soogies

My daughter and a friend are headed to London for several days. I searched threads here but the most updated threads that came up date from a year ago.

For example it was suggested for some 17 year old girls that Oxford Street, Camden Market and Covent Garden (I think??) are good shopping areas. My daughter and friend are 21 and fairly sophisticated but looking for the offbeat. Maybe a flea market? Portobello Road? Flea Market in Notting HIll?

These girls are trendy college students and looking for a variety of stuff - some designer knockoffs maybe, maybe H&M similarities, nothing too expensive. At home in the US they wear 7 for all Mankind; Citizens; Urban Outfitters and Anthropology.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks

taggie

Spitalfields market is a must-see for them. Lots of young designers starting out.
http://www.visitspitalfields.com/index.html

They should check out Portobello Rd on a Friday or Saturday for vintage clothes, on the more northern portion under the Westway.

TopShop for sure.... that's the place that every young fashionista in N. America longs to have access to.

Oxford St. will have TopShop, H&M, Uniqlo and most of the main high street outlets like River Island, Mango, Monsoon, etc. Regent St. has Zara.

They might also like the King's Rd. in Chelsea or High St. Kensington, but a lot of the shops will be repeats from Oxford St.

Also the Carnaby St. area (close to Oxford St) will have some different shops..... lots of shoes.
Haymarket is a good shopping street if they're in the area and can do Covent Gdn at the same time.

A cool store is Jigsaw but it might be slightly old for them and is more pricey than H&M and TopShop.

This is a great website for looking at actual street photos so you can see what shops are where.
http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/

taggie

Oh also the department store Selfridge's has lots of offerings - unique things plus stuff from high street shops - all in one place. It's on Oxford St.

The main shopping area is from Marble Arch at the west end to Charing Cross Rd. at the east end. Big concentration of stuff (and TopShop) at Oxford Circus.

soogies

Thank you taggie! I'll email my daughter this thread.

Do you know if they'd be able to find some designer knock offs at flea markets or is there a certain area to find stuff like that? My daughter's friend asked if there was an area similar to Canal Street in NYC. (I'm not familiar with that area, so if anyone can help with that that'd be great.)

Mimar

Well, maybe not for buying, but for window-shopping and people-watching the area around Sloane Square and King's Road is full of designer shops. Heaven for a fashionista.

helen_belsize

I think they would enjoy the markets in Camden Town. There are a series of markets and now more street shops in similar vein. I am not sure what you mean by knockoffs. Do you mean legal cheaper imitations of the current fashions or illegal imitations of designer gear. If the latter then trading standards officers and the police are trying to track them down and catch the offenders. Market stalls are largely rented from a legal authority the local council or other landowner who could not condone the sale of counterfeit goods. You may be able to find counterfeits in some markets but you probably wouldn't want your daughters to venture into such exciting places. There is not much manufactured in England now so the factory reject type product is much harder to find. Carnaby St, just off from Oxford Circus is now chiefly a collection of denim specialist shops, branded but not high end fashion, some aspiring labels.

Seamus

Canal Street is ground zero for illegal knockoffs. If that's what she is looking for, reread Helen's post.

flanneruk

" My daughter's friend asked if there was an area similar to Canal Street in NYC."

No. Brands just aren't a big enough deal in Britain for there to be any point in Canal St-style places, and in the odd category where there is interest in ripoffs (like football clobber), any Canal St -style location would get raided to death.

There's a bit of street vendoring, a bit of dodgy stuff (though rarely knockoffs of those silly brands Russians go for, like Louis Vuitton: more often Man Utd) in the odd street market, and a bit of tat sold in pubs. But apart from the $5 fake Rolex everyone buys as a souvenir in Thailand, there really isn't that "I got this fake Versace for 50p" culture in Britain - because no-one gives a toss about Versace, except for footballers' floozies

nona1

The only knock-offs (the illegal type) you find around much are football strips and handbags. Not really clothing.

For legal 'filtered down to the highstreet' copies of high fashion try Topshop, or New Look. Topshop is famous for it and has a continuously changing stock.

lol

There is a shop on Oxford st. near MArble Arch that has nice cloth and so much more. very cheap, excellent place to shop for essentials like socks, gloves etc. Not the greatest quality but good enough. It is called primark.

lol

Hi again
Can someone perhaps advise on the best swimwear shops, moderately priced, in London. Thanks