Retail's Renaissance
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WHAT TO SEE, READ, AND DO RIGHT NOW STORE DESIGN Retail’s Renaissance WITH AN EMPHASIS ON GREAT DESIGN, BRICK-AND- MORTAR SHOPPING MAKES A DAZZLING COMEBACK. BY MELISSA FELDMAN PHOTOGRAPH BY TED BELTON HEN THE FASHION designer Carolina Herrera appointed Wes Gordon to be Wthe new steward of her eponymous label, it was inevitable that change would soon follow. In September, Gordon unveiled the newly remod- eled Herrera flagship on Madison Avenue to much fanfare. To real- ize his grand vision, he brought in the Brazilian architect Andre Mellone and interior designer Chi- ara de Rege, who is known for cre- ating the Wing’s millennial-pink aesthetic. The result is a fresh and elegant space full of bold col- ors, lush fabrics—Jim Thompson silks, Claremont velvets, Samuel & Sons trim—and vivid patterns set against a white canvas. Mellone reconfigured the three-story pre- war building, moving the entrance off the avenue to 75th Street, which makes the store feel more like a grand residence. What better way Model Laura Love, wearing a ruffled Carolina to help shoppers, so used to buying Herrera gown from the fall 2019 collection, in the entry of the brand’s remodeled Madison Avenue online, feel at home? flagship, which was designed by Chiara de Rege HAIR: YOICHI TOMIZAWA; HAIR: TOMIZAWA; YOICHI MAKEUP: YINNA WANG and architect Andre Mellone. carolina herrera.com PRODUCED BY CHARLES CURKIN ELLE DECOR 35 Designer Wes Gordon POINT OF VIEW with Love, who is wearing a silver The black-and-white limestone- Carolina Herrera tile floor is a nod to the brand’s gown from the fall signature polka-dot motif. 2019 collection, on the curving Venetian plaster staircase. Womenswear and fragrances are displayed in a living room–like setting on the second floor. The dramatic design of the Her- rera store is emblematic of a growing trend of luxury brands rethinking the retail experience with the help of top designers and architects. “People gen- uinely enjoy the shopping experience,” de Rege observes. “It’s the purchasing part of the equation that’s changed.” Testing that theory in Paris, Gal- Love wearing eries Lafayette (galerieslafayette a Carolina .com) last year opened its colossal Herrera shirt- dress from the new flagship on the Champs-Élysées. spring 2020 impulse to attract millennials with Housed in an Art Deco former bank, collection. minimalist aesthetics. For the label’s the 70,000-square-foot store was new outpost near Rome’s Spanish conceived by the visionary architect Steps, designer Eric Carlson chan- Bjarke Ingels. A monumental marble neled a 16th-century palazzo, but with entry draws in curious shoppers; glass a twist for the tech generation: The cubes installed above have become store’s digital frescoes depict azure popular Instagram backdrops. skies, angry Greco-Roman gods, and With a smaller footprint but com- adorable cherubim. The gilt interiors parable ambition, fashion designer are also replete with mosaics, sumptu- Gabriela Hearst (gabrielahearst ous furniture in scarlet velvet, golden .com) recently opened her first Euro- boutiques by next year, from Shang- Murano glass chandeliers, and some 15 pean shop, in London’s Mayfair. She hai to Zurich. Has the French jewelry shades of marble. commissioned Pritzker Prize laureate giant been unaffected by the plight of Retail may have lost a few battles, Norman Foster, who incorporated a brick and mortar? Not at all, as Laura but if more brands follow in the foot- range of sustainable materials, includ- Gonzalez, the Parisian designer who steps of Gordon and de Rege at Caro- ing blond wood, leather, and marble, is designing them all, makes clear. lina Herrera, the war may still be won into the store’s design. Custom fur- “We’re living in a time when the inter- with help from striking interiors and niture sits atop herringbone parquet net is gaining more importance, and thoughtful design. The key to success, floors fabricated from wood reclaimed we have to give people a reason to go says de Rege, is encouraging people from a British military barrack. back to the stores,” she says. to stay, drink Champagne, and touch Meanwhile, Cartier (cartier.com) Unsurprisingly, Dolce & Gabbana the goods—it’s the best way to “under- will be opening at least nine new (dolcegabbana.it) is resisting the stand the brand as an experience.” CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: TED BELTON (2); BJÖRN WALLANDER (2) 36 ELLE DECOR POINT OF VIEW Variety Stores Around the world, architects and designers are reinvigo- rating shop design. Here are 2 some of the latest to open. 1. Gabriela Hearst 3 The fashion designer’s new boutique in London’s Mayfair neighborhood was designed by architect Norman Foster. 2. Fendi Dimore Studio channeled a chic Roman 1970s vibe in Monte Carlo with mirrors, brass, and vintage furniture. 