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The Honda Super-N is a mish-mash of design influences. Perhaps someone at Honda thought it would be amusing to make an electric car, shaped and styled like a retro games console and call it the ‘Super-N’. How they haven’t had ‘cease and desists’ from Nintendo’s famously litigious legal team, I don’t know, but I’m here for it.

While some brands – *cough* Renault – have been leaning into more literal reimagining and namesake recreations of ‘80s icons, Honda has chosen to take some small inspiration from its 1983 City Turbo II and make something completely new-tendo instead.

Based on the company’s beloved Kei car platform, the Super-N draws on Honda’s extensive experience in this segment but pushes beyond strict Kei car dimensions. Seeking better handling performance and more aesthetic creativity, large project leader at Honda R&D, Hidetomo Horita-san says, ‘With Kei cars, automatically, the design becomes boxy and not very beautiful.

‘In order to appeal to a European market, not that the car was designed for Europe, but as Europe is one of the leading regions when it comes to design, we were happy to go beyond the Kei car boundaries because that gave us a lot of possibilities and a degree of freedom in terms of the design.’

A wider track and longer body balance the practicality and sporty dynamics the team was looking for. Its Kei car roots are a refreshing reminder that small cars can be just as practical, if not more, than modern SUVs – forget the sloping roofs, porthole rear windows and shoe box boots.

As seen in the Honda Jazz, the Super-N is given the ‘magic seats’ treatment in the rear. This allows the back seats to fold completely flat or the seat bases lift up so you can use the rear floor space for taller items. As someone who uses a three door Polo like a van, this speaks to my Facebook marketplace soul.

Normally, practical means boring but Honda is bringing back the hot hatch vibe with a vibrant purple colour scheme inside and out. Boost Violet Pearl is the new paint colour which sounds like a power-up in Mario Kart but was actually inspired by the haiku-worthy phenomenon of lightning rising up from the earth in stunning bolts of purple energy, a fitting visualisation for a sporty little EV.

In keeping with Kei car regulations, in its normal modes, the Super-N’s power output is limited to 47kW but press the ‘boost’ button on the steering wheel and it delivers 70kW. Unlike boost buttons in the likes of the Genesis GV60, this isn’t a short-term burst for overtaking, if so inclined, you can drive around in boost mode all the time, like electric NOS that won’t blow up your engine.

Inside, the ambient blue lighting switches to purple, the dash display is reconfigured with three dials along the bottom showing battery temperature, rpm and power output – think Tron but on four wheels. Usually, that’s where performance modes stop, but Honda was keen to incorporate noticeable mechanical changes as well as a new soundtrack.

Simulated gear shifts combined with faux engine and exhaust noise coming through the Bose sound system make you almost forget you’re driving an EV; and for any would-be boy racers it comes with a ridiculously oversized subwoofer under the boot floor which sells the authenticity of the combustion sounds. You can even use the flappy paddles in ‘manual’ mode to make it ‘redline’ before changing ‘gears’. It’s very ‘80s kitsch, which is kind of the point.

Horita-san explains that the idea was to give drivers an instinctual perception of the vehicle’s dynamic behaviour in any given moment through audible cues. He says, ‘The most efficient and the most comprehensive way to transport that information is an engine sound, because an engine sound has the advantage that it changes its specific characteristic of sound, depending on the rpm.’

It’s a novelty but a welcome one that feels far better executed than the obnoxious artificial canned vroom vrooms in the Abarth 500e. Although it’s not a sports car, the firm bolsters and grippy fabric on the front seats hug you and give you the confidence to have some fun. Most of the time, just the front seats will be occupied, but two passengers in the back have a surprisingly generous amount of space for such a small car. So everyone can jump in for the late-night McDonalds runs and womp-womp bass sessions.

The Super-N has captured the magic of what hot hatches were in a sensible yet silly way, much like the salarymen of Tokyo clocking off after a long day in the office to sink a couple Asahi and sing karaoke until the early morning. Cruising around in its Econ, City or Normal modes, it’s a city commuter’s best friend: quiet, relaxing, top notch sound system, easy touchscreen interface. Find a back road on the outskirts of town, however, and it’s impressive how Honda has given such a small lightweight car so much dynamic presence.

