Diesel Black Gold debuts new concept in London

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Jun 17, 2014

Diesel Gold’s first concept store in Europe opened its doors on Monday, June 16 in London, on the second day of the British fashion week for men. Encompassing 180 square meters spread over two floors, it is said to be the first concept store for the brand, which already has a store in New York.

"The store in New York was opened nearly two years,” says Andreas Melbostad, Diesel Gold’s creative director who was in charge of women's collections at the time. “But now we have a new store concept to reflects the line’s new identity. And we’d now like to apply the design to our showroom in Milan, which we opened last December, as well as to future stores," - namely in Milan and Paris, he hopes, by next year.

For the address at 17 Conduit Street in Mayfair, Architecture et Associés, composed of Pierre Beucler and Jean-Christophe Poggioli, have given precedence to metallic grays and white, interspersed with touches of black leather.

Products are rock n’ roll, sleek, contemporary, with an emphasis on leather and accessories for women and men. “Our biggest sales still come from denim, followed by women's shoes,” says Andreas Melbostad, adding, "denim is very new to me, I had never used to do it.”

Trained at the Royal College of Art in London, Melbostad divides his time between Milan and New York, where he lives and works solo in designing men’s and women’s collections. "We're sort of Diesel’s start-up," he laughs, recalling the fact that the line’s creative structure is independent of Nicola Formichetti, named creative director of Diesel proper by Renzo Rosso, who was present at the London opening on Monday evening.

Nicola Formichetti, meanwhile, is also preparing to rework Diesel’s store concept, he told FashionMag after the MAN fashion show on Sunday, where three young designers showed including his associate Bobby Abbley.

"London is my favorite city. I come here to find inspiration because everything comes from London and the young people who live here. I want to bring that energy to Diesel".

What is he going to do with the brand’s store concept? “To modernize and simplify it, while retaining the kind of irony that makes it unique,” he says. Are the "cool" kids going to be wearing Diesel, then? "... But they already do!" he smiled before leaving for Italy.