topshop: Puma AG takes on Paris. Totally wins.

 

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The redesign of a Parisian Puma store infuses a retail environment with sustainable and innovative design, including iPad walls, reconfigurable walls and illuminated shoe displays. Inspired by Puma’s four key philosophies – fairness, honesty, positivity and creativity – the shop’s décor engages customers through interactive experiences with high-tech gadgets.

iPads are scattered throughout the two-storey shop and are connected to the ‘Puma joy pad,’ a huge iPad wall framed by red transparent glass. Customers can interact with the wall using specially developed apps; in the future, this will be connected to other Puma stores via live streaming.

Inside the 200-sq-m shop, products are displayed as though ‘heroes.’ According to designers at Berlin-based Plajer & Franz Studio, this concept not only enhances the display of products, but intentionally creates a navigation system for shoppers.

AP.

topshop: Hermes Rive-Gauche

 

 

After one hundred and seventy years on the right bank, Hermès has decided to cross the Seine and embrace the future with a new store at 17 Rue de Sèvres in the ritzy Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood of Paris.  The new store has come to life in a building filled with rich history; a historical monument that was once home to the Lutetia swimming pool, a shining example of the Art Deco years.

 

In an almost serendipitous connection, Hermès as a brand identified with the restoration of a rich treasure; to bring in the new with maintaining respect and reverence to what has come before.  And so is the case with the luxury brand that has become eponymous with Parisian culture… Hermès is just as relevant today as it was in the heyday of the Lutetia.

In 2005 the pool was given landmark status and has since been considered a historical monument in Paris.  Given the importance of the building, Hermès had guidelines to adhere to in their renovation of the pool. The task at hand was given to Denis Montel and the RDAI agency, the architect firm that creates and designs all Hermès stores across the globe. “The idea was to develop a harmonious dialogue between the origins and the present. The aim was to restore a place that was naturally timeworn but also massively transformed in the mid- 1970s, to make it suitable for public use. We wanted to bring out the qualities of the existing architecture and recapture the spirit of the 1935 swimming pool, while offering a very modern expression of the Hermès spirit at this Left Bank location.”

AP.

 

 

7 days 1 week: springtime in Paris pt4

 

springtime in Paris pt3

springtime in Paris pt2

springtime in Paris pt1

 

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7 days 1 week: springtime in Paris pt3

springtime in Paris pt4

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7 days 1 week: springtime in Paris pt2

springtime in Paris pt4

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7 days 1 week: springtime in Paris pt1

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topshop: Stella McCartney pop-up

Giles Miller Studio specialises in the creation of projects including the creation of furniture, interiors and material surface design.  Who else would British high fashion brand Stella McCartney pick then for it’s pop-up in the iconic Parisian department store, Galleries Lafayette.

Using recyclable materials the temporary space conjures up the best of the quirky spirit of the brand, and makes us here in the AP. office really want one of those freestanding letters.

AP.

fashion: stylesightings from Paris.

Images courtesy of stylesightings.

AP.

fashion: Jacobs finds his fetish in bags at Vuitton

Which fashion great can still pull Kate, Naomi, Stella and Amber to the catwalk, well, who besides Gianni Versace?  Well step up  Marc Jacobs, who ended the Fall season with a triumphant show in Paris for Louis Vuitton, and after a week of ups and downs for it’s parent company LVMH (UP with the purchase of Bulgari, and DOWN with the sacking of star designer Galliano at Dior) this was certainly one of the high notes . . .

The show – which featured star turns from Amber Valletta, Stella Tennant, and no less than 2 of the most super of all Super’s (Naomi and Kate – who are both so super, they no longer even have surnames!) – was heavily focused on bags.  Much like the Burberry show in London, which was 90% coats and accessories, its clear where the great fashion houses are making their money.  Accessories, accessories, and erm, yup.  Accessories!  So big up the bags ladies – Vuitton says thats all you want anyway!

AP.

fashion: Chanel just got otherworldly

Leave it to Karl.  For weeks nobody has talked about anything other than the implosion of one of fashions brightest stars, every show from London to Paris vis Milan has been preoccupied with John Galliano and who may replace him at Dior, and yet again a masterstroke of genius in stage management by Lagerfeld left Chanel looking positivly out of this world, and the crisis over at Dior, well, frankly like yesterdays news . . .

images courtesy of purple magazine

 

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