In real world conditions, expected range is around 128 miles but city driving only will up that to 199 miles. It’s positioned as a fun second car or a less likely sole car for younger drivers, competing against the likes of the BMW 1 series and Audi A1, which believe it or not, due their competitive financing options, are now the first cars for many Gen-Z and Alpha drivers. In comparison the Super-N is a compelling option coming in at £18,995. If I had to choose my first car today, I’d be hard pushed not to press start on the Super-N.

Honda Super-N, from £18,995, Honda.co.uk, @HondaUKcars

After more than a decade since the initial idea for a James Turrell Skyspace at the Aros museum in Aarhus was hatched, Turrell’s one hundredth Skyspace, As Seen Below—The Dome, is now finally open.

It’s a massive feat of construction, carried out immaculately by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, who also built the Aros museum. Forty metres across and sixteen metres high, The Dome is one of the largest of Turrell’s Skyspaces. Here, as in much of the artist works, the architecture is not simply a placeholder for his art, but an integral part of it.

'The architecture holds the sky close, so you recognize that the act of looking is the work itself. Here, light isn’t description, it’s the substance you stand within,' Turrell explains.

Visitors approach the dome through a one-hundred-metre-long corridor below the museum and emerge into the massive space, resembling something from a science-fiction film set, void of any decoration. There is simply the dome, a gently sloping floor made of concrete tiles with a central circular “eye” made of Norwegian granite directly below the six metre wide aperture in the centre of the dome, and a circular bench around the perimeter set at a slightly smaller diameter than the dome itself.

The interior of the dome itself is constructed of individual petal-shaped fibreglass panels that have been smoothed with putty by one dedicated construction worker called Heinrich. 'He basically did the whole dome himself, as he wasn’t comfortable letting any other people work on this,' says Jette Birkeskov, Partner-in-Charge and Project Director at Schmidt Hammer Lassen, who, together with Morten Schmidt, has played a central role in the collaboration throughout the project’s development.

The dome is finished in three coats of matt white paint and 1,100 LED light sources around the perimeter light up the walls, contrasting with the sky as seen through the aperture. The magic happens when Turrell changes a seemingly grey Danish sky into bright blue, green, pink or purple. Our eyes deceive us, and we adjust the colour of the sky to contrast with the colour of the walls. So what at one moment looks like a bright blue sky (due to a white/yellow contrasting light on the dome’s walls) slowly turns green, then grey and pink as Turrell adjust the colour temperature of the LED light within the dome.

Turrell’s Skyspace requires time to fully appreciate. It is the subtle changes in light, wind, a sudden glimpse of a bird flying above the aperture or someone dropping a phone on the dome floor reverberating throughout the dome, that create a unique experience in time and space. No two visitors will have the exact same experience, and no two visits will feel the same. This is the power of Turrell’s art and it will provide a huge draw for visitors to Aros for decades to come.

aros.dk

The subject of conversation this Paris Fashion Week Men’s rarely strayed from the oppressive temperatures as a Europe-wide heatwave engulfed the city (with the mercury tipping 40 degrees, it was the epicentre of the weather phenomenon). Shows were moved from the heat of the day to early morning; venues came with paramedics on standby; and the endless flickering of fans provided the backdrop to almost every show. Marking the closing act of a sweltering fashion month, it left questions of how sustainable a fashion week is in the heat of mid-June, should this become the new normal.

And yet, the show went on. Across a six-day schedule, there were shows from fashion’s biggest houses – notably Saint Laurent, Dior, Celine and Louis Vuitton (the latter gauged the mood by making its show set a beach with an enormous ‘tidal wave’ at the end of the runway) – as well as those that define the cultural zeitgeist, like Rick Owens (his looks came with pre-installed air conditioning), Dries Van Noten (Julian Klausner’s ethereal lightness looked particularly attuned to the heat), and Willy Chavarria (the American designer talked finding joy in times of ‘chaos and darkness’). Elsewhere, Nick Wakeman hosted her debut runway show for Studio Nicholson, 16 years after its founding, and Kiko Kostadinov marked 10 years of his own eponymous label.

