July 26, 2021: Located in the heart of London, Burberry launched its new flagship store at No. 1 Sloane Street, designed in collaboration with the renowned architect, Vincenzo De Cotiis. The store creates a distinctly modern feel by juxtaposing brutalist elements with luxurious materials.
Display fixtures and plinths are constructed with a variety of textures – from concrete and ceramics to high-gloss finishes. The iconic pattern and colours of the Burberry check – white, red, beige and black – are reinterpreted in the gridded ceiling’s mirrored zones and are explored and developed throughout the store.
Talking about the new flagship store, the Chief Executive Officer of Burberry, Marco Gobbetti, called it a manifestation of all that is Burberry- authentic, bold, elevated with creativity at its core. The first to carry the new global store concept, the new store would provide a uniquely British luxury setting for both local and international customers to explore the brand.
Mr. Cotiis spoke about his design and how it is a story of the brand’s new home – an open and welcoming space, rich in detail, dynamic and versatile, where confidence and decisiveness strongly echo with a sense of history, while simultaneously falling into the contradiction of contemporaneity. Giving it the likeness of portraits, he says that the aim was to create a domestic shell, a home where art, culture and people move through intelligent and elegant modernity.
The location of the store also holds strong historical ties with the brand. The founder, Thomas Burberry, opened his first London store in the SW1 area, and iconically, this remains the home of the brand’s global headquarters 130 years later. Burberry will also open three more flagship stores featuring its new design concept over the next 12 months – at Plaza 66 in Shanghai, on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris and on Bond Street in London.
Exploring the new store, the ground floor features a standalone framed square unit, created to host and spotlight seasonal displays, making it a defined space for constant adaptation. The full range of Burberry’s accessories are presented across the ground floor. Creating a sense of intimacy while maintaining a sense of openness are glass dividers. The ground floor also exhibits the signature Burberry trench coat in a dedicated area, creating the most iconic impression of the brand’s hallmark with sliding panels and suspended light tubes.
A glass box with a mirrored ceiling leads the access to the first floor, with an intricate monochromatic tiled staircase, creating an invitation for infinite exploration through its repeated reflection. Dedicated to womenswear, the first floor features white gloss softened with Burberry beige carpet, and a tiered custom-made architectural island designed to celebrate the womenswear shoes on display. The many large arched windows around the floor emphasise the unmissable views of Knightsbridge, while the sculptural seating areas and an ottoman centrepiece invite customers to relax and enjoy the space. The repeated use of mirrors emphasise the store’s predominant feeling of openness, continuously reflecting the natural light flooding in from outside; and the structured rails in champagne finish suspend the ready-to-wear womenswear assortment.
Built using white terrazzo, the second floor is dedicated to menswear. Differentiated from womenswear through its fixtures and structured rails in polished stainless steel finish, it incorporates custom sculptural furniture and fixtures, each positioned in clusters, reiterating the architectural asymmetry of the space. The product assortments include ready-to-wear, accessories and shoes.
