London: bars, design and fashion question

[Cue]

everyone else will be

[drgitlin]

Or save the shoe leather and try Masala zone on Marshall Street (behind Carnaby Street).

DO NOT DO THIS. The food is rubbish and the service worse - like a subpar, subcontintent Wagamama.

[darkanimal]

I made it. I'm in Apple store in Oxford. I'm fucking lost but got my SF maps printed out, I should be fine soon!

[faust]

I made it. I'm in Apple store in Oxford. I'm fucking lost but got my SF maps printed out, I should be fine soon!

Haha, posting from London! You are a trooper.

[darkanimal]

Shops:

Dover Street Market- has got to be the best store ever in terms of stock, great selection of Undercover FW 06/07. Has a cafe at the top floor. Half of the staff are friendly, half don't care. They would go out of the way to help you if you ask the right associate.

Liberty- The menswear department is okay, the interior is nice, but don't spend most of your time here unless you are looking for Ann Demm or Dries Van Noten pieces.

Harvey Nichols- Labels I saw that was sort of new to me, Aon Black, Jas MB, Denim is Everything. The other stuff they carry are the usual suspects.

Selfridges- Reminded me of Macy's in NYC, a little bit of everything from street wear to upscale. The Dior Homme area has cold sales associates. They carried Preen which also had a shop at Portabello Road.

The Library- Carol Christian Poell stuff were the one I just noticed. The store looks plain and uninspiring, again didn't spend much time here.

The Pineal Eye- Small shop ,2 floors that's more of a gallery, little space to stock Dior Homme, Raf Simons and the like.

Two See- nothing much to say, they stock upcoming London labels, but weren't my style.

B Store- carried some cool Bernard Wilhelm high top- sneakers, the rest of the stock were too formal for me.

Spital Fields Market- Interesting neighborhood. It's like Williamsburg x10, all the hipsters sitting and hanging out in every inch of the street on a Sunday. I think this is where Streets Magazine look out for people to photograph. This store called A Butcher of Distinction reminded me so much of Steven Alan store, the rest were vintage shops everywhere. Cool design related books and magazines here were overpriced.

Camden Town- It's like St. Mark's Place in NYC x 100. Very touristy punk nothing to buy, more of a flea/souvenir market.

Browns- Has a very Jeffrey New York feel to it, the place is tiny but the selected stocks are a ok.

Swear shoes is everywhere, it's a very cool shoe even if it's not my style. I highly recommend you guys get them, a lot of styles not even on their website. Urban Outfitters is cool, Top Shop is cool.

Art

Tate Modern- Only museum I went to as I got lost going around in circles looking for Saatchi Gallery. It's small, the outside looked old, they were going to renovate it anyways. Nothing still beats MoMa in my book.

Nightlife

Frog- at the Mean Fidler. The queue is long like 40 mins wait...hmmm, this thing never happens in NYC ever. Think Webster Hall size, with a band first then becomes an indie dj disco, with underage kids. They don't even check for your ID. I had fun tho.

Blow Up Metro- Same scene, smaller area. indie and punk girls/guys.

It's really wrong timing to be hanging out only on the weekends in London, as what my case was. But nonetheless I had fun and got a taste of the Brit underground scene. It just sucks that the tube closes at midnight, the bus ride back home was quite an experience. It was crammed and didn't get into any fight.

NYC style is still more creative in my book. The thing I observed about London is everyone is dressed, even if it's plain looking, no one dresses ghetto. However you can see that girls or guys would have a uniform of the moment. Everyone will look the same in a particular street.

[mike lowrey]

neat review, thanks!

I'll do mine next week, gonna be there this weekend.

[Cue]

darkanimal, i think the saatchi is closed at the moment as it's moving to chelsea.

it was/is on the south side of the river, next to the bridge that goes across to parliament/ big ben

[darkanimal]

Oh, I did't really miss anything then. Thanks, upon my next visit maybe it will open. From Waterloo station I walked and walked searching, next thing I knew was at Lamberth North station, I said fuck it and just went to that Scissor Sisters free concert at Trafalgar. hahha

[mike lowrey]

checked quite a few places today.. Selfridges was a bit dissapointing, they have some labels I might've been interested in but the stuff they carried wasn't too good. for example they had a Raf Simmons rack which had about 5 sweaers and 5 t-shirts that were all very plain. I was surprised to see a Spruce rack there but only a couple of hoodies and not my size. they had some good Dior stuff of course, and decent stuff from Martin Margiela but same can be found at Liberty where I got mine

Liberty also had some neat stuff from for example Trovata, YMC, Dries etc. they had way better APC gear the selfridges.

I got a good days laugh too when I walked in Soho, Hideout had a 20m line outside, funny looking people including a chubby kid fully dressed in bape drinking a starbucks latte in the line while showing his new 8-color neon bapes to his posse of clones well, I walked back an hour later and no people whatsoever so I checked it out, they had some visvims of course which I was mostly interested in but not my size.. they carry like 1/4 of the stuff they have on their website..

