Aprill 77 Flagship Store 49 Rue de Saintonge, Paris
April 77 guy.
April 77 - begs the question, "Are we a clothing brand or a music label?"
We are both. Our clothing is music, and music lives on our clothing.
April 77 is a store based in Paris. They are part clothier and part record label, attempting to outfit the 20-30yr old music afficianado, educated and edgy, laid back, subversively vain. Their musical tastes are both phono and stereo- just like their fashion - backward and forward.
Their latest collection is called "We Lived Our Lives in Black."
I love the way they write about their collection. "Influenced by suburban England, Scottland and even Ireland in the 1980s, early 1990s, the soundtrack to this collection is Shoegaze, Britpop, Dreampop, made by isolationist teenagers and working class youth torn by religious and political conflicts. The Scottish band Jesus and Mary Chain and their improbable look are major influeneces in this collection with their aesthetic and sounds that mix pop music, Bat Cave and New Wave with practically nothing, rendering it both superpowerful and minimalist."
They have a pretty cool trench coat called The Fiction.
"Drip, drop. And we're not talking about coffee or pee.
We're not sure what the weather is like where you are this time of year, but if you're in Paris or London, it's probably well,
raining.
The Cure for all this is in The Fiction."
We're not sure what the weather is like where you are this time of year, but if you're in Paris or London, it's probably well,
raining.
The Cure for all this is in The Fiction."
The flagship store in Paris is rich and minimal and all artificially lit. Lighting consists of spotlighting hanging clothes, powerful pin lights highlighting product on shelves and neon tube lighting referencing the discotech.
The walls and shelving are all brown, but the walls contrast one another: the flat brown paint absorbs light while the burled walnut shelving is highly polished (maybe even a printed laminate) which bounces back a powerful sheen as does the chrome hanging racks and a mirrored mid floor fixture.
The layout is minimal. The store revolves around a cylindrical center room with center geometrical arch made of a mirrored lintel with compartmentalized shelved in the posts. Shirts sit in stacks below and are lit with pin lights. The perimeter of the room is lined in shelves and racks placed at various heights. Many of the shelves are empty, accentuating its negative presence. In other cases a single shirt sits on a shelf. Clothes hung or in shelves around the perimeter are mostly black and white with some punches of color while those under the center arch provide the main color in the room.
Black and white clothes are punctuated with a punch of color, for example, a red bandana.
One large mid-floor fixture is a large shiny, metal cylinder topped with a flat cylindrical soffit housing pin lights that light the round rack below that houses only 5 seperately hung shirts. The shirts all hang well above eye level where you can walk beneath them. Next to this display is a set of semicircular shelves rounding the entrance to the room. On these rest candy colored and tortoiseshell Ray-Bans- one per shelf - Like eyes that peek out from dark corners. Even I am reminded of that 1980s Rockwell hit, Somebody's Watching Me.
A Pioneer stereo system rests on one shelf - a throw back to the 60s and 70s. My parents had one just like it. High-fi, a coveted collector's item- the family's fighting over it as I speak. Clad in beautiful wood veneer, you get a glimpse into the inspiration for the the whole store.
It's high-style London meets black vinyl. The brand comes across loud and clear.
The walls and shelving are all brown, but the walls contrast one another: the flat brown paint absorbs light while the burled walnut shelving is highly polished (maybe even a printed laminate) which bounces back a powerful sheen as does the chrome hanging racks and a mirrored mid floor fixture.
The layout is minimal. The store revolves around a cylindrical center room with center geometrical arch made of a mirrored lintel with compartmentalized shelved in the posts. Shirts sit in stacks below and are lit with pin lights. The perimeter of the room is lined in shelves and racks placed at various heights. Many of the shelves are empty, accentuating its negative presence. In other cases a single shirt sits on a shelf. Clothes hung or in shelves around the perimeter are mostly black and white with some punches of color while those under the center arch provide the main color in the room.
Black and white clothes are punctuated with a punch of color, for example, a red bandana.
One large mid-floor fixture is a large shiny, metal cylinder topped with a flat cylindrical soffit housing pin lights that light the round rack below that houses only 5 seperately hung shirts. The shirts all hang well above eye level where you can walk beneath them. Next to this display is a set of semicircular shelves rounding the entrance to the room. On these rest candy colored and tortoiseshell Ray-Bans- one per shelf - Like eyes that peek out from dark corners. Even I am reminded of that 1980s Rockwell hit, Somebody's Watching Me.
A Pioneer stereo system rests on one shelf - a throw back to the 60s and 70s. My parents had one just like it. High-fi, a coveted collector's item- the family's fighting over it as I speak. Clad in beautiful wood veneer, you get a glimpse into the inspiration for the the whole store.
It's high-style London meets black vinyl. The brand comes across loud and clear.
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