The connection between runway fashion shows and real life shopping isn’t always clear. But designer Max Azria is using Olympus Fashion Week to clarify his offerings.

This year, Mr. Azria has taken the rare step of hosting two different shows. BCBG Max Azria, his popular, core brand, will be presented today in the tents at Bryant Park. Then on Monday, he will follow up with his signature, higher-priced collection Max Azria. The two concepts are also expanding in bricks-and-mortar: This November, New York will see its first free-standing Max Azria boutique, a SoHo store that will be devoted exclusively to the fashion-forward collection. That’s in addition to the recent expansion of BCBG Max Azria shops in Manhattan; the five stores are now located at Madison Avenue, SoHo, the Flatiron District, and the Upper East and West sides.

In a fickle industry, Mr. Azria has not only staying power, but powerful forward momentum. Since its launch in 1989, BCBG — which stands for bon chic, bon genre, French slang for “good style, good attitude” — has maintained a reliably stylish identity and become a retail force with 340 stores worldwide. In 2001, the designer introduced a limited selection of higher priced, designer pieces sold in BCBG stores; now that collection, Max Azria, is strong enough to hold its own.

How this Tunisian-born designer makes it all happen has much to do with his wife and muse, Lubov Azria, creative director of the BCBG Max Azria Group. A lithe blonde who was raised in Ukraine and trained with the Bolshoi Ballet’s youth division, Mrs. Azria works intensively on the collections to translate her husband’s vision.

In her view, establishing the Max Azria line as a distinctive brand with its own stores was a move toward greater clarity and creative expression. After changing the name to simply Max Azria last season (from the more confusing BCBG Max Azria Collection), the company could establish a separate, more upscale identity for the label.

“Max Azria is very different from BCBG,” she said. “We felt that Max Azria has found its voice. Sometimes you need a line to cultivate its look and its customer. We have a vision and a voice.”

Her husband seconds the sentiment. “Max Azria grew organically and became a separate entity,” the designer said. “This line is more exclusive and allows me to be more creative with design.”

For the spring collection, that greater freedom and creativity led to silhouettes that are straighter than in BCBG, which will be flowing and light, as well as higher quality fabrics and extreme attention to detail. The target customer is extremely design savvy. “It’s for a visionary, eclectic customer. It’s for someone in the industry or in the arts,” Mrs. Azria said.

The decision to develop the line into a full collection came after the marketing team identified the brand’s three core customers, according to Mrs. Azria. “There’s the connoisseur, who is sophisticated but doesn’t want to stand out too much,” she said.”The socialite, who needs the latest bag and the newest things. And then there is the visionary, and that’s who really buys the Max Azria collection.” The dedicated boutiques are meant to give that customer a stronger connection to the brand — and an independence from the widely distributed BCBG label. “We wanted her to feel the lifestyle. Within the existing BCBG stores, there’s no space,” Mrs. Azria said.

The first Max Azria boutique, which opened in Los Angeles last month, was designed to feel like an artist’s studio. Sculptured works made of tree trunks, antique furniture, and wall-to-wall images of nature are mixed in between the neat racks of clothes. The next location will be New York, by November, and then Palm Beach, Fla.; Newport Beach, Calif., and Paris. But if the push is to expand the high end, why present the lower end at fashion week? “We’ve invested a lot in the BCBG brand, so to have it not presented would not be good,” Mrs. Azria said. “It’s very important for the customer, for us to keep that name out there.”

That spring collection offers a color palette that ranges from white and cream to muted roses to citrus tones. An emphasis on embroidery and embellished geometric eyelets gives some of the casual fabrics greater intensity. “The shapes are very easy and billowing. Everything is loose and comfortable,” Mrs. Azria said, pointing out a sheer yellow tunic with detailed cut-outs that had the look of a piece that could be worn from the beach to dinner and on into the night.

But really, most of the pieces look like as if they could be worn by Mrs. Azria. After all, that’s whom they were inspired by. “She truly embodies the modern women who we are dressing,” her husband said.

The Azrias live in Los Angeles, where their home is filled with artwork by another couple, Jim and Iris Klein. And though the Azrias work all day together (in separate offices), they leave work at work: “When it comes to our home life, our family takes precedence over shop talk.”

But with so much shop to talk about, especially in a period of expansion, that’s a tall order.