December 16, 2020 |
These days, visiting a high-end fashion boutique aligns more with the experience of visiting an art gallery than just a clothing store. Maison Margiela’s London flagship store at 22 Bruton Street fits – or should we say defies? – this mould, creating a shopping experience like no other.
The store has gone through a bit of a make-over in recent weeks, imagined by Dutch architect, Anne Holtrop and Mr John Galliano himself. The new renovation is an ode to minimalism whilst also founded upon, “the notion of appropriating the inappropriate.” Following the Galliano’s practice of making the inside of a garment visible, exposed, plastered walls provides a neutral palette to display the men’s and women’s collections.
Meanwhile, artisanal furnishings bring comfort through familiarity – distorted by onwards facing mirrors and out-of-place walls, as the store explores abstract notions through banal objects like display shelves.
The fitting rooms have also been given a re-vamp. Described as “the most personal inner sanctums,” the house has opted to coat the wall in glossy dark-green to compliment Japanese lacquer cabinets. Quite the opposite to the dark, dingy and unbearably dusty cubicles we’re used to…
Photography Henry Bourne. Visit Maison Margiela’s store at 22 Bruton St, Mayfair, London W1J 6QE.
