Dover Street Market Tachiagari SS10: shoe fetish

With the new spring/summer 10 Tachiagari, Dover Street Market has unveiled a host of new branded spaces with what I'm calling "precision merchandising" as key for the latest designer spaces to join Rei Kawakubu’s Comme des Garcons marketplace.
























Actually my favourites this season are the new Celine corner - the first retail space from new creative director Phoebe Philo in all its elegant refined chrome understated glory; next up is the refreshed Comme des Garcons Shirt ulilitarian complex; the 'Scarecrow meet n greet' at Lanvin and the Hussein Chalayan display - an exercise in precision hanging. Nicholas Kirkwood's graphite installation kicks a punch too while down in the basement the Visvim area has pedestals for each Tokyo tech pair of men's sneakers.

But really its shoes that are in the spotlight across the store (and the window), for the new season. A new women’s footwear corner has opened on the third floor housing high end names such as Guiseppe Zanotti, Christian Louboutin, Chrissie Morris, Rupert Sanderson and Pierre Hardy. Take a seat on the park benches and admire the set design interior designed by Michael Howells. His window theme is “All About Eve Meets Paddington Green” – as an ode to park life and amateur dramatics?

And downstairs in the basement its sneaker freak heaven with the industrial looking box design corner housing a host of men’s footwear labels including Volter, DMs, Common Projects, Yuketan, Generic Man and the new Puma by Hussein Chalayan product.

Elsewhere there are designer finds in every corner from Charles Anastase cute attic style dolls, Ann Valerie Hash's adult and new girlswear collections, a new YSL Edition stand, Azzedine Alaia's impeccable workmanship, the Undercover walk-in cave, and new collaborative product featuring the Beatles apple logo for Comme bags.

See my Picasa album for the rest of my pictures this season:

Dover Street Market Tachiagari SS10

Harvey Nicks targets young fashionistas with new 4th floor

Harvey Nichols is targeting a new younger and discerning fashionista with its 4th floor contemporary designer floor due to open next week.

And I'm pretty excited because it seems Harvey Nichols buyers have taken all the best new talent from New York, London, Milan, Paris etc and put together a seasonal edit that has all the hallmarks of the best boutiques from around the world. And we're talking fresh eyes mixing up new contemporary designers that are igniting their home fashion towns - so now we don't have to travel all over the world to get the best array of new talent in one shop!


The HN team say they're moving away from the conventional and putting collections such as Versus, Opening Ceremony, Love by Richard Chai, Halston and Cacharel alongside British designers such as Richard Nicoll, Peter Pilotto and Meadham Kirchoff. Also included are hot US labels Zero by Maria Cornejo, Elise Overland and Brian Reyes. Described as a fashion "lifestyle" - the ultimate destination for anything and everything fashion related.

My favourite new stuff include a Lanvin 'Supermarket of Luxury' complete with limited edition dolls, snow globes, notebooks, music boxes and a honeymoon kit. Or there's a girls-only sneaker wall displaying the likes of Keds for Opening Ceremony, Christian Louboutin trainers, Jackson Pollock splattered Converse for WGACA and Beatrix Ong for Nike. Or wear and eat jewellery by Coco Maya and cart it all around in Erdem for Globetrotter luggage.

If Harvey Nicks has highlighted a new fashionista customer that likes her hot-off-the-press fashion from around the world and at recession friendly prices, then this new department will be full to brimming when it opens on Monday 25th January.

Kookai's joie de vivre returns to London fashionistas

Everyone's favourite French high street label, Kookai has returned to favour with London fashionists. A new flagship store on St Christopher's Place is a long overdue retail home that looks set to ensure Kookai retakes its place in the crowded high street marketplace.

Actually Kookai's return has been brewing for a few seasons now. The French label had scaled back its London retail presence, working only with its biggest store partners. Now with a new design team at the helm the label has majored on its strongest legacy: knitwear. And leather pieces. And natural fabrics. It's a mix that works with a chic twist.









At the press launch for the new store, press saw what was in store for spring/summer 2010 - all Breton stripe sweaters, easy silky prints, lightweight leather or suede pieces and a whole range of different gauge knits, from long line cardigans to cropped open knit weaves for a real fashion offer.

Here's a selection of my favourite pieces for spring, hitting the new St Christopher's Place store end of January.

Guess says "Wonder, Passion, Freedom" for retrospective celebration

Iconic US denim brand Guess decided to celebrate 28 years of sexy photography with a party in London last night. Oh and the new flagship store on London's Regent Street.

With steamy black and white photos of ripped jeans, rippling torsos and plenty of cleavage all over the walls, not to mention Claudia Schiffer and the brand's other heavyweight supermodel faces through the past couple of decades featuring in the two week long exhibition at Il Bottacio, Knightsbridge - this was a party for a party's sake.

For those party-goers unfamiliar with the current Guess collection there were a few mannequins dotted around - skin-tight denim and gothic-meets-bling touches would be my take on the brand's DNA right now.

Actually the black and white photography stills from past ad campaigns was certainly a visual retro fest for those interested in denim iconography. My how Guess has changed its tune in the last 28 years!

A couple of days later I was passing the new flagship and perused the gothic-meets-bling-meets-rock-chick windows and noted the VM is an accomplished affair. (But EXACTLY the same as the plethora of US stores). Also, I have to say the store would have been a much better venue for the exhibition - after waiting so long for the right location I can't help but wonder why the celebratory event was held elsewhere? And while they were about it, the party should have had a Hallowe'en theme guys - it's all about the costume at Hallowe'en after all!