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On December 14th, 2018, Balenciaga opens its widely anticipated new flagship on Via Montenapoleone in Milan.
The full service store was designed with the brand’s current attitudes and future goals in mind, a continuation of a worldwide Balenciaga project that explores both typical and atypical architecture features in retail environments.
Throughout two levels of markedly stripped interiors, the store demonstrates Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia’s signature treatment of reality and beauty. Industrial lights weave throughout exposed pipes, cables, and warehouse conveyor rails—upon which men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections are hung.
On the first floor, a logo embossed carpet fits into a grey scale system sliced with aluminum walls and bespoke glass display cases for accessories. On the second floor, a wildly colorful carpet by the artist Cayetano Ferrer repurposes prints from obsolete American casinos.
Although vaguely uniform in appearance, each wall and shelving unit is different, offering varying degrees of intentionally unfinished or synthetically produced surfaces. One room’s floor, made with a high gloss resin, is left bare, adding to the frenzy of textures in primer greys. The storefront establishes a wide, windowed gap, initially left empty, allowing for a perceived autonomy from the surrounding structure.
BALENCIAGA 23 Via Montenapoleone 20121 Milano Italy
The full service store was designed with the brand’s current attitudes and future goals in mind, a continuation of a worldwide Balenciaga project that explores both typical and atypical architecture features in retail environments.
Throughout two levels of markedly stripped interiors, the store demonstrates Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia’s signature treatment of reality and beauty. Industrial lights weave throughout exposed pipes, cables, and warehouse conveyor rails—upon which men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections are hung.
On the first floor, a logo embossed carpet fits into a grey scale system sliced with aluminum walls and bespoke glass display cases for accessories. On the second floor, a wildly colorful carpet by the artist Cayetano Ferrer repurposes prints from obsolete American casinos.
Although vaguely uniform in appearance, each wall and shelving unit is different, offering varying degrees of intentionally unfinished or synthetically produced surfaces. One room’s floor, made with a high gloss resin, is left bare, adding to the frenzy of textures in primer greys. The storefront establishes a wide, windowed gap, initially left empty, allowing for a perceived autonomy from the surrounding structure.
BALENCIAGA 23 Via Montenapoleone 20121 Milano Italy
