LONDON – Manolo Blahnik has unveiled its first store in China’s capital at SKP Beijing, one of the nation’s landmark luxury retailers.
The store is the brand’s 21st retail location globally, and sits in the mall’s footwear section. It was designed by the brand’s CEO, Kristina Blahnik, who began her career as an architect, with help from spatial design specialists at the Shanghai-based BYB Vision.
Inspired by the living room interiors style of the brand’s Burlington Arcade store in London, the Beijing location has a geometric design. The flooring is minimal and modern, while the furniture has been designed by the Beijing-based Chen Darui.
“We are delighted to open our first boutique in Beijing at SKP, an exceptional destination for luxury. This opening represents an exciting step in our continued growth in Mainland China and brings the Manolo Blahnik world to a new audience in Beijing,” said Blahnik, whose uncle founded the brand in 1970.
The luxury footwear and accessories brand started its big retail push in China after winning a trademark dispute after a 22-year legal battle in the country.
As reported, the company has established a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in China, where it recently secured the rights to use its brand name after more than two decades of legal wrangling.
In 2022, the Supreme People’s Court of China, the highest court in the country, ordered the invalidation of an unlawful Manolo Blahnik trademark that had been registered by a local businessman in 2000.
The brand opened its first China location at the Plaza 66 luxury shopping mall in downtown Shanghai in 2024.
At the time, Blahnik told WWD that expanding into China “is not about huge commercial success, but about telling the right stories” and getting the right products into the market.
Blahnik said the focus in China is on storytelling and hosting small, curated events for customers to “convey the ideas behind the collection, the construction of the shoes, and all the things that make us who we are. We’re really telling this story from the heart — and so grateful to be able to tell it.”
Feting the opening, the SKP Beijing location will offer an exclusive version of the brand’s popular satin pump Nadira in baby pink with leaf-inspired crystal embellishment.