' 60th Anniversary, a limited number of books will be re-released to include a new, special artist- edition cover by Tug Rice.