Balenciaga is a Spanish brand who is known for revolutionising women’s fashion with never before seen shapes in the mid 20th century. The brand was established by Cristobal Balenciaga in Spain who opened his first store in 1918 before relocating to France and opening a boutique store in Paris in 1937. The brand is known for setting trends rather than following them which was seen when Balenciaga created a new silhouette for women by sleek and linear lines, moving away from the traditional hourglass shape, his designs were new and original.
Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia is the current designer of Balenciaga stating that his approach to the brand is to deconstruct something in order to create something else “deconstruct to create”. Demna’s work expresses a dramatic change in the character of high fashion.
Balenciaga has over 115 stores across the world and is a luxury pricing brand. Shoes range from $595-$2,190, apparel ranges from $350-4,800 and depending on size, bags go to around $2,600. Balenciaga is proving that, although comically rejuvenating a brand’s identity might feel unintuitive or off-path, it certainly is successful. With younger generations growing to become bigger and bigger shares of the market, Balenciaga must adapt to stay relevant, and fundamentally interesting to younger generations. Millennials aren’t going to be around forever, and an inability to adapt to newer advertising trends will only pave the way for younger, tech savvy fashion brands to dominate.
Balenciaga is popular in geographical locations such as Europe, Asia, the US and big cities. The demographic is typically people well educated with a high income, who leads a fashion forward lifestyle and already likes and priorities luxury fashion as well as wanting the newest and coolest products to stay ahead of the curve.
The brief is to create a unique Australian flagship store for Balenciaga that fits into their existing brand profile. The store will write the next chapter and reinvent the brand for a new generation. The flagship store will be Australia’s leading Balenciaga store and will be a unique and creative space for functions, events and small launch shows as well as a home for retail products. The site will consist of three levels, each being unique whilst corresponding with the brand identity. The target market for the store will be existing Balenciaga customers who are loyal to the brand and love high-end fashion.
The clients requirements for the space include menswear, womenswear, shoe displays, accessories display, change rooms, storage, a private VIP room and a runway and exhibition space.
365 George Street, Sydney is home to the proposed Balenciaga Flagship store. The new design will take over the existing Louis Vuittton Mansion and occupy three levels. The ground floor will be for the general public and the main retail space, level 1 will be home to an exlusive VIP floor for Balenciagas most exclusive items and level 2 will be utilised as a runway and exhibition space. The site is an existing heritage building therefore, the facade must remain the same with an adaption of new signage. George Street is home to many luxury designer stores an is right in the heart of the Sydney CBD.
The site was built in 1875 and is a neo classical building. From 1857-1926 the English Scottish & Australian Bank (ES&A Bank) commissioned the first bank building to purpose the headquarters for the bank. The building was three storeys in height, generally square in plan with recessed bays at the north and west terminating corners.
The site functioned as the ES&A Bank from 1925 until 1970 at which point it transitioned into ANZ Bank. The site was refurbished and modified a number of times between 1920 and 1996, however the main configuration of the banking chamber itself was not substantially altered until 2011.
The site is now home to the Louis Vuitton mansion and is a five storey building and basement located at the corner of George and King Streets, extensively remodeled in 1890 and 1926. The main entry is located on George Street with a secondary entry leading from King Street to the lift lobby.
The Balenciaga Flagship store will be Australia’s leading and emerging site that reflects the existing brand identity and ethos. The design will showcase an experimental retail layout and will be a unique design that attracts the existing Balenciaga demographic as well as other Sydneysiders. The concept of the space will honour Cristobal Balenciaga and his success as well as echoing Denma Gvsali’s current vision for the brand with an Australian twist. Balenciaga is one of the oldest luxury fashion brands to still have it’s high-end reputation therefore, the brand has been constantly reinventing itself to stay new and create new trends. The Sydney Flagship store will create a marriage between the old and the new as it will remain to the Balenciaga identity but be design unseen in a retail store before.
The space focuses on the retail journey as a whole and how a customer naturally moves and interacts with the space. Emphasising product display by a unique and individual fitout creates elements of unique interest with the intention to hold customers connection to the space as they naturally gravitate through the store whilst being engaged through sensory tactics. This will all be while reflecting the brands nature and essence.
The three level site allows for certain areas to be more exclusive while others to be more open to the public eye. The ground floor will be open standard retail hours every day of the week whilst Level 1 and Level 2 will be for more exclusive, high-profile clients. Level 2 is home to the Balenciaga runway which will also add a level of dimension to the space as this is not usually seen in Australian stores. My vision is to attract as many people to Sydney and the store as possible to celebrate a historical fashion icon.
