Sergio Rossi's new concept store opens in Dubai

Both a playful tribute to femininity and an alluring homage to the world's emblematic screen icons, the Dubai flagship was also inspired by the high heeled shoe's curvaceous silhouette. The Sergio Rossi Dubai store celebrates womanly beauty and power with a combination of dramatic furnishings and domestic comfort.

In collaboration with Sergio Rossi's Creative Director, Francesco Russo, the London-based design company, Studioilse, helped bring to life the core values of the Sergio Rossi brand. This prestigious shopping destination offers a 775 square foot retail selling floor inviting the customer to two, distinct, voyeuristic, shoe-trying on mise-en-scène. The Italian shoe made by Sergio Rossi is placed centre stage in two contrasting areas of the store: the "Front Stage" and "Back Stage."

The "Front Stage" centres on a large circular mirror, and large, rounded-linear brass and glass sculptural display cases flanking an array of brightly-polished brass multi-level display cubes and a lipstick-coloured velvet chaise longue. Infinite reflections flash brightly luring customers in to slip on pumps and pull on boots within the boudoir setting. Walls, in turn, are hung with pale, skin-toned curtains where shoes dramatically teeter on invisible stands or, are clad in floor to ceiling mirror. A black and white herringbone-pattern Italian marble floor picks up the click of heels. A cluster of light bulbs fitted in brass and hung at varying heights from the ceiling offer theatricality amidst the indulgent comfort of domesticity: a spectacular dressing room open to the public.

In contrast, the "Back Stage" offers a darker, more intimate setting for customers. Enveloped by deep blue walls of floor-to-ceiling curtains a sweeping, voluptuous blue velvet sofa sits perched on plush blue carpet beckoning bare feet. Carlo Mollino's "Ardea" chair invites a masculine spot to watch and wait. A corridor of Franco Albini-inspired brass etageres faces a floor-to-ceiling mirrored wall. Floor lamps create mysterious, shadowy pools of light adding to the privately voyeuristic atmosphere.

"We translated the essence of Sergio Rossi turning our values into three dimensional design with a new, authentic, head-turning retail identity," President of Sergio Rossi, Christophe Mélard.

"I have always been interested in the idea of contrast. The two sides of reality and of the human being; conformism opposed to transgression, brightness to darkness," Creative Director of Sergio Rossi, Francesco Russo.

"When I look at spaces, I don't just look at the visual. I'm much more interested in the sensory thing, in thinking about it from a human context, the primal perspective, the thing that touches you," Sergio Rossi's new concept store opens in Dubai.