1998 : June: Prada Group acquires a 9.5 percent stake in Gucci. The company will later sell its stake to LVMH Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton. July: Glamour publishes a guide on how to tell knock-offs from the real thing. Prada, Dior, and Louis Vuitton are among the brands most copied. October: A Prada store opens in Paris. November: Granello is discontinued.
Thanks to multiple revenue streams and runaway sales growth, Prada's signature pale-green stores popped up like mushrooms across the globe, with flagships from Old Bond Street to Rodeo Drive. Several of the stores are architecturally important, designed by leading names: Rem Koolhaas did the much-hyped SoHo, New York, outpost; the Swiss team of Herzog & de Meuron was behind the diamond-paned Tokyo building. Prada has a deep interest in contemporary art; it steadily informs her work, and the Prada Foundation has commissioned performance pieces, sculptures, and films from some of the most influential artists of the day.