Topshop - Queen of The Shops! (Top Shop)

Member Name: Miss-Bee

Product:	Top Shop
Date:	23/08/09 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fashion, good quality, wide range of styles, Tall and Petite sections, Topman for the men.

Disadvantages: More expensive then other stores, not for everyones tastes, selective styles depending on seasons.

I am a huge fashion fan. I love clothes, shoes and underwear. I love shopping, and to me I find it very therapeutic, and really relaxes me, and is really fun, especially with my friends on a sunny day, with a ice drink, oh what heaven! And as bad it sounds, I love having new clothes, it makes me feel confident and sexy, especially if I'm trying something new. My personally style is quite mix and match, I love leggings, unique dresses and really sexy Tops, as I always feel much, much more sexier, with small dresses and big high heels, gives me such confidence. And Topshop is one of the stores I used to shop in very regularly in, when I was working and had money, and loved it! So thought I would share my experiences of Topshop and a little bit of Topman too.


-Topshop Company-

Topshop is a clothing company which was founded in 1964 in England, and now has shops in many countries around the world, such as the UK and Ireland, USA, Australia, Poland and Malaysia. Topshop is a shop for women selling shoes, clothes and accessorises, but in 1970 Topman was founded as part of the Topshop group, as is mainly for men, selling men clothes, shoes and accessories. Topshop and Topman claim to be "at the forefront of fashion" and Topshop claims to provide clothes for "every style, every style, every day." And both Topshop and Topman's items are on catwalks and in many, many fashion magazines, and also many celebrities have claimed to love Topshop, people such as Kate Moss (who models and has her own range of clothing), Fearne Cotton, Peaches Geldof and Lily Allen, who have been seen wearing many Topshop items. Topshop has also expanded onto the internet at www.topshop.com.

-Topshop Jobs-

When I was 16, before I went into my old career, I actually working in Topshop for around 6-9months, and personally I thought it was a very great place to work, so I'd thought I'd give a bit about Topshop jobs. The first thing is that Topshop, especially big stores, tend to employ a large amount of staff, in the Topshop I worked in I worked along around 10-15 other people, in a fairly small store, and also staff tend to be swapped around with Topman by only if the Topman is in the same store. Another great thing about Topshop, is the amazing discount that the store provides, you get 20% staff discount for clothes for personal use, and an amazing added 40% discount for clothes you wear at work, which have to be from Topshop obviously (these discounts apply to Topman too). I would recommended a job at Topshop for students and part-time work, as it was really interesting and fun, as the working environment was really great and laid back, which is a real positive for a good working environment. Also for models working with big modelling agencies, such as Storm, there are frequently modelling jobs for the catalogues and catwalk shows with Topshop and Topman items, as my friend, who is with Storm modelling agency has had a fair amount of work from Topshop, but sometimes the 'special' look they are looking for is very selective.

-Topshop Oxford Street-

I often go into Topshop Oxford Street when I'm in Central London, and to me, it is like the God of all the Topshop stores, it around 4 floors, one of them Topman floor, and there is everything you could ever want from Topshop in this one store! No joke, it's fantastic. The store is fairly close to Oxford Circus tube stop, so access from the tube is easy, also many buses from London stop along Oxford Street, but stops can be fairly far from the actual Topshop store. The floor you arrive on is a Topshop floor, which has mainly the new arrivals from Topshop on the rails, and also has a lot of accessories aswell, and a sweet corner, if all the shopping is getting you all peckish! The next floor is the basement, which in my opinion has the best clothes in there, it tends to have the more Unique styles of clothes, and ranges such as the Kate Moss range, at Topshop, also shoes are on the basement floor, from Trainers to huge High Heel Shoes. The other floors tend to be a mix of Topshop and Topman clothes, but are regularly changed around, so depends on the day you go. Topshop Oxford Street sometimes has Fashion shows in the stores, so customers can see the clothes and styles that Topshop has to offer.
The disadvantage of Topshop Oxford Street is the amount of people in there and how busy it can get, especially during weekends and School holidays, so my advice would be is to shop during the day, avoiding lunchtime and during rush hour, as it gets very busy around then. Also in winter, there are less tourists and visitors in London and Topshop, Oxford Street.

-Topshop Fashion-

Now, the most important part, the Fashion at Topshop. Well what a hard thing to answer, it depends on the style and types of clothes you like to wear, but in my experiences they have nice clothes to suit everyone and every style. In Topshop stores, there is a Petite Section and a Tall Sections, which I personally as a very petite woman at just 5ft, I found this really handy, as in some shops, which don't have sections, I find it hard to find clothes that fit me, and are suited to my size. The Petite clothes are mostly, normal clothes but smaller for us short women, such as dresses, jeans and skirts, as well as tops, which are better for women with bigger breasts. The fashion currently in the Petite sections are Mini Dresses and more Summery tops and dresses. Also Skinny Jeans are in Fashion in the Petite sections. Petite clothes come in sizes 6-16, but smaller stores may not have the bigger sizes.
The Tall section, which I've had a quick nosey in, is often bigger then the Petite, and often doesn't have the exact same fashion as the Petite section, but like the Petite section, they are changed depending on the fashion, so currently, the fashion tends to be summery and flowery. The Tall section focuses on fashion, which is suitable for tall women, so it tends to be, currently, long Maxi dresses and Skinny Jeans, which look great on Taller women.
Topshop has also got Kate Moss' range in, which is more pastel pinks and creams style, with more formal dresses, with a slight rock edge, such as formal jackets, and dark and pale flowery outfits. But in the Autumn the range will be changed, as they change every season. Ms Moss' style, tends to be pretty girlie outfits and styles, but also have some more rocky styles, like the glittery Lady Gaga shorts, which I think was part of Kate Moss' range. I personally, am not a huge fan of Kate Moss in general, and her range for Topshop isn't my style, and doesn't always look that good on me, but I can see hwy her range is so popular, with great and mostly unique styles of clothes, in with the now fashion of the catwalks.
In Topshop, they also have the newest fashions for the season, and some guest designers doing special designs for Topshop range. Currently, the seasonal range at Topshop is getting autumns, with more work type styles, but also some dresses and pastel colours, which are coming into season apparently. And in most Topshop stores, have a Jean section, mostly all year. The disadvantage though, is the Jeans tend to be for women around 5"5 and taller, which is a little bit of a shame for more Petite women , but they do have Jeans in the Petite section, but mostly tend to make them in one style, and not always suited for everyone's bodies. But in the Jean section, Topshop does make Jeans in a range of styles, such as Skinny, Boyfriend style and Bootleg.
Underwear is another clothing feature that Topshop sells, and they tend to be decent quality underwear too. From different styles, such as girls boxers to frilly knickers to delicate thongs, and also matching bras and knickers, but caution as bras sizes tend to be fairly smaller sizes, which is great for smaller women, but for women with bigger breasts, it could be a problem. But overall the quality of underwear is good, and very fashionable and elegant, and often Topshop have 'buy 4 for £7' or similar deals on the underwear

