Say V! Louis Vuitton has a new home in the Philippines.

Just unveiled early this week, the new store is 823 kilometers from Manila, housed in a relatively new hotspot in the south, the five-star Nustar Resort and Casino on Kawit Island, “the island of possibilities,” in Cebu City.

This new location features interior that takes its cues from the Peter Marino-designed Louis Vuitton flagship at Place Vendôme in Paris, where the founder, after whom the house he built has been named, opened its first trunk store over 160 years ago.

Following design codes from what the French fashion house calls the “Vendôme architectural concept,” the 459-square-meter store blends a mix of seemingly opposite sensibilities, finding a common thread between, say, classic and current and also between French savoir-faire and Filipino artisanship.

In collaboration with a renowned Filipino furniture and industrial designer, Cebu’s very own Vito Selma, Louis Vuitton weaves elements of the local culture into the brand’s signature aesthetic, showcasing not only a curated selection of women’s and men’s leather goods, ready-to-wear collections, small leather goods, accessories, shoes, fragrances, and exclusive jewelry pieces, but also the craftsmanship for which Cebu has made its mark in the world, especially when it comes to furniture design.

Selma’s bespoke pieces seamlessly integrate with the maison’s design ideal that is welcoming, instead of overwhelming, new yet still familiar with subtle nods to heritage, and a lot of room for art, of which the just-opened store has plenty, including the contemporary works of Wan Liya, Susana Sancho, and Daniela Rivas.

Cebu has been constantly on the rise, ever since we nicknamed it Ceboom in the late 1980s. There are more and more reasons to visit and, with a Louis Vuitton store now open there, very French yet also very tropical, very Parisian yet also paradisiacal, with the vibe of some of Cebu’s famed islands, shopping in the lap of luxury is one of them.