Curious shopping trends

It’s dark by 4.0 pm, it’s raining, and the high street is a depressingly familiar sight...

But what would you like to see instead of the bright lights of Poundland?

This weekend ShopCurious has an alternative shopping showcase:





At Curious Trends, we’ve a feature on one of London’s most unique curiosity shops – LASSCO at Brunswick House. This architectural salvage emporium is perfect for anyone renovating a home, or simply on the look out for quirky antiques and retro memorabilia (though probably not for a pound).

Over at The Dabbler, we visit curiously colourful and retro-progressive Brixton Market, where you’ll find slow food, ethnic homewares and fabulous vintage fashion.

And we also take a peek at the hi-tech future of retail – just look at this virtual Tesco Homeplus store in South Korea. People in Seoul are shopping from the walls of the subway…

Are you?

Perennial Summer style

At this time of year, it’s nice to wind down and relax in the sun, but in the Caribbean the sun shines all year round, and the curiously slow pace of life is a major attraction for tourists.

Looking out over London’s cloudy grey skies, I’m dreaming of the lazy days I spent a few months ago at the charming Antiguan resort of Galley Bay – a beachside paradise that’s a haven of eco-friendly style, with smiling, helpful and warm-hearted staff.

One day, I was soaking up the sounds of the sea over lunch, when a fashion show suddenly popped up in front of me. How refreshing to see naturally beautiful models of all shapes and sizes wearing swimwear, sarongs and brightly coloured holiday fashions.

It’s hardly surprising that the Caribbeans are so big on colourful clothing, what with all the amazing colours of nature in and around their stunning tropical islands.
































Anyway, I thought it would be rather fun to show the Maggio sisters’ handcrafted recycled jewellery from ShopCurious alongside the outfits I saw on the uniquely Caribbean catwalk.



The hand painted earrings with scenes from Italian gardens are curiously complemetary - but for a pretty finishing touch you could also add a locally picked flower, worn as a corsage.








By the way, the dresses are from a boutique in Heritage Quay, St John’s, called ‘gingerlily’ that specializes in casually elegant clothing for women, using cool and comfortable fabrics like linen, cotton and silk. And the menswear is available at a store called Nautica.

















And, how about some floral holiday nails too?




















I’m not entirely sure about these as men’s accessories – perhaps this single blossom earring might work… What d’you think?













Do you?

Popping back to happy days

Happy were the days when children needed no more than a seat at Saturday morning pictures and a bag of popcorn to keep them occupied. Pop art immortalized the popular culture and characters of the 1950s and ‘60s in all manner of colourful cartoon style images, reflecting the growing celebritization of film stars and artists, as well as an increased awareness of modern convenience products – along with our childlike curiosity for all things new.








As the pace of social and commercial change speeded up, those who had grown up in, or were inspired by distinctly more laid back times, found a role model in the character from Happy Days known as Fonzie (played by unlikely heartthrob Henry Winkler) – one of the most decidedly cool guys on the planet, who actively cultivated slow style to get things done more effectively.




Despite his James Dean style appearance and rebellious swagger, The Fonz was a big softy at heart and gained fans from all sorts of unexpected quarters. Old school French teachers even adopted his cult greeting (‘Eeeeeeeeey) to instruct pupils on the pronunciation of ‘e’ with an acute accent.

The Happy Days series was screened from the mid 1970s into the early 1980s and harked back to an age when family fun, fashion, movie stars and motorcycles were popular features of daily life. Curiously, little has altered in this respect, except that family structures and moral values seem to have changed dramatically within a relatively short space of time...




Perhaps that’s why slow retro style is regaining popularity and pop art accessories - like the uniquely stylish hand painted jewellery by the Maggio sisters at ShopCurious – are back in vogue.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to more Happy Days ahead.

Are you?

I love New York, but...

Fast isn’t always best. Bette Midler once famously said “When it's three o’clock in New York, it's still 1938 in London.” Okay, New York has been, and may still be, the world’s most happening city… If you visit regularly for New York Fashion Week, you’ll probably discover recently established places and new things to see and do, every time you’re there. But I like to find hang-outs that are a little more off-beat and unusual - where things happen at a slightly slower pace.







Even if you start at the digital centre of the world, you can always slow down later: The new NYC Information Center, close to Times Square, has 16 enormous flat screen monitors, where you can use Google Earth to create your own virtual tourist trail. You can even download the route onto your mobile ‘phone. Or, if you prefer to do this is in advance of your trip, there’s also a website, which you can check out here.








