On Thursday 10th October, Melissa Shoes opened its first international flagship store in Covent Garden. This is the label’s second ever boutique outside of Brazil following the success of Galeria Melissa New York.
To celebrate the opening, in true Melissa style, a launch party was held with a jam-packed celebrity guest list. Kate Moss, Georgia May Jagger, Laura Whitmore and Millie Mackintosh were among the famous guests who turned out to make the night a memorable one.
With DJ’s including Jamie Hince, Chris Hayden and Princess Julia and food from Amirable Crichton, the guests were not left disappointed.
Located in the oldest building in Covent Garden, the Galeria Melissa London accentuates the traditional aspects of the quintessentially British city, while giving it a new, contrasting feel. The concept of the store was designed by multimedia artist Muti Randolph, which sees the European store cover two floors mixing clean-cut design with the classic Georgian architecture that sits externally.
Melissa was founded in 1979 and has since become recognized for its innovative development of plastic within fashion, art and design. Melissa now boasts more than 20 partnership agreements with renowned names in fashion, design, music and celebrities. Creatives such as Karl Lagerfeld, Thierry Mugler, Jason Wu and Vivienne Westwood are just a few of the partnerships Melissa has made in order to express new ideas.
Over the past 30 years, the Melissa brand has manufactured 75 million pairs of shoes, making it a worldwide fashion icon. Using the key raw material plastic, Melissa shoes interpret texture and touch while taking the owner back their childhood with the added scent of fun and colour.
Beginning with the ‘Aranha’ shoe 30 years ago, Melissa has since developed their brand by reproducing a range of colours, textures and patterns. And to add something unique, the shoes are also eco-friendly, supporting a matter close to the brands heart. By using state of the art research and resources, every detail from production to distribution is designed to produce the lowest possible impact on the environment. With this, the brand has created MELFLEX; a material formed of PVC that provides the wearer with elasticity, impermeability and resistance. As well as this, it is odourless, hypoallergenic and 100% recyclable.
The aim of the Galeria Melissa London is to convey the brand’s concepts of smell, touch and vision to provide the customer with complete engagement into the universe and sense of the plastic brands.
You can visit the store at GALERIA Melissa London, 43 King Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8JY.
Words – Sophie Bishop
