The new four-level, 22,000-square-foot Hugo Boss flagship on Fifth Avenue New York is a full-fledged entertainment experience. Upon entering the glass atrium, customers can look down to the café, right to a three-story mural by Jeff Koons or straight ahead to a flat-screen video wall showing Boss fashion shows.
The design is based on Munich architect Helmut Plummer's signature design for the German retailer: a materials palette of creamy limestone, brushed stainless steel and glass. But for the New York debut, Boss America ceo Marty Staff emphasized lighting, ceiling height and sound. Staff personally selected every song for every floor for every hour for the store's 10 music zones.
Each Boss brand has its own boutique. The basement-level Hugo – the retailer's young contemporary line – is marked by stainless-steel fixtures, a 100-inch hologram and plasma monitors. In the adjacent café, white ottomans and tables are arranged on the red/orange floor. At street level, a “swing” area in front housing high-fashion menswear is separated from the rear Boss Woman boutique by a nine-panel flat video wall. The second-floor Boss line shares space with a video bar, where customers can sip lattes while accessing the Internet. And on the third floor, where Boss's couture Baldessarini label is on display, a tank of colorful tropical fish and dressing rooms with six-inch video screens recessed into the walls make for a decadent shopping experience.
Note: Hugo Boss declined to release the source list, which would have given credit to the designers, consultants and suppliers involved in this project.
Client Team: Hugo Boss America, New York – Marty Staff, ceo; Randy Yaw, visual manager
Lighting Consultant: Light Options, New York
Architect of Record: The Phillips Group, New York – Steven Segure, project manager; Alexander Yanno, project designer
Audio/Visual: Bang & Olufsen, Jutland, Denmark
Photography: Richard Cadan, New York