Woodbury Commons

Balenciaga is a fashion house founded by Cristóbal Balenciaga, a Spanish designer, born in the Basque Country. He had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was referred to as “the master of us all” by Christian Dior. His bubble skirts and odd, feminine, yet ultra-modern shapes were trademarks of the house.

Today the brand is most famous for its line of motorcycle-inspired handbags, especially the famous “Lariat.” Balenciaga has four exclusive boutiques in the United States. One Balenciaga store is located on 22nd St in New York,NY. A second store is located in Los Angeles, CA on Melrose Avenue. Recently, a third store opened at the famous shopping center South Coast Plaza, in Costa Mesa, CA. This store is 1200 square feet and includes coffin-like inset displays. The New York and Los Angeles boutiques carry both men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, while the South Coast Plaza boutique carries only women’s clothing. The most recent store, located in Las Vegas inside Caesers Palace, carries only accessories.

Balenciaga Woodbury Commons is coming sometime in April, 2009. Follow Woodburycommons on Twitter to be the first to know!

While we do not yet know what special features the Woodbury Commons store will have, if it is anything like the other stores it will truly be amazing! Here is an additional description of each unique store:

The central concept of each Balenciaga store is a futuristic and luxurious environment, a landscape to wander through and discover. A geometric, graphic and organic atmosphere reigns in the stores, consistent with the collections developed by Nicolas Ghesquière.  The stores feature a mix of natural, raw and artificial materials. The light changes in the artificial sky, giving an impression of climatic, seasonal and time changes — from sunrise to noon, from cloudy to sunny, a concept developed by Benoit Lalloz. White modular display structures, made of metallic lacquered poles, are placed throughout the landscape. Common elements of designs include the artificial “black asteroid” used as cash register, and the “iceberg” used as an accessory display.  

The Paris flagship features a cave animated by asteroids and lit by sparkling colored lights, with an underground “pool passage”.

The New York flagship store picks up on the concept of interactive rocks and lightning, but within a much more raw environment reflective of the industrial character of the store’s 22nd Street location.

The Milan Balenciaga flagship is an unrivaled luxury experience in Milan: 400 square meters on two levels, with Indian gold marble paving stones in random geometric shapes. While keeping to the historic features of the building such as the wood painted ceiling, an innovative lighting system has been carefully elaborated, articulated around a metallic beam, inspired by space shuttle robotic arms,  for the first floor.  On the ground floor, the lighting is set up as to recreate a starlit sky. Both floors are connected by a futuristic metallic staircase.

The House of Balenciaga creates women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories, sold worldwide.