As the week concludes, Wallpaper* looks back over Paris Fashion Week Men’s to pick our highlights – from Jonathan Anderson’s ‘sampled and remixed’ collection for Dior (inspired by the music of Fred Again, who also soundtracked the show), to Michael Rider’s brilliant first menswear show for Celine, which closed out proceedings on Sunday.

Saint Laurent

Anthony Vaccarello has made the Tadao Ando-designed rotunda of the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection gallery the location for his Saint Laurent runway shows for a number of seasons – a suitably monumental setting for the vision he has honed at the house over the past decade, one of cinematic sensuality and the uncompromising repetition of a single silhouette in a given collection. This season, the space was transformed by Fujiko Nakaya’s Cloud #07156, currently on display in the institution. The installation, one of a series of ‘fog’ sculptures by the Japanese artist, sees water vapour emitted from the floor, before being manipulated by a series of high-pressure pumps and nozzles for a 16-minute display (the technology was originally developed in 1969 alongside engineer Thomas Mee). ‘Fujiko Nakaya does not depict fog; she sculpts it,’ says art critic Anne‑Marie Duguet in the installation’s accompanying catalogue.

It set the scene for a collection in which Vaccarello explored the idea of ‘restraint as seduction’, the lingering fog around the models a symbolic gesture of the kind of undefinable desire that certain figures can provoke. ‘Nobody is trying to seduce you,’ he said of this season’s protagonist. ‘What makes them seductive is that they do not need to.’ Touchstones for this figure were ‘Marguerite Duras, whose writing found meaning in what remained unsaid; Tina Chow, whose legendary style embraced reduction rather than excess; and the fictional Mr Ripley, whose outward composure concealed a far more complicated interior life,’ as he explained via the accompanying notes.

It led to a collection defined by lightness and simplicity: there were featherweight ribbed knits that traced the contours of the body, shrunken waistcoats worn with nothing beneath, and the reemergence of the windbreaker, here in breezy hues of yellow and orange (Vaccarello said he imagined it as a collection which could be easily packed into a suitcase for travel). Tailoring this season remained broad across the shoulder, though had an easy, oversized line, while nods to the opulence of Yves Saint Laurent came in jewellery-like buttons and trench coats rendered in molten gold. Though the use of the luxurious hue was less about excess, Vaccarrello argued; rather, it was used to venerate the garment itself, ‘transforming the utilitarian trench into something extraordinary’. Jack Moss

Auralee

Auralee’s Ryota Iwai dealt with the expectation-versus-reality of the summer season in his S/S 2027 collection for his Japan-based label – the total vacation switch-off we fantasise about while on home soil, and then the slightly uncanny version of ourselves that actually shows up, still plugged in but perhaps a little more susceptible to chance.

Played out in three chapters: ‘The anticipation of departure, the sense of freedom that travel awakens, and the return to everyday life – subtly changed, soaking in the afterglow of the trip,’ looks became more relaxed as things progressed. What started as summery – but still smart – tailoring in office-appropriate blues and greys gave way into softer beach cover-up styles, brighter hues, and the addition of cute trinkets. India Birgitta Jarvis

Louis Vuitton

Pharrell Williams drew an unlikely yet astute comparison between surfers and dandies for Louis Vuitton’s S/S 2027 collection, noting their mutual reverence for performance, craft and travel. Where the dandy peacocks in a more urban context, the surfer commands the beach and rides the waves, but both are drawn by impulse and a certain non-conformity. In fact, ‘dude’, that enduring hippie slang which calls to mind tousled beach-waves and shark-tooth necklaces, used to mean dandy, once upon a time.

