Studio Anne Holtrop’s work for the AW 2018 couture presentation led to the minimalistic, yet abstract, look of the brand’s latest Paris flagship.

Maison Margiela’s AW 2018 collection Artisanal focused on what current creative director John Galliano called the ‘raw, undiluted essence’ of the fashion house. That show – with a gypsum-cast set designed by Dutch architect Anne Holtrop – set the precedent for the brand’s newest store concept, unveiled with the Bruton Street post in London. The latest iteration has taken shape on Paris’s Avenue Montaigne. Likewise developed by Holtrop the interior direction reflects Maison Margiela’s avant-garde visual codes, including plaster surfaces, skewed architectural shapes and neutral tones.

‘Rooted in the notion of appropriating the inappropriate,’ the 250-sq-m, two-level retail environment in Paris reflects ideas of tactility, something evidenced by the plaster walls and columns. Hand-cast in textile moulds the features pay homage to the sculptural handicraft of garment design and encourages the same ‘human touch’ that goes into this creative process, as the maison explains. For the furniture – shelving, display tables and seats – Holtrop took influence from classic objects, deconstructing their form in stained travertine and colour-contrasting epoxy resin. The brightness of the main spaces is juxtaposed by the fitting rooms, which are clad in high-gloss, dark green paint evoking Japanese lacquer cabinets.