The Karen Millen store in Lower Manhattan’s fashionable SoHo district, which was completed last month, is an example of a retailer responding sensitively to its local environment.

Designed by London consultancy Brinkworth – which has created 120 other Karen Millen stores globally – this flagship works with the building’s existing cast-iron shopfront and restored parquet floor, as well as replacing the original New York tin ceiling.

Brinkworth associate director Howard Smith said: “We took the building that was previously an art gallery and placed things in it, rather than changing the interior structure. This meant putting freestanding walls into the space to hang the merchandise on. The changing rooms are lower too, so it was almost like an installation, rather than a shopfit.”

The store uses a palette of wood, marble, glass and tin and the installed walls run the length of the shop. One is formed from a bevelled mirror, nicknamed “Vegas Glass” by Brinkworth, while the other is made of Carrera marble – a first for a Karen Millen store – and moulded into steps at the back of the shop to create a display platform.

In a nod to the semi-industrial heritage of many of the structures found in this part of New York, brickwork has been left exposed in large areas of the store, providing a contrast with the smooth, polished marble and glass materials in the mid-shop.

The fitting rooms, towards the rear, benefit from their proximity to the original windows, allowing natural daylight to penetrate the interior.