The Imperial house, and us
Who we are
Three boutiques in Lyon, and an Italian house behind them. Imperial and Please on Rue du Président Édouard Herriot, Imperial Gallery on Avenue Maréchal de Saxe. We sell ready-to-wear from a Bologna-based fashion house, but our work comes down to three actions: choosing the pieces, having them tried on, and tailoring them.
Choosing, because the house offers so much and we do not take everything. A piece only enters our boutiques if it will still be wearable the following season; otherwise, it remains in the showroom, even if it would sell well for six weeks.
Having them tried on, because a jacket is judged by the shoulders, not a screen. Our consultants prepare the fitting room before your arrival if you request it, and they will show you two cuts side-by-side rather than describing them to you.
Tailoring, because a pair of trousers at the right length is a different garment entirely. Our seamstresses mark the alterations on you, in-store, and we keep your measurements on file: the next time you come in, the hem is already perfect.
This is what a local address can do that a warehouse never will. The rest—the cut, the fabric, the manufacturing—comes from Italy.
The Imperial House
Imperial was founded in 1978 in Emilia-Romagna by the partnership of Adriano Aere and Emilia Giberti. Nearly fifty years later, the house employs over three hundred people, designs and manufactures in Italy, and is found in some 1,500 boutiques worldwide, including its own and those of its retailers.
Its signature starts with the fabric. Crepe that does not require ironing, drapes that hang like cold wool, double-faced knit Milanese jersey, satins, embroidered lace, corduroy: materials worked to hold up throughout the day, maintain their shape, and be machine-washed—which remains rare at this level of finishing, even on formal wear.
Its second signature is the rhythm. The collections progress through capsules, one per week, designed and produced in just a few weeks. This is what allows us to show you in September what was conceived in June, and to refresh the clothing racks without waiting for the next season. It is then up to us to decide: we receive everything, but we take only what lasts.
The group brings together three brands—Imperial, Please, and Dixie. We represent two of them in Lyon.
The headquarters, near Bologna
Every Imperial collection is born in the same place: 6,600 square meters in an open-plan space at the Centergross in Funo di Argelato, on the outskirts of Bologna, where the showroom and the design studio are one and the same. A glass and steel ceiling lets daylight fall onto white furniture that is intentionally understated: in this building, it is the clothes that we look at.
That is where we go to choose the collections, twice a year, and it is from there that the capsules depart to arrive in Lyon every week.
The boutique architecture
Imperial boutiques follow the same grammar as the headquarters: simple volumes, raw materials—steel, plexiglass, glass—and neutral tones that leave the color to the clothes. The lighting is designed to render the materials as they truly are, avoiding the disappointment of an item once you get it home.
It is this design language that you will find on Rue Édouard Herriot, under the glass roof, and on Avenue Maréchal de Saxe.
Our three addresses
Imperial — 21 rue du Président Édouard Herriot, Lyon 1st
Please — 25 rue du Président Édouard Herriot, Lyon 1st
Imperial Gallery — 38 avenue Maréchal de Saxe, Lyon 6th
Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Phone: 09 71 56 59 66.
Details of the boutiques, in images, are on the Our boutiques in Lyon page. For a specific occasion, we can prepare a selection in your name before your visit: this is Le Portant.