The makings of a memorable store design are anyone’s guess. If you’ve stepped foot into Alexander McQueen’s London flagship store on Old Bond Street, you may remember encountering monolithic boulders and a wall of iridescent, embroidered insects. Here on our shores, the brand’s outlets in ION Orchard and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands similarly house the warm oak and ridged surfaces you’ll find in the London flagship.
The minds behind these ingenious details were none other than McQueen’s creative director, Sarah Burton, and architect-sculptor couple, Smiljan Radic and Marcela Correa. To commemorate the store’s retail concept, Alexander McQueen has released an 11-minute documentary capturing the creative process of bringing the store’s design to life. The film sheds new light on the elements that might otherwise go unnoticed, from the tapestries to the corrugated display cases.
In tandem with the label’s commitment to craftsmanship and technological innovation, Burton’s guiding brief for Radic and Correa was to “redefine the notion of luxury” by harnessing the raw state of natural materials. With the alchemy that is the collaboration between Burton, Radic and Correa, walking through the McQueen flagship store is as much of a spatial, visceral experience as attending the brand’s runway shows.
Watch the documentary in full below.
