Comme des Garçons hypes its perfume with preview store

Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons has been busy this week with the launch of its 8 88 perfume and a preview shop, which will open until 8 December only.

Designed by Christian Weinecke, who is responsible for creating the label’s iconic guerrilla stores, the preview shop at Burlington Arcade in London W1 will feature a limited number of 8 88 fragrances, T-shirts and candles, as well as a downstairs area with rare vintage CDG Parfum T-shirts and collector perfumes.

Echoing similar design ideas used in the guerrilla stores – designed to be open for just one year with only minimal interior changes – the preview store in Mayfair will feature cosmetic changes only to the site.

‘As part of the perfume launch we decided to do the preview store – they are inextricably linked,’ says CDG managing director Adrian Joffe. ‘I left the design almost completely to Christian. We could have decided to go the opposite way to the Burlington Arcade-look or gone “very” Burlington Arcade. I told him to do “extremely” Burlington Arcade.’

Joffe says that the store will close on 8 December and he has no plans to keep it open or launch a guerrilla store in London.

The preview store design is mainly cosmetic, allowing the shop to return to its original glory once it comes to an end. Weinecke says, ‘We have added some furniture we found at the market and mainly focused on the products, in keeping with the gold and red colours, as well as using the shop’s existing green colour. The downstairs [area] has been painted black for the vintage collection. It is a very clean space and will be left the way we found it.’

As part of the launch for the perfume, an exhibition space designed by Michael Howells was set up in London’s Soho for one day only last week. A ‘factory’ look was created giving the feel of a chemistry lab, with various boxes featuring concoctions bubbling away on display.