ABOVE, SMILJAN RADIĆ’S
ARTWORK FOR OUR
LIMITED-EDITION COVER
(AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS,
SEE WALLPAPER.COM)
COMES FROM ONE OF HIS
TRAVEL SKETCHBOOKS.
IT’S A WATERCOLOUR OF
A TOWER IN CAGLI, ITALY,
DESIGNED BY FRANCESCO
DI GIORGIO MARTINI, AND
WAS USED AS AN INDIRECT
REFERENCE FOR THE
ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
FLAGSHIP STOREcarefully drawn in the interior. ‘The feeling
is cave-like and references the interior of
the House for the Poem. Double heights were
covered to avoid aggressively continuous
spaces and non-places.’
The new design matches oak and walnut
in seamless slabs – a deliberate move to
‘revert the initial chill that you feel when
entering these spaces’ – and ‘cotton-crete’,
a Radić innovation. ‘It’s a mix of recycled
cotton and concrete,’ he says. ‘I wanted to
use it because it’s an industrial/handcraft
material. We got the surface from the mould
of plastic bubble wrap.’ The space is also
shot through with glass tubes and houses
sculptures by artist Marcela Correa, Radić’s
wife. ‘I think the idea of a landscape is a good
image for the ambience of the store,’ says
Radić. ‘There is something about freedom,
but it’s not random. There are the floating
mannequins all dressed up, beautiful fabrics
and silks hanging around, the glass tubes
piercing the space, and the pieces by Marcela.
It’s an elegant space where time is lost.’
Burton and Radić are clearly happy with
their work on the London store. ‘I think
the new vocabulary is working,’ says Radić.
‘We’ve already designed 26 other stores and
five have now been completed.’ The architect
understands how the stores will ultimately be
judged. ‘The customers and staff are happy,
and the sales are good. This is important to
us.’ He also hopes the store can happily stage
whatever Burton throws at it in upcoming
seasons. ‘There is something unstable in
the fashion world, but at the same time there
is something permanent in the work that
Sarah Burton does,’ he says. ‘We thought
about this permanent stratum of her work.’136 ∑