VIBE

Don’t be fooled: the Dover Street Market is most certainly not a market (at least not in the usual grubby, hands-on-bargaining sense of “market”). The brainchild of Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo, this is a 13,000-square-foot “department store” devoted to hotter-than-thou labels. Yet again though, don’t let them trick you! Neither is this your average department store. In what can best be termed “industrial chic chaos,” each designer has been allotted a plywood-and-steel “mini-boutique” (more of an unfinished corner) to make their own, while spaces like the corrugated tin shack-cum-checkout are shared. Comme des Garçons dominates, though you can also find couture treasures from names like Raf Simons, Thom Browne, and Junya Watanabe. This can be an intimidating shopping experience.

USE A PURCHASE FROM HERE FOR

Fashion; gift; home décor

WHY WE LIKE IT

One-stop couture shopping. We like having so many designers under one–albeit a little too industrial chic–roof.

GOOD TO KNOW

The cute-as-a-button Rose Bakery (on the fourth floor) is a good spot for a post-shopping snack–we recommend the lush cakes.

CLOSEST COMPS

Browns (London); Matches (London); Barneys (New York); Barneys (Los Angeles)

Click here for our full-form mobile travel guide, The Purple Passport to London