’Daring to tread into the unknown’: a first look inside Dover Street Market Paris
Dover Street Market reveals the interior of its new Rei Kawakubo-designed Paris outpost, marking a new chapter for the inventive fashion store
‘Beautiful chaos,’ is how Adrian Joffe describes the ‘credo’ of Dover Street Market, the unconventional fashion store that he opened with his wife, Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo, on London’s Dover Street in 2014. Part of the Comme des Garçons umbrella – the Japanese fashion label known for its avant-garde collections and anti-fashion approach – Dover Street Market, which now has outposts around the world, has always struck a similar mood. Featured designers and brands straddle both establishment and counterculture, while the ever-changing, inventive interiors feature not only clothing but installations and pop-ups spanning art, photography and literature, even food.
The store’s latest outpost – which marks the eighth Dover Street Market – is revealed today (10 May 2024), before its opening later this month on 24 May 2024. ’[It is] an experiment in un-understanding,’ says Joffe, who serves as the store’s president, noting that the Marais location marks a departure of sorts from the existing Dover Street Market outposts, whereby brands have been separated into individual concessions. Here, the entire space – including the requisite Rose Bakery café – is designed by Kawakubo.
Inside the new Dover Street Market Paris
It lends the store – which is housed in the 17th-century Hôtel de Coulanges, once resided in by French writer Madame de Sevigné – a starker appearance than the existing locations, which have a collage-like appearance thanks to the market-like concessions. Here, Kawakubo says she wants the store design itself to be the statement, with a focus not on selling garments – no clothes will be visible from the street, for example – but rather a space in which shoppers can immerse themselves. ‘We have arrived at a place, not a forest nor a plateau, not a valley nor a peak. Just a place with a beautiful view of behind and above,’ explains Joffe (Kawakubo did not want to be quoted about the project). ’And from this station-location, we try to feel where we go next.’
So the various brands – including the entire Comme des Garçons roster, which also features Junya Watanabe and Noir Kei Ninomiya – will be mixed together across the various floors (other brands include Simone Rocha, Rick Owens, Prada, JW Anderson, Willy Chavarria, Craig Green, Wales Bonner and Kiko Kostadinov, among several others). The idea is for the shopper to immerse themselves in the curving, labyrinthine displays, which recall the recently opened Comme des Garçons store on Paris’ Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré – also conceived by Kawakubo – where the designer said she wanted to invite a mood of discovery, a place to explore and experiment.
’It will not be only another shop,’ says Joffe. ’It is in fact already a building in which we hope to build and open a new pathway ahead, building on everything we have accomplished and daring to tread in the unknown. A building that already contains a brand development division and spaces to do all kinds of actions to create an energy-synergy syntax.’
The store itself – spanning 1,100 sq m and centring around a courtyard set back from the road – occupies the ground and first floors of the building, as well as one of three basements. The other two basements will be reserved for art and community events, while the upper floors will be occupied by Dover Street Market’s brand development team. An exhibition by Paolo Roversi, celebrating his longtime collaboration with Comme des Garçons, will celebrate the opening.
’Too many explanations can detract from the own-eye-witnessing,’ concludes Joffe. ’I am impatient for all of you to discover it.’
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Dover Street Market Paris, 35-37, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Paris 75004, opens on 24 May 2024.
Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.
-
René Scheibenbauer’s clothes are inspired by the body in movement
Drawing inspiration from the colours and textures of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Trinity Laban dance centre, rising London-based fashion designer René Scheibenbauer’s latest collection transports its wearer into the rehearsal room
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Marisa Merz’s unseen works at LaM, Lille, have a uniquely feminine spirit
Marisa Merz’s retrospective at LaM, Lille, is a rare showcase of her work, pursuing life’s most fragile, transient details
By Finn Blythe Published
-
The Lantern cultural hub in Detroit by OMA balances ‘light touch’ and ‘dramatic impact’
Library Street Collective’s Lantern, a new cultural hub in Detroit, was designed by OMA New York and is a signature rebuild that makes the most of the site’s existing structures
By Siska Lyssens Published
-
Diptyque opens the doors to an ‘astonishing’ new London home (and you’ll want to move right in)
Diptyque has unveiled Maison Diptyque on New Bond Street, London, an immersive space that captures the storied world of the luxury perfumer
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Paolo Roversi’s poetic, timeless fashion photography celebrated in Paris exhibition
’Paolo Roversi’ at Paris’ Palais Galliera is the first large-scale exhibition of the seminal fashion photographer’s work in his home city. Curator Sylvie Lécallier tells Wallpaper* the story behind the landmark display
By Jack Moss Published
-
Dior Spa at Hôtel Plaza Athénée is a Parisian haven for the sleep-deprived
On World Sleep Day, head to the Dior Spa at Hôtel Plaza Athénée to experience its Light Suite, the first of its kind in Paris
By Melina Keays Published
-
Artist Villu Jaanisoo’s rubber armchairs backdrop a full-throttle Acne Studios A/W 2024 collection
Acne Studios’ creative director Jonny Johansson tells the story behind his A/W 2024 show set, revealed in Paris this evening, which reflected the collection’s full-throttle, biker-inspired mood
By Orla Brennan Published
-
Paris Fashion Week A/W 2024: Chanel to Louis Vuitton
The best of Paris Fashion Week A/W 2024, from Chanel’s trip back to its beginnings in Deauville to a thrilling ten-year anniversary collection from Nicolas Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
Dior celebrates its women collaborators in new exhibition at the house’s Paris gallery
The exhibition at La Galerie Dior charts the house’s ongoing collaboration with women artists, particularly under current womenswear creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri
By Jack Moss Published
-
Saint Laurent unites with Juergen Teller on career-spanning exhibition (and it comes with merch)
Saint Laurent is the official sponsor of Juergen Teller’s upcoming ‘i need to live’ Paris exhibition, and has also created an exclusive lifestyle collection adorned with the photographer’s works
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Finest fashion moments of London Frieze Week 2023
The best fashion moments of London Frieze Week 2023, from stylish new sponsors to happenings from Gucci, Thom Browne, Burberry and more
By Jack Moss Published