Third New Concept Store After Miami & Shanghai
Alexander McQueen Hong Kong
Coming right on the heels of the label’s new concept store at Shanghai’s Réel Mall, British fashion house Alexander McQueen recently opened its newest boutique in Hong Kong. Conceived by Sarah Burton and the late Alexander McQueen and designed by David Collins Studio, the new 152 square meter (1,636 square foot) single-floor location at Elements Mall stocks the full range of McQueen merchandise, from catwalk pieces, ready-to-wear and accessories to footwear, bags and scarves.
Consistent, design-wise, to recent locations in Shanghai and Miami, the new Hong Kong boutique is informed by a diverse range of influences, including the artwork of Francis Bacon and H.R. Giger, the architecture of Antonio Gaudi, 18th century art salons, Rorschach ink blots, primitivism, the human skeleton and the female form. The influence of late designer McQueen is pervasive, with echoes of smashed porcelain show pieces and the iconic “armadillo” shoe in ceiling rafts, panel moldings and the store’s flooring.
As David Collins said of the new Hong Kong space, “It’s about McQueen as a point of view, the idea of making a dress out of razor clam shells or sheaves of corn, the manipulation of nature to make ornament. We were thinking about eroticism and sexuality. Everything is exaggerated and very slightly distorted.”
Alexander McQueen Hong Kong
References to signature Alexander McQueen pieces abound throughout the store. In particular, the curved seams of a heritage tailored jacket, smashed porcelain show pieces and the “armadillo” shoe are found in everything from ceiling rafts to textured plaster panel mouldings and flooring. A sense of “rough luxury” saturates the space, with floors of smashed and reassembled Nero Argento spanning out behind a storefront of grey and white marble, walls covered in lacquered linen and white-rubbed Gesso, and bluish-pink lighting imbuing the earth-toned store with the atmosphere reminiscent of a coral reef.
Said Sarah Burton of the new location,“It’s very McQueen to see something from a distance and think it’s one thing and then to look up close and discover something else. It’s important to us that everything in the stores feels very precious.”
Alexander McQueen Hong Kong
Alexander McQueen Hong Kong
Elements Hong Kong
Shop 1032B, First Level
1 Austin Road West,
Tsim Sha Tsui (map)
Tel: (852) 2649 3098
Hours: Monday to Sunday, 10am – 9pm