Just after New Year I treated myself to a banana bread and coffee date at the new Violet Cakes cafe in the New Bond Street Alaïa store. Food and fashion have been forging an alliance for some time and I was reminded that Azzedine Alaïa was a natural instigator of this idea as far back as the 1980s.
Unlike other luxury fashion houses with their ultra brand-coded cakes and confectioneries (hello Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami cakes) this is a somewhat more wholesome approach. The food is consumed round an aluminium communal table nodding to the original spirit of Azzedine Alaïa himself, famous for inviting models, seamstresses, editors and even passing VIP clients to join the home-made feast at the studio table.
It’s both convivial and voyeuristic; you can chat to fellow customers or simply people watch as influencers art direct their cream teas just so for the Instagram gaze. I struck up conversation about my table mate’s well-loved raincoat (a prized Japanese purchase) while his son quietly amused himself with a toy train and a cookie.
In case you’re wondering, the food is delicious. My banana bread was faultless and the cappuccino my ideal strength and temperature. (London cappuccinos are usually far too tepid and milky fyi.) Note the placemats and strategic setting of a knife and fork to show off the embroidered logo (top).
The popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels has helped luxury brands with café add-ons to reach wannabe customers by showing them a step-by-step entry into the experience. No need to be intimidated if you know exactly where you’re going in the store – in this case, straight up the spiral staircase, past the £5000 puffer coats and to the £5 coffees and pastries. Afterwards, bookish aesthetes can wander to the window seats and peruse the Claire de Rouen-curated art, fashion and literature books, all part of creative director Pieter Mulier’s ambition for intellectual stimulation and cultural exchange.
What these environments do is make the place a destination for more than just shopping. Immersing yourself in a brand universe that feels genuine and is meaningfully executed, you’re lulled into a mood where you might want to buy something bigger, or at least feel a sense of belonging. As the luxury slowdown continues, this is the smart way to keep aspirational customers interested for when the tide eventually turns back in favour.
Visit Violet Cakes and Claire de Rouen at Alaïa, 139 New Bond Street, W1
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES:Violet Cakes at Alaïa New Bond Street by Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
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What did everyone make of the Burberry show last week? I loved it! After the initial buzz of the evening wore off, I canvassed some fashion industry opinion, and found the reactions to be 50/50 mixed. While Burberry is very much in favour of opening up Fashion Week to the wider public with its shop-the-runway model, in many ways I think you need to be there IRL to feel the full impact of the shows. (more…)
Choosing my favourite shops for Time Out’s 100 Best Shops In London list wasn’t difficult. I’m not a big online shopper because I prefer to make really considered purchases and I find the whole store ambience and experience adds to the value of what I’m buying. My top five stores are the ones I visit on a regular basis, not just to buy, but also to ‘keep my eye in’ and research what’s out there. (more…)
I’ve been reading an informative article on The Business Of Fashion about www.storeadore.com, a US website that combines social networking with shopping reviews. BOF points out that while there are increasing numbers of social shopping sites cropping up, there are too many “whose value propositions are unclear and whose technology is shoddy”. I must admit I’m not really the social-networking type -I prefer my socialising to be of the face-to-face variety – but I have checked out a few of these sites in the past.
The most well-known one in the UK is OSOYOU.com and even that hasn’t really made its mark, the site can be difficult to navigate and was so full of technical glitches when it launched, it quite put me off returning. What’s nice about Store Adore is its simplicity. Apparently, the way it works is it handpicks the best fashion shops in a given US area and does a write-up of the store. It then offers the store an opportunity to advertise on the page and that quite often results in a discount voucher which then drives customers to its stores and those customers then add their own reviews. How easy and how clever!
