Alaia Store
Beverly Hills, California - 1992


In this renovation design of a store and showroom on Rodeo Drive for the collections of French designer Azzedine Alaia, the clothing itself serves as inspiration. A series of design interventions transforms an existing building to an environment that alludes to images inherent in the design and production of Alaia's clothing. The facade introduces the theme with suggestions of armature, pattern, and fabric in Alaia's process of design. The clothing becomes both subject and object in the interior of the store. A series of molded metal screens and free-standing racks set the clothing off from the rough brick and stucco side walls. Light from an existing barrel-vaulted skylight is softened by a laced fabric canopy, reminiscent of the corseted forms Alaia develops for his collections. The bodice and armature form establishes the transition from the main showroom space to the dressing area and shields the upstairs office from view.