Travel Guide : London

[Sybarite]

Seditionary, your shopping itinerary is exactly the same as mine!!!!

 

[softgrey]

okay-second day...slept until 4pm... ...hey...what can i tell you...i was on vacation...

ran over to brown's...too small and cramped for me and i really didn't care for the style of clothes they carry...too uptight...then across to brown's focus...much better...tried on loads of dresses but didn't find anything....dries, vanessa bruno, house of jazz, hussein chalayan...nothing looked great...

on to find the margiela store...passed all the high end designer shops along the way and ran into a shoe shop that had a great pair of boots which i snapped up quickly...rush rush...didn't know everything closed so early-6:30 ...passed by many more shops only to find mmm closed already...

met my friend at sketch for a drink...then off the the tate modern...open late fri and sat
the building used to be an old power station...it's amazing...huge and dramatic...i love the collection...so many new works and many female artists...spent several hours enjoying the art...their bookshop is amazing...didn't leave enough time for that... must go back...

then we walked along the river and went for a kebab...

time to rest...day 3(saturday)will be the big shopping day...

 

[softgrey]

i must stop here and say thanks to everyone and a special thank you to scott and sedi for the great tips...i printed out this thread and carried both of your pages with me everyday...it was great!...i felt like i had shopping buddies and i couldn't wait to get back and tell you guys all about it!...made it so much more fun!!!

thanks again...much love

 

[ahhGucci]

My favorite part of London, Holland park, Notting Hill, Ken.
Hyde park brings happy memories. There are so many places Id like to call my favorite.

 

[seditionary]

Originally posted by softgrey@May 13th, 2004 - 10:48 pm
i must stop here and say thanks to everyone and a special thank you to scott and sedi for the great tips...i printed out this thread and carried both of your pages with me everyday...it was great!...i felt like i had shopping buddies and i couldn't wait to get back and tell you guys all about it!...made it so much more fun!!!

thanks again...much love

glad to have been of service, n to have been there in spirit or should i say paper, regarding me being in cheshire

i wish u had been here this weekend... 3 amazin parties going down (1 thanks to acid)

 

[seditionary]

Originally posted by Sybarite@May 13th, 2004 - 3:08 pm
Seditionary, your shopping itinerary is exactly the same as mine!!!!

wen ur next in town... gimme a tootle n we will hav to go around together! B)

 

[Chance]

Although this thread was not meant for me, I love all your information and stuff!!!
I'll go to London on Thursday and I'm already so excited! Thank you all!
Good idea, Softgrey, I think I'll print this thread out, too...

 

[softgrey]

so...my favorite store in london is now Liberty...i don't know why more people did not reccommend it...i had never been before on any of my other visits to london...i has always heard about 'liberty prints' and i expected a sort of boring, fuddy duddy kind of old-fashioned store...

...SURPRISE!!!...it is anything but...the building itself is this beautiful old architectural masterpiece...the interior is beautifully restored warm aged wood with circular balconies on every floor...so if you stand in the middle you can look up to the top of the building...amazing!!!...

the merchandise is fantastic too...they have so many young unknown designers and all the avante garde ones...from westwood to yohji to y's and margiela...i bought a dries top there...they had an excellent dries dept...no marni however...which surprised me...quite a bit of lanvin...and beautiful accessories on the ground floor...the men's dept is also quite cool...sonia rykiel...westwood...etc...

apparently they've changed their merchandise selection in the past couple of years...what a lovely surprise...highly recommended...

the juxtaposition of the traditional architecture and all the edgy fashions was really exciting

the only other store which comes close is martin margiela...

 

[runner]

I just found this interview.

softgrey, if you visited Jas M.B.'s first store, Doors by Jas M.B (8 Ganton St. W1), please tell me your impressions.

Browns' Focus
London

In the last couple of years multi-brand stores across London have shown a sharpening of the retail game and are setting the pace for department and specialty stores across the globe. Selfridges, Liberty, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, and Browns have locked into a fierce competition that has precipitated massive store redesigns, a land grab on designers, and expansions to shiny up the brand names. The result is a refreshing shopping experience that's serving as the beta test for other regions of the world. What's behind the overhaul? Are the changes bringing in the customers? And how did it all get started? Joan Burstein, sharp-toothed owner of the venerable Browns specialty store sat down to discuss what all the changes mean for her store.

JCR: How would you describe the retail shuffle taking place in London at the moment?

JB: I would call it the store wars.

JCR: Store wars, would you explain?

