Timeless design will always be chic, writes Deirdre McQuillan
Timeless allure
Mayfair's quaint Mount Street, a stone's throw from Claridge's
Hotel, was the location chosen last year for Marc Jacobs's first UK
store. Now Balenciaga has followed suit with the opening of its
first London flagship. Designed to resemble the interior of a space
ship, with radiating hanger rails, plasma screens and silvery
walls, it has a 360-degree mirrored changing room, straight out of
What Not To Wear. The shop was designed by Nicolas
Ghesquière - who made a rare London appearance for the opening
- in collaboration with the artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. The
current collection includes a number of revivals of 1950s
Balenciaga originals in authentic fabrics, which reveal the
extraordinary beauty and modernism of the Spanish designer. A
blue-and-white-china print summer dress and a collarless coat in
silk and cashmere are just two items that look as fresh and as
alluring today as they must have done more than half a century ago.
Balenciaga is at 12 Mount Street, London W1K 2RD.
Seeing green
What do a currant bun, a Botkier bag, a Berman suit, and body
polish have in common? They're just some of the items gathered
together by Sarah Gill (left) for her luxury lifestyle emporium,
Seagreen, in Monkstown, Co Dublin. Gill staged her first fashion
show there recently in a newly-opened interiors room upstairs,
where flirty little dresses and chic suits from labels such as Paul
& Joe (France), Milly (New York), along with bikinis from
Melissa Odabash, shared space with a modern chandeliers and
furniture.
Seagreen is open seven days a week, and also boasts a little
cafe. Its mix of stock, including unusual fragrances and beauty
products, is really special.
Bermondsey boy
Talented Irish designer Michael McGrath, who spent seven years
as head of menswear design at Burberry, took the plunge recently
and set up his own lifestyle shop in Bermondsey, near where he
lives in London. It stocks his menswear line, called M2CG, and also
interiors pieces and accessories. The shop is called Bermondsey
167, and apart from his fine cashmere knitwear, shirts and ties, it
also stocks interesting furniture, which he has designed himself,
made from reclaimed wood from Brazil. With books and artwork part
of the mix, the shop is a personal reflection of his wider
interests and travels. Bermondsey 167, Southwark London.
The designer's website, www.bermondsey167.com, is due to go
online shortly.
High impact dressing
Yasmin Velloza, who designs sexy, slinky dresses and coats in
luxury fabrics such as metallic tweed, silk ottoman and cashmere,
though still only in her third season is already adding more
Ireland and UK stockists for her collections. Her latest features
her familiar mix of form-fitting sensual suits, wrap shirts with
cuff details, and open-backed cocktail dresses with little
tie-backs. This silk/organic cotton belted shirt, costing about
€210, is typical. It's from the spring/summer 2008 Yasmin
Velloza collection. Stockists include Tippi Canoe, Limerick;
Diffusion, Clontarf; Pitt & Bond, Dublin; Esquisito,
Clarinbridge, and Ottiva, Enniscorthy.
See www.yasminvelloza.com.