Located in a 19th-centry building overlooking Oxford Circus, the store will span over four floors. The design concept of the store blends Benetton’s innovation-driven identity with the historical vibe of London.
The redesigned store features a sensitive restoration of the building’s origins to highlight the characteristics and complexity of the various brands and collections with elegance. The lower-ground floor houses Sisley, the group’s high-fashion brand. The ground floor is dedicated to Benetton women’s collection. Benetton woman and man are on the first floor with the second floor housing the Benetton child collection.
The London store features a clean and refined design using simple mediums of natural light, plain materials, clean lines and shapes and neutral colors of black and white. Light is emphasized as an important structural element of the space in a palette that focuses on white, including the pure volumes of the technical and functional fittings. The materials chosen for the store fittings are simple and exude tactile and decorative qualities. The use of sheet-metal boxes is extended to the lighting system, with a series of hanging, suspended or flush-set lamps. The same boxes are also used to house the laser-cut, backlit Benetton logo featured in the store windows.
All the fittings in the store have been designed-to-measure by Lissoni. The fittings take the shape of big metal and wooden boxes, wardrobes on castors, and tables in natural shapes. Rails, shelves and hanging systems at the store are designed as light and sophisticated, large, 50s-style bookcases to showcase Benetton apparel and accessories.
The flooring of the entire store is beige resin concrete, excluding the lower-ground floor, which has a dark grey floor in the same material. This is done to differentiate the Sisley area, decorated in a range of grey shades. Color is another element that has been highlighted throughout the store with a shaded extension of 40 tones through the full height of the store, on both the pillar next to the escalators and on the stairs, where each step is a different color.
The area dedicated to children’s collections has been carefully designed. The areas for three different age groups from 0-1, 1-5 and 6-12 years are distinguished by strong elements from Benetton’s advertising, creating various fairytale atmospheres.
Communication and aesthetic language, which are the two distinguishing traits of Benetton, are an integral part of the installation designed by Piero Lissoni. A famous quotation from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet made of sheet-metal and neon hangs in the air.
The Benetton London megastore revamping and the brand’s partnership with Lissoni are part of ‘Opening Soon…’, a program of sales network-oriented investments aimed at implementing new architectural and design concepts in the Benetton retail spaces in the world’s major cities. It started with the ‘new frontier’ of Benetton stores that debuted in 2009 with the Istanbul flagship store. It will continue with more stores in significant buildings in major European cities, from Frankfurt to Milan and Paris, each expressing local culture.
