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Experience Barbie® Flagship with Chute Gerdeman
In celebration of Barbie’s 50th year, Mattel opened the first ever Barbie flagship store earlier this month in Shanghai, China. Partnering with the world’s premier toy company, Chute Gerdeman Retail has created Barbie-themed experiences within the store, including a Fashion Runway just for girls as well as a Design Center where budding fashion designers can create their own look for Barbie.
Opening on Shanghai’s trendy Huaihai Road, Barbie Shanghai offers six floors of all things Barbie. Barbie Shanghai is more than a store; it’s a place where the spirit of Barbie comes to life and girls’ dreams really can come true.
The Barbie-themed experiences at House of Barbie Shanghai include a Barbie Fashion Runway and Barbie Design Center. At the Barbie Fashion Runway, girls can experience being a part of a real runway show. Girls can choose outfits from racks and racks of dresses, costumes and shoes, and also receive hair and make-up treatments. Learning poise and gaining confidence, aspiring stylists take the stage in real time debuting their creations in the Barbie Fashion Café under the lights and in front of the cameras; family and friends get the VIP treatment as well. The experience is captured with fun mementos of the runway show, including a personalized fashion magazine cover and a fashion Look Book, all with Barbie’s signature.
In the Barbie Design Center, girls get a glimpse into one of the most carefully guarded secrets in the design world: how to design a real Barbie doll! Creativity reigns as girls become fashion designers for the day, selecting their own look for Barbie from a huge range of wardrobe choices. The world of fashion design becomes real for the girls and their chaperones as they learn how fashion collections are created. Girls take home their own Barbie creation in a custom carrying case along with keepsakes from the experience.
In creating the Barbie Design Center and Fashion Runway Show, the Chute Gerdeman design team integrated the powerful Barbie brand essence with a girl-centric point of view. Chute Gerdeman took the lead on all aspects of creating the themed experiences: crowd management, personalized staffing and attention, time sequencing and audience participation in addition to collaborating with an international project team to seamlessly integrate unique, CG-designed environments and brand communications into the larger Barbie Shanghai identity.
Girls who visit Barbie Shanghai will be treated to a day they’ll never forget, where the magic of Barbie is alive and girls discover talents and use their imagination to create their own special Barbie day.
Barbie, the iconic brand in Mattel’s portfolio, sets the international standard for fashion and culture; since her debut, Barbie has been loved for 50 years for her fabulous fashion sense and accessories. Equally important, Barbie empowers girls through her intelligence, confidence, and inspiration to be anything they want to be. With the opening of Barbie Shanghai, girls of all ages can experience the spectacular world of Barbie in a destination created just for them…a place that is unapologetically girl.
Barbie Shanghai has gotten the world's attention; check out some of the birthday girl's recent press::
Chute was fortunate to be part of a talented global team responsible for bringing Barbie to Shanghai:
BIG acted as brand steward throughout the development of the store. From developing the initial creative concept with Richard Dickson and Mattel, including research and focus groups with mothers and daughters in China, to selecting core creative partners to designing the key visual identity element that runs throughout the store, BIG provided overall creative direction support during the development stages of the project.
Slade Architecture was responsible for the design of the interior and exterior of the House of Barbie, including fixtures, finishes, and furnishings. Charged with the realization of the first physical space to fully develop the new, broader vision for Barbie, they developed a spatial vocabulary and aesthetic that merged the historic/ classic heritage of the brand with a fashion-forward, modern aesthetic infused with a sense of fun and whimsy.
Working with Mattel, Slade led the creative team through the design of the project. Slade developed all aspects of the architectural expression of the project, from the façade to the smallest touch points that together define the overall vision and experience of House of Barbie Shanghai.
KSA Shanghai provided retail operations planning and support for Mattel and the rest of the design team.
ADI served as the local architect/architect of record, overseeing all local requirements, documentation, and code and legal requirements, as well as directing the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural engineers.
Radiance was responsible for lighting design throughout the interior and exterior of the store.
Jones Lang LaSalle provided local construction and project management services for Mattel.
David Laris Creates (DLC) provided restaurant operations planning and support for Mattel for the Pink Room Café and the Barbie Café, and developed a chocolate product range branded “Barbie loves chocolate by David Laris.”
In celebration of Chute Gerdeman’s 20th anniversary, we’re introducing a new Gist feature—20/20 Vision. Twenty years at the forefront of retail strategy and design has given us a unique perspective on our ever-changing industry, and our trendwatchers are bringing you their insights—everything from consumer trends and hot new concepts to cutting-edge materials and great do-it-yourself visual techniques. We’ll include five great finds in each quarterly Gist this year. By the end of our 20th year, you’ll have 20 great new ideas—all to give you a better view of the retail world. [More]
As you plan your visit to GlobalShop, we would like to invite you to learn why Chute Gerdeman Retail is one of America's fastest-growing and most respected branding and retail design firms.
Please join CG’s President and Chief Creative Director, Brian Shafley, and Paul Currie of Hamleys, the iconic U.K. toy retailer, as they share the story of Hamleys’ expansion into the Middle East, Ireland, India, and Asia. The two are featured speakers at the session “Interpreting Your Brand Globally,” on Tuesday, March 24, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. [More]
WSA Today invited Chute Gerdeman’s Bess Anderson, Director of Visual Strategy to critique Pashmere, a boutique in Smyrna, Georgia. In the January issue, Bess offers suggestions on how to give Pashmere a fresh, new look on a budget. [More]
Chute Gerdeman Retail’s store designs for Hamleys and Shopko both won first place awards in Chain Store Age’s 2008 Retail Store of the Year design competition. [More]
Chute Gerdeman’s logo designs for Swiss Farms, Shopko, Flippers Pizzeria, and the Association for Retail Environments were chosen as winners in the American Graphic Design & Advertising competition. The four logos will be published in American Graphic Design & Advertising 25, available November 2009. [More]
Denny and Joanna will be on the road this spring speaking at major industry events around the world. Check your calendars and hit the road with us. [More]
The Gist sat down with Wendy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Account Management, in its continued quest to get inside the creative minds at Chute Gerdeman Retail. Wendy joined Chute Gerdeman as the firm's first college intern and is now one of Chute Gerdeman’s most tenured executives. [More]
Do you get The Gist? If not 
The Barbie-themed experiences at House of Barbie Shanghai include a Barbie Fashion Runway and Barbie Design Center. At the Barbie Fashion Runway, girls can experience being a part of a real runway show. Girls can choose outfits from racks and racks of dresses, costumes and shoes, and also receive hair and make-up treatments. Learning poise and gaining confidence, aspiring stylists take the stage in real time debuting their creations in the Barbie Fashion Café under the lights and in front of the cameras; family and friends get the VIP treatment as well. The experience is captured with fun mementos of the runway show, including a personalized fashion magazine cover and a fashion Look Book, all with Barbie’s signature.
