LONDON — Robert Clergerie creative director Roland Mouret and president Eva Taub hosted a cocktail party on Tuesday night to celebrate the brand’s new Walton Street, London, store.
The 646-square foot space has replaced the Robert Clergerie store that was previously around the corner on Draycott Avenue, and is the fourth global location in line with the new retail concept.
For the store’s design, Mouret enlisted architects Vudafieri Saverino Partners, known for their work in juxtaposing Parisian elegance with industrial design. The space riffs on masculine and feminine elements with zinc-finish shelving, circular rosewood shelves, geometric-shaped fabric panels and soft gray seating.
After the shoes, the star attraction is two antique cast iron urns which support a custom-made Perspex shelf. “In every new store, we have one or two pieces of fine art,” explained Mouret. “We have the attitude that one piece can bring a lot of character [to a store].”
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The boutique will house both the Robert Clergerie male and female shoe collections alongside the new leather goods line and new Communal collection of identical shoes for men and for women, which has been created to mark the brand’s 35th anniversary and the 180th anniversary of its French workshop.
The walls of the previous tenant were removed to show trompe l’oeil framed panels, which have been washed over with a sheer white paint, and there is a charming garden courtyard at the back of the store.
“Luxury at the moment is going through an evolution,” said Mouret, commenting on the shop’s neighborhood location. “It’s that notion of a village and how you live. It’s the evolution of the hipsters. You start with the street where you buy and you buy from the places you know; you know the store, you know the brand, so you shop there.”
Taub said that the brand is planning to release more styles inspired by Robert Clergerie’s archive and that it had provided the shoes for a film that is due for release in June, but she declined to confirm which film. Mouret was equally tight-lipped. “Sorry to dangle a carrot like that,” he said. “But let’s just say it’s a big carrot!”