When a retail store takes on a cult name such as Black Celebration, you know it is going to be swish kind of affair. Although at first sight, it portrays a hard to understand concept, it does however, manage to portray how a little country like Cyprus has an enduring love of fashion. And this can be seen from the response to it in the country’s capital, Nicosia.

Black Celebration is partly a creative platform, through which the visitor can indulge in each creator’s background and part retail shop, where aesthetics coincide with the genuineness of craftsmanship. Most importantly the visitor can experience fashion, art, culture and music all at the same time and in a completely different way and thus, the ‘un-store’ like character of the Black Celebration ‘store’ becomes as important as its products.

Throughout the store one can find one-of-a-kind products from natural leathers from the Julius label, anatomic suits by Devoa, Japanese lines such as Viridi-Anne, the InAisce label, the made-in-Britain Elena Dawson designs and eccentric Marc Le Bihan clothing, through to unique magazines and books as well as an exclusive vinyl collection and experimental films on DVD.

All the products are very carefully assembled in a minimal space under the careful direction of the Berlin-based Cypriot artist Phanos Kyriacou. Appropriately, the store is spread over two floors. A wall of galvanized metal features on the ground floor, whilst rooms are built within rooms and there are no safety rails – on the 1st floor. Sudfice to say, there is no loud sign screaming its existence on its exterior.

The long-standing reputation for fashion stores and boutiques is looking like it is crumbling before us to be replaced by a devotion to more thoughtful stores. Undoubtedly Black Celebration is the latest example of how well this can be done. After all, in this hustling world of retail, you have to do more than hang clothes on a rail and simply wait for customers to come and make their purchase. Things are really changing and Black Celebration looks like it is paving the way.

Designed by Phanos Kyriacou

http://www.yatzer.com/Black-Celebration-Phanos-Kyriacou-Nicosia-Cyprus