Spring 2015 Trend Journal brynn McKinstry fasm 440: Visual communication in fashion
Content
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Dover St. Market: London, England
7-9
Alex Eagle: London & Berlin
10-12
Maison Miu Miu: Tokyo, Japan
13-15
Casa Cavia: Buenos Aires, Argentina
16-18
Her story: New york, new york
19-21
lush: London, England
22-24
LN-CC: London, England
25-27
mgsm: Hong kong, China
Dover Street Market: London, England
Thursday, March 26, 2015 Rooted in “beautiful chaos” the Dover Street Market store in London underwent its bi-annual “tachiagari”, meaning beginning or start in Japanese, where the interior of the store is completely reborn. The multi-branded retail experience gives the customer a unique shopping experience. Since breaking ground in 2004 in London’s Dover Street the retailer has added additional locations in Tokyo, Beijing, and New York. Each season, the store invites select designers to create unique art installation-like spaces and pop-up shops to house their offering. In London, Dover Street Market has transformed its shop-in-shop formats and brought in new art installations and collaborations for the beginning of the New Year. In the physical retail windows facing the street huge, white paper flowers are suspended from the ceiling for a fresh interpretation of a new beginning. British designer Elena Dawson is credited with the installation of these larger than life flowers into the display. Molly Goddard’s prom dress influenced collection is tucked in a small corner of the store, which lends itself to the soft, mid-century feel. The pink tinted box allows for a moment of drama within the store. Allowing the garments to be displayed in this shadowbox-like manner creates a sense of intimacy. This is exactly the type of service the customer would be looking for in shopping for this special occasion garment. Thom Browne’s collection for women, on the other hand, is artfully displayed on marble plinths with red, white, and blue adornments on top of an astro-turf backdrop. The way the mannequins are placed upon marble pedestals elevates the fashion to the prestige associated with marble Roman statues. The placement of product at different eye levels creates visual interest and leads your eye around the space. The astro-turf creates a backdrop that mimics grass, while the red, white, and blue ribbon frames the scene. Overall, the spaces created in Dover Street Market stores create vibrantly interesting spaces to shop within. They have completely reimagined the retail shopping experience, and are leading the way within the industry. Twice a year they completely shut down the store to change the inside, which is unique to their business model. But like chaos itself, they are constantly changing. Sources: www.retaildesignblog.com www.alumind.com www.pinterest.com
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Alex Eagle: London & Berlin
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Friday, April 3, 2015 Named after the young, yet acclaimed owner, Alex Eagle, is a lifestyle boutique where you can shop a curated home setting. The concept opened in both Berlin and London and offers a wide array of products and services within the retail space. At just 31 years old, Eagle and her aunt, decorated the store with everything from vintage jewelry to art to contemporary design. Eagle claims that, “The idea is that it’s a curated home where we have done the edit. I want it to feel like it’s your cool auntie’s house where you can open her closet and discover things.” The cozy, open space creates a sense of intimacy through the details such as a kitchen where shoppers can make themselves coffee before perusing the silver Cartier baskets, photographs by David Bailey, or clothing from Baja East. The most intriguing part of the product assortment is Eagle’s own range of mannish womenswear and collaborations with tailor and shirt makers New & Lingwood, luggage and umbrella maker Swaine Adeney-Brigg, and gentleman’s hosier Pantharella which brings a fresh aspect to the store. A dedicated space for artist exhibitions, an organic cafe, and a Barber & Parlor grooming operation add a dimensionality most stores cannot compare with. Alex Eagle has definitely set a standard and direction of where lifestyle based shopping should be heading. Creating a dynamic space where the customer feels at ease to spend the entire day is an experience like no other. Being able to shop, work, eat, drink and hang out all in one space is truly unique. Even more so are the plans to open a screening room, broadcast studio and branch of the Italian style cuisine restaurant Cecconi’s later this year.