Dover Street Market was very weird, a bit confusing at first. like darkanimal said they had a good amount of nn stuff. of course a huge amount of Comme on like 4 floors.

will chime in tomorrow again..

[Astérix]

I didn't want to start a new thread but I have a small question for those of you in London. How much does it cost to get pretty good tickets for an EPL match? Is it very hard to find good tickets?

[Cue]

^^^ depends on the team - around £50 probably, but you will struggle to get tickets for the bigger teams (Chelsea, Man U etc).

[Astérix]

What about Arsenal? I am thinking they would be hard to get because now they have the new Emirates Stadium...

[Cue]

What about Arsenal? I am thinking they would be hard to get because now they have the new Emirates Stadium...

not sure mate, guess you will have to try their website....

or try and buy tickets outside

they can be cheaper if you don't mind missing the first 15 minutes and then scoop them off the touts

[mike lowrey]

updated London shopping (2008)

The Library - high end mens fashion from european labels such as Carol Christian Poell, Label Under Construction, Isaac Sellam, Dries Van Noten.. also a few select pieces from Carpe Diem and/or offshoots. some very "Italian" labels as well that are perhaps a bit less interesting.

Browns - Their mens stores has a decent selection from Undercover, Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester and others mixed in with the usual Diors and Pradas.

Vertice Uomo - crazy mish mash of hard to find japanese labels (Viridi-Anne, Attachment Kazuyuki Kumagai, Kiminori Morishita) and european trainwrecks (think Dsquared & Co.). always good finds in the basement where the japanese brands are tucked away in.

Dover Street Market - ever changing lineup of brands ranging from Ann Demeulemeester to Undercover and Raf Simons to Junya Watanabe. a must check in London.

Liberty's - probably the most interesting department store, mens section has Number (N)ine, Rick Owens, Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, APC and many others.

Selfridges - varies in quality, but always worth stopping by. labels such as Alexander McQueen, Burberry Prorsum, Dior, Raf Simons, Margiela etc etc.

Hideout - as good as streetwear gets in London. small selections of Visvim, Neighborhood and other japanese labels.

Jas MB - home of the bag makers, also a small selection of clothing from various european and japanese labels.

Poste - nice shoe store

food

Yauatcha - impeccable dimsum from the owner of Hakkasan

Hakkasan - a long time favourite, I go here everytime I'm in the city and it never dissapoints.

Donzoko - pretty good japanese joint

Mr. Jerk - Jerk Chicken! two places next to each other, go to the "original" for a more fresh place, the other one for a more intimate, crammed up experience. food is equally good.

[Schmarker]

What about Arsenal? I am thinking they would be hard to get because now they have the new Emirates Stadium...

They are harder to get than teams like Fulham and West Ham.

I recommend Fulham. Craven Cottage is a nice little ground and the atmosphere is pretty good. I just went to a mid-week EPL match (against Wigan) and it wasn't expensive... 30 pounds for seats behind the goals 8 or 9 rows to the pitch. If you've got time you might want to try your luck as I overheard people flogging tickets for 5 pounds 2 minutes after kickoff.

[mike lowrey]

I waited two years for that answer

[Schmarker]

I waited two years for that answer

Oh yeah, didn't realise your post was from 06!

[Swych]

I waited two years for that answer

lol

10char

[seenmy]

slighty random as i live in london, but figured people traveling to london will have better experience,

I have some clients coming to london in 2 weeks for a few days where is nice/convieient to stay (coming in from heathrow)

[mike lowrey]

what price range? right in the middle of the city or is a mile or two away ok?

[seenmy]

i think a mile or so out is fine just decent access for shopping in central etc a good breakfast would be a plus for the hotel, im guessing it be good to have a range rices mid to high.i gave them the sufu list and some timeout links but its good to have recomendations

[horriblyjollyjinx]

Urban Outfitters is cool, Top Shop is cool.

Oops, blew YOUR cool!!

[mike lowrey]

i think a mile or so out is fine just decent access for shopping in central etc a good breakfast would be a plus for the hotel, im guessing it be good to have a range rices mid to high.i gave them the sufu list and some timeout links but its good to have recomendations

for very centrally located ones, The Sumner should be excellent. its a block away from marble arch, very modern classic with only 20 rooms, might be hard to get one on a short notice though. roughly £140.

Theres a couple of Radissons very well located, The Berkshire is right opposite of Bond St. station and Radisson Sussex is right behind Selfridges. I've stayed at both and they are decent, nothing spectacular but a good stay for a reasonable price.

For something cheapish, theres a place called Arosfa near Goodge St. thats very moderately price (£60), its a very basic bed&breakfast but nice and friendly.

if you're willing to ball (£300), go to a Firmdale. The Soho Hotel should be pretty sick, their user ratings are always of the charts. Always wanted to stay here..

[MatBoy]

My best recommandation would be the B+B Belgravia, must be 100£ a night, great minimal design and excellent value for money.

Also The Zetter in Cleckenwell (about160£ a night) would be a good choice. More Stylish, excellent breakfast.