A bland and dated strip mall in Clifton, NJ, provided the setting for a much-loved online fashion brand’s first brick-and-mortar location. Since its inception in 2016, a purveyor of fashion-forward and accessible modest clothing, Veiled has amassed a loyal clientele eager to shop in person. Their pop-up store at Industry City in Brooklyn in 2023 attracted thousands of shoppers in a single day. Guided by the aesthetic vision of Veiled’s founders, the design brief called for a light-filled, modern yet warm space, using tactile materials that evoke tradition and heritage, and with a striking presence on the street.
Curving plaster walls soften the perimeter of the nearly 3,000 sq-ft shop floor, providing a backdrop for hanging garments and a vibrant and colorful “hijab wall” at the entrance. The floor is punctuated by four oversized columns that display clothes and accessories.
A 22-ft custom cash wrap gently arcs in front of a highly textured plaster feature wall at the head of the store. Recessed cove lighting accentuates the hand relief of the wall, which bears the store’s name. A field of diminutive, recessed lights twinkle from the 13-foot-tall ceiling while wall-washers throw light on the plasterwork of the walls and columns.’
The busily striped and tired façade was pared back to its basic geometries and then reworked, unifying an elegant façade with a new set of central doors and large display windows on either side. Whereas the old asphalt directly abutted the mall, a generous 10-foot sidewalk was added, and the parking lot restriped, moving the cars away from the entrances. The result is a graceful and inviting space that bears no trace of the original.
