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Fans of J Crew: If you worship Jenna Lyons you’ll love the new kid on the block, Everlane, which envelops the spirit of Crew – classic basics delivered with modern tailoring but at a lower price point. Their gig is that they tell you who and where stuff is being manufactured and then only charge a standard markup on the cost to them. So far, they only ship to the US and Canada but well worth a look if you can secure a mailing address. The Everlane Weekender Bag (from $95) is already a cult product for men-about-town.
Warby Parker is what all the cool kids lust after when it comes to eyewear. Order multiple pairs online (they send out five to try at a go), return whatever you don’t want without a query and hey, presto your prescription and sun solutions are all in order, for about $95 a pop. Again, they only ship within the US so strike soon after touchdown or visit one of their beautiful flagships in Soho, the Village, Boston’s Back Bay, LA or a smattering of new locations opening all over the place (for a full list of stockists see warbyparker.com). As they say themselves, ”shopping for glasses is not an activity associated with goosebump-inducing delight. We want to change that.”
“Someday they’ll call Geneva the Detroit of watch-making.” Who knew, right? And why? It’s all down to the ultra trendy Shinola (as in “ you don’t know —-from shinola), who make the deadliest watches on the planet as well as beautiful leather goods and bicycles. Dedicated to bringing manufacturing back to the US of A, demand is far outstripping supply in the run-up to Christmas on some styles. There’s a waitlist online for our fave, the doublestrapped The Birdy ($525), but stockists are multiplying at a rate of noughts and the brand is in Barney’s, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus as well as having a Tribeca flagship, so despair not.
The latest must-stop shop in the US for the young ‘uns is Brandy Melville. Price points hover just north of Forever 21 but south of Abercrombie and Hollister and their ‘one size fits most’ approach means you can’t go far wrong if you’re buying for someone else to bring home. The look is Urban Outfittish, simple, relaxed and based on a neutral palette- as is the norm with North American brands who make the leap across the pond, the new shop on the Kings Road is already proving popular but charges sterling for dollar prices.