The two archetypes converged within Williams’ artfully staged show – a beach scene with real sand, boardwalk and an eight-metre-tall wave set within the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. Classic city pieces, including two-piece suits and collared shirts, were given the surf treatment with tailored jackets constructed in neoprene and what the brand described as ‘hand-spun’ textures. Blue was the prevailing colour, from flashes of ultramarine to dusty-shaded denim which appeared time-worn and sun-bleached. This was not just a tribute – Louis Vuitton has pledged its support to reef conservation projects and enlisted the help of competitors at the Tahiti Pro, taking place this August, to monitor progress. IBJ

Dior

This season, Jonathan Anderson drafted the British producer and musician Fred Again to soundtrack his S/S 2027 show, held at Paris’ Musée Nissim de Camondo, a decorative arts museum in the 8th arrondissement. Fred Again, who produced songs for artists including Skepta and Charli XCX, rose to prominence with his three-volume Actual Life mixtapes, an aural diary of the years 2020-2022 which comprised voice notes from friends, spoken word and samples, alongside his own music. Anderson said that Fred Again’s creative process had inspired his approach to this season, which he described as ‘sampling and remixing to carve out new meaning for what’s known’.

As such, Anderson presented a collection which traversed eras – frock coats and 19th-century embroidered met tattered denim, baggy polo shirts and leather pants – while transforming familiar garments as one might remix a record. This included the tuxedo, this season’s protagonist, which shape-shifted across the collection, reimagined in a draped, organza-like fabric printed to look like tailoring wool, elongated into a robe-like coat, or transformed into a windbreaker-style jacket with a toggle fastening at its hem. Elsewhere, moments of eccentricity and play that have defined Anderson’s approach at both Dior and Loewe before it continued to come to the fore, from shimmering metallic jeans and zig-zag tote bags to corsage brooches and skewiff bow ties. ‘Fashion has to be enjoyable,’ he said. ‘It has to be fun.’ JM

Rick Owens

As Europeans across the board reckon with heatwave-proofing their homes, debating the merits of windows closed versus windows open and so on, Rick Owens was typically one step ahead. The S/S 2027 collection not only incorporated Adidas’ ClimaCool technology, but was supplemented with in-built fans and ice elements, creating a ‘personal air conditioning system’.

This technology means that Owens may have just cracked the technique for wearing all-black through the warmer months – and, to prove it, the 72-look collection was almost entirely black with the occasional contrasting buff-tone. In addition to the signature Rick Owens sharply elongated silhouette, S/S 2027 offered more sporty options, including track pants (with Adidas stripe) and puffer coats – ones which literally puffed, thanks to the air circulating within. IBJ

IM Men

‘In Praise of Bamboo Shadows’, as IM Men’s S/S 2027 was called, celebrated every conceivable association of the plant. Its usefulness and versatility as a material was expressed through fabric made from a blend of bamboo fibres and organic cotton, on which graphic designer Rikako Nagashima had printed shadowy patterns. Its deliciousness as an ingredient came through in supple leather bags, inspired by chimaki, a Japanese dish of steamed bamboo leaves filled with glutinous rice.

Most important of all were the aesthetic and cultural associations. The patterns cast by bamboo forests, light dappled in beams, was translated in a Japanese dyeing technique called ironaki, and the repeated straight lines created by the plant found their echo in hand-pleated pieces. Papery textured outerwear ‘[drew] inspiration from the jūnihitoe (the twelve-layered kimono) worn by Princess Kaguya in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, one of the oldest Japanese folktales,’ and denim in graduated colour evoked traditional ink wash paintings. IBJ

Dries Van Noten

Julian Klausner’s latest collection for Dries Van Noten came with a warning prior to the show: guests could expect to be subjected to extreme temperatures in the Tennis Club de Paris showspace due to the heatwave which continued into Thursday evening. So much so, on arrival, two paramedics stood on standby, ice lollies were distributed to guests, and fans were left on the seats which stretched the length of the monumental space. Luckily, this is a house with an enormous amount of goodwill, one which has extended from the eponymous Van Noten – the designer exited his brand in 2024 – to Klausner, who has astutely evolved the Belgian house’s codes with a series of lauded men’s and womenswear collections.