Sources: www.wallpaper.com www.pinterest.com www.wsj.com
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“We wanted to create a place where people could spend all day, like an open shop-able private home...� - Alex Eagle 9
Maison miu miu: Tokyo, Japan
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Friday, April 10, 2015 Late March 2015 Miu Miu opened their Tokyo store in the fashionable Aoyama district. The store is in the immediate vicinity but on the opposite side of the street from the acclaimed Prada Epicenter store. Even though the brands are apart of the same group the brands are distinctly different. Miu Miu explores fashion as a rarefied form, giving elegance and sophistication a new and twisted meaning. When the Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron, were approached by Miuccia Prada over two and a half years ago they knew they had to come up with something spectacular and completely different from there iconic Prada Epicenter building. The Miu Miu store is a simple stainless steel box with two flaps opening up the building at the front and back. At the front, the flap marks the entrance to the store and allures pedestrians off the street to look under the steep roofline. Only then do they realize that the building is a shop. While the flap at the front of the store stops about 2 yards above the ground to create a canopy, the flap at the back of the store goes all the way down to the street. Once inside the rounded, soft edges of the copper surfaces contrast against the sharp, angled elements of the buildings exterior. Everything within the store is custom designed with an exceptional eye for detail. For example, A/C outlets are hidden within the floor to allow cool air out, and LED lighting is concealed behind the copper tubes on product display shelves. The copper is a reoccurring theme carried throughout the entirety of the store from the legs of furniture to hangers to the shelving units. Even though the Miu Miu store may be located across from the visually striking Prada Epicenter store, it has a definitive style all its own. Sources: www.wallpaper.com www.pinterest.com www.aoyama.miumiu.com
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Casa Cavia: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Thursday, April 16, 2015
The Casa Cavia concept store in Palermo, Buenos Aires merges a historical 1920’s building into a cultural center. While keeping true to the architectural history of the facade a contemporary flare is brought in through interior design. The stunning mansion features a bookstore, a publisher, a restaurant, a landscaped patio with a florist, Pasion, and Fueguia perfumery shops. “It is a place for a dialogue between the disciplines,” says founder Lupe Garcia, who restored a 1920s residence originally designed by Norwegian architect Alejandro Christophersen to house the shop. “We wanted to contribute to the evolution of the building,” she says. Engaging in all of the senses the customer is able to freely experience the home in a way that feels organic. The Kitchen, where chef Pablo Massey serves up his fresh takes on classic Argentinian dishes alongside star mixologist Ines de Los Santos, is located on the first floor. Ampersand, a publishing house curated by Ana Mosqueda is found on the second floor, but the space also has a private library on the first floor, where guests can shop and flip through the volumes at their leisure in one of the home’s plush salons. Bouquets by Silvana Grosso, who runs the flower shop on the first floor, are peppered throughout each room. “The flowers change the character of the rooms and add an element of color,” says Garcia. And the shop’s signature scent, mixed by Argentinian perfumer Julian Bedel, wafts throughout, drawing visitors to his shop of exotic fragrances and candles.
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This carefully designed store layout creates an inviting space where the customer can leisurely spend a Sunday afternoon. Instead of engaging in the hustle and bustle of a mall crowded with shoppers and an overwhelming amount of stores, Casa Cavia meets all your needs. Garcia envisioned “a place for different disciplines to dialogue,� and that is exactly what she accomplished in this space.
Sources: www.trendland.com www.pinterest.com www.thecoolhunter.net
Her Story: New York City, New York
Friday, April 24, 2015 Set in a 2000 square foot store located in Manhattan’s 10th Ave. retail corridor, STORY is a retail concept that takes the point of view of an editorial magazine, changes like a gallery and sells things like a store. That means every four to eight weeks, STORY completely reinvents itself -from the design to the merchandise with the goal of bringing to light a new theme, trend or issue. Founded by Rachel Shechtman, a former brand consultant for Kraft, TOMS shoes and Lincoln, the idea was to create a retail concept that would serve as a matchmaker between brands and consumers, integrating strategies of marketing, merchandising, and business development. This destination for the dress obsessed, STORY brings together women from age 4-94 for a living instore dialogue, “for her, by her.” Martha Stewart, Iris Apfel, SPANX founder Sara Blakely and more share their POV through a mix of merchandise and storytelling called #INHEROWNWORDS. Each woman, as a curator of her own concept, has chosen a woman-owned brand and answered a series of questions about her personal experience and expertise. Visitors of Her STORY have the opportunity to discover a mix of independent brands, innovative digital startups, fashion finds, and inspiring give back brands. For Her STORY, Rachel Shechtman, chose 14 dresses from DRESSBAR’s new designer collection, LUXE by Carmen Marc Valvo, MiXT by Heidi Weisel, Lovely by Adrianna Papell, and TRUE, a jewelry collection from Celeste and Satu Greenberg of Tuleste.“The dress is a timeless must-have and a powerful storyteller, which is very much a part of dressbarn’s DNA. Every dress has a story and DRESSBAR celebrates its heritage,” says Lori Wagner, chief marketing officer and executive vice president, ecommerce of dressbarn.
