London shopping

[jpolla]

^Ok i went 2day as well alone and got the boots i wanted so im happy now. They look exactly like these with a slightly elongated toe. But only a little bit.
Sourcebjectfetish.com

 

[Ceptuouse]

^ look nice

 

[jpolla]

^Ok not letting me edit. Erm JR1, for some reason i have never been to camden market. Is it any good really? And where abouts is best for menswear??

 

[Ceptuouse]

^ Im not sure about the best markets for menswear jpolla... but i think camden market & portobello are good. for shops...try primarks, zara, h&m...i think they do the best cheap stuff...

 

[jpolla]

^Cool thanks. Was just wondering as haven't really been to that part of London shopping. How is everyone geting to brick lane atm as shoreditch station is under construction works. Aldgate east?

 

[Hye Park Lover]

I had a whirlwind of a day starting with jumping on the coach to London at 6am. I stopped at all the suggested places such as Topshop Oxford circus (which is insane, I lost count of the number of floors and there are such extensive collections, I must have spent a good hour stroking every single pair of shoes they stocked... and then I spent another good hour stroking every single pair of other designer shoes they stocked. There were also such wide selections of bags, much better in terms of design than all the now comparatively dingy topshops I am used to, and clothes, with so many sub-lines that I'd never heard of - Me & my father also ran into the actor who plays Keira Knightley's father in Pirates of the Caribbeans on the first sub-floor, how fabulous!... he sat down next to us on the bench near the tills, and like true well bred loyal to essence tourists, we immediately pulled out our camera and started snapping away before he knew what had hit him... most funny/embarassing of all was that we couldn't recall his name or place his face in a specific film until we were on the underground well away from topshop when the latter answer suddenly hit us. As for the former, we're still wondering )

Like suggested, I also checked out Brick Lane/Hanbury street/Cheshire road? (spent an excess amount of time gazing passionately down fashion street - so close to Project Catwalk, yet so far away!) getting off at Aldgate East station. The Shoreditch area was less... urban & creative than I'd expected Maybe my expectations were too high or maybe I simply didn't go at the right time or hit the right shops, but the walk-up to Brick Lane and Brick Lane itself were more under-developed than I'd come to expect. I stopped at Absolutely Vintage (so much to browse, so little time!), Rokit (so well organised, very neat selections), the shop next to Rokit and the Beigel place - possibly the wrong beigel place as there was another one right next door which announced itself to be the no.1 beigel place in the whole of Britain All the places bar the wrong beigel place were beautiful & had such lovely clothes. Absolutely Vintage had so many shoes - there was a clear abundance of size 4's but to my annoyance, a conspicuous lack of size 5's, which is my size Could not find the other vintage store on Chesire road, but by that point, blisters were making noticeable appearances on my feet so I didn't bother trekking to Hoxton or Spitalfields' market, which probably wasn't open anyway, and decided to make a turn back to more central regions where I stopped at Chinatown/Leister square.

Chinatown & Leister square had a great atmosphere, the hustle and bustle of activity particularly appealed to me, but I didn't have time to fill my stomach before having to turn back to the coach station to catch the coach home. If it weren't for the disgusting experience with the coach driver on the way back, then it would have been the perfect ending to the perfect day

 

[Thessaly]

For menswear, my husband likes Microzine, the Hideout, Foot Patrol (if you're a sneaker freaker like him), and SuperDeluxe. There's also fabulous thrifting to be done all around Brick Lane and Spitalfields if you're one for the hunt.

 

[Hye Park Lover]

^Cool thanks. Was just wondering as haven't really been to that part of London shopping. How is everyone geting to brick lane atm as shoreditch station is under construction works. Aldgate east?

Yeah, I'd get off at Aldgate east and walk up, it isn't too far

 

[Meg]

Shoreditch is closed permanently. I used to go via aldgate east but going from liverpool st. is actually a MUCH nicer walk as you pass right by spitalfields market on brushfield st. and you get to see a lot of cute little alleyways. I never find the cool vintage shops around that area though and i've been lots. especially on cheshire! My hairdresses is on cheshire (well a branch is) and one day I ventured beyond their storefront and there are some cool little shops but I never see Beyond Retro. And there is nothing on Fashion St.....but it's a cool little st. Good to hear your report on london hye park lover!

 

[bart]

Ok, so 99% I will be in London in September. I am compiling a list of shops and I hope you guys can add, modify, delete. My interests are basically high-end, avant-garde, cutting edge (blah-blah, etc.) fashion (menswear), especially Belgian. I like stuff such as Ann Demeulemeester, Carol Christian Poell, Carpe Diem, Raf Simons, Margiela, Dries van Noten, Junya Watanabe, etc... I am not really interested in streetwear. Jewelry-wise, I would only like to check out Shaun Leane.

Also, I would like to know how you would rate department stores - ideally I wouldn't want to hit them all (cause there are other things to do in London), and I know even though some stores seem to carry good designers, they have no taste. For example in New York Barneys is far better than either Saks or Bergdorf Goodman.

