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Dover Street Market
London
The brainchild of edgy Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, Dover Street Market is a temple to fashion of the cutting edge and exceedingly covetable variety. Set over multiple levels and connected by tiny lifts and claustrophobic staircases, the store features collections from high-end designers both scarce and cerebral, casually thrown onto racks and around displays that give the store a feel equal parts street market, art gallery and industrial experiment.
The store is a well-known favourite of serious fashionistas, and upon stepping through the entrance located on discreet Dover Street, it is not hard to see why – superbly design-centric, airy and dripping with cool, the store features a lineup of labels like Alaia, Nicholas Kirkwood, Lanvin and Givenchy paired to avant-garde names like Rick Owens and Kawakubo’s own Comme des Garcons (the store has all 14 of their lines). The store also heavily features lesser-known names like Undercover and exclusive collections by rising stars like Craig Lawrence and Phoebe English.
Chances are you’re not going to have two grand to drop on a Raf Simons jacket, but as a retail experience, it’s unlikely you’ll have seen anything like it. Casually strewn around the store are esoteric and thrillingly unexpected surprises like Boudicca’s birdcage dressing room, or a Victorian collection of preserved animal skeletons and taxidermy. The smell of pastries and afternoon delights wafts down from Rose’s bakery on the top floor. For the serious shopaholic, unmissable.
Opening times: Monday - Wednesday: 11:00 - 18:30, Thursday - Saturday: 11:00 - 19:00, Sunday - 12:00 - 17:00.
Nearest Tube: Green Park
