Hermès

This space on New Bond Street has been occupied by Hermès since 1975 and has doubled in size in recent years, proving that Londoners have a lot of love for the French heritage brand.

The 7,000 square-feet space has been designed by French architecture and interior design agency RDAI under Artistic Director Denis Montel. A warm, inviting ambience is created in hues of sand, cherry wood, copper and vintage pinks across two levels which house each métier available from the brand. This includes womenswear, menswear, fragrances, homeware, stationery, and of course their highly covetable silk scarves and handbags.

Light and airy, with rounded edges and on-brand ovals at every possibility, it avoids the stuffy feeling that some luxury maisons can have for a contemporary shopping experience with a historic label. Many items are left out of intimidating glass cabinets too, leaving you free to handle the goods at your leisure, rather than waiting to be attended by the sales staff.

That’s not to say that exquisitely lavish details have been overlooked, though. The Venetian plaster staircase features a terrazzo floor, hand-embedded with chips of crystal, or you could take the glass elevator enshrined in pink and copper mesh which gives off a dégradé effect as it travels.

The real treasure is to be found in the specially-installed garden terrace which displays the store’s most prized possession, a Henry Moore statue.

‘Draped Reclining Figure’ has in fact always been a part of the building, which sits on the corner of New Bond Street and Bruton Street, since it was finished in 1953. It was then Michael Rosenauer’s iconic Time and Life Building which housed the American headquarters for Time Life Magazine and was quite a fete in integrating architecture, design and art, and as such, is a listed landmark. Now that it houses the Hermès boutique, it is the first time the Henry Moore sculpture has been available to view by the public.