DESIGNER CLUSTERING

Designer brands and companies all have their respective positioning in the fashion market hierarchy, whether considered high end or high street, through the brand identity established by the creators and the brand image curated by the audience, the positioning within the hierarchy is determined. Brands are aware of where they are situated and market their products accordingly, a big part of how well the products sell being down to positioning - whether the placement in store or the location of the actual stores. The retail destinations within London are an example of this, the stores variety of stores available in the capital city is wide and diverse, and in order to attract the right type of clientele the stores have placed them sleeves within market sector clusters: referred to as designer clustering. Aware of this tactic of brands use to generate the right image, I explored London's shopping areas. Exploring along the many streets and squares I was able to see which brands were eyeing up others as direct competition and who was rubbing shoulders with who…





The walk started at Conduit street, the home of luxury brands such as Donna Karen, Vivienne Westwood and Moschino. It also hosts japanese designers such as Miyake and Yamamoto.




The home of tailoring is Savile Row, famous throughout the world for it's craftsmanship and skill. The mayfair street has built it's reputation on quality, bespoke tailoring - it was established between 1731 and 1735, having created a legacy over the last 2 centuries to be as renowned globally as it is today.



New Bond Street held the flagship store for Louis Vuitton prominent on the corner as well as a large Burberry store on the opposite corner - this shows how the companies view themselves to have similar target market and footfall of one companies customer past the others shop front may attract them to come in and therefore generate sales. The opposite side of the street a Chanel Store was located, and strategically next door was the opening of a new Dior store. As both haute couture and luxury brands with brand extensions in both make up and perfume, Dior i Chanel's biggest competitor and vice versa. Across many of the companies location in London, you will find the other very close by.

I arrived at Mount Street, it is the area to be most recently colonised by fashion after the arrival of Balenciaga. It hosts stores for designers such as Jenny Packham and Celine as well as having an office for the global fashion conglomerate Kering Group.

Sat just behind Oxford Street resides Hanover Square the home of Conde Nast publishings fashion publication British Vogue.

Via Selfridge the UK's second largest department store after Harrods and established in 1909, I went to the Wallace collection which is an 19th century London town house, holding paintings form the 15th to the 19th century. The house famously holds the staircase which used to reside in the home of Madame DePompadour, the mistress of Louis the XIV. The grand, luxurious decor was also a source of inspiration for Vivienne Westwood's 18th century themed collections. 

Carnaby St came to prominence in the 1960's, due to many contemporary designer housing shops there it became a popular destination for both those of the mods and hippies styles, becoming a name frequently associated with the swinging sixties - however due to fashion colonisation,it has become very much alike the other streets in London today.

The final destination was Covent Garden, having initially become known due to it's two market and the opera house, it is now known as a shopping destination and tourist attract. Covent Garden held an assortment of high end and high street stores clustered together - for instance the placement of MAC cosmetics and Bobbie Brown and the situating of Dior next to Chanel.