| Monday 28 July, 2008 |
| Inconspicuous Consumption |
 |
 |
Personal
shopping. Louis Vuitton luggage. Private jets
to Necker Island. It's all a little hideous. As
Sir Max Mosley would surely tell you, it's all
about inconspicuous consumption these days.
Say hello to the soft sellers. So on target that
they don't need a name. So inviting that you feel
like you're visiting a friend.
|
|
|
Those
arbiters of style, Les Trois Garcons, have had the secret
interiors shop, Saffire, squirreled away behind Loungelover
for aeons now. A dusty, scratched no-name exterior veils
Hassan's hidden gems. Yours by appointment only, of
course.
Grand designer Felicity Loudon's Oxfordshire country
house and Lennox Gardens pied-a-terre are bona fide
living shops where you're greeted by Lourdon herself
and offered homemade cordial and Florentines on arrival.
Fully decked-out working residences, you'll need an
invitation (not to mention an appointment) to shop here
- everything in the apartment and house is for sale.
However, my inner-child personal favourite is the Gepetto-esque
toyshop in Gospel Oak. With no signage on the frontage
and hidden amid an unassuming parade of shops, it's
run by a septuagenarian who spins yarns to children
and adults alike as she crafts the exquisite, tiny doll's
house curiosities in front of your very eyes.
|
|
Living
museums in which to step beyond yourself, and
not a chippy salesgirl or harping exec in sight.
I, for one, am most definitely sold.
Felicity
Lourden’s Private House - The Private House,
45 Redchurch Street, E2 - 020 7012 1234;
Mrs Baybar's toyshop, 7 Mansfield Road, NW3, opposite
Gospel Oak Station - 020 7267 0934.
|
|
|
|
COMMENT
ON THIS FEATURE |
by
VG |
|
|
|
|
TODAY'S
EVENT PICKS |
Celebrate
the composer's death day with Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier at Saint Anne's. 6:30pm. Gresham St, EC2.
£5. |
|
Screw Edinburgh this year. It's all about Camden's own Fringe festival. Various locations. NW1.
Various prices. |
|
Hugo VIckers presents the decadent Stephen Tennants's Immortal
Dropout . Jermyn St. 16b Jermyn St, SW1.
£16. |
|
Last
chance to catch: Moonlight
& Magnolias at Tricycle; Janelle
Lynch at Photofusion; Bunny at Michael Hoppen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
