Icicle, the Kering-backed Chinese fashion brand, has found its second home in China — a picturesque Chinese garden cluster adjacent to Hangzhou’s historic West Lake.
Dubbed ICCF Shanshui, which means ICCF Landscape, the store is located within Goushan Jiaoshe, or The Woodcutter’s Retreat on the Gou Hill, which is a small mixed-use commercial real estate development named after Chen Zhaolun, a Qing Dynasty literati.
Chen’s granddaughter, the poet and novelist Chen Duansheng, later wrote “Regenerated Destiny” here, a ballad novel that came to symbolize Hangzhou’s literary spirit.
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Icicle occupies a two-story gray-brick building in the complex, which was built in the early Republic China era and blends Chinese and Western influences. It was named a municipal cultural relic site in 2013.
By anchoring its second garden-themed store within a poetic setting, Icicle aims to bring the brand closer to a culture that harks back to the Southern Song dynasty, when the harmony of nature and man is blended into a living landscape, Icicle explained in a statement.
“With the arrival of ICCF Shanshui, this remarkable location will find new life, a serendipity that brings the poetic past right into a beautiful present in this vibrant city,” the statement added.
To interpret the cultural legacy of the location, Icicle tapped interior designer Xie Ke to lead the project.
The first phase of ICCF Shanshui opens onto a spacious yet pared-back lobby, setting a tone of restraint for the space. The first two floors of the west wing house Icicle womenswear, where French brown sandstone flooring and warm gray walls lend the space a natural atmosphere. Traditional sunmao, or mortise-and-tenon shelving systems, line the space, preserving the Chinese architectural technique. Elsewhere, a counter in solid timber and black lacquered paper anchors the space, underscoring the focus on tactile, natural materials.
The second floor, which houses more womenswear, is also home to the brand’s growing menswear line.
The space also houses a dedicated Carven boutique, conceived as the residence of a well-traveled woman. The concept is expressed through finer materials, such as hand-laid brick and soft detailing that builds visual depth. Within the fitting rooms, details such as lacquered doors, hanging bamboo screens and oil-paper partitions play up the dialogue between “French ease and Chinese naturalness,” creating an intimate retail experience.
Phase two of the project, which will bring its total footprint to more than 21,000 square feet, will include Icicle’s Museum Collaboration Capsule; Icicle Explore, its athleisure line; a café, as well as the launch of a new Lifestyle store, Icicle Market, that will hit the market in 2027.
Icicle’s first Garden Store, opened in Shanghai in 2024, brought together four stand-alone buildings from different eras around a lush central garden, combining retail with a fine-dining restaurant, a café and a cultural space.
The group’s next project will be located on Beijing’s West Xinglong Street near the Forbidden City. Following the opening of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the once touristy region has been transformed into a high-end retail corridor.
