You will have had to have been under a fashion-deprived rock not to have heard of the launch of & Other Stories. It fills me with shame that I haven't posted about this sooner as I feel bashfully late jumping on the old band wagon. But flat hunting/sofa surfing has left little time for retail therapy (you can't hold your head high in a nice retail space if you're lugging your life around in a bag.) So the other day, post meeting, I whizzed into the Regent Street located store to report to anyone else who hasn't visited yet.
Now for the history bit. The brand is from the same family tree as H&M and COS (that's enough to get serious fashion hearts a-flutter) and is the epitome of 'Scandi Cool'. Three years in the making and originally starting as a beauty brand, the label has grown into a full lifestyle label and leans towards the more minimal, premium COS, but with more of a flair for visual merchandising.
Whilst available online, the retail experience at present is only within the walls of the old Mamas & Papas site just off Oxford Circus. The first thing that hits you is the smell. Various lotions and potions (all with that typically chic, stripped back packaging) are dotted around amongst the fashion, then as you reach the back of the store it is a cosmetic haven with big clunky white porcelain sinks for testing the smelly stuff.
Jewellery, too, is delicately and sparingly placed amongst the rails rather than the H&M style of having loads in one rather unsightly area. Not that I'm complaining. H&M does the best statement pieces for the best ever prices and a lot more my style than the uber clean, basic almost masculine styling of & Other Stories.
Upstairs lies a whole shoe and bag area. Beautiful. Buzzing. And of course, all very cool. Extra points for the gorgeous lingerie and swimwear too. Minus points for having to be no bigger than a C cup. Damn my mother's ample chest and for passing it down to me. Flat, unsexy boy boobs are so much chicer in a Scandinavian concept store.
And then there's the clothes. The brand is ignoring fast fashion trends and instead focusing on four key style groups or 'stories' which will evolve each season - ‘Poetic & Dandy’, ‘Sophisticated & Architectural’, ‘Minimalism and Contradiction’ and ‘Industrial & Effortless’. Everything is simple, timeless and clean.
What I loved was the haphazard visual merchandising - strips of clunky industrial tape, office-style lamps highlighting the mannequins, little postcards of the campaign imagery stuck in random places. I didn't want to buy anything, it's all a little too minimalist for me (sorry, I guess I'm not that cool) but you must visit for some serious Nordic chic.
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