It’s fair to say that since Dirk Schönberger took over the creative reigns at MCM last year, the Korean luxury brand with German roots fully regained its place in global fashion’s upper echelon. Snapped up by the Seoul-based Sungjoo Group in 2005, the company has seen quite a few changes to get back on track, including endeavours in retail. Similar to self-discerning peers in the luxury industry, MCM‘s brick-and-mortar presence has become instrumental to the brand experience and it has set out to open new retail spaces in key shopping destinations across the planet. Under Schönberger’s creative supervision, the brand has seen an accelerated flagship store expansions and following launches in Berlin, Los Angeles and Tokyo, MCM has returned to its cradle, opening an outpost on Munich‘s golden mile of luxury. Occupying a spacious 168 sqm. (1,808 sq.ft.) ground floor space in a late 19th-century building by architect Friedrich Bürklein along Maximilanstrasse, it sees a starkly contrasting interior design by Berlin-based architecture practice Gonzalez Haase. Creating a benchmark of sorts for future MCM stores, the chosen design codes feature geometric shapes which reference the 1970s, the era which spawned the MCM brand. By using curves, triangles, rectangles and round forms, the retail space gains distinct sections which, at the same time, also overlap, creating a solid visual cohesion.

Interestingly, due to the absence of a traditional window display, the full depth of the store can be viewed from the street, allowing a digital screen in the middle of the space to create a different transition between the exterior and interior. The material palette is distinctly contemporary, pairing polished stainless steel, plexiglass, latex and mirrors, but to steer clear from austerity, fluffy carpeting in royal blue anchors the setting, and combined with pillars and circular seating clad in a similar material, and suspended ornamental metal chains, it adds a whimsical element. Furnishings are plentiful yet somehow discreetly present due to their sleek form, notably the wall-mounted plexiglass shelving and the floor-to-ceiling displays crafted from anodised aluminium. Chunkier pieces on the premises include a sales counter with with built-in glass display – mind you, it’s plastered in the same faux terrazzo material as the walls – and the aforementioned ottoman. The store’s fitting rooms see an intricate construction of layered latex and fabric curtains, suspended from stainless steel concentric circles. The new MCM flagship store carries the brand’s full range of men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, bags, shoes, and travel products.