Aquazzura Opens a Flagship on New Bond Street, Its Second Mayfair Store
Aquazzura is the latest luxury brand to land on New Bond Street, which is coming alive once again with openings and refurbishments in the wake of the pandemic, and despite the challenges of Brexit.
The new store is located at 26 New Bond Street, a space formerly occupied by brands including Lucie Campbell and Fauré Le Page.
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It is the brand’s first international flagship with a full lifestyle offer. It houses all of the collections, including footwear, bags, jewelry and homeware.
The electric-bright, patterned interiors were designed by Marie-Anne Oudejans, the Dutch artist and interior designer, in collaboration with the brand’s founder and creative director Edgardo Osorio.
The three-story building spans 2,000 square feet and has an all-white façade, with black and white awnings and wrapped columns. Inside, the palette is Mediterranean-inspired, with colors such as aqua, pink and yellow.
Each floor has a distinct color scheme with hand-painted decorations including palms, monkeys and exotic birds, and objects including a faux orange tree.
The first floor ceilings are hand-painted with a trellis motif and artwork featuring tropical frangipani trees, white and yellow flowers and butterflies. The second floor is done in yellow and painted with orange trees.
“It’s a dream come true to open a little oasis of Italian style on New Bond Street,” said Osorio. “I wanted the new boutique to be full of small personal details, and to bring joy to the street. Each floor has its own personality and color palette.”
Aquazzura opened its new store in the same month as Burberry, which unveiled its newly refurbished New Bond Street flagship on Thursday.
As reported, New Bond Street is the fourth most expensive street globally, and the second most expensive shopping street in Europe, according to a report published by Cushman & Wakefield late last year.
Cushman described the street as “by far the most expensive street to locate a shop in the U.K.,” with average prime rents standing at $1,361 per square foot, more than double that of Sloane Street at $607.
Many of the properties on the street are directly owned by the big luxury groups, including Richemont, Kering, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Some of the properties are owned by the private property company Trophaeum.
Aquazzura confirmed that its Albemarle Street store will remain open.
The store at 38 Albemarle Street spans 1,728-square feet and the space was a former art gallery.
Created by Portuguese interior designers Cláudia and Catarina Soares Pereira, it features midcentury modern furniture as well as a vintage marble fireplace and moldings that echo the building’s Georgian architecture.
The door handles are in the shape of pineapples, the Aquazzura logo, and a symbol of good luck that appears on the bottom of every shoe.
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