JB: The refurbishing of Selfridges made Harvey Nichols feel that 'oh, we're not here on our own anymore'. It also made Liberty feel that 'oh we have a prime position on Regents Street, why aren't we doing more with it?' Whether it's valid, this is my opinion. It started with the store wars, and of course property is very expensive in London, some of the highest rents in the world. And therefore if you have a property then you have to make it look good and you've got to entice more customer interest. As I tell our sales personnel, it is the customer who pays your wages and helps pay the rent. Without them there is no business, so we have to find ways to captivate the customer and to get them in.

JCR: Is this the reason for the major renovations in your store?

JB: Why we are refurbishing, a rebuilding really...it's been going on since September. The main reason we made the changes is that we found customers would come in on the first level and not know about the lower level even though the beautiful clothes were down there ? they didn't come down automatically so we had to think of a way to make them realize that there was something else going on down here. I think it's a problem with most retailers when you have a lower ground floor. Some people put cafes in to attract people. So it was one of the reasons why we did this enormous, enormous development.

JCR: And expanding?

JB: We're not expanding into another area, just opening up the existing areas to get more out of them, more of a flow for customers. Our first shop that we started 34 years ago was just one floor, now we've grown up and down into five town houses.

JCR: Sounds rather chic...

JB: Doesn't it? And we've tried to make each town house a little individual and give every designer that we carry their own space, it might be just a rail but it's still their own space.

JCR: Do you have marquee named architects working on the space?

JB: We have Martin Brudnizki, he's done the layout of each shop.

JCR: Is your architecture about practicality or is it about design as well.

JB: No it's not just about practicality ? we wanted to enhance it all. We wanted to make everything a little bit more luxurious for the customer. Our customer deserved a little bit more luxury than we were able to give her over the last ten years. Although they never seemed to complain or mind, I felt that when you're buying beautiful clothes it's rather nice to be in more beautiful surroundings.

JCR: I feel that with the changes taking place with the stores, it's almost as though there's a stripping off the dark wood paneling to welcome in splashes of color....

JB: In here, for example, we didn't want it to be minimal, and yet we didn't want it to be OTT{over the top} either. We've struck a happy medium.

JCR: You said you're not expanding but what about your store on Sloane Street...

JB: It's not new, it's been there a nice long while, it always looks new.

JCR: Case in point, with this new energy in London stores, everything is coming front and center again.

JB: You're right, there's definitely a new energy in stores in London. English designers are also doing their own stores, Stella McCartney, Matthew Williamson, Alexander McQueen. That's just something that never happened before.

JCR: And that's changing the retail landscape considerably?

JB: Absolutely, I have to go looking for new people constantly.

JCR: What does this mean for your mix up of brands?

JB: It means I go on looking for more new, exciting, individual brands that have something to say.

JCR: Are you dealing with a more sophisticated consumer audience at this time?

JB: Our audience is definitely a sophisticated audience because we're a multi-label store. There's a choice and there's a standard.

JCR: Are luxury purveyors like you seeing greater competition?

JB: Oh, yes

JCR: Is everyone getting in on the luxury game?

JB: I think everyone is getting in on the High street game, don't you? Look at what has happened there.

JCR: Do the Top Shops and H&Ms of the world affect your business? Are you seeing your customers getting clever by coming in here and going to the High street to mix and match to still come out with an expensive look?

JB: No, you can ask Yeda (Yun, buyer at Browns diffusion store Browns' Focus) if it has affected her circle. That customer is not necessarily a Browns' customer. They may aspire to be a Browns' customer.

JCR: In terms of identifying the future players in the business, do all the changes happening at the retail level fortify your position to be even more aggressive in discovering them?

JB: Most definitely!

 

[Acid]

for anyone looking for bikini's............they have the best bikini's in london at the moment at browns focus......definately check that out

there is a BRAZILIAN CRAAAAAZE here at the moment u cant escape it

selfridges brazil 40 degrees and H&M

 

[softgrey]

thx runner...interesting artifcle...i found the townhouse layout of brown's a bit stifling and cramped...i can ony imagine whqat it must have been like before ...

no ...i didn't go to the store you mentioned...i don't know anything about it?...who is Jas M.B.?...

I did go to concrete...a store that scott and sedi both mentioned...it was tiny and stuffed with leftover samples...i was so excited at first...but once i got into the racks...there really wasn't anything worthwhile...and the prices were still INSANE!!!...i did get to see some bruno pieters there firsthand for the first time...they were all chained to the wall though ...makes the shopping experience seriously less pleasant...and it was so tiny and cramped...and the marked down prices of the dresses was around $700-800.... ...they have GOT to be kidding...


i also popped into muji...they had way more clothes than i remembered...a lot of cute basics...i tried on a couple of cute sun dresses...but the cut was funny and made them look cheap...
i did pick up a couple of things though...

