![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/BERLIN-BLACK-1.jpg\" "\\"CdG")
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When Andreas Murkudis moved his concept store to West Berlin last year, the media announced \u201cthe end of Mitte\u201d, even the New York Times ran a story calling it the final kiss of death to the once cool district, now taken over by mainstream chains with their drab stone washed denims. The end of Mitte it’s not. In fact, all you need to do is stay clear of M\u00fcnzstra\u00dfe and go explore the not-so-linear Linienstra\u00dfe. Especially now that it has become home to one of Berlin\u2019s most exciting retail arrivals in a long time.<\/p>\n
On Sunday 15 of January, when oddly enough it wasn\u2019t snowing, around 250 people thronged into the new COMME des GAR\u00c7ONS store at No.115 Linienstr.\u00a0 Considering Rei Kawakubo\u2019s iconoclastic fashion brand invented the notion of the \u201cguerilla store\u201d in Berlin, back in 2004, the opening seems in some ways like closing a circle: it isn\u2019t though, according to Ms. Karakubo\u2019s husband Adrian Joffe, whom sleek met for coffee the next morning. \u201cIt\u2019s an on-going journey and process,\u201d he said. \u201cThe very first time we came here we were inspired by Berlin, and we\u2019ve always liked the energy in Berlin.\u201d<\/p>\n
CdG never do things by the traditional retail-book. In fact they effectively rewrote the manual for direct-to-customer fashion \u201cexperiences.\u201d Accordingly, the new location is two shops in one, each offering distinct sub-brands: to the right is the austere, black-walled showroom for CdG\u2019s Black label, while to the right, in a separate room of this former gallery, is the Pocket Shop, selling the label\u2019s signature wallets, Tees, scents and accessories. \u201cBerlin is the first place in the world where they\u2019re together,\u201d Joffe said. \u201cThey normally have different function \u2013 our Pocket Shop in Paris is no bigger than one room, so this is the biggest Black Shop, and the only Pocket in a Black shop.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hallmarks of Kawakubo\u2019s matchless sense of detail and juxtaposition are there in the fittings: in the Pocket Shop, a gazebo-like wooden frame sits inside the white-walled room, though it is skewed, and its beams lie out of parallel with the sides of the room. An ersatz corner of the frame even protrudes into the adjacent \u201cBlack\u201d space, as if it had been built through the separating masonry wall. Only at Comme des Gar\u00e7ons\u2026 The store came to be after its manager, Christian Weinecke (who ran the original Berlin guerilla store), was asked by Joffe if he would like to do something new in Berlin. \u201cI said, \u2018it\u2019s a place we like a lot,\u2019\u201d, Joffee recalled. \u201cSince then we had these new idea for a shop \u2013 Pocket Shop and Black. The premises are bigger than we thought for the Pocket Shop, so we said why don\u2019t we do something with both of them?\u201d
This beautiful and playfully amusing shop is what resulted. In some ways it\u2019s an art piece in itself, which means it fits in rather well in the gallery-heavy streets south of Torstrasse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe space lends itself to [Rei Kawakubo\u2019s] aesthetic, it\u2019s minimal and you\u2019re free to do whatever you want within the space, at the same time as respecting the space,\u201d Joffe said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we left it to Christian to design within the parameters of the Black Shop \u2013 it has to have black walls \u2013 and the Pocket Shop, which should look like a convenience store. We gave him the freedom to design and each thing has to have its context. It\u2019s very important for us. You have to respect the space that you\u2019re in and the surrounding area \u2013 it\u2019s all very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
COMME des GAR\u00c7ONS <\/strong> Black & Pocket Shop, <\/strong> Linienstrasse 115, 10115 Berlin. <\/strong> Tel: +49 30 2809 5880.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Andreas Murkudis moved his concept store to West Berlin last year, the media announced \u201cthe end of Mitte\u201d, even the New York Times ran a story calling it the final kiss of death to the once cool district, now taken over by mainstream chains with their drab stone washed denims. The end of Mitte…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[175,176],"class_list":["post-2269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adrian-joffe","tag-comme-des-garcons"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n