DOVER STREET MARKET NYC

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I recently visited New York City on a university trip and whilst we were there we explored all the retail of course. Somewhere I had been wanting to visit was Dover Street Market as I have been in the London one a few times and really like how it's laid out, the fashion and brands they hold and just the over all experience in the store so I was interested to see how the NY one compared. DSM is such an amazing store in that they hold a lot of unique designer brands but they actually give them all the same amount of space and the same budget to create their display in the store and then the brand can completely transform their space to fit them. It's a great way of keeping all the brands on the same level and have equal opportunities.

First of all it was quite far out from any other stores and in quite a random place so I feel like you would have to be looking for it to find it. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by a lovely man who welcomed us to the store and asked if we would like a map, which you never

really get when visiting stores, well it's something I've never experienced, he handed us the map which showed the layout of all 8 floors! He recommended that we start from the top and work our way down. There was a big glass lift in the middle of the store which we took to the top.

The first stand I saw as we stepped out was this very minimalist Maison Margiela collection, with just white sheets hanging as the background the concentration wasn't taken away from the clothing and then the white arm chair feels very inviting and it just over all had a very light comforting feel which I feel reflected the clothing pieces very well. Then opposite this section was the complete opposite style with Supreme. The was posters covering the wall and a massive one saying Supreme so it clear what brand it was. This stand was so bright with all the clothing pieces and background, it was almost disturbing the peace felt in the opposing stand, which is much like Supreme as a brand. The carrying on to the right was a section of Gucci, this section held all of their new pieces from their Disney collection and there was also some of their newer bags on display. This section was very traditional Gucci with all of the brass metal frames ad simplicity. At the end there was this section which felt very construction like with all of the metal poles and the dirty green stands. It was very simplistic and muted with a few pops of neon colour from the clothes. To the right of this there was a changing room and the door was covered in loads of random metal and plastic pieces, which I later found was a running theme through the store. There was then this display for Gucci which I really like, it was a little indent into the wall which was surround with mirrors, which really opened up the space. There were 5 manakins, one of which was sat down on a Gucci bench and the others almost looked as though they were standing around waiting for someone shopping, something you commonly see in stores, so I though this was quite a unique display and a bit different for Gucci.

We then moved down the the 6th floor which as soon as we stepped out of the lift you are greeted by this amazing stand for Undercover in a wooden frame with massive light up words outlining the stand which read 'We make noise not clothes', the bright colours and words were impossible to miss. From looking the clothes on the stand I felt this lay out fitted them perfectly, they were very out there and unique. Next to that was a completely opposite style for Thom Browne, this stand looked like an office which was very unique. It was surrounded by glass windows with the blinds I feel every office has, the door was open and when you look in straight ahead of you there was this wooden desk with a gold lamp and grey chair, very simplistic. The back wall was grey marble with the brand name in lights to really stand out, to each side there was accessories on filling selves and then on the sides the clothes were all hung up. This was such a unique display and I really love it, if men are looking for day wear and work in an office they will know this is the place to go. There was also this display of hats, they were hung on a chair installation, they actually had the same installation in the London store, so this was a nice link back to that store. The hats were all black sat on the white chairs so they stood out clearly in such a confusion. The hats were all very abstract so the abstract installation worked perfectly with that.

The 5th floor had this really cool structure for Comme des Garçons SHIRT, it was all wood, very simplistic with the clothes laid out in uniform but there was a manakin climbing through the top of one of the displays which I felt looked like they were playing and some of the clothing pieces on display here were quite colourful and playful so this little added detail reflected the clothes style. There was another very unique display for Jacquemus, it looked like a building which would be found in Santorini or greek village, with the white stone, yellow door frame and tiles above the door looking like the house name. It was very light and simplistic inside with the black details on the white the colour palette was very simple. This perfectly reflected the clothes inside, they were all quite muted colours and quite summery outfits which you would probably find in Greece, so I love this display.

The 4th floor took you a Melitta Baumeister stand which had a gym feel to it with the clothes looking like sportwear and there was this black pole coming out of one of the beams which had a boxing glove hung from it and then on the other side there was a punch bag, I didn't fully understand this display but it still looked cool. Next there was this display of glasses by MYKITA, which were basically a piece metal which didn't help or protect your eyes but they still looked so cool.