For many designers, opening a store is a long-term goal that comes with a truck-load of considerations. Planning for revenue, marketing, assets and inventory (let alone budgeting to rent a storefront in NYC) can seem like an overwhelming task. But what if designers could test the waters with no strings attached? This is at the core of Retail Lab by the CFDA and Cadillac. Situated on the ground floor of Cadillac House, it provides designers with a prime NYC spot that is customizable and brings the designer vision to life.

For Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow of Public School, that vision involved cutting a Cadillac in half and having it staged as if it had crashed through a wall. The trunk of the Cadillac DeVille is open and full of merchandise for sale. The space is as NY cool as their collection. Via a joint email, Chow and Osborne told us about this new endeavor, how they curated the space, and what the future holds for Public School.

What’s the most exciting aspect about having a store location?

​The most exciting aspect of having a physical space… is having a physical space. A place where people can come, touch, and feel, and see firsthand what we’re doing. We don’t look at Retail Lab as just retail. [We see it as] a real manifestation of the things we’re thinking about in our heads.

What’s your ideal store atmosphere?

​We want people to feel a sense of discovery, we want them to feel some sense of mystery – like they’re finding something that no one else knows about, that no one else has seen. We want them to feel that they’ve come into a really specific world, the world of Public School.

There’s a Cadillac in the middle of the store! What’s up with that?

​[Retail Lab is located] within the larger Cadillac [House], which is very shiny and new and bright. We wanted to try and create a stark contrast against this really pretty, shiny place. That’s when we came up with the idea of crashing a Cadillac through one of the walls. To make the space not feel as delicate or careful, or sacred. We wanted to break it up.

Any favorite item(s) right now?

​We’ve been focusing internally on how to bring out a core offering from Public School, which we’ve never really done. It’s always been fashion, fashion, fashion. We’ve gotten to a point where we’ve built the brand so that some people know about it, and we have people who love the brand and are loyal fan—so now [there are] pieces like the logo hoodie. But even those pieces are special; the logo is flipped backwards to make you do a double take. We always want to do things where people have to stop and think about what they just saw. On one of our core hoodies—the backwards logo hoodie—we have a ripped waistband that has a hidden zip pocket. [There are] really subtle and slight things on staple silhouettes. Those pieces make up a core offering, but aren’t basic.

What do you hope to accomplish during your Retail Lab residency? 

​We’d like to change the way people might look at retail. Change the perceptions of how a retail space should be laid out, and what you should expect to have happen there. It’s not just a commerce transaction— it’s also a transaction of ideas, a meeting place for people to get up and have discussions. We’re planning to have a few episodes of WNL Radio out of the space as well. It’s a platform for conversation, for ongoing dialogue. That’s not typically what you think you’ll find at a retail space.

Describe the Public School brand in three words.

​Convergence. Re-appropriation. New York.

What inspires you?

​People. People inspire us the most. People on the street –and not just the way they look, but their stories. Real people’s stories.