3. Galeries Lafayette 1 The Danish architect Bjarke Ingels designed a massive new shopping mecca on the 4 5 Champs-Élysées in Paris. 4. Dolce & Gabbana Understatement is nowhere in this irreverent new store in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna. 5. Cartier The storied French jewelry empire has recently opened multiple stores, including this one in Zurich. My friend was crazy Cinematic Approach enough to hire me to FILMMAKER LUCA GUADAGNINO design his property on Lake Como. I was working HAS LAUNCHED HIS OWN DESIGN on my film Suspiria, and STUDIO. HERE, HE DISCUSSES HIS every time I left to visit the construction site, Luca Guadagnino. FIRST RETAIL PROJECT IN NEW YORK. even if it was mayhem, I You’ve directed films like motifs to the boiserie by felt happy and relieved. It Call Me By Your Name Nigel Peake. We lined made me want to be more and I Am Love. Now you’re all the walls in a custom involved in the design unveiling the design of white Dedar velvet. process. So that made me your first fashion project, My studio devised the think, Why not? a New York store for the pattern for the wood How does creating a store Italian label Redemption flooring as a chevron, or home compare to film (redemption.com). What using reclaimed wood production design? was your inspiration? from the Trentino–Alto With filmmaking you are LUCA GUADAGNINO: Adige region of Italy. cheating, you are creating We wanted to combine What kind of experience an illusion. When you the timelessness of Paris were you trying to create? build a space in reality and 1960s rock and roll It’s important that for a person to live in, you into something that customers can be in a cannot cheat. When you speaks to today. place that almost feels work on a movie set, you A rendering of the VIP What materials were used like home, but at the have to tone down the room at Redemption, in the store’s design? same time the space must ambition of your design a 4,000-square-foot We re-created the foyer heighten the experience. because a movie is a story fashion boutique of a typical Parisian You’ve had an interest in opening this fall in about people. Too much New York’s SoHo Haussmann building decor for a long time. What style detracts from the neighborhood. using travertine and prompted you to start your narrative. added moldings and floral interior design studio? —Vanessa Lawrence GUADAGNINO: GETTY IMAGES 38 ELLE DECOR POINT OF VIEW Hit Refresh APPLE’S FIFTH AVENUE FLAGSHIP GETS A CUTTING-EDGE REDO FROM FOSTER + PARTNERS. Apple temporarily sheathed the glass cube with a rainbow film in advance of the store’s reopening. BY THE NUMBERS andSons Chocolatiers Designers Lauren Buxbaum Gordon and Nate Berkus give a sweet new look to an iconic Beverly Hills chocolate shop. The entrance to 30 the Apple flagship varieties of chocolate on offer on New York’s Fifth Avenue. 280 hours to complete the paint-and– N 2006, WHEN STEVE JOBS INAUGURATED APPLE’S ground cacao mural on the ceiling original flagship on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, he planted a glass cube to mark the entrance to the underground space. After a two-year renovation, the 7,620 Icube remains—rebuilt to Jobs’s exact specifications. But tiles used in the redesign A stainless steel spiral staircase leads into the everything else about the store is entirely new. Apple underground retail space. tapped Foster + Partners—the architects behind the com- pany’s new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, Cali- fornia—to expand and redesign the retail space. Created Eighty skylights dot the in the 1960s as the sunken plaza of the General Motors ceiling, which is covered in a semitranslucent Building, the outdoor area has been filled in and now fabric concealing LEDs. boasts rows of honey locust trees, water features, and 18 mirrored-glass “sky lenses” that rise like inverted moon craters for outdoor seating. Inside the cube, a stainless steel spiral staircase leads to a subterranean store whose lighting system was designed by a team that included an astrophysicist. “The goal was to turn an underground room into a happy space,” says Stefan Behling, head of studio at Foster + Partners, who worked closely with Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive on the redesign. The ABOVE: A detail of andSons Chocola- shop is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—perfect for tiers’ cacao-pod ceiling mural. TOP: The the city that never sleeps. —Ingrid Abramovitch redesigned shop in Beverly Hills. CHRISTOPHER CHOCOLATIERS: ANDSONS D; DAWSON/STUDIO CORY STORE: APPLE TALBERT PORTRAITS: HEATHER DIBBLE; 40 ELLE DECOR POINT OF VIEW New Wave THE MANHATTAN NORDSTROM FLAGSHIP IS FUTURE-THINKING. A designer apparel display on the third floor featuring a BY VANESSA LAWRENCE chain-mail wall.