Who'd'a'thunk'it? Heres where it all began.
In 1964 in the basement of this Peter Robinson department store, the high street god that is Topshop was born. Here it would stay until many years later when it became a stand alone retailer.
Now the brand has 300 UK stores and over 100 stores all over the rest of the world. In 1978, Topman was created as a spin off brand for male customers. The 1990s changed the way Topshop would be seen forever. Sick of a bad reputation for tackiness, managers decided to make the brand more upmarket. This my friends is when everything became heart-breakingly expensive, especially for us students.
In 1994 they took over the entire 90,000sq ft space at London's Oxford Circus. This shop now attracts an incredible 20,000 shoppers every week.
Topshop has always supported British talent, this has included some major designers such as Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Marios Schwab and Louise Goldin.
Christopher Kane for Topshop
Christopher Kane for Topshop
Jonathan Saunders for Topshop
Jonathan Saunders for Topshop
And last but most certainly not least, Louise Goldin for Topshop.
Topshop's partnership with famous names like Celia Birtwell have gained the brand serious notoriety.
Celia Birtwell for Topshop
Kate Moss' various collections for Topshop are responsible for a massive chunk of the publicity that has spread the name of Topshop around the world. She designed her first collection in May 2007 and to many shoppers' disappointment designed her last full collection for the brand in 2010. The hype that surrounded this collection was nothing like Topshop had ever seen. Windows of various shops around the world were turned into replicas for the week before the collection came out.
Here are some of my favourite looks from the collection, not that these will be new to those of you who are true fans of the brand.
In 2005 Topshop launched its own inhouse designed collection called unique. This is shown as London Fashion Week and really sets the brand apart from other high street chains. The image below really portrays the general theme of the collection, I personally am in love with the dramatic prints!
I am a huge fan of Topshop, last winter a store opened in my hometown of Cork here in Ireland. I waited on the opening morning in -2 degrees with nothing but a hot chocolate, a less than happy boyfriend and the goody bags they were handing out.
As much as I love my local Topshop, like everything else in Cork, its most definitely on the smaller side. On a trip with college to Liverpool recently I spent an afternoon in the Topshop there. The store opened in 2009, it was the brand's first Manhattan-style concept shop. With an impressive 60,000sq ft making it the second largest store in the UK. It also contains a Topman, Office and Kurt Geiger....leaving me even more broke than I was before, but gobsmacked all the same.
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