The British are coming

British bad-boy meets Las Vegas pizzazz at the new Ben Sherman Store On The Strip

"It's time for sex 'n' drugs and high tea on the sofa" — so says Ben Sherman in regards to its most recent store prototype. Its newest Las Vegas location, in the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, illustrates a defiant approach to retail design. With a fierce disposition to rock and roll, the store fuses tradition with contemporary chic. And while more than 5,000 miles separate its new Las Vegas location from the Ben Sherman flagship store on 50 Carnaby St. in London, it upholds a deep respect of an English heritage that caters to five decades of clientele.

Despite an edgy image, the Ben Sherman label is a mash-up of tailored blazers, graphic tees, cropped cardigans and striped rugby polo shirts. It weaves two seemingly dissimilar British heritages: aristocratic sports and the rebellious, mod-era of the '60s.

The retailer challenged Boston-based architectural and interior design firm Bergmeyer Associates Inc. to duplicate its dueling aesthetic in Ben Sherman's Las Vegas location. The designers envisioned a store where visitors walk out feeling as if they have "just been to High Street in London," says Joseph P. Nevin Jr., senior principal of Bergmeyer, referencing London's bustling, fashion-forward Kensington High Street. The task was to transform two roughly 2,000-sq.-ft. spaces into the 4,600-sq.-ft. total British immersion.

At Ben Sherman in Las Vegas, visitors are first introduced to the brand, and then to the product. It's an unconventional approach to retail design guided by the company's priority to sustain the strong sense of British nationalism that defines its label. Crisp button-down shirts or patent-leather messenger bags aren't the first things to strike customers bold enough to pass through Ben Sherman's glass entry. Handles on its sliding glass doors bear two halves of the label's trademark bull's-eye, forming a complete target when closed. The doors reveal a sitting area before a cashwrap with a rich red backdrop. The foyer is lit by an elegant chandelier and prefaced only by a cursive Ben Sherman sign hung with transparent cables from the store's exterior.

Behind the cashwrap, the phrase "Effortless cool is a detailed process," is imprinted in white typeface onto red-laminated glass. This phrase — coined by Arthur Bernard Sugarman, a British-born tailor who changed his name to Ben Sherman and founded the namesake clothing line in 1963 — epitomizes the brand today.

In the same area as the cashwrap, another Ben Sherman bull's-eye is weathered and inlaid on the honey-colored hardwood floor. The application is a pre-finished floor that is smooth, but appears worn — "lived in," says Andy Estabrooks, project manager, Bergmeyer.

Embellished with teardrop-shaped crystals and hung from the lit, recessed ceiling of the store's entry hall, a gold-brushed Schonbek chandelier adds grandeur to the store. Directly below the chandelier sits the centerpiece of the entrance, a striking loveseat with delicate legs and a rococo-trimmed back upholstered in the British flag.

In the same fashion as its international counterparts, the store is stocked with notable custom-made hardwood furniture, reproductions of antiques specifically designed as merchandising fixtures by Los Angeles-based Martin of London. According to Ben Sherman, the pieces are "classic British furnishings, with a mad-as-quail twist." The antiqued wood frames of the furniture are upholstered in an assortment of textiles. Criss-crossed and checkered Tartan patterns, and the predominantly used British flag, find themselves on everything from wool garments to sofas. On nicked but handsome furniture pieces scattered throughout the boutique, the Union Jack makes an eclectic debut. Unconventionally wrapped in the British flag, these pieces pop with vibrant red, navy and white, bringing the brand's choice colors to a prominent position in the store. Similar furnishings are placed in the women's section, where the flag is alternatively skewered, printed in tones of pink on one chair. These avant-garde touches thread color and contemporary appeal throughout the location.

The Bergmeyer team refers to the boutique as a "mansion," part of Ben Sherman's "Mods in the Mansion" aesthetic that guided its design. Beyond a flagship store, the company's Web site says each Ben Sherman location is dedicated to "all the rock stars who've ever bought, abused and lived in a house." The notion that shoppers aren't just entering into a place for merchandise, but a residence, explains why roughly one-third of the store is committed to graphic art, furnishings and negative space.

In a secluded nook of the men's section, shelving units ornamented with rich wood display neatly pressed tailored shirts. The units resemble closets more closely than they do merchandising fixtures — one of the several design elements within Ben Sherman that extends the store's residential appeal.

Most of the store's color palette is dominated by stark white walls. The intention of this was to bring a contemporary edge to the space, without distracting from the interior's atmosphere. The same reasoning guided Bergmeyer to encase the store in glass. "To create a clean look we used a lot of glass, and most of the finishes used on the walls are clean and white — made to disappear," Estabrooks explains. The all-glass exterior displays are detailed with faceless mannequins that can be seen up and down the Miracle Mile Shops. They sport Ben Sherman clothing and stand against a white background plastered with Ben Sherman graphics --trademark crests and pictures of rebellious youths.

The Las Vegas location, like typical Ben Sherman stores, is unique in that it bestows greater importance on establishing ambience than it does on inundating consumers with merchandise. The brand that has always been able to convey a certain coolness, now has a cool new prototype in which to display it. As Nevin says, "Ben Sherman still has a vibe, but now it has a look."

To e-mail this article or read a one-on-one with Bergmeyer's Joseph P, Nevin Jr., visit www.ddimagazine.com/magazine.

PHOTO (COLOR): An armchair, cushioned in a pink British flag, helps to mark an entrance to the store's women's apparel.

By Angela Malta

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