Today marks the reopening of Saint Laurent’s Sloane Street store after an extensive and meticulous refurbishment under the watchful eye of Creative Director Hedi Slimane.

Knightsbridge has been without its sleek fix of Saint Laurent for a full year while the concept store was fitted out. No four day through-the-night turnaround here. That’s a year’s dead commercial rent on London’s prime real estate. And a measure of the brand’s success that it can close a high net store for that length of time.

Slimane’s concept for the store, which has already been rolled out in Shanghai and LA, focuses on ‘a modernist approach to the French decorative arts’.

This translates as black silk marble and Art Deco-inspired nickel and gold-plated brass. We were invited to preview the store yesterday on a cold, torrentially rainy day. Its white light shone into the dark day like a light from a UFO.

Inside, it’s really very cool. A mirrored staircase, row upon row of shoes and bags sit upon boxes evoking Yves Saint Laurent’s home at rue de Babylone, the new model Saint Laurent packaging mirrors Le Smoking, even the grosgrain used on the ribbons mimics the fabric used on the lapels of a tuxedo.

There's also exclusives in store too. These kitten heels, variations of which gained a heap of praise at the spring/summer 2014 show, have sell-out written all over them.  

The Slimane way to wear kitten heels this season is with socks.

The new Saint Laurent opens today.

Saint Laurent 171-172 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9QG - 020 7235 6706