Mount Street was rebuilt in terra-cotta and red brick between 1880-1900 by the duke of Westminster and is associated with Mayfair's exclusive shops and houses.
(Bonnie Tsui for The Boston Globe)
Mayfair meets modern
Historic neighborhood of the elites fashioning a broader appeal
Mount Street was rebuilt in terra-cotta and red brick between 1880-1900 by the duke of Westminster and is associated with Mayfair's exclusive shops and houses.
(Bonnie Tsui for The Boston Globe)
March 15, 2009
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Quiet, genteel Mayfair has a storied pedigree as an elite central London neighborhood of cobblestone lanes, tree-lined squares, and handsome Georgian townhouses. The district was named after the fortnight-long May Fair that was once held every spring (then ousted by nobles in the area in the cause of purging undesirable elements). On the east side, verdant parks and posh residential buildings still dominate, while the west side's retail streets - Savile Row, Bond Street - are famous for bespoke tailoring and refined boutiques.
Lately, this once-staid neighborhood is seeing something of a shake-up, with more eclectic style-setters and designers moving in. On a recent sunny-day stroll through Mayfair, I surveyed the intersections where classy, old-school style and hip, new-school fashion meet.
Perhaps the first to stake a fashion-forward claim in Mayfair was edgy Rei Kawakubo, of Japanese label Commes des Garçons. The company's Dover Street Market opened five years ago and has become something of a latter-day design anchor. The six-level store nods to prototypical, multifloor department stores such as Liberty of London, just to the north in Hanover Square. But though the two may showcase a handful of the same high-end fashion brands, that's where the similarities end. Instead of the epic Tudor revival building that houses Liberty, Dover Street Market is a sleek, white, warehouse-chic space with rotating mixed-media installations and avant-garde collections that change seasonally.
According to Kawakubo, Commes des Garçons' vision for Dover Street Market is a multidisciplinary mash-up: "I want to create a kind of market where various creators from various fields gather together and encounter each other in an ongoing atmosphere of beautiful chaos: the mixing up and coming together of different kindred souls who all share a strong personal vision."
Beautiful chaos indeed. There is some truly wacky stuff here. On the day of my visit, the ground floor welcomed shoppers with a colorful T-shirt stand and a giant black octopus (specially designed by Les Trois Garçons for the current fashion season). This served as introduction to the six floors of clothing collections interspersed with cultural curiosities and oddball taxidermy items: large bird skulls, century-old lions' heads, sculpted-wax torsos, chunks of coral. All of it was for sale. Each season, clothing collections are inventively presented by guest designers: A hooded, feathered tulle dress was laid out on a table like a corpse on display, while two gold mannequins sported jester hats, masks, and red puffy coats.
The prices range from doable (a vintage Lucite bracelet for about $50) to eye-popping (a men's fitted pinstriped jacket for $1,100). The store is in constant flux, presenting antiques and one-off items like a limited edition CDG Speedo collection (a black-and-white one-piece swimsuit was $80, available online) and six swingy Peter Jensen dresses designed especially for Dover Street Market. There were also what could only be termed "ethnic corners," with Mao- and Che-printed merchandise, African masks, and Indian fabrics.
Given the state of the economy, you may find the objects here more suitable for browsing than purchasing; other stores on Mayfair's destination shopping streets are a bit more accessible. But it's true that Dover Street Market has become something of a tourist destination for fashion-crazy visitors (the watchful staff also added to the effect of the establishment not being truly for shopping but more for viewing). I found the fragrant top-floor cafe and bakery, where pastry chefs work in one corner, a bright, airy respite from the hands-off museum feeling. This level also featured friendlier displays, including a small counter with fancy bric-a-brac and toiletry and personal care items: wooden toothbrushes, exotic feather dusters, and enamel soap dishes (happily, all under $28).
Eccentric Dover Street Market is no longer alone among the prevailing Mayfair retail matrons. In 2007, young British shoe designer Beatrix Ong, a favorite of Sienna Miller and Kate Moss, opened her London flagship in the Burlington Arcade - the oldest shopping arcade in Britain - next to a lineup of fountain pen and rare jewelry storefronts. In the same year, across Berkeley Square on tucked-away Mount Street, the arrival of Marc Jacobs's London flagship also helped stir the air. It replaced an antiques store, and lent a more glamorous vibe to the street's century-plus-old canopied pharmacies and butcher shops. Legendary stiletto king Christian Louboutin followed last year. "In such a pretty street, I want to have my prettiest shoes," Louboutin told British Vogue.
The parade of designer shops now includes Wunderkind, which carries a whimsical, eclectic line of clothing by Wolfgang Joop. Wunderkind's 1,000-foot showroom opened in November; it used to house a rifle shop. "Marc Jacobs was really the first one on the block to change things," said Surachai Techakosit, a sales associate who was arranging the ethereal polka-dot dresses in the shop. "It used to be all about gun shops, antiques, and banks around here. But it's becoming a place for high fashion."
Local residents say they appreciate the arrival of the unconventional, and there's more on the way: A Lanvin boutique is about to open its doors, as is an outpost of Marc by Marc Jacobs, which will stretch the fashionable new strip farther westward.
Exciting restaurants and revamped hotels also add to the image of a newly hip Mayfair. At Benares, a modern Indian establishment from Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar, minimalist design and delicate flavors are the rule. Kochhar's sleek presentation of haute Indian fusion dishes is in a style far from London's typical curry houses.
Newcomers to the scene include Automat, a New York-style brasserie with the retro feel of an old train dining car. Its strengths: celebrity-spotting and diner favorites like buttermilk pancakes, juicy burgers, and macaroni and cheese. And at Gordon Ramsay's two-year-old Maze, where Asian-inspired tasting menus include sliced yellowfin tuna with tomato salsa and lamb with spring-onion risotto, chef Jason Atherton commands a vibrant dining room.
Many things in the neighborhood retain a classic flavor, of course, like the
All this is to say that, with the dollar near a 25-year high against the British pound, maybe it's time for a hop across the pond and a bit of retail therapy. At the very least, the energetic, fashion-forward creations on display in Mayfair can offer truly excellent window-shopping.
Bonnie Tsui can be reached at bonnie@bonnietsui.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