His S/S 2027 menswear outing was equally beguiling, a masterclass in lightness and beauty that more than distracted from the venue’s heat (in fact, the collection’s diaphanous layers looked all the more appealing). The inspiration had come from L’Après-midi d’un faune (The Faun’s Afternoon), an 1876 poem by Stéphane Mallarmé in which a ‘dream-like creature’ wakes up in the woods having dreamt of dancing nymphs; in his slumbering state, he cannot remember if the scene happened or not. ‘I was moved by the haziness the verses depict, by the constant blurring between the real and the imagined and by the fluidity with which the senses and fantasy slip one into the other,’ said Klausner.

In the collection, this feeling was conjured in the reimagining of a ‘masculine wardrobe’ in delicate, sheer fabrications or adorned with embellishment – from a breezy parka decorated with transparent paillettes, to vividly printed silk trench coats and safari shirts – while colours moved from watercolour hues and sun-bleached pastels to inky black and navy. ‘The idea of sensuality guided many of our choices, colours and fabrications, rendering wardrobe staples as clothing that feels soft and intimate,’ Klausner continued. ‘Like a dream that vanishes upon waking up, I hope everything feels loose, delicate, easy to remove, ready to fly away.’ JM

Studio Nicholson

‘This is who we are,’ declared Studio Nicholson, the British brand that held its first runway show in its 16-year history as part of Paris Fashion Week Men’s. The collection doubled down on its position as a leader of discerning, minimalist style: high-quality fabrics presented with low intervention, expertly cut and relatively unisex. The S/S 2027 show included both men’s and womenswear, but the majority of Studio Nicholson pieces could be worn interchangeably – a shared wardrobe for tasteful couples.

Although this was their first show, in ways it also served as a retrospective. ‘The Sorte’ trouser, which has been a mainstay for Studio Nicholson since the very beginning, opened the show in navy gabardine, and slightly barrel-legged jeans (the brand is the well-established go-to for this cut) appeared multiple times throughout. There was an expansion in other categories, particularly accessories and shoes, which included, in true summer style, espadrilles, flip-flops and garden clogs. IBJ

Junya Watanabe

The number of collaborators listed in the show-notes for Junya Watanabe’s S/S 2027 collection totalled 17: from other clothing brands, including Carhartt, Kappa, and New Balance, to every fashion assistant’s bête noir… DHL. The multinational’s logo appeared on caps created by another collaborator, artist Kota Okuda, which were blingified with ostentatious gold chains and strings of pearls.

Costume jewellery ran through the collection, which closed the gap between traditional tailoring techniques and more recent sportswear tropes, with more than a sprinkle of 1980s references throughout. There was a stone-washed denim jacket, cropped short and worn on top of a Wall Street blue-and-white striped poplin shirt. Tracksuits were high-sheen and colour-blocked, and bouclé accents and the occasional exaggerated epoulette called to mind classic yuppie style, albeit with more swagger. IBJ

Willy Chavarria

Since transplanting from New York, Willy Chavarria’s Paris shows have become a highlight of the schedule – previous outings have included a near-religious experience in the American Church of Paris, while last season’s all-singing, all-dancing spectacular played out like a telenovela on steroids. This season, Chavarria chose Espace Niemeyer, the Oscar Niemeyer-designed former Headquarters of the French Communist Party, for the show, which took place under its futuristic subterranean dome. The setting felt apt: the utopian architecture provided a reflection of a collection that Chavarria said was about a search for joy amid a time of ‘chaos and darkness’.

Soundtracked by a quartet of musicians, he titled the S/S 2027 outing Comunión (flyers for the show posited it as ‘New Age Group Therapy’) and drafted a group of friends and collaborators, including Bella Freud and Romeo Beckham, to walk the runway. Their looks continued to hone Chavarria’s signature aesthetic, one which reimagines work- and sportswear silhouettes in expansive proportions (and with new elegance) while his growing womenswear offering riffs on mid-century silhouettes.

