March 25, 2022 |
Shoppers stepping inside Balenciaga’s New Bond Street flagship this weekend might be under the impression that the store is still under construction. All surfaces are made of concrete, dirt lies beneath shelves, ceilings are exposed and its floors come chipped and cracked. Envisioned by Berlin-based design studio Sub – the brain’s the artificial blizzard for Balanciaga’s emotive AW22 catwalk in Paris earlier this month – the store is the latest retail location to be treated by Balenciaga’s Raw Architecture concept, launched last September with the refurbishment of the brand’s Sloane Street store.
Designed to “instill a sense of temporality and permanence in the present experience”, the team have stripped back the 710 square meter space – Balenciaga’s largest European flagship yet – to its bare bones (or that’s what they want you to believe). Fixtures, such as overhead wiring, have been left purposefully uncovered and giant windows, upon closer inspection, appear to be unfinished. Each of its three levels come torched by an industrial lighting system, with oxidised steel, distressed textiles and puddles of mud appearing throughout.
At the store’s centre is an old staircase and empty elevator shaft encased by glass slabs, surrounded by ready-to-wear, eyewear, bags and jewellery from collections past and present. Upon the products featured are the luxe bin bags debuted during the brand’s AW22 collection and the gothic ballgown which opened Balenciaga’s red carpet fashion show back in September (that one’s not for sale, sadly). More impressively, Balenciaga’s Raw concept results in the brand’s stores consuming fewer virgin materials. Demna’s rewriting the luxury shopping experience, don’t be surprised if many more begin to follow suit.
Balenciaga’s new London flagship opens tomorrow, March 26, at 24/25 New Bond Street, W1S 2RN London.
