Dressing for success?

Updated on 30 March 2009

By Felicity Spector

With more hype than the G20 summit, New York is waiting with baited breath for the opening of its very first branch of Topshop.

"I am living for this moment," gushed one designer: while a fashion writer proclaims "next week is the beginning of the Rest of Our Lives". The flagship Manhattan store is finally opening its doors on 2 April, six months later than planned.

On the corner of Broome and Broadway, this prime 30,000 square foot piece of real estate has cost some £14m. Owner Philip Green has already arrived by private jet; supermodel-turned-Topshop muse Kate Moss has been booked for the launch.

The anticipation has been building for months. Until now, apart from trips to London, New Yorkers had to make do with expensive capsule collections in Barneys or Opening Ceremony.

Now the full range can be theirs, with a special range from Moss, new collections by hot Brit designers Jonathan Saunders and Preen, and even clothes for men, all described as "aggressively cool".

The New York Observer reports a breathless conversation with Brit model-It-girl Poppy Delvigne about the "amazing" goodies in store. She describes missing out on the chance of a red asymetric dress saying "I literally cried for days."

Can anything, asks New York Magazine, live up to this level of anticipation?

Thursday's launch represents something of a personal triumph for Philip Green, who's been schmoozing America's fashion elite for what seems like years. The location had to be carefully chosen; was the potential market a 5th Avenue crowd or more cool downtown?

It's proven hard for other British chains to crack the US Market, especially during these challenging economic times.

After a feisty start French Connection is now having problems. Other stores, like Jigsaw, Karen Millen and Reiss have a tiny presence.

But Topshop still plans to expand. More NY stores are in the pipeline while others could be launched in Miami and Los Angeles.

So can Topshop deliver Green a triumph of British cool or will the recession turn it into more of a frocky horror show?

As Drapers reports, never mind the fashionistas, that retail market ain't what it used to be six months ago when Topshop's launch was originally planned. GDP has plummeted, sales have slumped and the spend on clothing and accessories fell last month by more than £10m compared with the same period last year.

There are competitors galore; not so much the quirky boutiques nestling between the brownstones in Nolita and the Lower East Side, more the already established chains, like H&M, Zara, and Anthropologie.

In its current incarnation, Topshop's managed to enjoy its own special, slightly exotic cache, neatly summed up by those girls at NYmag: "you know, I love your dress! Where is it from? Topshop in London. Where you can't buy it. Tra la la la la!"

Now it's available to everyone, where's the thrill in that?

Or perhaps there really is a USP, a particular Topshop mystique: the Kate Moss name, or what novelist Plum Sykes calls it's "very English, edgy" brand of cool. And after all, it's spring. Time for a change, then.

Philip Green will be hoping its time to indulge in that must-have floral playsuit and a $130 belted trench: prices that won't bring down any banks.

New Yorkers - get shopping. You have nothing to lose but your credit limit.

Send this article by email

Recipient's email address

Your name