32 February 22, 2009 THE SUN-HERALD ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● The guide London shopping Beyond the looking glass Window shopping is fine but these stores are made for serious splurging, writes Rachael Oakes-Ash.
hopping and travel go hand in hand. section so you can spy on your favourite Stella There’s something about foreign McCartney frock while dining. currency – it doesn’t look like yours, so Chloe, Vivienne Westwood, Nudie, La Perla S spend it like it is somebody else’s. If and their friends live on the second floor. Then you’re a true shopaholic, you’ll trawl the think high-street fashion aplenty with a boutiques of New York’s Soho, Paris’s Marais Topshop store on the ground floor. and Hong Kong’s Wan Chai in search of a Sore arms? Selfridges will arrange free bargain but when time is tight and you’re delivery of your purchases to your hotel. The itching for retail therapy, one-stop department- store’s gift gurus can give advice on what to buy store shopping satiates a thirst. those you’re looking to impress, psychic sisters London is the home of department-store offer ‘‘readings’’ for your future and personal shopping, where the dedicated can find truly shoppers bring your fashion choices to you in inspiring pieces you won’t see anyone else a VIP room, so you can point and choose and wearing, sporting or using back home. your entourage can pay the tab. Selfridges celebrates its centenary this year, so expect even bigger window displays and Selfridges some seriously good discount sales. Best for A one-stop fashion and lifestyle shop Top tip City gals love Groom’s signature hour for wannabe celebrities. treatments. Two therapists rub, tug, pummel Selfridges has given itself a makeover and and pamper you with a ‘‘weekly groom hour’’ climbed the department store ladder, knocking facial, manicure, pedicure and brow tidy for Harvey Nichols from its fashionable perch. £105 ($231). The store lacks the size of Selfridges or Harrods Top tip Book ahead online on the HN website Mayfair madams, city chicks, day-trippers and 400 Oxford Street, Marylebone. See but the intimacy gives a more boutique vibe. for a table at the sleek Fifth Floor restaurant. the fashion mag set swear by this glamazon, selfridges.com. There’s no need for a frown when choosing Corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street. five-storey store at the Bond Street end of between your Prada and your Pucci – a quick See harveynichols.com. Oxford Street. trip to Beyond Medispa on the fourth floor for The good folk at Selfridges understand Harvey Nichols a Botox jab or two will swiftly take care of those women’s needs, with an entire section Best for The cashed-up with a penchant for the fine lines. Sip bubbles at the champagne nail Harrods dedicated to jeans – from hip-huggers to high- finer things in life. And ladies who lunch. bar or pop into Daniel Hersheson’s salon for a Best for Everything. There’s nothing you can’t waisters, stove pipe, flares, vintage and indigo. Harvey Nichols has three floors of women’s ‘‘do’’ in a private cubicle. get here. It doesn’t stop with denim, either. A Moet fashion, from L.A.M.B to Louboutin. The men Each one has a personal television screen. The hallowed halls of Harrods have been champagne bar provides mid-shopping have two floors of fashion and both genders can Then go down to the ground floor and grab open for more than 155 years. This creme de bubbles and a mozzarella-inspired restaurant enjoy the famous Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor, a some Oliver Peoples sunnies to keep the la creme of department-store shopping is big sits in the middle of the women’s super-brands food market and fine-dining space with a bar. paparazzi at bay. – it covers 1.8 hectares. At Harrods, you may rub
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shoulders with Victoria Beckham or mingle in the toy kingdom with Jemima Khan. You’ll find > TRIP NOTES a million-pound set of diamond-encrusted shoes for sale, so it’s not surprising the store ■ Getting there Emirates Airline flies also has a private bank, its own property estates direct to London from Sydney via for sale and an aviation service for private flying Dubai. Phone 1300 303 777, see and helicopter transfers. Not to mention 22 emirates.com. dining outlets including a pub, a sushi bar, ■ Staying there The Dorchester is Laduree tea room and famous champagne and London’s celebrity-filled Park Lane oyster bar. address. A superior double room The halls are mammoth and themed, from starts from £235 ($515) a night. the jewellery and luxury watch room to the Phone +44 20 7629 8888, see perfumery. But it’s the food halls that are thedorchester.co.uk. known around the world for their cheeses, fresh The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is seafood, charcuterie of exotic delicacies and within skipping distance of Harvey tea. Lots and lots of tea. Nichols and Harrods. Rooms start from Top tip Be prepared for crowds, especially on £235. Phone 1800 123 693, see the ground floor, and the usual street-hawking mandarinoriental.com. gypsies at the entrance who will try to part with Browns Hotel, Albemarle Street, your money. Hold it tight, you’ll need it inside. Mayfair, is within walking distance of Brompton Road, Knightsbridge. See Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason. harrods.com. Rooms start from £199 for a double. Phone +44 20 7493 6020, see Liberty of London lhw.com. Best for Design, design, design. Whether make-up, artwork, fashion or jewellery, you’ll find names here first. Fortnum & Mason Liberty’s founder, Arthur Liberty, Best for Food, glorious food. In the elegant spearheaded the London design scene in the streets of St James, Fortnum & Mason is late 1800s, importing exotic ceramics, fabrics, synonymous with tea and trimmings in England. metal work and design from the Middle East The impressive food hall has been serving up and the Orient, creating a vibrant artistic flair game in aspic jelly, conserves and condiments, within his store that still exists today. loose-leaf teas, foie gras, hams, champagne and The store is set in an iconic Tudor revival other posh nosh to the royal family and the building built from the timber of two ships, the upper classes since the store opened hundreds HMS Impregnable and the HMS Hindustan, of years ago. and is instantly recognisable. F & M lays claim to creating the Scotch egg Originally known for designer dress and and being the first to sell Heinz baked beans; furnishing fabrics, Liberty still stocks both but it has had numerous royal warrants and was the store has diversified into an eclectic enclave chosen by mountaineer George Mallory to of fashion, beauty, perfumes, accessories, provide tucker for his Everest ascent. It’s jewellery, stationery and more. Shoppers can genteel, discreet and terribly British, though take advantage of valet parking and an in-store the recent multimillion-pound concierge, while fancy-pants London males refurbishment has seen some of the grand flock to the Murdock Barber for a Dr Harris wet tradition replaced with modern interiors and shave or the full Murdock service of shampoo, a four-storey atrium. haircut, wet shave and shoe shine. Today, customers can branch out from the Expect cutting-edge designers such as food hall for fashion, beauty and accessories. Alexander McQueen, Helmut Lang and Eley However, the real reason you come to Fortnum Kishimoto in the fashion department and & Mason is for high tea at the St James Malle’s Editions de Parfums in the beauty restaurant. This is tea the way it should be boutique. Liberty of London on Sloane Street is served, in bone china with lashings of sweet the store’s new boutique wing. things on a plate. Top tip Can’t get to London? Liberty has their Top tip Cashed-up customers have their food online store, so they can come to you. hampers delivered by horse and carriage with Corner of Great Marlborough and Regent coachmen in full livery – for £1000. What recession? ... (clockwise from top left) a Selfridges window display; Harrods, the creme de la creme; a streets, London. See liberty.co.uk. 181 Piccadilly. See fortnumandmason.com. Liberty of London festive window space; grand entrance at Fortnum & Mason. Photos: Getty Images; britainonview.com TRV TRV 033