Akris and Chipperfield translate fashion into architectural form

Concrete meets cream linen, black steel railings cut clean lines through white walls, and handbags sit like sculptures on illuminated shelves. This is the Akris boutique concept born from a conversation between fashion and architecture, introduced in 2022 through a collaboration with Sir David Chipperfield that continues to define how the house presents itself to the world.

The third edition of Architectural Stories extends across four cities: Washington, D.C., Chicago, Tokyo’s Ginza district, and forthcoming locations yet to be named. Each embodies what Creative Director Albert Kriemler calls the essence of Akris, though rendered not in cloth or leather but in space and light. The concept distils the house’s language of simplicity, precision, essential forms and lightness into architecture. Chipperfield’s design vocabulary speaks in unadorned materials and disciplined proportion, allowing garments and accessories to become the only ornament within rooms of almost monastic restraint.

The materiality feels deliberately tactile. Rough concrete columns anchor white painted walls articulated by subtle grooved panelling. Brushed metal shelving holds pieces as if in a carefully curated gallery. Indirect lighting casts soft shadows that emphasise form over flash. The effect is one of profound quietude, a space that believes, as Kriemler suggests, that fashion operates on the same principle as architecture: both concern what cannot be seen, both reach toward feeling, both demand to be experienced through the body rather than simply observed.

Akris has boutiques at these locations. For information on visiting or future openings in the Architectural Stories series, contact the house directly through its website.

Imagery courtesy of Akris (@akris).