It must have been a natural choice for United Nude, the iconic brand founded by Dutch architect Rem D Koolhaas and designer and entrepreneur Galahad JD Clark, to decide opening a brand new flagship store in Koolhaas’s hometown.
Located in the city centre of Amsterdam, adjacent to Dam Square and behind Magna Plaza, the store, designed by Rem D Koolhaas, opened last week attracting crowds of passionate shoe fans, but also of people with an interest in architecture and design. The store features indeed a unique new concept, the Wall of Light: while most of the shop is left in the dark, the shoes are lined up along a computer-controlled LED wall that displays the products in geometric frames. The Wall of Light perfectly highlights the strong connection United Nude designs such as the “Eamz” and “Möbius” shoes – respectively inspired by Ray and Charles Eames’s aluminium office chair and by the chair created by Bauhaus director Mies Van Der Rohe for the International Exposition in 1929 – have with architectural shapes and silhouettes.

United Nude fans will be able to find at the shop the new designs from the Autumn/Winter 2009 collection such as an entirely revisited version of the “Sharpei” canvas boot, that features graphics from Dutch fashion designer Antoine Peters’ Autumn collection; the innovative “Lo-Res” stiletto pump, moulded from rubber and created manipulating a three dimensional scan on a computer, and the “Block” model that features a perfectly square abstract block heel that contrasts with the rather classic shoe silhouette.

“This opening is one of the proudest moments of United Nude this far as it completes the representation of the brand,” commented Rem D Koolhaas last Friday at the shop opening. Among the future plans of United Nude for 2010 there are also further stores in Shanghai and New York.
 
United Nude, Spuistraat 125A, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  

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