PRADA Renews @ London's Old Bond Street Store

PRADA reopens its historic store on Old Bond Street, London UK, after completely renovating its architecture and image. The store is designed by architect Roberto Baciocchi; it is arranged on three levels and occupies a total of 1,900 square metres that carry the women's and men's ready-to-wear, accessories, leather goods and footwear collections.

The storefront opens like a wide window on Old Bond Street: elegant slabs of black Marquina marble frame its windows and entrances, and they draw an interesting and bold geometry on the façade, perfectly complementing that of the historic building where the store is located. The two entrances lead into very different environments inside, for women and men respectively that convey the character of the brand's new image.

The black and white veined marble floor - a legacy of luxury spaces and of the brand's historic image - is distorted to become almost optical and to generate flight lines that enhance the display's focal points. Precious display cases in crystal and palladium metal provide a new and unusual version of Prada's historic 'niche'. The bright hues of saffiano leather; red, green and blue used in displays, enhance the new counters designed to carry accessories and leather goods. The sequence of portals lead to the women's footwear area, defined by Prada green curtains on the walls and by the dark green velvet of the “Clover Leaf” sofas, designed by Verner Panton and exclusively reproduced for Prada.

In the women's area, the store opens onto a consecutive sequence of portals in black marble and mirrors, with the various areas dedicated to displaying bags, accessories, jewellery, scarves, fragrances and eyewear. In the men's area, where the ground floor displays leather goods and footwear, the masculine character is enhanced with the use of thin staves of St. Laurent marble flooring. The space is characterised by two distinct areas: the front is covered in dark wood, whilst the back is painted in bright orange to create a modern contrasting effect. Both spaces - men's and women's - extend to the first floor and develop into different realms.

 A sculptural staircase in black Marquina marble, inserted in a metal casing, leads to the womenswear area. The architectural volume includes a series of rooms defined by wide surfaces covered in green fabric and black marble cladding that recall the façade's geometry. Soft walls, supple green velvet sofas, contrasted with plexiglas displays, skylights and counters, make this environment both seductive and welcoming at the same time.