Journal

Fashion is personal. The old adage that ‘bigger is better’ couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to fashion retail, and we should know. The gigantic department stores may have a higher volume and variety of products, but is that really conducive to a better shopping experience? We say not. We say boutique is best. Designer fashion deserves to be showcased properly, and this can’t be done as effectively when each piece is drowning in those around it. Experience has shown us that good things really do come in small packages. And here are four very good reasons why: When wandering wide-eyed around enormous department stores, you’re quickly swallowed up by your fellow frantic shoppers and endless rails of products. Everything there is designed for the masses, and one-to-one human interaction is rare. Now imagine this: Walking into an established, local boutique fashion store, and being greeted by the owner who you’ve come to know very well. She has years of experience in seeking out the very best emerging fashion designers, and has an eye for the perfect outfit. She knows what you like, she knows what you love, and she can help you find exactly what you need. That’s the personal touch that only a boutique fashion store can provide, and it can make all the difference to a shopping experience. A boutique store is characterised by its small size and its more selective product range, but also by the natural passion of its owners and staff. They know every inch of their stores, and every product that comes through the door has been sought out and hand selected with an expert’s judgement. Each label and each piece of clothing is selected with the customers in mind, and with the intention of evoking the same level of excitement in the customers as it does in the staff. Without this passion, the shopping experience feels empty. The concept of having everything under one roof, while convenient for some, is not what we consider to be the most important offering of a good fashion retailer. Do you want to buy from a store that sells everything to an average standard, or from a specialist store that offers a smaller selection of beautiful things to the highest standard? The latter is what the boutique store brings to the shopping experience. In our case, we’ve got the art of discovering and presenting the most desirable high end fashion from existing and emerging designers down to a tee. Fast fashion has changed the way we shop forever, particularly online, but an unfortunate side effect of this trend is cloning. We all end up wearing the same clothes as everybody else, and that’s not ideal if you want to stand out from the crowd a little every now and then. Boutique fashion stores do things very differently. We don’t order things in bulk, and nor do we order mass produced, high-street products that will end up in the wardrobes of 50,000 other women by the end of the weekend. We take the time to find new, exciting brands and products that will stop you in your tracks. We want you to get the same thrill from buying and wearing our products as we get from sourcing them; there’s nothing else quite like it. If you’re nodding in agreement and thinking you’d quite like to see what we’re talking about, you’re our kind of woman. Here’s how to find us at our beautiful Lymington and Westbourne stores. Come along for a visit or explore our online store if you’re short of time this weekend.