Dover Street Market: A Retail Anomaly

Dover Street Market is an anomaly in the high-end retail fashion space. The retailer’s flagship location was originally opened in 2004 on London’s Dover Street, led by founders and couple Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe. Preceding Dover Street Market’s opening, Kawakubo and Joffe had been long-standing creative directors of the Japanese fashion label Comme Des Garçons.

Since the early 2000s, Kawakubo has been noted as inspiring many other major fashion designers including Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, and Viktor & Rolf. Referred to as a “fashion icon” by Women’s Wear Daily, Kawakubo’s influence on fashion is undeniable. Contributing greatly to the creative vision of Dover Street Market, Kawakubo has stated various times that she likes to have control over all aspects of her business, notably mentioning her love for graphic design, advertising, and the designing of shop interiors. Accredited with “softening the image of [Kawakubo]. Who has been known for an uncompromising ‘anti-fashion’ creative vision”, Joffe, Kawakubo’s partner, took notice of her early successes with Comme Des Garçons and decided to move to Paris to join the company. Eventually, Joffe was named president of the brand and ultimately oversaw the opening of Dover Street Market in partnership with Kawakubo.

Initially referred to as the department store version of their label, Comme Des Garçons, Dover Street Market has grown to carry a variety of fashion items, ranging from products coming from high-end exclusive labels such as Balenciaga, Raf Simons, and Rick Owens, to streetwear-focused brands such as Stussy, Bape, and Supreme. The retailer’s uniqueness comes from its distinctive store environment and experience, consisting of branded installations and a focus on visual marketing. Located in cities such as Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles, each store showcases different creative art installations accompanied by varying brand exhibitions. The interiors of the stores have been described as ‘industrial’ while maintaining an anti-luxury aesthetic similar to that of Kawakubo’s previous fashion lines.

In one interview, Kawakubo describes the uniqueness of Dover Street Market, in that “[She] wants to create a kind of market where various creators from various fields gather together and encounter each other in an ongoing atmosphere of beautiful chaos – I want [Dover Street Market] to encompass the mixing up and coming together of different kindred souls who all share a strong personal vision.” Kawakubo and Joffe have continuously emphasized the importance of having variety in their stores, and Joffe has described the stores' ranging selection as an “importance as essential as the brand [itself]” Emerging designers and visual artists are frequently invited to create visuals for the stores, however, the installations are not permanent, as each retailer undergoes an interior transformation bi-annually, signaling the change of season.

Currently, in the New York location of the retailer, there are installations ranging from a stormtrooper-esque presentation of Rick Owens’ newest fall fashion line to a bright pink, fluorescently colored corner showcasing the “grungy, overly dramatic, and nostalgic” Heaven fashion line by Marc Jacobs.

Announced recently in celebration of the Tokyo location’s 10-year anniversary, Dover Street Market will be releasing a line of shirts in collaboration with brands such as Marni, Molly Goddard, Bape, Maison Margiela, Noah, Gucci, Stussy, and Prada. The central design of the shirts is a black “Dover Street Market” icon, with the years ranging from 2012 to 2022 printed from the top to the bottom of the shirt. Each brand took a different approach to design the shirt, with Chrome Hearts plastering its iconic gothic cross all over the shirt while Bape simply put ten of its classic ‘Ape Head’ graphics to signify the 10 year anniversary. Shirts from the collection will range from ¥22,000 to ¥242,000 ($150 to $1700 USD). It has not yet been announced when the collection will be released, however, Dover Street Market has instructed customers to follow their social media accounts for additional updates.

By: Jack Tomlinson

Sources:

https://hypebeast.com/brands/dover-street-market

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rei_Kawakubo

https://hypebeast.com/2022/10/dover-street-market-ginza-10th-anniversary-collab-tee-release-info

https://hypebeast.com/2022/10/louis-vuitton-virgil-abloh-archive-dover-street-market-ginza-sale-info

https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/adrian-joffe

https://newyork.doverstreetmarket.com/new-spaces