Fashion bonanza creates boom in store design

The boom in upmarket boutiques is reinforcing the push towards store design innovation, according to interior designers.

“There is a trend towards innovation,” says Hosker Moore & Kent partner and designer Peter Kent. Both up- and mass-markets are “very aware that they can push the boundaries”, he adds. The consultancy created the interiors for Moschino on London’s Conduit Street which opened last month.

Din Associates managing director Rasshied Din backs this up. “Design is always moving,” he says. He stresses the need for well-established names in fashion to continually reinvent themselves.

The retail surge is being driven by higher disposable-incomes, according to Verdict Research retail consultant Clive Vaughan.

The upmarket expansion can be seen in most of the metropolitan cities across the country.

London was the first to experience it, with a mini-boom in and around Bond Street which saw openings such as Versace Jeans Couture, designed by Laboratorio Associati on New Bond Street.

Other London stores to open next month include a new Paul Smith shop, by Sophie Hicks on Kensington Park Road, and Iceberg on Sloane Street, by Giancarlo Alhadeff. In Manchester, Patrick Cox, by Chahan Minassian, opens in the Manchester Building at the end of April.