Mrs. Hicks, you designed some of the most impressive and stylish stores in the world. Why did you stop with retail design?
A reason is simple: the crisis. After I had finished my last project, namely the Yohji Yamamoto store in Paris, the big crash came. It happened when we were in the midst of planning in 2008; the shop was completed in late 2009. You see, I have worked for brands in the luxury segment that all collapsed without exception. The industry ceased into a state of shock.
There was this quiet moment where everyone just waited to see what would happen next. You know, in my career, I always liked those moments because they give you time and space to rethink everything. I even had enough time to review and define my goals, desires and dreams again. I always wanted to build houses. Don't get me wrong it's really fun to build shops and develop retail concepts. It was always a great pleasure for me to rush headlong into the ethos of a brand and to try to understand it, to work out the key characteristics of the label and to give him a physical environment that fits to his image without exception, even more than those responsible could ever have imagined. Believe me, this is an exciting intellectual task, which I have loved.
Tell me more about this process.
If you want to design a good store concept you have to get into the head of the brand. However, this is often not a person. When I worked for Paul Smith, I knew: He's the brand. This person represents the whole brand and I have to know going on in his mind, in order to understand the brand. With him it was really easy because he is, like me, a strong character with strong views. Then I only had to ask myself: What would Paul Smith do? I had to think through his head and design a shop. We were a good team. If you, however, apply this to a trademark, who doesn't have a single head, this process is only really interesting because there is not even the one person into whose head you would have to look or could. So you must find a way to reinvent yourself a head through which you can see.
That sounds adventurous.
Let me explain. When I started working for Chloé, Phoebe Philo was head designer. But the label existed many decades before Philo and it was clear that the company would continue to exist even after Philo. At the big fashion houses the designers come and go, that is the procedure. So you have to try to conjure up the spirit of a brand and understand. And the spirit is more than just the designer. He has to be more than a designer. Still, I was glad that it was Phoebe at the beginning, because she is also a strong character. You probably noticed that I like working with strong characters. Still, I was not allowed to look at everything from their point of view, because I was aware that they would only be the face of the house and not the head for a certain time. They would move on in a few years, and shop designs have a different half-life than the fashion that is sold there. In general, for about five years just they have to stay as relevant as the day of the opening. Throughout my time as a designer for Chloé I've noticed four different designers. So I had to think of a character for the brand, which is not interchangeable as the designer. Naturally, the essence of the current designer always flows into this character, but for the most part he has to reflect the spirit of the brand. As mentioned before, it is a very challenging but interesting, intellectual task, but I got to the point where I wanted to do something more down-to-earth. And in my eyes, building houses is very down to earth. You must get your hands dirty, you know.
Interview by Svea Jörgens, Photo by Volker Conradus
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