I’m in KonMari heaven looking at this newly opened Gabriela Hearst flagship store on Madison Avenue. The perfectly folded sweaters, the pristine reclaimed oak and marble eco flooring, the minimalist styling offset with cosy honey-and-blonde colour palette; is this not the visual equivalent of ASMR? (more…)
News broke last week that Debenhams, one of the UK’s biggest department store chains, is closing 50 stores. I worked as a sales girl at Debenhams in Oxford Street during my art student years and I loved it. I worked with amazing people, liked selling and would pop across the road to the Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf exhibitions at the Anthony d’Offay gallery in my lunch hour.
I haven’t really shopped there as an adult, other than occasionally for beauty or pots and pans. I’m more of a high-end heritage shopper or I go to the minimalist stores like Cos and Arket. But it’s a serious warning sign that retail really is changing. Debenhams’ competitors like John Lewis & Partners and Selfridges have been much better at creating a modern lifestyle destination, which taps into the idea that stores aren’t only for shopping. (more…)
Japanese slow fashion brand, 45R has just opened its London outpost at 6 Brook Street, selling its cult denim, lived in knits and quilted outerwear. The Americans may be the originators but the Japanese are experts at producing artisan-quality denim that you’ll keep for years. (At 45R they hover between £350 and £800 which gives you an idea of the level of quality we’re talking about.) (more…)
Camilla Akrans’ editorial of Julianne Moore in Porter Magazine is beyond breathtaking. There’s an extreme close up of an eye (I’m a sucker for an extreme close-up), an abstract portrait shot through a gauze scrim, a fruit and flower still life, and basically hardly any clothes on view.
Remember, this is Porter, the Net-a-Porter catalogue disguised as a magazine. It’s supposed to sell clothes! And yet this abstract treatment makes me more, not less, likely to click through. (more…)
