Martiniboys

Armani/5th Avenue

Toronto

February 25,2009

Giorgio Armani's new eponymous outpost is one of the more ambitious New York City store launches of late. The designer's just-opened store - Armani/5th Avenue – embraces Fifth Avenue retail design not just for the uncontrollably exuberant thing that it is, but for what he wants it to become: a single, fluid space providing uninterrupted intercommunication, brought together by the impact of the vortex of a huge, designer staircase. Armani himself calls this a provocative move – and it is – bringing in all Armani collections and offering it under one designer roof, without visible boundaries, to form the entire Armani universe.

What architects Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas have created on Fifth Avenue is an impressive design store, and not just by New York standards. It's a true-believer store, of roughly the same caliber as their two other Armani productions - Armani/Chater House in Hong Kong and Armani/Ginza Tower in Tokyo. Still, Armani and the design team sought to make sure that this store design was distinctively different from the others.

The concept store, which brings together various labels Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani in one space, is a gorgeous piece of work, starting with the distinctive building completely clad in glass. Taking up four floors, the 30,000 square feet retail space is paired with the Armani Bar and Restaurant, an environment a little whiter, cooler and more restrained than everything around it.

The entire interior, gorgeous as it is, revolves around a gorgeous central staircase. More of a shaped like abstract sculpture, which eventually, after a long twisted curviture, connects the four levels of the Armani world. The steel structure was created in Italy, and covered in plastic façade to give this monstrous gem a gallery-esque feeling.

In all of this design, you'll never bypass the product: Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani accessories own the ground floor, but you'll also find the Emporio Armani collection for women. The basement has offers Armani Jeans, EA7 and Emporio Armani Underwear and swimwear. Emporio Armani, Giorgio Armani for men and Emporio Armani are all on the second level, as is the Armani/Casa collection of objets. The Armani/Restaurant holds fort on the top floor, a offering a great view of Fifth Avenue, with Central Park beyond.

717 5th Ave
New York, NY 10022, USA