Balenciaga has just opened its new flagship store in London, the largest in Europe, along the most exclusive shopping street in the English capital, New Bond Street.


Under construction for two years and with a series of stops due to the pandemic, at first glance the feeling is that of being inside a building still under construction, where the electrical systems, air conditioning ducts, beams and much more seem to have been abandoned. Three floors where each one represents a particular state of deterioration: graffiti, gravel flows, cement and degradation everywhere.
More than 700 square meters opened on March 26th, where the concept of “Raw Architecture” is elevated to its maximum power and fully describes the aesthetic philosophy of Balenciaga’s creative director Demna.


“Raw Architecture materialises a new experiential conception of modern luxury in which Balenciaga is introducing new codes of retail where the passage of time is a transformative event”, declared the maison through a note.
The space was designed by artistic director Niklas Bildstein Zaar and architect Andrea Faraguna f Berlin-based architecture firm Sub, who had already created the sets for Balenciaga’s shows.
Balenciaga’s boutiques, if before they were a bit far from Demna’s ideas from an aesthetic point of view, now they are a clear declination and extension of them, in such a way as to immerse patrons in the “modern luxury” conceived by Balenciaga’s creative director.
At the opening, the guests at the exit all received a red carnation, the flower loved by Cristóbal Balenciaga, in a sort of reunion and link between past and future.




