From Streetwear to Surrealism: Nude Project’s Latest Store Is a Love Letter to Kubrick’s Cinematic World

On a lively stretch of Leidsestraat, a street steeped in fashion, commerce, and culture, something quietly disruptive has arrived. Spain’s fastest-growing streetwear brand, Nude Project, has officially landed in the Netherlands with the opening of its ninth physical location—and its most conceptually ambitious to date. But this isn’t just another retail expansion. This is “Kubrick’s Mind.”

The store, which opened its doors on Saturday, April 19th, doesn’t just sell clothes—it offers an experience. A three-story, 285-square-meter experience designed not around seasonal trends or commercial tropes, but around the cinematic philosophy of one of the most visionary directors in film history: Stanley Kubrick.

Why Kubrick? Why Amsterdam? Why now?

These are the questions that Nude Project’s creative director and co-founder, Bruno Casanovas, seems eager to answer—not with a typical marketing pitch, but with a cultural manifesto.

A Cinematic Space, Not Just a Store

From the moment visitors cross the threshold of Leidsestraat 31, it’s clear this isn’t a conventional retail setup. There’s no linear path, no standardized shelving, no fluorescent lighting pushing product. Instead, there’s light and shadow. There are angles and illusions. There’s silence where there should be music, and depth where there should be minimalism. It’s a space designed to make you feel something—confusion, curiosity, awe.

Each floor of the store is designed around a distinct Kubrick theme. The ground floor, inspired by A Clockwork Orange, fuses ultramodern dystopia with brutalist minimalism: stark concrete, cold steel, and sharp silhouettes. Upstairs, 2001: A Space Odyssey becomes the central motif, with lighting that mimics the iconic HAL 9000 glow and walls that seem to breathe with shifting hues. The basement nods to The Shining—but not in a horror-house way. Instead, it evokes the unease of symmetry, the tension of stillness, and the hypnotic repetition of patterns.

Every room, every corridor, every mirror is engineered to serve both atmosphere and function. It’s a fusion of fashion, film, and philosophy. And in today’s culture, where experiences increasingly define brands more than products do, it’s a smart, if bold, direction.

From Barcelona to Amsterdam: A Movement, Not a Brand

Nude Project didn’t start in a boardroom. It started, like many streetwear ventures, as a side hustle—just two friends in Barcelona printing shirts and building a community around a shared lifestyle. In a span of just a few years, it’s grown into one of the most talked-about labels in Spain’s fashion scene, now pushing into international markets with speed and purpose.

But if you talk to Casanovas, he’ll tell you Nude Project is more than a brand. “It’s a movement,” he says. One that seeks not only to design clothes but to create environments where identity, culture, and creativity merge.

Choosing Amsterdam for their first Benelux location wasn’t accidental. “For us, this city represents much more than a strategic location: it embodies a lifestyle we deeply identify with,” Casanovas explains. “The freedom that flows through its streets, the cultural openness, and the creative spirit of its people make Amsterdam the perfect setting to continue building our community.”

That word again: community.

It’s central to how Nude Project frames itself. Where traditional fashion houses cling to exclusivity, Nude Project leans hard into inclusivity. Their Instagram bio reads “For the Creators”—a mission statement more than a slogan. They regularly collaborate with underground artists, unknown photographers, and micro-creatives around Europe. Their stores double as event spaces, hosting everything from open mics to podcast recordings.

In other words, they’re not just opening a store in Amsterdam—they’re establishing a foothold for culture-building.

A Brand Built on Paradox

What makes Nude Project interesting is its ability to balance contradiction. Their clothes are minimalist, yet emotionally charged. Their branding is rebellious, yet calculated. Their storytelling draws from street culture but references film theory, literature, and philosophy.

And now, their store design adds another paradox: fashion meets cinema.

But not just any cinema. Kubrick was famously meticulous, controlling every detail of his sets and scenes with an almost obsessive intensity. He was a master of ambiguity, never giving clear answers, always leaving space for interpretation. This quality aligns with how Nude Project seems to approach its identity—not trying to define itself too clearly, not trying to please everyone, but inviting those who get it to step closer.

That’s evident even in the store’s layout. There are no aggressive signs telling you where to go. There are no product labels that scream for attention. The store trusts the visitor to explore, discover, and interpret the space in their own way.

“We want people to feel something, even if they’re not sure what it is,” says Casanovas. “That’s how Kubrick made films. That’s how we want to make spaces.”

Kubrick as a Brand Blueprint?

It’s rare to see a fashion brand, especially a streetwear label, center an entire store experience around a film director known for challenging viewers rather than appeasing them. But perhaps that’s exactly the point.

“Kubrick wasn’t trying to sell,” Casanovas says. “He was trying to provoke. To ask questions. That’s what great art does. We don’t see fashion as something separate from that.”

In a culture dominated by fast fashion and short attention spans, Nude Project’s long-view approach—designing with intention, building spaces with narrative arcs, treating their physical stores as cultural labs—stands out.

And it works. Already, the store has drawn crowds of young creatives, tourists, and loyal fans of the brand. Some come for the clothes. Some come for the photos. But many, according to staff on-site, just come to “see what it’s about.”

The Bigger Picture

Zooming out, this store is part of a broader strategy. Nude Project is steadily expanding across Europe, with recent openings in Lisbon and Paris. Each location is tailored to its city—not in a touristy, themed way, but by embedding itself in the local creative scene. In Amsterdam, that means connecting with local artists, hosting workshops, and possibly launching limited-edition collabs with Dutch designers.

More importantly, it means listening. “We’re not here to tell Amsterdam what Nude Project is,” Casanovas says. “We’re here to listen, absorb, and reflect what it could be here.”

This mindset—part anthropologist, part entrepreneur—is increasingly rare in retail. But it’s becoming more essential in a world where brand loyalty is about identity, not just consumption.

What’s Next?

When asked about future projects, Casanovas is cautious but excited. He hints at more concept-driven spaces, more artistic collaborations, and even the possibility of short films or installations tied to new collections. “We’re not interested in doing the same thing twice,” he says. “Each space should be a story.”

For now, though, Amsterdam is the story. And it’s one written in bold fonts, cinematic lighting, and the slow burn of curiosity. The Nude Project x Kubrick concept might sound unexpected at first—but spend ten minutes in the store and it starts to make sense. The unsettling calm. The thoughtful detail. The invitation to think, not just shop.

It’s not about nostalgia for Kubrick. It’s about using his lens to see something different. To reimagine what a store can be. To stretch what streetwear can mean.

And in that sense, Nude Project isn’t just paying tribute to a filmmaker. They’re taking his blueprint and remixing it—for a new generation, in a new city, with a vision that feels both radically modern and timelessly cool.

No comments yet.