DALLAS & PARIS, Dec 3, 2009 / FW/ — Calling a spade a spade, A.F. Vandevorst is launching its latest project, GUERILLA STORE – AKTION I, a pop up store that will be open in Antwerp, Belgium from Dec 17, 2009 to Mar 31, 2010, after which it will move to a new city for others to discover.
Pop up stores are a type of guerilla-style marketing wherein like the merchants of yore, they set shop from place to place wherever and whenever a fair is being held. The medieval fairs merchants might be gone, but the concept still lives on.
Speaking of concepts, the idea behind the GUERILLA STORE – AKTION I is to create a space in which people can fall into the world of A.F. Vandevorst; such a world that includes fashion, and more.
The Antwerp store will just be the first one; after which it will be reconstructed in a different city, even country. Every store will be installed in an unoccupied space for a maximum of three months.
Unoccupied premises will include former boutiques, launderettes, bakeries and other unique places. The search for each new space will add a challenge as well as provoke creativity in the project of the guerilla store.
The guerilla stores will house all collections: A.F. Vandevorst, A. Friend, Fetish, Nightfall and Relics. In addition to this, all artistic collaborations between A.F. Vandevorst and others will be revealed and some of these will allow the customer to interact.
Some of the institutions which A.F. Vandevorst would like to support will have a place in the concept, the first of which is the Dr. Guislain Museum from Ghent, Belgium. Without the involvement of others, the Aktion I project will not be guerilla. Therefore, most of the concept will be made possible due to the help of sponsors and other A.F. Vandevorst minded friends.
[MARI DAVIS]