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’Tis well and truly the season in London, with festive cheer – and gallons of fizz – flowing through the city’s streets. Among all the incredibly chic Christmas dos that have taken place of late, there’s one that has stood out. In part because it wasn’t technically a Christmas party, but rather a celebration of the 20th birthday of one of London’s style epicentres: Dover Street Market.
Last night saw some of London’s best dressed flock to Haymarket to raise a glass to Rei Kawakubo’s emporium of “beautiful chaos”, fondly recalling their defining DSM memories – and purchases – and dancing the night away to DJ sets by Chadd Curry, Parma Ham and Charlie Porter.
“I remember when Dover Street Market opened in London when I was 16, and I’d only visit on the days when my friends Isabella Burley and Henry Lloyd-Hughes were working,” reminisces former British Vogue editor Olivia Singer. “I didn’t really understand what it was, but I just thought it was the coolest place in the entire world. It’s such a universe unto itself that exists beyond retail in a way that I hadn’t experienced anywhere else, and still haven’t to date.”
“Since I moved to the UK, DSM was always the concept store,” echoes Alex Arsenault, co-creator of KNWLS, a brand that Dover Street Market was a key early champion of. “Their support for young designers that they’ve provided over those 20 years is mind-blowing, and is frankly underestimated, I think.”
Indeed the list of names that Dover Street Market has platformed over its two decades in business reads as a roll call of today’s fashion industry leaders. “We have been fortunate, and are truly honoured to be a part of the amazing journeys of Simone Rocha, Craig Green, Erdem, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Anderson, Charles Jeffrey, Grace Wales Bonner, Charlie Casely-Hayford, Molly Goddard, Kiko Kostadinov, Jacquemus, Maximilian Davis, Delfina Delettrez, Hannah Martin, Gaia Repossi, Chopova Lowena and many more,” lists Dickon Bowden, Dover Street Market International’s vice president. “There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the growth of so many incredibly talented people.”
And beyond simply selling their wares, the store has also seen a good number of them behind the till, too. For artist and creative director Harry Freegard, “seeing gorgeous faces on the shop floor” has always been a highlight of a DSM visit. “Some of the most prestigious creative directors of our time used to prowl these floors as sales assistants, and it was always divine running into them here,” with Maximilian Davis and Charlie Casely-Hayford being among them. “It’s insane, hot and sexy to see where they are now!”
