Spectacular fashion boutiques interiors

Having an eye-catching retail space filled with attention-grabbing design and display elements has never been more important in the competitive world of retail than nowadays. Thus, each time more, even a top fashion brands have to market their products not only in terms of branding but invest in the physical establishment of the retail space to distinguish themselves from others. Design Contract present a selection of spectacular boutiqes interiors.

Hostem’s womenswear by James Plumb

Garments are suspended in front of draped fabric above a steel parquet floor in the new womenswear floor that design studio JamesPlumb has created for east London fashion boutique Hostem. James Russell and Hannah Plumb of London-based JamesPlumb were influenced by the grainy textural appearance of old photographic plates, which they interpreted in the Hostem store’s palette of textured industrial materials. A steel parquet floor used throughout the space comprises over 4500 individual tiles that were laid by hand in a herringbone pattern. Free-standing steel display units create robust yet transparent vitrines and are inlaid with natural felt to add a textural dimension. Fabric panels suspended from the five-metre-high ceiling act as a backdrop for individual garments, which are displayed on custom-made clothes hangers.

Frenchologie boutique by Bat Studio

London-based Bat Studio designed the interior as the first permanent shop for Frenchologie – a retailer dedicated to French design. Using a system of steel channels from manufacturer Unistrut, designers David Di Duca and Jonty Craig developed an interior dominated by elements that are usually concealed behind walls and ceilings. The metal beams were bolted together, creating a framework that fills the entire space. Some provide rails from which clothing can be hung, while others support jewellery display cases in the centre of the store.

Phillip Lim pop-up shop by Schemata Architects

Japanese studio Schemata Architects has used mirrored surfaces to create a dizzying environment for this pop-up store in Tokyo, designed for fashion brand 3.1 Phillip Lim (+ slideshow). The 68.2 square metre space, on the third floor of Isetan department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, is enclosed between two curved structures – one for hanging clothes, and the other housing a stock room and fitting room. Between these, Schemata has arranged mirrored fixtures symmetrically, which create multiple reflections in the space. Two large square mirrors face each other in the centre, and mirrored circular display plinths are arranged between these. The glass-topped plinths also have coiled lights inside them, and the ceiling above is fitted with needle-like pendant lights, amplifying the reflective quality of the space. The design responds to a conceptual brief from 3.1 Phillip Lim, which gave the architects a number of opposing words, such as youth/elegance, and luxury/pragmatic. Rather than interpret these as opposite forces, Schemata decided to fuse them together.

Tokyo boutique by Nobuo Araki

Japanese architect Nobuo Araki has transformed an indoor swimming pool in Tokyo into a fashion store, turning the empty pool and its steel ladder into key features of the boutique’s design. Nobuo Araki designed The Pool Aoyama store to occupy the vacant ground floor of a 1970s apartment building. The space previously housed a private pool for the occupants of the building, but had not been used for years. The architect used the shell of the old pool as the framework for the design, with the hollow shape providing the outline of the shop floor and the surrounding space creating a display surface. Clothing and accessories are displayed on white shelving units mounted around the edges of the pool, while stainless steel pipes hang from the ceiling to form U-shaped clothing racks. Low tables and an accessories cabinet also provide display space.

Saint Laurent store in London by Hedi Slimane

Fashion house Saint Laurent’s creative director Hedi Slimane has designed a new store for the brand in London, with a marbled and mirrored interior similar to the label’s flagship retail outlet in Paris. The Sloane Street branch is latest Saint Laurent store to open since Slimane took the reins of the brand in 2012 and dropped the “Yves” from the front of its name. Its Art Deco-inspired interior is based on the principles of the Union des Artistes Modernes, an art and architecture movement that was prevalent in France during the first half of the twentieth century and championed simplicity and quality of materials. A monochrome palette of marble and concrete runs throughout the space, which is minimally furnished with designs by Modernists including Jacques Adnet, René Herbst and Marcel Breuer. Vertical slats covered in mirrors conceal the staircase, and reflective surfaces are also used on walls and shelves for displaying garments and accessories. Glass vitrines embedded into the walls are framed with nickel.

Frame store by interiors studio i29

Mirrored displays and walls have been designed to create a surreal visual effect at this pop-up design shop that Dutch interiors studio i29 has created inside an 18th-century building in Amsterdam. Created for Dutch design magazine Frame, the Frame Store provides displays for products, fashion, food and other design objects inside the grand Felix Meritis building, as part of a six-month events programme organised by the Foam Photography Museum. The i29 team was asked to develop a proposal that could occupy the hall without interfering with the historical interior. It also needed to be demountable when the store’s residency ends in the autumn. Interior full of mirrors, they conceal changing rooms and exhibition spaces, and reflect original features including wooden columns.