If the pace gets a little too much and you find you’re need a bit of a breather, why not stop off at Paley Park – an urban oasis on the site where the famous Stork Club used to be. Privately funded by the ex-CEO of CBS William Paley, and built in 1967, this ‘pocket park’ is a small cobbled area, with walls on three sides that are decked out with a huge fountain and hanging ivy to blot out the noise from the passing traffic, creating a Zen-like environment that’s rather a curiosity…






It’s perfect for taking a few moments out, allowing you to collage your memory with a curiously handy journal from ShopCurious.

Of course, you could also make a hasty retreat to The Meatpacking District (MPD) - with a heritage of over 250 slaughterhouses - and now a favourite hang-out for actors and fashionistas. Thankfully, the area has recently become home to The High Line, a former freight transportation facility that’s been transformed into a stylish green walkway, raised up above road level.





Originally in use from the early 1930s to around 1980, the line was derelict until its recent (and ongoing) reclamation. Planted with grass, shrubs and even decked out with sun-loungers, the 3 mile long, eco-friendly track is a great way to see what’s going on from above.

You can also pop by one of the newest bistros in the area, Recette, where the chef is Gordon Ramsay trained Jesse Schenker.

After all, you may need to take another breather before London Fashion Week hits this ‘slow’ town…

Do you?

Slow forward

Damn, I missed Obama’s inaugural speech – but have heard plenty of snippets played over and over and over and over and over on the radio and TV and will they ever stop?

Still, Barack Obama certainly seems like he has ‘style with brains’ – let’s just hope that he does. There’s no doubt he’s an awesome orator and a very charismatic guy – oh, and as Mica Paris so delicately(!) pointed out on Tuesday night’s LBC News, when asked why she thought Obama had won: “He’s a cool guy” who “appeals to the young” and “walks in a really cool kind of way” … Thanks Mica, you’ve got a great voice and a very big heart and you’re a lovely lady (and you forgot to mention President Obama's very fine set of teeth).





A few months ago, all we were hearing is that it was ‘time for change’ and now we're getting the already strong message that ‘change has come’. I must say that I’m totally fed up with change. In my relatively short lifetime it seems like things have speeded up to a frantic pace, especially in the past few years. Everyone wants everything, everywhere, now. Obama seems like a genuinely nice and well intentioned guy, but even with huge global resources at his fingertips, he can’t change the world for the better overnight.




And unfortunately we’re stuck in rather a bad place - A place where ‘change’ means a new face in charge, (preferably one that’s relatively symmetrical and pleasing on the eye); a place where curiously unbecoming behaviour and lack of consideration for others is often glossed over by PR; a place where things have to be reduced to a monetary equivalent and where celebrity endorsement counts for much more than educated reason and hard-earned experience; a place where authentic values and simple pleasures seem to mean very little.

I really do hope that things will change for the better because I’ve occasionally thought that I’d like to stop the world and get off. And I hope that in future, the change will happen less quickly - so we don’t get all tangled up in the moral, social and economic dilemmas that we find ourselves challenged with today.


Aside from all this, though possibly related, I’m so pleased to see that Google has been promoting the U-tube Symphony Orchestra on their homepage – seems somehow more worthy than The X-factor.




Which brings me on to the serious subjects of fashion and taste. Style isn’t about appearance and price (or net worth). There's a clever art to finding things that are unique and have real style – and it's all the more rewarding if you have a limited budget. Whatever your spending power, why not save up for a while and get something really special? Do you actually want to purchase a garment (whether it be a cheap and poorly made chain store rip off, or a costly designer gown) that everyone knows the price of? How about something truly original, beautifully made and timeless in its appeal? Feel no compulsion to buy from ShopCurious – why not simply indulge your curiosity and have a good look around...

Will you?

Curious trends for 2009

My first blogs of 2009 have already featured two of the curious trends for the coming year:

- dressing up despite the recession ...

It's not just the influence of the forthcoming 'Hats - An Anthology by Stephen Jones' exhibition at the V&A that’s got us all excited about hats. Aside from the decidedly unanticipated (global warming and all that) cold snap and the need to keep our brains from freezing up, hats are going to make rather a comeback.








