'Deluxe shabby chic' - Anthropologie store hits London

Laura Craik, Fashion Editor
27.10.09

It's a funny name for a shop: not as cosy as Cath Kidston, more forensic than Liberty. But it works when you see the stock.

After 17 years of success in the US, the first Anthropologie store has finally opened in London, in what is its first entry into the European market.

The new Regent Street shop, a 10,000sq ft paean to what is probably best described as "deluxe shabby chic", is causing feverish excitement among the city's well-heeled fashion-lovers.

They are beside themselves with joy at the thought of finally being able to get their hands on Anthropologie's eclectic clothing ranges and deftly chosen homeware without first having to cross the pond.

Londoners who are familiar with New York, or other large American cities, may already know Anthropologie, which has 130 stores across the US.

For the fashion crowd who travel to New York twice-yearly for the shows, Anthropologie is one of their first shopping stops.

Their routine: land at JFK on Saturday night, stumble jet-lagged to the West Broadway store on Sunday morning.

While the clothes are interesting enough, what they're really after are the ceramic door knobs, glassware, latte bowls, tea towels, plaster of Paris pineapples, plates hand-painted with kingfishers, cushions made in Nepal and brightly patterned fabric letters to spell out their daughters' names in an arc on the nursery wall.

Truly, you cannot call yourself middle class unless your home boasts these fabric letters.

In fact, if Anthropologie has one defining characteristic, it is an obsession with items bearing letters: mugs, egg cups, scented candles, door hooks and beyond.

If your interior tastes tend more towards Philippe Starck, Anthropologie will be of limited interest.

Its USP is that it sells a tasteful edit of the sort of stylishly eclectic clutter among which the middle-class Englishwoman aspires to live.

If your ideal home consists of rare finds fetched back from travels in Morocco, Barcelona, Brussels and Norfolk (but you never got further than Norfolk), fear not: Anthropologie does all the hard work for you. No taste? Never mind: Anthropologie has it in spades.

You would barely guess it is owned by the same company as Urban Outfitters, home of the novelty birthday present.

Apart from the 200-metre high vertical garden with its 18,000 different plants, everything in the new Regent Street store is for sale, from the hand-carved beds to the hand-embroidered Union Jack wall coverings.

One of the most eclectic, and stunning, offerings is a chandelier that looks like a leftover prop from a Pixar film.

On closer inspection you realise it is made entirely out of recycled materials such as bottle tops, tin lids and old bits of plastic.

Sourced from a small art collective in South Africa, one has already been purchased by the Obamas, where it has pride of place in Malia and Sacha's bedroom.

Fashion accounts for roughly two-thirds of Anthropologie's floor space, and the new London store has more than 200 women's fashion brands, most of them sold exclusively.

British brands such as Sara Berman and Made in Heaven have designed one-off ranges, plus there is Anthropologie's own-brand label, a homage to easy dressing in lace, cashmere and silk.

The store also stocks a lush, eclectic collection of sleepwear, including light wool kimonos and brightly printed silk slips.

And while prices can reach £450 for a hand-embroidered dress, knickers are a down-to-earth £14, while there are plenty of items for under £100.

With its magpie-like, oh-so-English approach to dressing and living, the biggest question is why Anthropologie took so long to arrive here.

With a new branch planned for the King's Road next spring, its fans will secretly be hoping it doesn't spread its wings too far. Too late: their little secret is out.

But no matter how ubiquitous the store becomes, its merchandise will always feel anything but.

158 Regent Street, W1 (www.anthropologie.co.uk).