This season, vivid colours were inspired by the work of Louis Carlos Bernal, and bolstered the joyful mood, while an exposure of the body – T-shirts were pushed over the head to reveal models’ chests; shorts sliced so short that the pockets hung beneath the hem – lent a pulsating sensual undercurrent. ‘There are two strong feelings in this collection,’ he told Wallpaper*. ‘One is joy, colour, levity, and playfulness. The other is shock and awe.’ JM

Kiko Kostadinov

Kiko Kostadinov was in a self-referential mood this season, which he began by ‘looking back at the minimal geometric forms of the previous season and asking what could be challenged and pushed further’. With engineer-like precision, the collection emphasised structure and materiality, eschewing embellishment for a streamlined finish.

There was an air of Y2K cyber-core about the 33-look collection, which borrowed its colour scheme from the Apple iMac G3 range: turquoise, dove grey, grape. The canvas interventions of the late Italian artist Agostino Bonalumi were referenced through shape and drape, and through the use of internal boning to create ‘curved, rippling protrusions, emphasising a tension between softness and structure’. IBJ

Wooyoungmi

Madame Woo was searching for a universality in her research for S/S 2027, particularly what various cultures and geographies have in common when it comes to reading joyfulness in apparel. Her answer was threefold: ‘light, colour and the imprint of individuality’.

Light was articulated through surface treatments which gave garments an aged appearance, as if sun-bleached. Colour, mostly pastel but with occasional flashes of vivid chartreuse or tangerine, was applied liberally. And a sense of individuality came from pieces appliqued with playful, juvenile pictures, leather keyrings hanging from belts, and ties worn rebelliously around the head. Applying these principles imbued the 47-look collection with a feeling of levity which can be recognised the world over. IBJ

Celine

Taking place on the final day of menswear fashion month, American designer Michael Rider presented one of the collections of the season with his first standalone men’s show for Celine, held in an all-white showspace constructed in the Tennis Club de Paris. Honing an already distinctive aesthetic which is based on the idea of developing an evolving wardrobe – and combining an American preppiness with the Parisian insouciance synonymous with the house – Rider said he was thinking less about thematics, and more about what he (and his team) actually want to wear. ‘[It’s about] enjoying what we do in the studio, and desiring it ourselves, all of it, the clothes and the characters,’ he said.

Besides a multitude of great clothes (this collection will be much-imitated, particularly in its playful, thrown-on styling), what is striking about Rider is his ability to evoke a ‘Celine man’ (or indeed woman), despite the eclecticism in the looks on show. Much of this is down to his own belief in what he puts down the runway: a navy cummerbund over a red sweater, an enormous bag slotted into the crook of the arm, ballooning pants, a mix of the slouchy and the shrunken – these are familiar garments that he has somehow made feel entirely new. And, while the show might have presented these pieces in more unconventional combinations, take these looks apart and this is a wardrobe that can be adopted by a wide gamut of men. ‘It’s about building towards something bigger,’ he said. ‘Something with legs, and roots.’ JM

A minimalist, new virtual house design by Miami-based studio Oppenheim Architecture allows you to try-before-you-buy in an immersive experience that celebrates design and digital advances. Initiated by client Swiss frameless door and window specialists Sky-Frame, the project, which launches today (29 June 2026) explores the boundaries of digital design and virtual worlds through the practice's sophisticated aesthetic.

Take a taster tour of this virtual house by Oppenheim Architecture

The project is a subtly abstract house design - a single-level, long and linear residence clad in seamless glazing. The residence features a pared-down aesthetic (the Swiss manufacturer is famous for producing virtually frameless openings) and a sculptural timber and concrete look.

The design was developed as a somewhat 'infinite' design, conceived to allow the creativity to run wild and potential to be imagined. As a result, the house can be seen in two distinct settings - visitors can experience it in a sun-drenched Miami beach scenery, or a snowy Swiss peak, the Matterhorn in the distance.

