Freedom week saw the arrival of one of fashion’s most eagerly awaited openings. I took a stroll to SW1 where, 130 years ago, Thomas Burberry’s opened his first ever London store and was bowled over by the magnificent column-lined façade of Burberry’s newest flagship store. This striking three-floor, 857 sq m space, on the corner of Sloane Street and Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, outlines the brand’s new global design vision, which will be rolled out over the next year, conceived by Milan-based architect and designer Vincenzo De Cotiis.
On entering the boutique, the eye is drawn to a mosaic chequerboard floor, tesselated in Burberry’s signature monochromatic colours, which works as a grid that visually unites each floor of the store. When conceiving the space, De Cotiis was intruiged by an interplay of juxtapositions, uniting the worlds of classicism and brutalism, through a union of contrasting materials, such as concrete and stainless steel, white terrazzo and champagne high-gloss metal.
The Burberry Sloane Street flagship uses its ground floor to celebrate the label’s most iconic silhouette: the trench coat, in gabardine, a fabric invented by the heritage brand’s founder in 1879. Here, a circular space, populated with curving light tubes, serves to showcase the brand’s idiosyncratic design, with pieces suspended inside shining metal frames.
A very welcome home!
