Mayfair is fast becoming the ideal place to escape into stores that aren’t crowded and almost coldly serene. On the weekends when there are no office types walking around, it’s eerily quiet. Somehow whilst a gazillion tourists are wondering around on Piccadilly wondering where Piccadilly (the billboards) or Hyde Park is, people seem to be reluctant to turn into Dover Street Market. A niche group of people though are strolling down Dover Street to get to DSM for obvious reasons but now there’s another reason to take a shopping breather here. One of the most established British designers and also one of the most underrated (as I’ve said before) John Rocha is opening a store here come September.
It’s been high time John Rocha got the space he deserved and it sounds like a right beauty. In a renovated ex-pub, each floor will be decorated to his taste house his womens and menswear, crystal, textile and jewellery collections as well as work of other creatives. Dover Street Market is the ultimate example of a designer lending their space to other designers and it all existing in a cohesive way. Rei Kawakubo (designer behind Comme des Garcons) is happy to allow the likes of Lanvin, Pierre Hardy, Undercover and many others to jostle alongside her own collections in her designer ‘market’. So I’m glad that John Rocha is also utilising the same concept for what I think will be a delicate affair of a concept store. I’ve been a fan of Rocha’s quiet beauty in his collections. These aren’t collections that will make it to the catwalk trend round-ups in Vogue or Elle but I guess that’s the attraction .
I went to the AW07-8 show and I loved the contrasts of hard and soft. These are clothes to go on windy rambles in the Peak District. In fact, there seem to be the lightest nods to a variety of period costumes, something about the bustles, the foppish bows, the dandy cut cropped trousers, the pheasant headpieces. It’s only a very slight nod though, when toughened up with mannish overcoats and Doc Marten-type boots.
Another store to add to the Style Bubble Shops list me thinks…
Superb, I can’t wait. It is lovely how quiet our little English lanes are even on Saturday. DSM is a nice space, but I’m not a Comme des Garcons fan, so that limits it somewhat. I do find they have a much better selection of women’s (esp shoes it seems). However, the cafe at the top is lovely, and pretty much the only place you can have a quiet coffee in that part of town on the weekend 🙂