 

[runner]

That article from JC Report


thanks for the answer and the impressions softgrey.

Yohji is involved in Muji's stuff in Japan, and I'm sure Jack Henry ( my favorite ) is going to do in foreign market.

Jas M.B is a cracked leather label designed by Jas Shembi.
you might recognize this bag at A.

 

[runner]

Jack Henry

 

[softgrey]

i didn't know about yohji's involvement with muji...and that bag is AMAZING!!! ...you're always full of interesting tidbits runner...that jack henry looks good...i'm not familiar...but the men's stuff at muji is actually quite a bit better than the women's...

 

[runner]

but, I'm not sure when Jack Henry's stuff for muji is to be launched.
maybe from the next season (?)
I want to try it on.

as for Jas bags, they seem to sell at Barneys New York too.
the range is relatively reasonable.

 

[runner]

..

 

[softgrey]

cool-thanks...i'll check it out next time i'm uptown...

 

[softgrey]

too bad this came out after i got back...but for anyone who's going...seems like some good info here...

CITYTREND: London
London is the subject of our first CITYTREND issue.
         
  Electrowave
It's party time in London. Electro is the hot music; the drug crazy nightlife is over-the-top; and clothes are a mishmash of toxic colors and wacky prints wrapped in a do-as-I-please attitude. The result? Re-packaged '80s New Wave that's a slow boiling trend in Paris and New York but exploding across London. Electrowave is on full display at Portobello Road where Shibuyaku appliques and bunched up chains cascade from t-shirts and piece-together skirts. Accessorized frou-frou dresses are everywhere on platinum hair colored girls. Shoe designer Olivia Morris sells brightly colored pumps with deadpan prints at the new hot strip further up Portobello Road — the clothing designer and jeweler, SO Aei:kei (357 Portebello Rd.) is next door. It's in East London though, that the new generation of talent is channeling '80s fashion and spinning DIY. Brick Lane and Shoreditch teem with new and vintage stores: Tatty Devine for Chicks on Speed panties and plastic jewelry; Public Beware (Unit 7-91 Brick Lane) for color block Japanese-looking flats. Rockit, Beyond Retro, and The Laden Showroom to meet all your dress up needs for Nag Nag Nag at Ghetto (Falconberg Crt.), the hot Wednesday party. Primitif (1 Chesire St.) pedals more selective Electro styles, selling cool Nike throwbacks and Charles Jourdan aviator glasses. And head to Lik Neon (106 Sclater St.), for industrial sounds grating in the background while you shop for neon everything.
Photo: Olivia Morris shoes
   
 
Top Shop, Top Shelf      
  The High Street is taking Electro styles and cleaning them up for mass market, and it's working. Sloany girls and South London boys are raving about the graphic printed tops and better basics at Top Shop, which change weekly and have friends cooing, "Is that Diesel, is that Chloe?" Watch out H&M! Vivienne Westwood pirate boots paired with a mini skirt is the IT High Street look, and Project Alabama stitch work has inspired many cheaper rivals. Seasonal throwaway pieces work best with designer brands and loads of top shelf stores are stacked with labels. Joan Burstein, Browns owner, toured us around the store and showed off Easton Pearson ("bought since the beginning," she insists), Fendi, Marie-Helene de Taillac, and Rozae Nichols, a California brand of wispy dresses and precious cardigans. At Browns Focus, buyer Yeda Yun revamped the store with an airy mix-up of Jessica Ogden, Margiela, Gardem, and La Petite Salope. Farther west, Westbourne Park is a veritable retail power 'hood. Matches stock Leflesh and Bottega Veneta accessories and loads of other tightly selected labels. Six-month-old Feathers (176 Westbourne Grove) serves up a selling mix of easy Rick Owens, Cavalli, Pucci, Antonio Marras, and Dundop (a chic little Italian label for wrap tops). The Jacksons (5 All Saints Rd.) is creating stampedes for their dog collars, leads, and beaded sandals. Visit Britism for ghetto fab bathing suits and slinky dresses, and J&M Davidson for two-toned preppy totes. We were told to check out Temperley's sex-laden dresses more than a few times. And at Vent, Simon is still the king of the labels from another era.

 

[runner]

I received a notice of STUDIO SAMPLE SALE from Shaun Leane

Up to 70% off a selection of Shaun Leane Jewellery
with a one-off opportunity to see our new collections and order direct from us

Friday 2nd July 2004 12pm to 8.30pm
Saturday 3rd July 2004 11am to 4pm

at the Shaun Leane Studio
Studio 208, 24 ? 28 Hatton Wall
London EC1N 8JH

http://www.shaunleane.com/shaun-leane.html

 

[runner]

claw