Shopping HEAVEN! (Oxford Street (W1))

Member Name: PerfectlyPink

Product:	Oxford Street (W1)
Date:	27/01/02 (6822 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Range, the experience!

Disadvantages: Expensive, very few stores

Inset days...love 'em! I had one on Friday and so me and three of my girly mates decided to go for a major shopping spree in London. One of the many, many, many shops we went into was Selfridges. Ahhhhh I LOVE it! The thing about shops like Topshop, Morgan, H&M etc etc, is that the only do their only clothes. This is the JOY of department stores...ALL THE GORGEOUS CLOTHES UNDER ONE ROOF! Ooooooooh...

I realise there is much more to a department store than clothes but right now I'm going to take you on an imaginary tour around one of my favourite department stores departments. In Selfridges it's called Spirit which is basically young fashion for teens upwards.

There are no less than 36 different designers in the Spirit section. This includes the accessory brands like Mikey (jewellery and hair accessories) Hairware (hair stuff obviously!) Nail Heaven (have your nails done!) G-Shock (Baby-G watches!) and Swatch (more watches). All the stuff in the section is purely for girls...heaven!

OK, here's a few of my favourite sections:

~Miss Sixty~
Miss Sixty do some really great clothes. Especially their jeans which are (usually) lush. They do stuff like little t-shirts, alot of denim stuff and casualwear but also bags. A girl can NEVER have too many bags or shoes! The great thing about Miss Sixty is their designs are quite unique compared to designers like French Connection and Ralph Lauren.

As for prices, Miss Sixty is fairly expensive compared to normal highstreet brands. For example, jeans start from about £65.

~Pineapple~
Although Pineapple do do some party type clothes...I don't really like them. What I LOVE is their dancewear. By dancewear I mean they do joggers, jumpers and hoody's all in white, baby pink, grey and black. They're perfect for slobbing around the house in if you're not the exercise kinda person!

Compared to sportwear like Nike and Reebok, Pinea
pple's clothes are quite reasonable. You can get a sweatshirt for about £25. Don't forget to buy it in pink! Oh and pick up one of their cute pink baseball caps (bargain at a tenner!) for your bad hair days!

~Mikey~
This is an accessories brand and I totally adore their stuff! They sell belts, hairclips, loadsa necklaces, bracelets and tiaras too! Their prices range from really affordable to high (if you want a jewel encrusted belt, for example!)

There's loads more, including Kookai, French Connection, Ted Baker, Pepe Jeans, Karen Millen, Kurt Geiger...the list goes on! Ooops... and don't forget your shoes! Check out Nine West and Bertie!

The best thing about the Spirit section is the whole atmosphee in the place. It's all kind of silver and metallic and reminds me of a big warehouse. There's always lots of music playing too which makes it even more of a pleasure to shop in! (Can you tell I love this shop?!)

There's quite a few changing rooms and you don't often have to queue whihc is nice. The staff are pleasant and happy to help if you can't find something in your size or need help with the sizing. Over in accessories, they always wrap your bits and pieces nicely in tissue paper!

The only downside of this girls section is that they don't have brands like Polo Ralph Lauren and DKNY. For these, you're gonna have to pop along Oxford Street a little further and have a look in House of Fraser!

Right - I think I've said enough about the clothes. What else does Selfridges have to offer? The other departments include:

At Home:
~Bathing and Grooming
~Cooking and Dining
~Sleeping
~Styling

Fashion:
~Mens
~Accessories
*belts, wallets
~Casual
~Contemporary
~Formal
*suits and stuff
~Spirit
*blokes version!

~Womens
~Accessories
*ooooh Prada, Louis Vuitton and Gucci
bags!
~Casual
*This is the place to pick up some Polo, Guess, CK or Armani jeans...go on splash out!
~Classic Casual
~Contemporary
~Designer
*D&G, Hugo Boss, Moschino - where I'm gonna go when I'm RICH!
~Formal
~Hoisery
~Intimate Apparel and Swimwear
~Ladies shoes
*Designer shoes Jimmy Choo, Prade, Dolce and Gabbana..ah!
~Spirit

~Childrenswear
Want a designer child? Then pop along to Selfridges and kit it out in Moschino, Armarni, Tommy Hilfiger, Elle, D&G...lucky kid!

Food:
~Restaurants
*After all that shopping, you'll need a coffee break
~Bakery
~Dairy
~Fish
~Flowers
~Fruit and veg
~Meat and Poultry
~Wines, Spirits and Cigars

Health and Beauty:
~Toiletries
~Wellbeing
~Beauty Lab
~Cosmetics
*YSL, Clinique, Chanel, Christian Dior...you know them all!
~Fragrance
*Cerruti, Valentino, Moschino, Aramis...
~Hair and Beauty
*The salon...have a make-over!
~Hair care
~Health spa
~Skin care
~Spirit Cosmetics
*Hard Candy, Urban Decay, Toni and Tina, Eyebeauty, Anna Sui...

Leisure:
~Communications
*Stationery...all designer! You have to check out this dept!
~Music
*CDs and Instruments!
~Travelling
*Luggage...designer, naturally!
~Working and Playing
~Books
~Newspapers and Magazines
~Technology


Well, that pretty well sums up the departments! As you can tell, it's pretty massive. You can literally spend all day in there! Bliss...!

It's not the cheapest place in the world but it's a nice place to shop in. It's best to go in the week to avoid the mad rushes. It's an old building but the whole place is really modern inside.

The only Selfridge's I've been to is the London store but there is also a shop in Manchester. In Autumn there's a ne
w store opening in Central Manchester. In 2003 there's one opening in Birmingham too!

If you want to go to the London store, the nearest tube station is Bond Street. You can't miss Selfridges...it's huge!

For more information on opening times and how to get to the Manchester store, go to www.selfridges.co.uk.

If you haven't been to Selfridges and you love shopping...you have to go! And make sure you don't leave unless you have 10 bright yellow bags filled with goodies!

Maria
xx

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