Mondays are always a quiet day here at The Established Man HQ. Long weekends in January are de rigour to deal with the onslaught of depression and debt..my oh my its bleak times here. So this afternoon we thought we'd perk ourselves up with a staff outing to the Kings Road a mere hop, skip and jump from our 42nd floor office resembling Dr. Evil's lair just lacking in mini-me and silver latex; perhaps we can work on that in the future?
Needless to say there's not an awful lot left on the Kings Road that inspires anymore. Gone are the days of Rock and Roll, sixties swingers and Dandies walking Tigers along the pavement. Thankfully we're at the less glamorous end of this long London street and at the section that has remained as independent as possible. A sure stop shop is the aptly names Shop at Bluebird. Think Collette comes to Chelsea with a bit of English eccentricity swirled in for good measure. It might be owned by Belle Robinson..that's Mrs. Jigsaw to you and us but don't expect a hint of that malarkey going on here. This is the concept store model to a tee, choice cuts of menswear jostle with some prime womenswear and there's some ripe bits of homeware to be sampled too...we LOVE the John Derain decoupage pieces and Jonathan Adler ceramics. We left the credit card at home for this very reason.
Having a good rifle through the menswear we noticed some touchy, feely, we want you NOW sweaters. The jersey thing has been going strong for a long long time but in past seasons thanks to the likes of Alexander Wang, NY's fashion dahling of the moment its having a real moment right now. The high street does it well occasionally with classics from Gap and H&M. COS do their thing but we're never sure about the fit despite loving the retail experience. Kitsune had some fine French fancies on the jersey shore in grey and navy with a little emblem on at waist height depicting the Eiffel Tower naturellement!
The gentlemen have been given a slight back seat at The Shop at Bluebird since its inception a few years ago but through clever buying and careful curating of the space its still a visit worth while. Alexander McQueen's McQ label is aimed at younger, more casual gentlemen yet we rather lusted after his text sweat in a faded blue. All rather pricey but very nice, in the same vain as the Peoples Wardrobe sweater we bought when it was still around that blew our student loan...oh those were the days.
Whilst we're quite happy to Lord it up in SW10 wafting around like a Hedge-funder's bit of stuff on the side with a Black Amex in her hand the truth is we love a good bargain at heart. So we crossed the street and did a bit of charity shopping too, much more our price range. Jersey and slouchy sweats are items we come across on the charity shop circuit all the time and its cheap and often just what the Doctor ordered. We love our 80's Dash-style ski number in grey with Miami mint green and pink t0 complement the true hideousness. If that's not enough our Desert Orchid kids one from a charity shop in Sussex is a treat, always a winner much like its motif! And both were 50p. Alistair Darling will be proud
No comments:
Post a Comment