Accessories are a huge part of Topshop, and Topshop seems to have everything and fashion loving women could want, from rings to necklaces to hair accessorises. Like the clothes, the accessories depend on the season and what is in fashion at the time, so currently, sunglasses, flowery accessories and gold accessories are in fashion and are stocked at Topshop stores. Also Topshop has accessories which never get old, such as silver accessories and more formal accessories, such as corsages, necklaces and rings, for weddings, proms and other formal times. Also Topshop sometimes puts accessories with certain ranges, to make everything match, like Kate Moss' current pastel colours range, goes very well with coloured accessories and simple hair accessories.
Bags are another accessories that Topshop has, and are again of really good quality, and have a fairly large range. Topshop bags come in many styles, such as larger bags, canvas bags, more formal clutch bags and other bags, which celebrities have been wearing or from the catwalks, and have been changed for Topshop, as some bags are designed by season too. Personally I love the canvas type bags which Topshop have, they are handy for shopping, stylish (I have the 'I Love Shopping' one and love the style) and long wearing, as I thought it would break easily, but it has lasted me months and still going, very good quality.

Now, the best part and may favourite thing, shoes! Topshop, like most clothing stores on the British High Street, provides shoes alongside clothes, and Topshop is no exception, but something that other stores has, are the amount of shoes and styles Topshop provides. The shoes Topshop provides are so varied and like everything else, are of very good quality. Topshop does provide shoes by season and styles in fashion at the time, like currently the Gladiator Sandals, Flip Flops and other Sandals, but in the winter, Topshop mainly focuses on Boots, Knee High and Ankle Boots. But also Topshop provides Trainers all year round, and I personally have the Plimsoll Trainers from Topshop, which I found to be comfy and good quality, and have not wore out after months of wearing them. Also shoes like High Heels, are always in fashion, and are always stocked in Topshop, but often the styles change, so if you see some you like, buy them quick before they go!

-Topshop Pricing-

Time to honest now, Topshop is a more expensive shop compared to other High Street stores, such as New Look or H&M, but you are paying for good quality clothes and accessories, and also paying for the Topshop name tag, as now Topshop is a very fashionable and well known shop, unlike other stores. I personally think Topshop is a great shop, but a disadvantages is that sometimes I don't always find items that I like or are in my style of clothes, as it always depends on what's in fashion and the season, and I currently can't find anything I like, and don't always have money for £40 Jeans when I can get then cheaper else where (New Look have Jeans for around £20). But when I do have money, Topshop is the first place I look, because when they have a range in your style, you love every item! An the accessories, bags and shoes are the best you can get without buying designer. Well worth it! Also after every season, which is after around 2 months, they have sales of the old stock, which is the best time to buy clothes, but be quick otherwise the clothes will sell out very quickly, and sizes will be gone quickly.

-Topshop Opinions-

My personally opinion on Topshop, is that it is a good company, with really great clothing and accessories, but styles are very selective and not always to my personal tastes, but especially in Topshop Oxford Street, I always think that there is something for everyone in there, so defiantly check out Oxford Street. But the disadvantages are sometimes the higher prices for items them other High Street stores, and not always having items for everyone's tastes, but I think Topshop is great store to buy some clothes and accessories from, but not for all my clothes, as they don't always suit my style or my body, but still a good store and well worth having a look in there on at the website.

-Topman-

I can't really write so much about Topshop without mentioning a little bit about Topman, for the men reading this, well Topman often has men's clothing and accessories suited to the season, such as Skinny Jeans, Plimsoll Trainers and very fashionable T-Shirts. But also they sell more formal outfits, such as Shirts and Ties, aswell as more formal shoes, suitable for work and formal events. Accessories also include Hats, Jewellery and the very fashionable Geek Glasses, which everyone seems to be wearing lately.
Topman, like Topshop, is the King of all men's High Street stores, as it always has very current trends and fashionable clothes and accessories, but again, there might not always be items that you like or suit you as men. Obviously, I am a women, but I have to say, I do like the clothes from Topshop on, I think they look really fashionable, but suit all men's styles and builds, as they do a range of sizes of clothes, which I unfortunately don' t know a huge amount about. So I personally recommend Topman highly, but again they may not have items you like, but it is worth having a look anyway, saves you being bored to death while you girlfriend/wife/partner is shopping in Topshop!

Summary: A great High Street store, worth a visit. Topman for the Men too..