Stella McCartney expands in luxury-hungry Asia

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Stella McCartney's luxury fashion and accessories label opened its first boutique in Southeast Asia in Singapore, forging deeper into a region hungry for everything designer.

The store joins three outlets for the brand in China, regional distributor, The Lane Crawford Joyce Group said in a statement on Monday. It is also part of a global expansion by McCartney that will see shops in Tokyo, the Middle East and Moscow within the next few years.

The Singapore store stocks McCartney's main label as well as accessories including perfumes and her newly launched organic cosmetics line.

Along with Hong Kong and Shanghai, Singapore is one of the main shopping centres in Asia, where a growing, newly affluent class is fuelling demand for luxury goods.

The city state's own economy is also booming, and retailers are seeking to capitalise on that. Earlier this month, Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo showcased its Spring/Summer 2008 collection in Singapore.

McCartney's label is part of French retail group PPR, which also owns Gucci and other luxury brands

(Reporting by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)