New Savile Row flagship for Boateng

Two titans of British design, Ozwald Boateng and David Adjaye, have joined forces to create the couturier’s flagship store in Savile Row, due to open next week.

Located in the spiritual home of London’s exclusive tailoring district, the new store and head office will be used to train young British designers in the craft of traditional tailoring. It will be the first Savile Row shop to house a standalone art gallery for customers.

Describing the design concept behind the store, Adjaye says, ‘We wanted to really engage with the contemporary and curatorial direction in which fashion is moving. It’s not just about buying clothes, but creating experiences and textural, emotional seductions where a range of encounters can occur. ‘The site is conceived as a series of environments – shops within shops – each with its own identity or personality.

The gallery space at the back is a white cube, referencing the Cork Street Gallery nearby; then there is the plush, very luxurious accessories chamber,’ he adds.

The Savile Row store will replace the old flagship on Vigo Street, and is part of the Ghanaian designer’s aggressive international expansion programme, with 30 new boutiques planned over the next three years.

Boateng says, ‘The synergy between creating a hand-woven suit and a piece of art is a bespoke experience that art and fashion share.’