Established in 1972, fashion label Müller & Seidl is known for their close customer relations. Custom tailoring and adjustment of the Prêt-à-Porter-Line are part of the label’s customer service programme, as is extensive personal consultation – to the point of matching one’s existing wardrobe to a Müller & Seidl outfit.

In addition to the sales area, the workshop of the designer Inge Glanz can be found in the store. The traditional handmade identity of the label and the desired contact between workshop and sales, were the main starting points for the design. The entrance and the workshop form the opposite ends of the L-shaped shopping area. The store and workplace are separated by ceiling-high shelving, which displays the garments from the collection and serves as storage for the textiles from the workshop. The handcrafted nature of the label is also the basis for the materialisation of the shop’s interior, consisting of a rough concrete floor with visible processing traces and waxed metal hanging rods and hooks.

To make the windows along Kurfürstenstraße opaque, a very simple solution was found: just paint them. The painter was requested to make explicit brushstrokes, giving texture to the transmitted light. The shapes and activities of pedestrians will be vaguely visible inside the store.

Some aspects of the design were visibly inspired by 1950s architecture. Making the windowsill and the lintel into continuous objects emphasizes the horizontality of the windows. Additionally, the shop furniture complements the height of the windows and the movements behind them. The display table, the cashier’s desk and the freestanding, revolving mirror are part of an integrated family of forms. The lighting, consisting of randomly distributed circles of varying diameters, reminds of the organic forms of the 1950s, yet it is distinctly modern in its luminousness.

With its echoes of tradition, history and craftsmanship, and its well-defined, simple modernism, the shop forms a complementary backdrop for the fashion of M&S.