Photo by Paola Pansini.

Where digital shopping has become simpler, speedier, and eons more expedient—four-storey fast fashion outlets and retail fronts of the past really do feel clunky, cold, and awkward. Tell me, who truly enjoys a trip to the mall to face the heaped and haphazard racks of H&M, only to return a little numb and approximately thirty dollars poorer (plus, the parking!). And while we see big brands like Nike, Apple, and even COS at Salone, push and pull at the boundaries of experiential retail design year on year—what about the legacy of the humble, intimate boutique?

Italian womenswear label Forte Forte has sought to reinvigorate this bygone genre of shopping with a new flagship store in Milan’s artistic Brera district. Forte Forte co-founder Giada Forte enlisted the eye of art director Robert Vattilana to help realise a concept close to the heartbeat of the brand—feminine, unique, spirited, and a little bit curious too. The project is maybe far from outlandish in its objectives (other brands have sought to revive this intimate, emotional sort of retail therapy), but here, Forte Forte has foregone long established shop floor schemes in favour of a more fluid, storied, and tactile reflection of the label.

The entrance and the front-facing window is guarded by a dramatic white curtain, which falls from the double height ceiling and wraps around part of the walls. Travertine marble in bas-relief has been woven throughout—across walls and as furnishings, a counter, and a large planter box. It has also been cut into organic shapes dotted with mosaic glass in mauve, mint, and rose on the floor. A brass chandelier hovers above the entrance, while branch-like display systems in brass exhibit select items from the latest Forte Forte collections.

Changerooms are cloaked in magenta velvet and quilted with found buttons. Private elements collected from all around the world give the space and its story a personal signature: a drawing of a woman by Didier Mahieu, a Bitossi ceramic designed by Aldo Londi, a jar of glass test tubes brought in a market in Los Angeles, for example. A sculptural brass net hangs across the white curtain, which has been strung with glass vessels and orbs by Massimo Lunardon.

[Images courtesy of Robert Vattiliana. Photography by Paola Pansini.]