'The brief was to create an experience that captures the essence of Sky-Frame: openness, continuity and a seamless connection between inside and outside. By collaborating with Oppenheim Architecture, we were able to explore these ideas without physical constraints and demonstrate the emotional power of architecture in an entirely new way,' says Andrea Zürcher, CMO at Sky-Frame.

'Evolving the original thinking, together with Beat and Rasem, into this virtual dream world, was a really fun experience right from the start. We enjoyed working creatively to build our own ‘dream house’, as much about the beautiful design, as the conceptual thinking - and we enjoyed the process of being the client!'

The idea is that prospective clients - customers, including contractors, designers, architects and the general public - can book an appointment for a private viewing, where they can explore the look and feel of Sky-Frame's product through Oppenheim Architecture's sleek design.

'The brief was deliberately open, which is both a gift and a discipline,' says Oppenheim Architecture's Beat Huesler. 'Sky-Frame asked us to design a house that was architecturally rigorous but not site-specific. A residence that could exist anywhere, yet feels entirely at home in each location. The only non-negotiable was the landscape: every space had to earn its relationship to the view. That is very aligned with how we at Oppenheim Architecture (OA) approach architecture more broadly. We started with two concrete planes and let everything else follow from that discipline - services hidden, structure quiet, the frame of the window becoming the frame of the world outside.'

'We value Oppenheim’s visionary architecture and their philosophical approach to light, space, and integration with the surroundings,' says Zürcher. 'When approached, they immediately understood both the challenge and the opportunity of the project. The collaboration was based on a shared perspective and mindset on architecture.'

The architects were also challenged and pleased by the project. Huesler adds: 'The freedom to design without the constraints of a real site, a real budget, or a real planning authority and then to discover that this freedom actually demanded greater discipline, not less. When you remove every practical excuse, you are left with pure architectural intention.'

'The collaboration with The Boundary also pushed us to think about how architecture is experienced sequentially, almost cinematically. Miami Beach and Zermatt - each setting asked the house to perform differently, and watching it hold its identity across all three was genuinely satisfying.'

oppenoffice.com

sky-frame.com

RH has arrived in London, and it's done so in style. The American luxury home furnishings brand – formerly known as Restoration Hardware – has chosen 7 Burlington Gardens, one of the city's most storied addresses, for its new flagship.

The project marks RH's first London outpost, following its 2023 debut at Aynho Park – a 400-year-old landmark estate in Banbury – and subsequent openings in Paris, Milan, Brussels, Madrid, Munich and Düsseldorf. But London, it seems, demanded something different in scale and ambition.

The venue is Uxbridge House, a rare surviving Palladian mansion designed in 1721 by Italian-born architect Giacomo Leoni for the 1st Earl of Darnley. Restored and reimagined alongside three adjoining landmark properties, it now houses what RH bills as the largest curated collection of luxury home furnishings in the world. Working with Foster + Partners, the brand has unified four buildings – spanning five levels and over 5,000 square metres – into a single destination encompassing retail, dining, design and culture.

Visitors arrive through a Roman Doric portico into the Architecture & Design Library, where herringbone floors of European white oak and museum-style plinths frame a collection of rare classical books. The centrepiece is a 1521 first Italian edition of Vitruvius' De Architectura, a foundational text of Western architecture. Through Leonardo da Vinci's later interpretation, its principles of proportion helped shape the design philosophy that continues to influence RH today.

A scenic lift designed by Foster + Partners – its shaft clad in champagne gold-finished steel and glass – connects all five levels. The Wine Bar and Tea Salon, finished in Bronze Amani Spanish marble, sits nearby, while deeper in the mansion the former banking hall has been reborn as the The Dining Room: a 136-seat restaurant where champagne-lacquered Roman columns rise nearly eight metres to a coffered ceiling hand-finished in gold leaf, tiered chandeliers of hand-blown Venetian glass suspended from mirrored skylights above. The menu leans into British classics like rib roast and fish and chips, cooked on custom Molteni rotisseries.

