(Monday 7/9)
Today was a big "shopping day" as we checked out some of London's most well known shopping areas. We started at Oxford St. (things I can't afford) before continuing to Liberty (also things I can't afford). Liberty was absolutely amazing with the amount and variety of items they had. They especially had beautiful fabrics and incredible rugs, as well as a lovely bath section that smelled wonderful. With the mens' shirt comparison assignment, we also looked at the shirts at Liberty and they were incredibly well made, with expert craftsmanship and beautiful prints.
After Liberty we continued onto Carnaby Street, where there were more typical shops and less high end apparel - more of the shops we would typically shop at. We found a more lower end mens' shirt in Cheap Monday (which wasn't surprising considering the name contained "cheap") and you could definitely tell the difference between the two shirts. This one had no interfacing (or lighter weight interfacing) in areas the shirt from Liberty had very stiff, sturdy interfacing. It also wasn't stitched as well, with the fabric being pulled in an unflattering manner in some areas.
We met back up at Spaghetti House for lunch, where I had a delicious penne roso - it had a red pesto sauce and was very nice and filling, even in the small size. If I had gotten the large size I definitely would have had to take some home! It was funny because it seemed as though the waitress expected us all to buy a bottle of water, assuming we hadn't figured out the situation with asking for tap water - she seemed to make a bit of a sour face when almost all of us asked for just the tap water. We're learning!
We then continued onto Piccadilly Circus, stopping briefly to see more architecture by John Wood, which stood out with its curved shape. Piccadilly Circus felt like a mini Times Square with its flashing billboards, open layout, and street performers. We continued to make our was onto Burlington Arcade - which was not what I was expecting from the name! I felt a bit underdressed there with all the high end names, but window shopping is always fun!
Window shopping is all I really could do as we continued to pass name brand after name brand store throughout the day! Definitely window shopping at Aston Martin, as well as Louis Vuitton! The Louis Vuitton store was really beautifully designed and quite a spectacle to see. Only thing that would make it better would be being able to buy something lol.
After Louis Vuitton, we came to the main attraction of the day, Gieves & Hawkes. Steven really took his time to explain each and every part that went into making a bespoke suit and I was really impressed by how much he knew about it and the company. It was also really interesting how far back the history of Gieves & Hawkes went, with making uniforms for the British Army and starting out as two separate tailors before joining together. It was amazing how many different fabrics one could choose from for a suit - and how many little details there were, with the outside fabric, lining fabric, and the ability to add little personal touches and embellishments. I can't believe someone would pay $20,000-$50,000 for a suit! It definitely seems like Gieves & Hawkes would be the place to come for it though.
We went onto Dover Street Market, which also came with its fair share of designer brands. The layout was so different from what we had seen so far though, so much more open and designed to look a bit more quirky and high fashion, rather than looking like a typical store. They had some interesting items for sure, with one particular pair of shoes that appeared to turn into a horn in the front. The toes just kept curling upwards and back into a circle, and they were quite pricey!
After finishing the day at Dover Street, we went back to Carnaby Street to shop around a bit at some more affordable shops. I didn't really find anything :-( but we had a really good (decently healthy yay) dinner from Leon. I had a chicken lemon olive tagine, which was basically a rice bowl with chicken and sauce, and was really tasty. I couldn't keep up the healthy streak for long, and we ended up getting waffles with gelato on the way back, but it was really really good so no regrets! Of course, me being me, I spilled chocolate on my shirt so I covered it with my hair the rest of the way back.
That was pretty much where the day ended, but we also secured the hostel for Barcelona (yay!) and now everyone is obsessed with Love Island and trying to watch as much as possible before returning to US Netflix so it should be interesting.
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