From the category archives:

American Shops

The Gap & Banana Republic: selling on-line in the UK

August 27, 2010 American Shops

Today I’m celebrating the fact that the Gap & Banana Republic has just started selling on-line in the UK. (Now I’ve got a better chance of grabbing those Pierre Hardy Design Editions shoes for the Gap when I’m in England. Because there’s zero chance of my standing in line to buy them in person.) The […]

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Perfect Merchandising: How to sell eye cream

May 11, 2010 American Shops

So, you are in the vast Bed, Bath & Beyond on Sixth Avenue. You’ve navigated the endless aisles of kitchen equipment, coathangers and the rest, and been spat out into Beauty on the way to the registers. As you pass through, you stop, lean forward into the magnifying mirror, & then leap back in horror […]

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I like this: J Crew S/S 2010

April 2, 2010 American Shops

Whenever I’m asked by friends and in interviews where I shop in America, I always include J Crew. Which raises eyebrows on the English side of the Atlantic — the traditional UK view of J Crew is that is is a more grown up version of Gap, with a decided slant to the preppy side […]

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Minnetonka Moccasins

October 28, 2009 Accessories

I am obsessed with Minnetonka moccasins. Obsessed, I tell you. This burning love crept up slowly over a few years, and has developed into a long lasting relationship. It all started back in 2006, when a very nice man, who worked next door to the idiot boy I was then dating, invited me to his […]

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Aritzia: the Canadian fashion store you really should know about

October 14, 2009 American Shops

Wilfred Satin Back Crêpe Drapey Tux Jacket $225 USD This is the jacket I have been thinking about for the last month. It’s a deconstructed black satin– backed crêpe tux, which hangs beautifully, with just enough slouch and insouciance. It would be perfect over black cigarette pants, sleeves pushed up, with some good jewellery, spindly […]

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The DKNY Cozy

October 13, 2009 American Shops

I first saw one of these almost exactly three years ago when the ever chic JD from Show Me Your Wardrobe turned up at Heathrow for a Halloween trip we took to New York before moving over here. She has the art of travelling down to a T. She’s always swathed in beige & cream […]

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Object of desire: Anthropologie apron

October 3, 2009 American Shops

Anthropolgie was always the first store I headed to in Manhattan before I moved here, and the place from where I always bought presents for my girlfriends. With the news that they are opening two stores in London, (one on Regent Street at the end of the year, and the second in the old Antiquarius […]

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Cole Haan — things are looking up

August 31, 2009 American Shops

I have always thought of American accessories retailer Cole Haan as the place that successful women in their thirties or forties who like well made, stylish but not fashionable clothes go to to buy shoes & bags. They want good leather & a little bit of a heel, (but not enough to scare the horses). […]

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J Crew Fall 2009: a virtual shopping list

August 30, 2009 American Shops

My arrival back in New Jersey was heralded by torrential rain and sticky humidity. Any plans for Saturday were ditched and, faced, with a day indoors, we opted to spend it at Short Hills, a mall spoken of in the same breathless tones as Westfield in London. We had a splendid afternoon poking through Chanel, […]

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