Upstairs, the first floor's historic Piano Nobile state rooms retain their elaborately decorated 18th-century ceilings by master plasterer Joseph Rose, now framing RH Interiors collections. The second floor is arguably more dramatic still. Designer and hotelier Anouska Hempel has created two spaces: the The Perch at RH London, with its smoked-glass aviary canopy, blackened églomisé walls and bar of pure Absoluto Nero marble, which opens onto a terrace garden of laurel trees, diamond-laid marble floors with water rills and grand glass birdcages evoking the domes of Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. Nearby, the World of RH Lounge is anchored by a 360-degree hologram floating within a case of bronze and fluted mirror.

The third floor, meanwhile, has been transformed into a sheltered garden oasis beneath a massive ridged skylight of triangular glass panels and hand-selected European white oak beams, housing RH Outdoor among fountains, pleached plane trees and open fireplaces.

Situated opposite the Royal Academy of Arts, between New Bond Street and Savile Row, the location is as deliberate as everything else here. RH London is a store, yes – but it's also a statement.

Fans of the eco-conscious 1 Hotel chain will now have yet another reason for visiting Japan, with the latest addition to the brand’s portfolio in Tokyo’s Akasaka neighbourhood. Featuring 211 rooms, including 24 suites and three penthouse suites, a gorgeous pool and hammam, a dedicated gin bar and delicious Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, guests might find it hard to actually leave and go explore the city, though.

Wallpaper* checks in at 1 Hotel Tokyo, Japan

What's on your doorstep?

Located right in the heart of the city, 1 Hotel is within walking distance of fun-loving Roppongi, shopping in Azabudai Hills and a 20min stroll to the Imperial Palace Gardens, but with the pool, Hamman, excellent coffee at the Neighbors coffee shop adjacent to the reception, you might find it hard to leave the hotel altogether.

Who is behind the design?

Housed on the upper floors of the Akasaka Trust Tower, the interior design has been put in the very capable hands of Jun Aizaki of Crème. A stunning stone wall at the entrance on the ground floor sets the tone of the natural and eclectic palette of materials used throughout the space; distinctly Japanese Oya stone, reclaimed wood, handblown glass and hemp cord lamps. With a carefully selected variety of lamps and bespoke furniture, the design never gets repetitive, and there is a clear reference to the local setting (moss, bonsai, earthen walls) without the design being overly Japanese.

The room to book

Even the standard rooms feel spacious and inviting with ample use of subdued colours, wooden furniture and carefully selected lighting fixtures. The rawness of, for instance, the rough edges of the bathroom vanity, marble counters, reclaimed wood furniture and wood panelling adds an honesty to the sophisticated design that renders the rooms very cosy.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

The hotel’s main dining room, NiNi (a name meaning ‘two-two’ in Japanese), takes its inspiration from Mediterranean cuisine, while making abundant use of local Japanese ingredients, and is headed by Nikko Policarpio. Dinner offers fresh seafood dishes such as botan shrimp carpaccio, hamaguri clams (served with cucumber mignonette, yuzu kosho and olive oil Caviar), roasted scallops, homemade pasta (the zucchini ravioli being our favourite), simple charcoal grilled meat dishes (including chicken confit from Iwate Prefecture, pork chop from Yamagata and Tajima Wagyu) and a selection of vegetable side dishes.

Breakfast is the perfect blend of made-to-order mains (perfectly cooked omelettes, mushroom tartines, waffles, French toast, etc) and a carefully selected, but not overly complicated buffet.

Where to switch off

Guests can indulge in various treatments and massages (including hard-to-find in Tokyo couples massages) at The Bamford Wellness Spa, and are also given free use of the small but gorgeous pool and adjacent Hamman steam rooms.

The verdict

We love the stylish, honest and natural design throughout the hotel. Dining at NiNi is a treat, and with a well-selected wine and impressive non-alcoholic selection too, a new favourite addition to Tokyo’s vibrant dining scene. The rooms come with a well-stocked minibar and the pool and Hammam onsite, and delicious coffee at the hotel’s own coffee bar Neighbors, makes it hard to actually leave the hotel.

Book 1 Hotel Tokyo, 2 Chome-17-22 Akasaka, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan. Rates from $550