Those in the know are well aware: Modes is the temple of the Italian avant-garde. Aldo Carpinteri's concept store features niche labels like Amina Muaddi, The Attico, and Ganni, as well as luxury brands such as Saint Laurent, Blumarine, and Maison Margiela. The architecture of their flagship stores was designed by Judith Haase and Pierre Jorge Gonzalez of the Gonzalez Haase AAS studio. In Paris, Milan, and Porto Cervo, the boutiques are simply magnetic. The 314-square-meter, two-story store is located in one of Paris's most iconic neighborhoods, on Rue François-1er . The two main materials used in the construction are stainless steel and silk carpeting. Both elements are equally distributed on each floor, but their use is reversed when moving from one level to the other. A cyan-blue staircase connects the two floors. This reversal of materials challenges the cisgender identity of our society, much like the clothing itself: the bodily characteristics that identify men and women dissolve. In Milan, the founder of the concept store also commissioned the Berlin studio for his striking outdoor steel installation. During the Milan Furniture Fair, Modes became a parallel destination for visitors to the city. Positioned along the store's facade, the installation is conceived as a space for taking time and a break from the city's busy fairs. In Porto Cervo, along the port promenade, the architects were given free rein and drew inspiration from the port area. Playing with the island's lush vegetation and buildings, they also made references to the Nordic climate. This is evident in the lighting, the metallic fiber curtains, and the neutral gray surfaces covering the floors, walls, and ceilings. The 315 m² store becomes a "shell" inside the village of Porto Cervo where the colorful "buoys" and their silver surfaces are used to showcase the retailer's exclusive clothing.
https://gonzalezhaase.com/projects
https://www.modes.com/fr/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs5OUqvnz-AIV5oODBx1aBwTqEAAYASAAEgLCWvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Flora di Carlo
(c) Courtesy of DSL Studio di Delfino Sisto Legnani and Melania Dalle Grave and Agnese Bedini
