Opening of the Dior Flagship Maison in Bond Street - Sign of the Retail Times

The Dior flagship store or as the French fashion world refers to this, maison, opened to the public Friday June 3rd in London after a week of flurry of press and VIP events one of which was held in Blenheim Palace.

This was much awaited as Dior is one of the top fashion brands and the location is in one of the biggest cities in the most prestigious shopping street in London.

There was a special art installation hung as chandelier under a mirrored ceiling over a generous bouquet of Chelsea flower show judged peonies enclosed by a limited edition handcrafted bench by another exclusive artist done solely for this flagship maison.

That just rolled off the tongue didn't it?

Peter Marino was the architect of the store.

He is the rock n' roll architect - 

the Yanis Varoufakis of the architect world.

Long gone are the days where his star power would have been enough to attract enough press and buzz...

No more. 

The boutique was filled not only with Dior products but it doubled up as an art gallery.

This chinoiserie wall was all 3d porcelain vignettes done by the artist Beth Katleman.

I will admit I want this for my own home.

But considering I am still waiting now counting week 3.5 for my builder to fix leaks I must reset my home decoration goals.

You must try and see this in person if you are in London.

The new store is two store fronts combined into one.

There was an atrium that housed the new Dior homewares range.

All items are naturally exclusive to the Bond Street store and not available even in the Paris flagship.

It leads to another section that was like a French home with a courtyard.

They had a lily of the valley picnic set.

This is the bedroom showcasing their home linen range.

The wallpaper was exclusive to the store designed by the architects but unfortunately was not for sale.

Even the curtains were exclusive and made soley for the store and yet not available for sale.

I know it's in the details but for me the detail that was most conspicuous was that it was not for sale once again.

I will be honest and admit that I can not remember the name of the artist that produced this limited edition exclusive to the store chandelier in this wing.

( not to be confused the Dior Children haute couture section )

 

These curtains in the childrens wing was very similar to the ones next door at the Chanel flagship due to Peter Marino also being the architect there as well.

The man's contract negotiating skills surpass his architect ones IMHO.

The children's Dior section also does children's accessories and have the kiddie accessory of bags and shoes so the children can be the complete mini me's for their parents.

The decor nodded to traditional children's rooms decor schemes with its bubble gum pink and blue

and the popular cloud ceiling motif above chinoiserie fabric.

Interestingly it was the same motif that the Seoul Dior branch had but with chiseled out wall tiles.

But I saw some thing in Baby Dior I wanted in the Supersize for myself.

Dior now does teddy bears.

But for me what was so interesting was their homeware section.

It is still so new that I didn't feel a cohesive theme but in itself was fun.

The setting was undeniably the dream location and made everything look better in the trellised atrium.

Of course I didn't get too sidetracked and looked at what Dior is essentially known for.

I went to their Couture section and saw up close the incredible detail and workmanship.

It is so intricate that this is just for breathing in and then taking off immediately.

Once again, the room was decorated by one off and exclusive furniture pieces and rugs.

Sometimes you lost track if you were in an art gallery that had a diffusion line of clothes or you were in a furniture store.

This was one of the three couture salons but the other two were already booked by clients.

The salon looked so similar to Chanel's that after all the investment of decor, I thought brand identity was very weak especially considering this day and age.

The shoe collection wasn't the strongest this season but I'm no Suzy Menkes.

Out of all the clothing brands I love Dior the most.

After I left the store, 

I was dizzy with the "exclusive" and "limited edition" nature of everything.

I know we all love the unique nature of things but it seemed even objects now had to have their own DNA.

But the retail evolution is such that we originally bought from stores then to malls then back to boutiques that have turned into their own exclusive mall or turned into a home thereby creating a world that you can buy.

Sorry I can not rewrite that sentence because the convoluted grammatical structure reflects the whole notion.

I really need to rewatch the Truman Show because that movie seems to have forecasted so well what the world has become.

But on a lighter note, you must visit! :)