Want to know the state of a luxury brand? Take a look at its flagship store.

If the design looks dated and the fixtures scuffed, the label has probably seen better days. But a newly refurbished shop with a sparkling interior and an artsy concept – introduced by a blow-out launch party – suggests a new day for the brand, one full of optimism and energy. And that’s definitely the case with Fendi, which will open an unabashedly luxurious and creative Fifth Avenue flagship on Thursday.

LVMH purchased Fendi in 2001, and the brand has yet to see a profit. But, after a few rough years, Fendi has new wind in its sails. With a new boss, new It-bag, new retail design concept, and a renewed contract for head designer Karl Lagerfeld, the future looks bright for the Roman house.

“There’s definitely a sense of a new beginning,” the publisher of the trend-spotting newsletter JC Report, Jason Campbell, said. “You can feel there’s a new energy there.”

That energy is personified by CEO Michael Burke, a slight and charismatic Franco-American whose business acumen is spiked with an effervescent wit. Since taking the top job at Fendi in 2003, he has brought clarity and confidence to the formerly family-run business. Karl Lagerfeld, who had threatened to leave the house when his contract expired, told Women’s Wear Daily that Mr. Burke “got ready in six months what the others couldn’t do in four years.”

Mr. Burke himself credits Fendi’s solid image for helping him turn the label around. “I couldn’t have come in and done this with a confused label,” he said. “The management was confused, but the creativity wasn’t. What makes this house so unique is that it has always stayed true to itself.”

Fendi was founded as a prestigious couture fur house in 1925 by Edoardo Fendi, who passed on his business to his five daughters (Anna, Paola, Carla, Franca, and Alda) four decades later. The sisters decided to rejuvenate the label and made the courageous move of hiring a rising German designer named Karl Lagerfeld in 1965.

Mr. Lagerfeld revolutionized the fur fashions of the time by cutting, dyeing, and slashing formerly stodgy coats into light and sexy pieces. “He created a pink chinchilla coat in 1968,” Mr. Burke said. “That was positively shocking back then.”

This gutsy approach to material and craft continued throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, as Fendi expanded its business and added accessory lines. The label cultivated such a faithful customer base that it survived the anti-fur fashion moment of the early 1990s relatively unscathed. But it was in the later years of that same decade that Fendi suddenly found itself in the middle of a fashion frenzy. When Anna Fendi’s daughter, Silvia Venturini, came up with a decorative evening shoulder purse that she called the “baguette” in 1997, a new phenomenon was born. “Fendi is the poster child for the bag sensation,” Mr. Campbell said. “The baguette is the definitive It-bag.”

The baguette became such a best seller that luxury groups Prada, Gucci, and LVMH started a super-aggressive bidding war in 1999 to add the label to their rosters. Prada eventually surprised everyone by buying Fendi jointly with LVMH. However, as the baguette hysteria died down and the luxury market took a post-boom hit, Prada sold its shares to LVMH. But the label seemed wracked with tensions and fizzled sales. Shortly after Mr. Burke came aboard in 2003, a new Fendi superstar was born: the Spy bag. And upcoming for spring, there’s the sumptuous and slightly edgy B-bag. Its intricate and striking design mirrors Mr. Lagerfeld’s acclaimed spring collection, a light and luxurious exercise in lace and buckles that was considered his strongest in years. Which seems to prove Mr. Burke was right when he courted the mercurial designer to renew his Fendi contract. “Many people told me I should look for somebody new,” he said. “But I thought that would be a cop-out. Bringing in a new person is not a magical fix; the relationship between a label and a designer has to be nurtured and cultivated. And I knew that since he had done it before, he would be able to do it again.”

As for New York’s new Fendi store, it is a two-story, 7,500-square-foot space rendered in black and honey travertine marble juxtaposed with hand-carved fiberglass panels in white. Architect Peter Marino conceived the concept of contrasting shapes and materials to interpret the label’s bold, extravagant spirit. “I want people to feel the joy of walking into an utterly glamorous space,” he said. “Fendi is an emotive brand. A cold and minimalist look would have been wrong.”

Floating F-E-N-D-I letters are projected behind sleek glass steps, while clips from black-and-white Cinecitta films are screened on the upper part of the curved walls. The merchandise is exhibited in separate areas that are divided by Roman-inspired archways, which give the venue a grand yet intimate feeling. And judging from this spectacular display of luxury, the 80-year-old house is announcing that it’s feeling better than ever.