I believe that there is a silver lining in everything, and once you begin to see it, you’ll need sunglasses to combat the glare. -Sophia Amoruso
Sources: www.alumind.com www.thisisstory.com www.pinterest.com
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Lush: London, England
Friday, May 1, 2015
Coming from a retailer that normally operates singlefloor stores which are generally less than 1,000 sq ft, and then suddenly deciding to open a store that will covers 10,000 sq ft with three levels is out of the ordinary. However, that was the decision taken by natural cosmetics and skincare retailer Lush when it opted to create a flagship on London’s Oxford Street. The store has just opened and apart from the trademark aromatic oils smell, which spills out into the street, most of what is on view is different from a standard Lush. Lush makes much play of the sustainable nature of its stores and for this reason the interior is filled with recycled wood, used for the flooring, in parts, perimeter cladding and mid-shop fixturing. Moreover, the store is a celebration of the brightly coloured cosmetics and bath salts that have more in common with the manner in which fruit is merchandised in a market than a beauty store. Also, great care has been taken to give each floor a different atmosphere, according to international project manager Jen Hilton. The ground floor acts as a market, but if you wander into the basement things are rather more cozy and domestic with mid-century furniture, which create a sense of warmth. The top floor is much brighter with natural daylight being used for a party area for teenage girls and a gifting department where the mid-shop unitry has a hi-gloss white finish. Couple all of this with a “Gorilla Gallery� devoted to scent in the basement and LPs that feature the music that is played in the store and you have a store that is unlike any other on Oxford Street and which also happens to be different from other Lush branches. Sources: www.alumind.com www.pinterest.com www.lush.co.uk
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"on matters of style, swim with the curernt, on matters of principle, stand like a rock." -thomas jefferson 21
LN-CC: London,England
Thursday, May 7, 2015
The LN-CC –aka Late Night Cameleon Cafe– store space is an evolving platform of curated ideas that encompass menswear, womenswear, music and books. The store consists of individual product rooms, a library, record store, gallery, and a club space for private events featuring a state of the art sound system. LN-CC operates through a booking system to experience the store. Once inside the former boxing club the trail begins and ends in the aforementioned top-to-toe carpeted transaction room, which designer Gary Card worked on with the Royal family’s pile choice Axminster Carpets to lay down a monotone grid that took a week to complete. ‘We covered every conceivable part of the room with different tones of carpet,’ explains Card, ‘like walking inside a colourless, carpeted Mondrian. Next door’s gallery-esque space remains in tact, albeit under the artistic direction of Alberto Biagetti and his incredible display cases for at least the next six months. Each piece, re-grouped from various galleries, comes with a wooden block sensor that you have to hover over a secret spot to get the wardrobe/cabinet doors to swing open. Biagetti has also taken over the hanging set-up, installing aluminium pipes and fishing wire that suspends the clothes adrift in mid-air. A spongy black ‘lounge’ that looks like a hard rock, offers a quiet seat for contemplation. The idea wasn’t so much to re-design as it was to re-fabricate. I wanted to retain the look of LN-CC but turn the saturation down on it. We’ve joked about giving it a baptism of white emulsion, but that was almost the philosophy, a fresh start, a blank canvas, stripping out the warm wood charm of the original and making a starker, more focused space.’ Indeed the signature central wooden tunnel has now been white-washed and freshened up with LED lighting. ‘It is about updating an iconic space to make it feel more relevant to now,’ adds Skelton.
Sources: www.wallapaper.com www.pinterest.com www.ln-cc.com
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MGSM: Hong Kong, China
Friday, May 15, 2015
From tongue-in-chic prints to look-at-me embellishment, the connoisseur of clash, Massimo Giorgetti offers an abundance of statement making pieces subscribe to his feted achingly cool formula. This is fashion with an irresistibly youthful edge. The Milan based brand has a growing popularity among a young global demographic. Hong Kong was the perfect location to open their next retail location because of the booming market in Asia. This new outpost, measuring a little over 1,076 sq.ft., features an aesthetic designed by MSGM’s creative director Massimo Giorgetti. It’s similarly minimalist as the milanese mothership, but the use of specific materials and display of abstract artworks by Thomas Raat infuse it with a sense of luxe that’s on a par with the string of other I.T. retail units on the same block. The Dutch artist is actually the first of a rotating schedule of creatives who will be having an in-store showcase. The space also features marble as its main material, inside and out. The simple, elegant and understated grey and white marble exterior has large rectangular windows with double floor-to-ceiling doors. The signature bold colours and prints of the MGSM collection are the perfect foil for the cool marble of the interior. The new MSGM store stocks the brand’s full range of men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, in addition to a specially designed collection of five exclusive items, including a backpack, slippers, a cropped sweater and two one-piece dresses. Sources: www.alumind.com www.pinterest.com www.superfuture.com
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THIS TREND JOURNAL WAS A PROJECT CREATED BY BRYNN MCKINSTRY FOR FASM 440-03: VISUAL COMMUNICATION IN FASHION FOR PROFESSOR DANIEL GREEN AT THE SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN DURING SPRING 2015 TERM.