Gentle Monster makes further strides in the U.S., still the planet’s biggest luxury market, opening its fifth standalone store in Houston. The South Korean eyewear brand has secured a 4,800 sq.ft. (approx. 446 sqm.) unit, its largest to date in the country, at The Galleria, the city’s leading upscale shopping centre.
The interior design, created by the brand’s in-house design department at the Seoul headquarters, sees an infusion of the nifty and evocative hi-tech installations that Gentle Monster has become known for. One of the installations, dubbed The Probe, is a walking mechanical creature, like a spider, but with six legs, and an installation of a giant kinetic head with hyper-realistic blinking and subtle head movements.
The latter is the result of a year-long project of the brand’s Robotics Lab which aims to elevate the shopping experience with its futuristic creations. The installations are embedded in understated settings captured by an eclectic palette of modern materials which provide a matching backdrop for Gentle Monster‘s forward collections. The Gentle Monster store carries the brand’s main line, the Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster collab collection, in addition to the recently launched BOLD 2 collection.
