London Trip

Today I went up to London (with a couple of others) on a research Trip for this unit.

Our first stop was the Alexander McQueen store on Old Bond Street, which we were really interested in seeing since he passed away last Thursday. It was beautifully presented with a plaque in the window with a dedication on it, and wreaths of flowers at the entrance. I found the design of the store itself really interesting, having never been there before. It reminded me of an anthill, the way the architeture was built up around the centre and then with a hole with walls following down to the lower ground floor. It was so pristine and minimalist and the clothes were presented beautifully. We also went into the Gucci store on Old Bond Street, which didnt inspire me nearly as much; though there were more items inside, the interior design was in my opinion, not as striking.

We then went to Dover Street Market, which was also very interesting. The way it is designed is so much different to the typical designer shop, being made to appear in some areas similar to a market, but in an inside space. I thought it was really well designed in some areas, and was good to see the clothes in a different context, but in my opinion the clothes were so high class and are more suited to the pristine surroundings.

Next was Carnaby Street, which we stumbled across on the way to The Photographers Gallery. I haven't really had a chance to explore any shopping areas of London before, only being able to afford to go up there for exhibitions, but Carnaby Street is such a brilliant area of boutiques, high street stores, restaurants and cobbled streets. Also situated there is Liberty's which we went in, just to have a look at fabrics and prints... and there happened to be an exhibition on the top floor, centred around up & coming fashion photographers. I took the names down and shall be looking into some of them for my research.

Then we wandered up to Frank's bookshop to stock up on magazines, and I bought Numero, Wonderland, and Collezioni issue 135 (which as reduced to £5 as it didnt have a cover). On the way up to Frank's we went to Saville Row to have a look at the class and sophistication of the stores on this famous street.

Finally, we went to Selfridges, to have a look at the Ultralounge space, where the Photostory exhibition will be taking place in April. It was really good to see the positioning in selfridges, and to get a grasp on the size of the space.