Balenciaga Relocates Miami District Flagship, Combining Women’s and Men’s Collections in One Space
Balenciaga’s women’s and men’s collections has reopened as one space in the Miami Design District, the largest U.S. store in the luxury company’s fleet. The store, located at 151 NE 41st Street, opens Tuesday.
The two-story, 8,487-square-foot flagship showcases the brand’s experiential Raw Architecture concept, in which codes of luxury retail are reevaluated and interiors are designed with respect to existing structural elements. All of Balenciaga’s new builds and renovations meet strict sustainability requirements.
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The Raw Architecture concept is featured in Balenciaga stores in London’s Bond and Sloane streets, Berlin, Shanghai iAPM Mall, Sydney, Chengdu, China, Prague, Brussels, Taipei, and Changchun Charter, China. The decor exposes the interior structure of the building and leaves surfaces intentionally raw. The brand believes this is a more sustainable approach to luxury retail as it involves fewer new materials.
The Miami store will highlight ready-to-wear, shoes, bags, accessories, jewelry, eyewear and objects. It will have several of the coats using the innovative Ephea material, a cutting-edge, mycelium-based material exclusively developed for Balenciaga to diminish an ecological footprint, which was introduced on the runway in the winter 2022 Paris show. The store will also carry the Balenciaga/Adidas collaboration.
Women’s is on Level 0 and men’s is on Level 1.
Two backlit Balenciaga signs, one over each floor’s entrance, can be seen through a glass and chrome facade that unites other storefronts in the plaza. The design strategy sets the store apart from its polished surroundings with cracked and crumbling concrete bricks, slabs showing traces of scrubbed graffiti, and tiled walls layered with synthesized residue.
Inside, Art Deco-inspired flooring that echoes Miami’s historic architecture is chipped and peeling away. On another floor, a spill of enamel seeps under benches upholstered with an innovative cactus-based material. Throughout the store patinas on displays and industrial railing are used as finishes.
An original work by Charlotte Thrane is on display, part of Balenciaga’s Art in Stores series. It is made of locally sourced, upcycled mattresses and cushions.
