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Sketches
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Style Guide
Sabina Kristensen has already introduced some of the most coveted fashion labels to Baku. Now she is taking it to a spectacular new level, as she tells Abbie Vora. Portraits by Natavan Vahabova abina Kristensen is excited, and rightly so. It’s opening day of the multi-brand fashion and lifestyle concept store Emporium, in the new luxury Port Baku Mall. From her vantage point at the in-house cupcake bar, sipping Mariage Frères tea from a Miranda Kerr for Royal Albert mug, Emporium’s chief executive is keenly observing the buzz as it unfolds. Super-stylish women flter into the store, stalking by in ferce stilettos, ripped jeans and mirrored aviators, which remain frmly in place as they eagerly inspect the nearby jewellery cabinets and sunglasses wall. The beauty department, featuring – for the frst time in Azerbaijan – Jo Malone, Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford and Crème de La Mer, leads on to a long perfume counter with bottles cleverly arranged by fragrance notes – sweet, vanilla, citrus – rather than brand. Beside that is the most delectable array of shoes, displayed against a white background as if they’re 51 Baku.