AnthroLONDONologie

This is going to be of no relevance to Americans/Canadians who've lived with Anthropologie practically all of their lives and are either sick of it or look upon it with as much reliance as say I do, with Topshop or erm...Marks & Spencers.  So I guess most people can skip this post.  Anthropologie isn't exactly something new to me either having been to several stores in the States and my conclusion is always the same after every store visit; that I'm always floored by the shop styling, the aesthetics of the interiors and the presentation of everything, yet I never manage to come away with anything in hand.  Or it could be that everytime I'm in the States, I'm always flat broke and thus paying $15 for a bar of soap seems a tad extravagant.  However, visiting it sporadically isn't really the same as having it as part of your regular shopping fixture and a lot of Londoners will most certainly rejoice at the arrival of Anthropologie's first store in the UK on Regent Street (with another one opening on Kings Road next year...).

Today, we were treated to a pretty amazing spread of tea and cakes to celebrate the opening and I've found it difficult editing out superfluous food pics out of this collage, but of course the focus at Anthropologie isn't just selling fashion but rather it promotes a covetable entire lifestyle... you pick up a fringed necklace, only to hap upon a chunky knit blanket and then you stumble on some jewelled drawer knobs and before you know it, your house and your bod is an Anthropologie catalogue.  I jest a little but for a few minutes in the store, I really did curse my wretched bare-walled apartment and wonder why my bed isn't doused with pretty patchwork cushions, an artfully arranged throw, with a set of pastel pointelle pyjamas neatly folded at the foot of the bed...

Speaking to the head buyer of Anthropologie's European division, Olivia Richardson (used to be the head fashion buyer at Liberty's), I wanted to find whether there was a differentiation between the US and UK stores and she explained that every Anthropologie store was supposed to have its unique identity and deliberately localised.  So for the UK market, tweaks have been made and likewise, collaborations and labels bought in are mostly local too.  Eley Kishimoto has designed a four-piece capsule collection called EK Jam Time and products by Soho boutique Beyond the Valley will also be dropping soon too which hopefully will pave the way for more collaborations that are UK-specific. 

I'll leave the looooong ass collage to do the piccy talking because the store is a visual feast and in part exactly how I expected it to be with some twist and turns at some points... excuse the random appearances of the tea/cake spread...