So far this is my list in order of priority.

1. Dover St. Market
2. The Library
3. Martin Margiela boutique
4. Jas MB
5. Browns
6. Harvey Nick's
7. Selfridges
8. Liberty

I might suggest maybe not checking out Selfridges.... It's probably just personal opinion, but I find it horrendous, impossible to shop in, far FAR too large, poorly edited, and too bright. They do have some alright stuff in right now, beautiful Raf Simons and Jil Sander, some alright Balenciaga and Marni, and lots of Dior, but I just don't understand how anyone shops in an environment like that. The building's like, the length of two football fields and what? Six floors? The music's too sh*tty to be that loud, the only place you will find any assistance is in the Superbrands section, and in general, it's just too much. However, since they are so freaking huge, they do tend to order a larger size range from designers (like, more of each size) which I think could be advantageous as some Fall collections have already been out in shops for two months already. I don't know if Mrs. Faust will be joining you, but the ladieswear is acceptable, only because they carry every single designer ever on the face of the planet.

Harvey Nichols has a nice menswear selection, though when I visited last, half the floor was Galliano (which I'm sure is right up your alley) and McQueen. They also do Margiela, Kris Van Assche, Dries Van Noten and such. The sales staff I've encountered are worthless. It is quieter that Selfridges, but I've never been there on the week-end sooo.....

The Library is really great, and very low-key and pleasant. I've only been once, but I would def recommend it.

DOORS by Jas MB is enjoyable as well, though it's tiny. It's well edited and they'll custom make a bag for you, should you wish.

Browns is alright, they do carry a lot of great designers, but because they carry so many for such a small space, they tend to order fewer pieces from a collection. It's very much about Browns and how they buy and merchandize than it is about the individual designers, which is fine, they do buy well, but it can be frustrating. The staff I've dealt with in menswear were all very, very nice and knowledgeable, and it's small and chill.

Obviously, you have to go to Dover Street. Like, amazing. I don't need to tell you anything about it. BUT, we had our Demeulemeester representative in two weeks ago for training and she told us that the Ann ladieswear at Dover is almost completely and totally sold out, and the menswear is headed down the same road. It's barely September! And it wasn't even September when she told us! Maybe make it your first stop.

Pineal Eye is worth checking out as they do carry a lot of great designers and they have a tendancy to buy the crazier, "Fashion" pieces from them. If you want a Raf cape, stop by.

Since I work at Liberty in the menswear department I'll try to be as objective as possible. It's nice, the collections room is small, and we're smaller than most other department stores, and we have a different focus. Our menswear buying is slightly conservative, but since we are dealing with primarily Japanese (Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garcon SHIRT, Number (N)ine) and Belgian (Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, Kris Van Assche) designers, "conservative" isn't really all that staid. I'm particularly pleased with our Miyake right now, even though his stuff is basically exactly the same every season, I think it was purchased particularly well, and if you like Dries then (this is factually totally objective) we do have the absolute best selection of it in the city, bar none. And it's really such a beautiful building and it's so charming and you really must visit just to see it. I won't comment on the sales staff.

 

[travis_nw8]

I won't comment on the sales staff.

i hope you're not one of the sales staff that always seem to ignore me ...
(agree with the dries selection- pretty damn good!)

 

[bart]

i hope you're not one of the sales staff that always seem to ignore me ...

Ack! Uh...me too. I usually work in the formalwear section where all of the suiting and ties and whatever are, so I'm not commonly in the collections room, but I'm really sorry that you've experienced that at Liberty.

To be honest, the reason why I wasn't going to comment on our sales staff is that some of them (not all, but too many) are fashion students who are working here because it's cool and they can get a discount. Which is honestly such a problem in retail in general, but it's still unacceptable.

 

[jpolla]

The Library being??????? Anyone know where it is? In relation to liberty, the staff in collections ignored me as i was trying on an A.P.C trench. Oh well, their loss.

 

[travis_nw8]

^268 Brompton Road- that grey area beween knightsbridge and chelsea ( i refuse to call it brompton cross!)

 

[cric-croc]

does anyone knows of upcoming designers sample sale? Thanks

 

[maitai]

next week i'm going to london, i'm really excited and looked through this thread already for some shopping-tips
but i have one question, there is one vintage boutique in london called "rellik".. i found it,because kate moss likes to shop there. can someone tell me where that shop is and if its expensive?

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Was in Selfridges today. Such a weird shop... Ditto for Martin Margiela but in a different way.

 

[jennifer~]

I just kept getting lost while I was there (many years ago). I wish I'd come back with some shopping tips, but all I can advise is to study the street maps in advance.

 

[Meg]

PoC maybe we passed each other? I stupidly (and contrary to what I posted in another thread) ended up on Oxford St. and Selfridges on a Saturday which was just hellish. argh it's just like mayhem.

 

[*Isobel*]

where do i buy cc skye "jewellery" in london?