As there isn’t a UK equivalent of Store Adore, I’ve taken it upon myself to do my bit for London retail. These 5 would be in my version of Store Adore:
The Shop At Bluebird, 350 King’s Road, SW3
My favourite ‘destination’ store, I would travel across town to visit The Shop At Bluebird just for the experience. It’s a huge single-floor space, studiously filled with a wish-list mix of labels from the unheard of (Obedient Sons, Nili Lotan) to the roll-call of ubiquitous French-cool labels (APC, Isabel Marant, Vanessa Bruno, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Rue du Mail, Charles Anastase). It’s not all clothing, there’s also a spa and a carefully edited selection of vintage furniture (think 1950s medicine cabinets, cinema chairs and Gulliver-sized mirrors) while their offering of art/photography/fashion books is top notch. Did I mention the staff? These guys get the balance between friendly and helpful but non-harassing just right. When I bought a Helmut Lang blazer there recently they even gave me the name and number of their alterations tailor (www.colpani.com if you’re interested). What I like about The Shop At Bluebird is it feels like a secret shop, despite its size it still has an intimacy you rarely experience in London.
Shop At Maison Bertaux, 27 Greek Street, Basement Premises, W1
Tiny but well-stocked, this is where I go for my fix of Sonia Rykiel socks and APC basics. It’s in a cute little basement underneath a moody French patisserie (don’t try to order a capuccino in there whatever you do!) and if you add yourself to the mailing list, ‘Madame’ will send you email invitations to all sorts of insider shopping shenanigans*. Don’t forget to check out the addictive blog which covers their buying trips as well as nights out with London’s in-crowd.
*Today there is 10% off if you whisper ‘Madame’ at the till!
Couverture and The Garbstore, 188 Kensington Park Road, W11
Retail is suffering at the moment which means stores need to work on the experience and ambience of their set-ups in order to get customers through their doors. New to Notting Hill is Couverture & The Garbstore which I read about last week so decided I had to check out pronto. I love it. On the ground and first floor are women’s and children’s clothes as well as hard-to-resist homesy bits like Alexander Girard cushions, vintage wooden toys and other knick knacks. The fashion is on the chi-chi side so not the sort of stuff I’d buy but it’s the kind of shop where your eyes are constantly darting left and right, you just don’t want to miss a thing and it’s all so beautifully presented. The owner is Emily Dyson who is an ex-Paul Smith designer and the daughter of James Dyson the vacuum cleaner guy (why am I even telling you this?). Downstairs is The Garbstore, classic American-influenced utilitarian menswear – Japanese chinos, no-logo grey-marl sweatshirts – mixed in with military blankets, preppie separates, New Balance 576 trainers and Action Man collectables. The whole concept is very ‘lifestyle’ but still with a personal twist that makes you want to move in there and then. I really hope this store is successful as it’s opened during a turbulent time but is such a unique enterprise and clearly a labour of love.
Matches Marylebone, 87 Marylebone High Street, W1 Matches is a funny one. I like the brand in as much as it’s always ahead of the curve and I love its seasonal magazine, not to mention whiling away many hours on its website. But whenever I’ve been into the Westbourne Grove store I’ve felt rather overwhelmed by the designery-ness of the labels. This new branch feels much more tightly edited and user-friendly. It’s way too expensive for me but it still has that magnetic ‘I’ll just pop in for a minute’ lure that I can’t resist. Plus the staff are super-nice, last time I was there I had a very cosy chat with one of the assistants who complimented my ginormous fur hat. If I was ever in the market for some high-end label action I’d definitely come here first.
Claire De Rouen, 125 Charing Cross Road, WC2
Not strictly a fashion store as this is a bookshop but I’ve included it because I literally can’t walk past without a brief stopover. The great thing about bookshops is you can come out having spent £30 and get the same excited buzz you’d get from dropping £500 on a Marc Jacobs coat. Situated on Charing Cross Road above The Soho Originals Bookstore it’s another of those secret hideaway finds that feels so right for London. Claire De Rouen was the manager of cult bookshop Zwemmers further along Charing Cross Road until it became Shipley and she’s one of London’s unsung fashion heroines. If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a photography or fashion-obsessed friend you’ll find it in here (not to mention a little something for yourself too).
PIC: Shop at Maison Bertaux customers modelling the new collections