W. DRESSES Individual Spaces by CUN FF Suewen Yan in Yunnan, China

Project: W. DRESSES Individual Spaces
Architects: CUN FF Suewen Yan
Location: Park 1903 Shopping Center, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China
Area: 9687 sq ft
Year: 2021
Photography: Xingzai Photography

W. DRESSES Individual Spaces by CUN FF Suewen Yan

The designer set the main theme of this space for wedding dresses as purity and clean white color. There is no complex structure or bright colors here. He subtracts from the space and builds the main scene around the protagonist.

Exterior Facade

Row upon row of silk and velvet wedding dresses, formed by a flexible modern wall line and French architecture behind. The aesthetics shaped by the conflict between modern and retro styles set the tone at first glance. A light belt, not competing with the main character, highlights the storefront and advertising logo on the white exterior wall, making them softer and calmer.

The collision and intertwining of French architecture with modern avant-garde expression in 1903 creates a special harmonious and elegant atmosphere combined with the surrounding environment. The appearance of light and sunlight demonstrates completely different textures during day and night, while the subtle expression of design details is presented in smart lines. Parallels between concave-convex relationships and echo mosaic relations, radii of curves and proportions of straight lines are formed and defined after repeated consideration. The storefront is framed and closed with black shiny stainless steel, while the curved wall is built into a white background. The designer carefully planned what to display in the storefront. What he wanted to show was not only wedding dresses but also an attitude, confidence and pride for the client, thus creating a brand tone expression through design.

Two main entrances are located on both sides of the left and right corners, forming a connected concave-convex echo relationship with the window. The window is highlighted to attract more attention from guests, and the entrance is concave inward, creating a ceremonial feeling for guests before entering the store.

The designer placed a simple logo in the southeast corner of the highest wavy line, which is noticeable yet modest. It waits for a final glance from guests before entering the store and completes the entire presentation.

Interior Space

Conflict and harmony are vague and unintentionally conveyed themes given to the entire facade by designers. It is easy to create visual conflicts between wedding dresses and suits, European styles and modernity, but it is more praiseworthy to find a harmonious balance within conflicts.

The designer set the main theme of this space for wedding dresses as purity and clean white color. There is no complex structure or bright colors here. He subtracts from the space and builds the main scene around the protagonist – the bride and wedding dress.

The designer placed the fitting room, makeup zone and wedding dresses display area on both sides of the main stage, applying a runway concept, forming a 'runway' with a large passage in the middle. Each bride exiting the fitting room will walk to the large mirror at the center under everyone's attention, and each bride becomes the leading role at that moment. Precise understanding of customer thinking and psychology is necessary professional quality for designers of commercial spaces.

The 'runway channel' performs a multifunctional role. When art decorations and beautiful wedding dresses are placed in the center of the 'runway', such a 'runway' immediately transforms into a product presentation office. The designer also uses conflicting vocabulary between fragmentation of European traditional elements and modern minimalist background. Specifically, broken Roman columns and European window edges indicate the origin and continuity of wedding dresses, while floating, scattered and surrounded fragments point to innovations that break routine. This approach is not only an innovation in brand tonality but also an innovation in design communication.

Although the theme is purity and white color, it does not cause coldness or alienation in the space. The designer uses softer lines of walls throughout the space and performs a reasonable combination and adjustment of cold and warm lighting, so that light in open areas becomes brighter and clearer, while the lines become more solid.

Lighting and lines in the fitting room are softer and warmer, while the camel rug gives clients a feeling of relaxation and freedom like in a bedroom. The combination of cold and warm light creates contrast between yellow and white on the facade, using matte white paint, making it calm and warm, containing rich details and tactile texture in extensive decoration.

In the design of men's suit spaces, the designer reflects internal and external main tones. The cool black facade, locomotives and armor create a more hormonal atmosphere. Display of suits is less formal but the color palette and positioning are executed after repeated consideration, not just a simple stack.

Regardless of internal or external design, designers make more compact decoration in the way of expression. To implement this practice, they need more accumulation and courage. Designers aim to convey this idea through visual expression based on full understanding of the brand concept, then transmit it into every client's heart.

Designers strive to fully present the space, working with balance of contradictions and conflicts, high unity of vision and feeling, as well as support and contrast between products and space.

- Project description and images provided by CUN FF