Maison Margiela, the conceptual Belgian fashion house founded by Martin Margiela and creative directed by John Galliano today, has opened its first fragrance flagship in Singapore. It’s a new 700 square foot space in #B1-14 Takashimaya S.C. that finally showcases the full range of Margiela perfumery.
The Maison Margiela Fragrances flagship is divided into experiential zones – the most enticing of which is a feature area that will be updated twice a year. Its first form is a facsimile of a Parisian flower market that is the inspiration behind the bestselling Flower Market perfume.
The space is designed in the iconoclastic all-white style that is Maison Margiela’s signature, and features five zones that highlight the different aspects of the brand’s very popular Replica line of perfumes. A quick recap for those unfamiliar: in the fashion house, Replica is a conceptual line of ready-to-wear that reconstructs found garments that the Margiela team sources. For example: a jacket from the ’70s will be carefully remade stitch for stitch, and sewn in with a label that names the style and provenance of the source garment.
READ MORE: Our Ultimate Margiela Tribute In Pre-Fall’s Classics With A Twist
In the fragrance world, Replica is a line that takes memories as olfactive inspiration. A day at the beach and its associated sunny coconut smells, or a dimly-lit jazz club with a smoky mix of whisky and tobacco in the air, for example. Like the garments, each Replica perfume is packaged with a label that describes the provenance and inspiration behind the scent.
Maison Margiela Fragrances’ home scent area, which showcases its lineup of seven scented candles.
To mark the opening of this flagship, the brand has set up a Parisian flower market area inspired by Flower Market, one of its bestselling scents. The area will also be updated twice a year to freshen things up. There is also a rather exciting new home scent zone, which showcases the brand’s full lineup of seven candles – all based on existing Replica scents.
Purchases of 100ml-sized Replica perfumes can be customised – from personalised Polaroids and cotton bottle labels to the sleeves and ropes used in the packaging.
At the olfactive discovery bar, there’s also a projector screen that plays emotive and abstract videos that personify each of the brand’s 15 fragrances – now available in sizes of 10ml, 30ml and 100ml. What’s fun is that purchases of 100ml Replica perfumes allow the chance for personalisation.
In addition to getting a nice pouch, you can also customise the cotton label on the bottle; and even print a personal photo as a polaroid and package it with themed wish cards, box sleeves and coloured rope that make for a great personal touch if you’re buying these as a gift.