Directory

Retail Directory 2009 

Paul Smith

Paris

In a time when grand statements of retail design are the vogue – be it barely-there minimalism or larger-than-life luxury – the curiosity shop of yore has all but vanished. Paul Smith is an exception to this rule. Creating stores that make the most of each location’s original character and former incarnation has become something of a signature for the bastion of British curiosity. His latest outpost is a women’s shop in Paris in a premises that have been empty since the 1980s and, true to form, Smith has made a feature of the deteriorating state of the store as he found it. Peeling walls, original tiles and fittings from the 1930s and a totally untouched façade form the backdrop for a cherry-picked selection of Smith’s women’s catwalk collection and accessories. Ever the British gent, Smith reassures us ‘the only refurbishment will be the changing room’.

70 Rue de Grenelle
75007 Paris

www.paulsmith.co.uk