Balenciaga Debuts ‘Eroded,’ Monastic Flagship in Shanghai
After a year of anticipation, Balenciaga‘s latest China flagship opened at Shanghai‘s HKRI Taikoo Hui shopping mall.
The corner store shopfront, which combines retail spaces previously occupied by Nike and Adidas, stands at more than 10,000 square feet and is the Kering-owned luxury brand’s largest flagship in China to date.
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Designed by Balenciaga’s longtime collaborator, the Berlin-based architecture firm Sub, the one-story flagship features a striking facade in sleek black glass with illuminated brick walls within. Several entryways and display windows break up the curved monastic structure and offer pedestrians a glimpse of the store’s interior, offering an update on the company’s Raw Architecture aesthetic.
Inside, the store boasts an “eroded” wall texture and columns treated to expose internal support structures and rebar. Polished tiles with black-and-white diamond-point patterns break up the cement floor that pays homage to the brand’s original couture salon at the 10 Avenue George V address in Paris.
Adding contrast to the steel profiles are expansive glass walls and sleek steel racks that section the space into distinct areas for the brand’s latest women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections, accessories and footwear.
Black recycled leather seats, scattered throughout the horizontally elongated space, add contrast to the glass, cement, steel, mirror and aluminum surfaces. The contrast is further emphasized by a neutral lighting system running along suspended panels.
“A core tenet of the Raw Architecture concept is its inherent sustainability, as it respects existing construction elements, thus using fewer virgin materials — in line with the house’s commitment to integrating sustainable practices at every level,” Balenciaga explained in a statement.
In addition, the Shanghai flagship’s removed walls will find a second life within the brand’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun store in Beijing, which is slated to open this month. Spanning more than four stories, the 13,000-square-foot Beijing store will feature the first couture salon in China.
Balenciaga counts seven stores in Shanghai and a total of 54 in mainland China.
The latest store is timed to the release of Balenciaga’s spring 2025 collection, which was unveiled in Shanghai. A Metalheads oversize T-shirt and a hoodie from its fall 2024 couture collection, Rodeo bags with tacky artwork, and the Modu bag — named after the city’s nickname that means “magical city” — were some of the products enjoying exclusive launches at the store.
To celebrate the store opening, Balenciaga invited Chinese pianist Wu Muye to curate a playlist for the brand, which includes classical, rock, jazz and hip-hop, and includes an original track from his latest album, “Destiny.”
On Sunday, Balenciaga will invite VIP clients, local press and influencers to the premiere of Wu’s worldwide tour, which will be hosted at the Shanghai Music Hall.
Prior to Thursday’s official launch, the store was soft-launched last week with a client-facing trunk show, where guests could also explore the spring 2025 collection, the 53rd couture collection, and the summer 2025 collection on Apple Vision Pro. A guided tour of the house’s restored historic salon was also made available on the virtual reality headset.
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