Hats are an expression of our personality, they’re an art form that adds to our character, and hats are also a symbol for what we've all been missing for quite a long time – namely, rules and formality. However, just as the fffffascinator has become de rigueur at Royal Ascot within the space of a year or so, this is formality as we’ve never known it before … now there's a whole new 'hatiquette'. Take a peek at some of the extraordinary sculpted hats available at ShopCurious if you're looking for inspiration.







- a new way of thinking is emerging:

Amidst all the confusion caused by changing social structures and moral codes, let alone the prospect of a global depression, we might just be beginning to rediscover values that aren’t based purely on fame and fortune (as depicted in the film Slumdog Millionaire – a testament to the power of positive thinking, despite the stronghold of a manipulative, all-encompassing media machine).

Linked to this is one of the other main trends that’s going to hit us hard - the big move from fast forward to...





- slow forward:

We’re all going to spend more time considering our future, reassessing our lives and thinking about what really matters. We’ll appreciate local produce and authentic luxuries - things that are handmade, unusual, unique and vintage artefacts will all have a special value.

True artistic merit is worth much more than money alone and this year many of us are likely to consider fashion and style beyond the context of their celebrity status and material value for the first time ever. Perhaps we don't need to be naked, transformed by faddy diets or plastic surgery (note Armando Iannucci's new satirical operetta Skin Deep) to look good after all? Perhaps there's more to being stylish than size 0 and designer logos on handbags?

I must say that this is what I’m most looking forward to.

Are you?

Season of goodwill?

I haven’t had much time to prepare for Christmas this year. My tree’s still nakedly awaiting decoration and I’ve only just managed to send out a few cards – it’s all a bit last minute. The manic rush to get ready in time for Christmas has begun.

I noticed it today when I embarked upon the great annual Vacherin hunt. For the uninitiated, Vacherin is a rather runny and very smelly (some might agree with me that it’s also delicious) Swiss or French cheese. Every year I have a lunch with some friends and I take along a couple of Vacherins. However, when I left home this morning thinking I’d be back in twenty minutes with my curiously stinking fromages, I was sadly mistaken.


After 10 minutes of waiting in a queue for the Waitrose (known stockist of said cheese) car park, I decided to venture further afield to a very large branch of Sainsburys, where I eventually managed to find a space for my car. 15 minutes later, which is about the time it took me to find the cheese department, I discovered they had just about every cheese under the sun except Vacherin. Not wishing to stray into the congestion charge zone, I wracked my brains to think of a local deli that might sell such a delicacy – but as they're all Italian, I thought it probably unlikely. I decided to return to scope out the Waitrose traffic for a final attempt.


It was then I encountered the combined full-on force of Christmas shoppers, white van men making their final deliveries and holiday goers in London's dreaded Wandsworth one-way system. The lack of goodwill was astounding. Never before have I been so stunned by the sheer aggression, reckless regard for safety and the overarching urgency to get from A to B, no matter how dangerous the manoeuvres involved. Perhaps they were all flocking to the new Westfield centre in Shepherds Bush in search of discounted luxury designer goods, which is probably as near to shepherds and their flocks that most people will ever get these days.



My day hadn’t started that well either – as I got into the lift, an unusual smell wafted up – which soon became uncomfortably hideous and then unmistakably identifiable as the aftermath of a relatively recent barf. Unfortunately, it’s the time of year when, if you’re not shopping till you drop, you’re probably drinking till you pass out. Sadly, this is what 'celebrating' Christmas seems to have been reduced to.



We’re all stressed out, haring around like lunatics trying to find the latest 'must have' fashion accessories and queue-scuffling as we grab up trashy gifts because it’s the ‘season of giving’, we're drinking ourselves into an alcoholic stupor in the name of the ‘party season’ – in fact we're simply behaving like a bunch of animals. Whatever happened to the season of goodwill?



At ShopCurious, we’re proponents of the slow approach to life and the appreciation of timeless beauty, rather than disposable style. We suggest it might be apposite to give due consideration and pay a little more respect to others at this time of year – not just the guy in the car in front, or the woman ahead in the queue at the checkout, but also our friends and neighbours who are old, unwell, or in difficulty - like those who are newly unemployed. Whatever your nationality and whatever your faith, let’s keep this holiday season special for the right reasons - how about truth, beauty, peace and love for starters.



I’ll resume my search for cheese tomorrow.

Will you?