Moschino Unveils New Flagship in Milan
MILAN — Moschino has opened its new flagship in Milan, and metaphorically, a new chapter for the brand, too.
On Thursday, the brand unveiled a new design concept at a boutique housed in the Spiga 26 complex. This is a project spearheaded by leading global real estate company Hines, which restored the 18th-century Palazzo Pertusati on the city’s tony shopping street Via della Spiga to turn it into the next, go-to fashion destination. Hines secured Moschino as its first tenant last year.
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The store replaces Moschino’s former unit in Via Sant’Andrea — only a stone’s throw from this one — and stands as the brand’s only flagship in Milan, after that the label also shut its store in the Corso Como area.
Spanning two levels, the new 4,090-square-foot space was designed by Andrea Tognon and his architecture studio, under the direct supervision of the label’s creative director Jeremy Scott.
Mixing graphic lines and baroque elements, the polished design concept intends to signal a more sophisticated positioning of the brand, which “wanted to telegraph the new direction the brand is taking,” said Stefano Secchi, Moschino’s general manager, at a press preview.
“Throughout the years, we rightfully explored the world of streetwear and a more casual universe, also because when Jeremy arrived he has been one of the first to understand this trend,” said Secchi. “But this is a moment in which we want to pivot on a more elevated ready-to-wear, always reinterpreted in a modern way. So we wanted to have a store that could telegraph this repositioning and more sophisticated content… It’s a repositioning that touches all aspects, collections, communication and so on. But of course the visual part is essential as it’s the most immediate one.”
Courtesy of Moschino
To reach this goal, Secchi said the company “wanted to combine Tognon’s vision for pure lines with Jeremy’s pop aesthetics.”
The result was a balanced clash mixing luxury materials, sophisticated color schemes and custom furniture.
Three wide panel windows on the front facade offer a sneak peek inside, where geometric floor patterns in different checkered designs combine Botticino marble with dark green stone on the ground floor, and yellow Siena marble on the second one.
Yellow-lacquered wood shelves and custom lighting bars in matte brass add to the graphic quality of the space, while Roman columns and scaled-up capitals disrupt the visual rhythm with their scenic shapes and proportions. They also double as product displays and seating, here and there.
“I was inspired by Italy’s rich heritage and the beauty and decadent opulence of its design,” said Scott. The designer also paid tribute to the brand’s own history by reinterpreting table designs originally conceived by Franco Moschino, who founded the label in 1983.
Serving as displays for accessories such as jewelry, these pieces of furniture are the result of the juxtaposition of two different table styles and colors, finished off by marble tops and gold leaf decorations.
With the same approach, wall displays showcasing belts, scarves and eyewear, combine two types of baroque frames.
Courtesy of Moschino
A great focus is put on accessories, with the area at the main entrance dedicated to these, including the brand’s handbags. Also on the ground floor, a room overlooking an internal courtyard is entirely destined to footwear, while the rest of the level showcases women’s ready-to-wear collections. Men’s collections and the Moschino Baby Kid Teen line are displayed on the first floor, with the two levels connected by a sinuous staircase.
Secchi said the store will serve as a test, since the idea is to replicate the interior concept globally both through new openings and revamp of existing Moschino units.
To wit, after Milan, the format will touch base in London. This fall, the unit standing in Conduit street next to Balenciaga will be restyled, probably with a couple of tweaks, as Secchi hinted.
“We could take the archetypes there but maybe tweak colors of the shelves, for instance, so that it’s slightly different according to each location,” said the executive, adding that he’s eyeing a rollout in Rome next year. Also in 2023, the brand is expected to strongly focus on Asia.
As reported, last year Moschino’s parent company Aeffe SpA took control of the brand’s distribution in mainland China, signaling the increasing relevance of that market for the label. This involved around 20 stores, which have been operated for the past 10 years by Scienward Fashion and Luxury (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. At the time, Aeffe SpA said to expect to have 30 directly operated stores and 22 franchised units in China in five years.
The operation followed another move, which saw the Italian fashion group taking full control of Moschino, paying 66.6 million euros for the 30 percent stake in the brand it didn’t previously own. It also acquired the license to produce and distribute the Love Moschino collections of women’s apparel in-house for 3.6 million euros.
Further signaling the return to its roots, recently Moschino presented its menswear collection in Milan during the city’s Men’s Fashion Week after years of showing in cities including Los Angeles, New York and Rome.
Courtesy of Moschino
After Moschino signed as the first tenant of Spiga 26 last year, other luxury companies said to join the complex, too, such as Sergio Rossi, which opened its store earlier this month, and Kering, which will move its Italian headquarters from Via Mecenate early next year, occupying more than 75,000 square feet. This week, Drumhor and Borsalino also said they will open stores in the central complex.
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